September 12, 2025 • 19 mins
Forgotten Hollywood is on Facebook.
Forgotten Hollywood Reference book series on Amazon.
Doug Hes is the Creator/Producer/Host of the show.
Thank you guest Author Bernard D Dick
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Doug Hes is the Creator/Producer/Host of the show.
Thank you guest Author Bernard D Dick
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Let's go bye Forgotten Hollywood. We don't forget what Forgotten Hollywood.
You'll remember Forgotten Hollywood where we came from. Forgotten Hollwood.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hello everyone, and welcome to Forgotten Hollywood, your podcasts and
memories of Yesteryear. My name is Doug Hasse and if
you're tuning in Forgotten Hollywood for the first time, what
I do on this podcast is take you on a
journey back in time and share with you pieces of
Hollywood that you may or may not know about. And
in this episode we have Bernard Bernard F. Dick, and
(00:49):
he is here to talk about his book Hollywood Madonna
Loretta Young. Bernard, Welcome to Forgotten Hollywood.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Well, Bernard, like I said, thank you for spending some
time with us today to talk about your book regarding
Loretta Young. And what we always do with our authors
is to allow them to start off by maybe giving
a quick overview of what the book's about.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Well met his life actually from her birth to her dad.
It was very She was very unusual in the sense
that her career as a the child star, I should say,
started when she was four. It was played by accident
(01:39):
because she was living there with her mother, mother's brother
in law who was working then and there about pictures.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Well, at the time it was called.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Last Game and they needed a child and a movie.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Called Sirens of to see and.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Loretta was asked to just go before the camera and
get ridsk job and to see him. And of course
we did one day shooting a cat Riva Island and
that's really how she began.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yeah, absolutely, and she had a long career. Sometimes when
you have what I'm going to say, as a child actor,
sometimes they you know, they grow up, they mature a
little bit, and sometimes they're just not fit for the camera.
But that wasn't really true for her. She had a
very long and distinct career in Hollywood.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yes, it went from nineteen seventeen to a very last
movie in Hollywood, which was in nineteen fifty three.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
But then she went on to another life.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
On television with The Loretta Young.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Show, and that was extremely popular.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
And he went from ninety fifty nineteen sixty one. She
tried to revive it the following year, but the.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Nearly lasted first season.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
But still in all was a very very.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Long career, yes, and it's not something that is for everyone.
Not everybody that starts your career in Hollywood can say
that they can last as long as she did. And
she was able to kind of weather the storm for
lack of a better word.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yes, And also Toll was a very devouted Roman catholy right,
I was opposed to a great problem when she went
off to make called Wild nine thirty five, and that
was with.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Clark Gable, uh huh.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
And you know, lo Red ain't been.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Married before that.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
She was married at seventeen to Grant new Withers. But
you know that actually ended in divorce, but it was
civil divorced because she was married with.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
A child, and it's what she could know about.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
That was no problem as far as the Catholic.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Church was concerned.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
But there was a problem where she was shooting called
the Wild because Loretta just became very enamored of Clark
a bar He was very aggressive towards her, and one
thing led to another that resulted in Loretta's pregnancy. But
(04:26):
in nineteen thirty five, you know, if you were an
unwed mother, I mean your career was over. The scenario
was very very well orchestrated.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
By a doctor, I mean wrots.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Her hollering, he had very un connections with the archdiotis
of Los Angeles, and with the help of Gladys, with
the help of Loretta's mother, Gladys Lettuce found a place
for them to have The baby was in Venice, which
(05:06):
was pretty seedy at this time, I'm going to very upscale.
And she delivered a child, and the scenario got a
little complicated.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Because what is she going to do with her child?
She wanted to name.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Judas well, Hold discovered a orphanage in not in Los Angeles,
because you know, there wouldn't be too obvious, san Francisco.
So in San Francisco, the child, Judy was placed in
an orphanage and Loretta was able to adopt the child.
