Lana Turner

Imagine.  It's the 1940s and you've saved your money so  you can visit Hollywood.  You go to the restaurants you've read about in the fan magazines.  You hang out at the studio gates, and take the tour bus to the home's of the stars.  And in the end, the only movie stars you see are the ones on the postcards sold at the corner news stand.  Remember, it's Hollywood, where people make up stories for a living.  The folks back home can be told anything, and who's the wiser.

Oh Lana Turner, what a life she lead.  Born in 1921 in Wallace, Idaho, as Julia Jean Turner, she moved with her family to sunny southern California when still a child.  No, she wasn't discovered at Schwab's Drug Store, but at a small cafe near Hollywood High School.  The rewards of skipping class.  She made a lot of movies in her career, and by any standard  was a successful actress.  A lot of those films were good movies and a couple have withstood the test of time.  Most notably, The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), and Imitation of Life (1959).  Unlike a lot of glamour girls, Turner could act, and while the parts disappeared as she aged, she never officially retired.  Eventually she would make her way to television and make a notable turn on the night time soap, Falcon Crest.  Her last movie was Thwarted, a low budget film made in Florida.  It was made in 1991, just a few years before her death in 1995.

Lana Turner also had an adventurous private life, going through seven husbands, and more than a few lovers.   To put it mildly, she didn't always make the best choices.  There were husbands that hadn't gotten around to divorcing previous wives.  Physically abusive husbands, including one, actor Lex Barker, who was alleged to have  raped Lana's teen aged daughter, Cheryl Crane.  And then there was boyfriend, Johnny Stomponato.  Stomponato was a gangster and member of the Mickey Cohen crime family.  Lana and Johnny took up  in 1957.  Lana tried to break things off, but Johnny Stomponato wasn't the type of man to leave when asked.  In 1957, Lana took a part in a movie being made in England, Another Time, Another Place, opposite a young Sean Connery.  Johnny followed her to England and  confronted Connery with a gun.  Sean Connery decked Stomponato with one punch, disarmed him, and turned him over to the police.  When Lana Turner returned to Hollywood, Johnny Stomponato was waiting for her.  And then he was dead, stabbed to death in Lana Turner's house.  The official story is that Stomponato was beating her and that Lana's daughter, Cheryl, stabbed Stomponato, defending her mother's life.  But of course, it's a Hollywood story, so there are rumors of murky cover-ups.  The most popular is that Lana and Johnny had reconciled, that things had gotten rough, and that Lana did the stabbing, and that after consultation with studio lawyers and publicity men, it was decided that Cheryl should take the blame to save her mother's career.  In 1958, the  DA decided that Cheryl Crane's actions were justified and no charges were filed.

The Fall of the House of Usher

No mystery on this one. I used to work at a photo lab, I owned a 16mm copy of the 1928 silent, experimental film, The fall of the House of Usher, directed by James Sibley Watson, and Melville Webber. I made a inter-neg from one of the frames, and this print. The lady is Hildegarde Watson, as Madeline Usher.

Who Was Marina Marshal?

This is one of those really frustrating collections. Clearly this woman had some level of success in the theater, but I'm unable to get any real information on her. The two photos that appear to be the oldest, show her in a train compartment. On the back is written, "Mary Shuck Arnahenstr 15/I Muenchen." Checking http://www.imdb.com/ I found a listing for a film from 1937, Die Stimme des Herzens, with a Mary Shuk as a cast member in a very small part. The film was produced by Bavaria Films, and of course, Munich is in Bavaria. And that's as close as I've come to any real info, and it might not even be the same person. Most of these photos have German language stamps on the backs. There are some images of Marina Marshal AKA Mary Shuck where she is wearing a pin striped pants outfit that are stamped "Copyright Presse J Hustrationen ( ) Berlin SW G8, Kochstrasse 10 Tel. 19 6508-3" On the back of the one where she is standing in a group and shaking hands has, hand written on the back, and in English, "Marina Marshal as Diana in "French Without Tears" 49 West 11th St. NYC Gramercy 5-9259." French Without Tears was written by Terrance Rattigan and first produced in the late 1930's. The photo where she is sitting in the Tuxedo wearing gentleman's lap has, hand written on the back, "Marina Marshal in The Circle by Somerset Maugham" with the same address and telephone number. Also a sticker that reads, "THE CREDIT LINE MUST NOT BE OMITTED ALTERED OR ABBREVIATED ATLAS PHOTOS This photograph is released for one reproduction only and must not be used for trade or advertising purposes, copied, loaned, or syndicated without written permission. ATLAS PHOTOS 45 WEST 46TH ST. NEW YORK CITY" I did find The Circle on http://www.ibdb.com/ from a 1937-38 Broadway production, but Marina Marshal is not listed in the credits, and in any case, it seems she was still in Germany at the time. Most of the other theatrical pictures have stamped on the back, "Foto-Schreyer, Berlin -Steglitz Zimmermannstr. 12, Telephon G2 Steglitz 1243" On the shot of her standing, wearing furs, stamped on the back of the picture, "VERVIELFALTIGUNG NUR MIT ANGABE ANTON SAHM MUNCHEN COPYRIGHT BY ANTON SAHM, MUNCHEN." Sahm was a successful German studio photographer. I've found a nude by him, entitled "Sitzender Akt" dated 1925 that has a resemblance, though as a profile it's hard to be certain, of Marina. Written on the back of the photo of Marina in the long dress, with her leaning on a cabinet, hand written on the back, "Marina Marshal 127 W. 52nd St. NYC CO5-8981. Size 12 wt. 115 Ht 5'8" Reddish brown hair. Grey-green eyes." So, it seems that a German actress, with a fairly successful career on the German stage ended up in the United States, possibly before or after the Second World War. With no credits on either imdb or ibdb, at least not under the name Marina Marshal, it doesn't look like she had much luck in the United States. And did the name change come before or after she ended up in America? Lots of questions, and no answers.

Hollywood Dwarfs

From the days when I worked at the photo lab. The original, the sepia toned print, is a small 4X5 theatrical print of a dwarf act. I put it up on a copy camera, made a negative, and then made the black and white print, also posted here. The image is credited to Peralta. Fed them name into Google, and couldn't find anything helpful.

John E. Reed Hollywood Glamour

Young actresses, desperate to make it in the movies, have been commissioning glamour photos, to show how sexy they are to casting directors, since the silent era.

John E. Reed was a Hollywood photographer who specialized in this type of photography. While a fair number of the famous walked through his studio doors, plenty of hopefuls, like this young lady, also had their pictures taken by Reed. It looks like, from the hair styles, that these were taken in the 1940s. The war era, would be my best guess. The last photo of the lot wasn't taken by Reed, but it came with the others, so I've included it. In that image, taken in a night club, the woman looks a little tired, whether from a late night, or a career that wasn't going anywhere...hard to tell.

If anyone out there can identify this woman, please leave a comment.