CNJ+ December 2023

Interesting People Throughout History ACTRESS MYRNA LOY — NOT JUST A PRETTY FACE! By Pam Teel

Being a fan of the old black and white movies of the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s, one comes to realize that the stars of today can’t hold a candle to many of the stars of those glorious decades. When you talk about true talent and longevity in their trade, and the capability of transforming you into their imaginary world, then and only then, do you realize what good acting really is. So many to name, who have gone before us, are only a memory now to a certain generation still liv ing, and after that, those names will forever slip into obscurity. What makes some of these actors even more in triguing to remember are the ones who paid it for ward in flawless ways to help others, even when they didn’t have too. One such woman, and one of my fa vorite stars of yesterday was Myrna Loy. With 129 movies to her credit and countless appearances on television shows, Loy’s career started in silent pictures where she caught the attention of Cecil B. DeMille, who found her dancing in a chorus line at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and cast her in her first small role. (Ironic that it was in front of Grauman’s theatre that her footprints and finger prints would be cast in ce ment along with a tribute to DeMille.)

MGM saw much more in her. She was witty and confident, and had a knack for dry humor. They let her explore her characters and she developed a style of woman that was strong and independent, not in need of a man to marry her or make her a house wife. Her first real movie with MGM, she was cast with Clark Gable and William Powell. She played a strong, wise, paramour torn between a rogue gamble Clark Gable and straitlaced attorney, Williom Pow ell in Manhattan Melodrama . The studio loved her rapport with Powell and signed her on as the other half a husband-and-wife detective team of Nick and Nora Charles in The Thin Man . Both stars played wit ty, sophisticated, martini drinking characters. Her character was far from the stereotypical common stay at home housewife, femme fatale, come rescue me, drool everyone else was turning out. It portrayed a female character able to stand on her own two feet and also one who drank more they she should have. Loy and Powell appeared in 14 films together. The popularity of The Thin Man spawned numerous se quels. (If you haven’t seen any of the Thin Man mov ies, you might still find them on you tube). It wasn’t only the male audience that fell in love with Loy. Fe

Loy in her Red Cross Uniform

males loved her strong characters as well. She evinced equality in a male dominated world and her combination of beauty and brains made male audiences regard her as the perfect wife. The compatibility that seemed to come so easily and attractively to Loy in the role of movie wives eluded her in real life. She was married and divorced four times. The Thin Man movies were fun loving movies and gave the two actors a chance to play off each other with their comedic antics. Loy didn’t need dialogue to let you know what she was thinking. The raising of an eyebrow or an uncertain frown told the story for itself. As her star rose, she was able to verbally fight back on issues that con cerned her. Many times, she butted heads with studio bosses at MGM. She was appalled that fine black actors were reduced to playing roles of ser vants and sought for equality among the actors. She began to advocate for their rights within the industry while continuing to pump out movies well through the next four decades. During World War II, Loy requested leave from her MGM contract to work full time for the American Red Cross in New York. She stayed away from Hollywood for five years, only once returning to make a Thin Man sequel. In 1943, she had over 50,000 letters of marriage from servicemen alone. No Hollywood actress made more career sacrifices than Loy during the war effort. She had taken on an unsalaried full-time job with the Amer ican Red Cross as assistant to the director of the Military and Naval Welfare Service for the North Atlantic Area. Her duties involved serving as a liaison between entertainers and military hospitals and setting up visits by Broad way and Hollywood performers to wounded or disabled members of the armed forces. They entertained servicemen in forty-two East Coast centers.

Myrna Loy , original name Myrna Williams , was born August 2, 1905, Radersburg, Montana. Her father named her after a small town that he had passed through by train. Myrna was an American motion-picture actress who began her screen career in the silent movie era, but by the mid 30’s she attained national stardom in talking pictures in roles as glib, resourceful so phisticates. Dubbed the “Queen of Hollywood” during her heyday, Loy was often promoted by her studio as every man’s “dream wife.” Loy was brought up on a farm, her father being a successful rancher. Her father died from influenza when she was only 12 years old. It was after her father’s early death that her family ended up in moving to Los Angeles. As she got into her teens, she played bit parts in movies for a few years. One of her small roles as an exotic mistress fixed her film style for the next seven years. Born of Welsh, Scottish, and Swedish descent with fiery red hair, and because of her exotic looks, the studio dyed her hair dark and cast her in roles of half Asian, Indian, or Chinese descent, where she was personified as the foreign vamp for American audiences. Loy hated those roles and complained about how racists those roles were and asked why they didn’t hire real foreign actresses to play those roles themselves, but she had little star power to do anything about it, and basically had to do as she was told. American audiences really believed that Loy was from overseas, but she aimed to get the word out that she was really an American. With the help of popular magazine spreads about her, her audience got to see who she really was, a cattle rancher’s daughter from Montana. Realizing she was getting nowhere with WB, who kept casting her in these kinds of roles, and when her contract was up, she went on to sign a contract with MGM. It was there that she began to break out of the mold of foreign characters.

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DECEMBER 2023