(05:48):
Judy became not only Loretta's legitimate child or legit could
you look at it, but also her adopted job. But
you see, the scenario gets even more complex because Loretta
thought to herself or somebody.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Voted for.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
It might be a little better if she adopted two children. Uh,
and that's what press was given. Loretta was adopting two children,
both named. Both have said that they was beginning with Jay,
Judas and June. You know, obviously the Retta was not
(06:30):
going to keep both of them. She was voted, of course,
you know, for the press, and Loretta was put in
the situation of a conflicted mother, particularly when supposed to
bed June and or some reality have there, there are
(06:53):
two versions of the story. Decided she wanted June back,
which means Loretta had only one child to have to
worry about, So Julian became the child. June went off too,
if June even existed.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
I went off with some relative and Loretta was able
to adopt.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Her own daughter, you know, And I know that sounds good.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Kind of woman's picture. Yeah, I mean you wellmost see
it him in nineteen.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Thirties and forty but how fitting for something like that
in Hollywood. You know, It's almost like a movie within itself.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Yes, it was the same thing about it as Loretta
appeared and rough looks radio theater version of the Great
Live of Benny Davis movie of nineteen forty one with
Betty and Mary Aska and you have almost the same
situation there, Maryster and Betty I'm bout in love with
George Bridge. Mary is George, but her divorce hasn't gone
(08:06):
through yet. In the meantime, George disappears in the Joggles
him South America. Mary is left with a child on
the way, and Betty, in her magnanimous petition, manages to
deliver the child. They go off to Arizona and is
(08:27):
this windswept community, and she delivers the child. Mary goes
on to a concert career. But then when George.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Brad returns after the last.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Forgot knows how long, Mary decides she wants the child back.
So you know, Betty is now in a situation to me,
to readers, what am I going to do? I'm going
to have to give up my child to the mother,
even though.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
I have for a pectical purposes.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
And the mother well, of course Mary.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Besides that, she says, at the end.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Of the building, the child goes with the mother and
Mary starts banging away into.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Piano and that's the end of the movie.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
It was amazing that Loretta appeared in a lux radio
theater version of the Grade Line, and I was wondering,
you know, what's.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
This situation going through her mind?
Speaker 1 (09:26):
God, did guy do something like this?
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Did I make this movie?
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Well, of course he made it.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
It was a real life situation.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Yeah, you know, like I said, only in Hollywood with
something like that developed the way it did.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
It is Hollywood could can they get away with it too?
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Wouldn't do it?
Speaker 1 (09:47):
I mean, look what happened to a good birth been
in nineteen sixty when she bore a child to Rebert
to wrestling me.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
I mean she did now on the floor of the sentence, right.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
No, that's a great point. That that is a great point.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
No, Bernard.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
You know we see Loretta in her movies. What was
she like off screen?
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Well, off screen she was brothert Russell. I used to
call her mother superior. I mean, yeah, there was a colony.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Of Catholics in Hollywood.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Loretta, of course, Rosood, Russell, Irene Done.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
And Ready used to raise four retreats.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
For herself and Russell and Irene Done. I mean they
were they were Ready insistent really that they they should
all become exempleary Catholics.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
And they went to Mass and the Church of the
Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Uh. And you know that was that was her whole life.
I mean, there was there was Ready Young, and there
was Gretchen Young. Gretchen before she became Loretta Young.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
She wasna.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
The reason why the name was changed was because the
actor was calling Moore had a doll by the name
of Loretta, and when she looked at the rad season
Theretta looks exactly like my doll. So that's how Regge
became the retio. Wow.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Wow, just just incredible. But to bring your research and
writing of this book, what surprised you, Well.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
What surprissed me? First of all with the number of
free code films Thearetta made. I mean, you know, when
she was a star, and not by nineteen thirty, but
I mean in movies like Big Night Barry and part
of Big Business Girl, and particularly Life Begins, which I
(11:52):
think was nineteen thirty one then nineteen thirty two and
which you played.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Willan hucdd murder.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
And she's now pregnant and she's given the choice. You know,
you could have the child by sea section or you
could have an abortion. But if you have the abortion,
at least you will be able to live. If you
have the child by sea section, you're going to die.
And she chooses death.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Well, interesting night Mary.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
She played a gun mall's mistress and she ended up
killing the the gunman to protect the life of the
lawyer played by Franchise Town. So she was playing pretty
racy movies thirty most racy movies in those days, but
(12:45):
they didn't bother even people like Rossllin Russell, I mean
Robin Russell, who was an agen Barry cap They've made
Auntie made, which is pretty racy stuff.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Right.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Did she have a favorite movie a movie that she
thought was maybe a little unappreciated by the by the audience,
but was kind of soft she loved.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
I'm sure she loved playing and making Come to the
Stable and forty.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
I think she played a nun right. And she was
also in the Bishop's Wife, where she played the farmer's daughter.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Uh huh Russ and Russell. Only everybody know what's going
to play for Morning becomes electrep.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
That was a sure shoe in for that award that night. Yeah, yeah, Now,
in your opinion, I'm sure that you've had you watch
a lot of these films. Is there a film that
you watched or you did some research on that you
think is kind of forgotten by by the by the
(13:52):
public that they should at least watch or attempt to watch.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Well, my friends, Michael act will do any young I
go way back. I grew up during the nineteen forties
in nineteen forty three for me, and I remember very
vividly was a very scary year since we didn't go
which way.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
The war was great to get and.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Some of those movies were like Behind the Rising Sun,
so probably we held by habit the can of the correctator.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
They made.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
All these movies were really for me as a child,
absolutely the frighting. But one of the most writing films
I ever saw, and it's never shown, is a movie
Paramount Shield with Loretta and Alan Ladd called China China.
(14:47):
Loretta plays a America who had to bring her some
female students back to their university, and she can't do
by herself since she gets Alan lad to help her
one of the students. Besides that, she wants to go
home before going back to the university, so she does. However,
(15:11):
when she gets home, there is a motorcade with Japanese
soldiers in it and they follow her.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Into the house.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Now we don't know any what's going to happen. Loretta
becomes very.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Concerned about the fact that the girls, to Re's heart,
they go to the house.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
And there's a rape taking place and it is a
gang rape. All you see is Loretta goes into the
house and she sees what's happening. Alan Lad kills the.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Rapists or the rapists.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Loretta takes her french coat off, and you know, she
only wears one posture throughout the whole movie, and that's
a trench coat and a half.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
She throws it over the girl.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
But you don't see anything.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Know what rape was?
Speaker 1 (16:03):
I was so Addison's in fighting. Worse is the girl
dies from it, and on her death bed Loretta resides the.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Twenty third song. Wow.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Yeah, there was a connection obviously between.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
The rape and the death.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Sure, but you know the Marvel was thinking about these
movies in those days. You had to make the connection yourself, right,
And I'm too young to make the connection, but I
knew that's the city death.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Was the result of what had happened on to me
in the bedroom.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Uh yeah, Bernard. How was she on the movie set?
How was Loretta on the movie set? I assume she
was very professional.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Oh, she wasn't a city professional. But you know, she
had her hours, and you know, she didn't work after
I think five o'park, but you know she started something
like eight in.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
The morning, right, and you know, and uh, that's one
thing about the Golden era with these actors and actresses
that I have always found is, you know, they they
were professional, they were on time. They expected you to
know their lines because they had rehearsed and knew their
lines from the night before, and they expected that from
(17:20):
from everybody else. And sometimes I just don't get that
same feeling the way Hollywood is today.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Well, can you understand the dialogue welling difficulty understanding what
they're saying? Yeah, they no respect for theretten word?
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Wait when you you look at well.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Men like Jimmy Edwardie Robinson. My thought, but they spoke in.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Chicago and you understood every word that they were saying.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
No, I totally agree with what you're saying there. And
uh ah, how the times have changed and not necessarily
for the better.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Really cool.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
And I'm doing any program like gordmind people that they're
one of Golden Age.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Oh, absolutely absolutely. And we appreciate authors like yourself that
are constantly writing and you know, digging and uh getting
the word out. And I'm happy just to be a
small part of that. I think authors like yourself are
the ones that do really a lot of the heavy lifting.
(18:32):
So without you, what I do wouldn't be possible, So
thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Well anybody you knew and bringing it to about audience.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
True, absolutely, absolutely, and I think working together is great.
I also want to say a special shout out to
your publisher, University Press and Mississippi for printing this and Bernardo.
I know we're here out of time, but I want
to say thank you again for coming on and talking
a little bit about your book. And for our listeners,
(19:04):
please go out and get a copy of Hollywood Madonna
Loretta Young. You can purchase it out there at the
University of Press and Mississippi or wherever you buy your books,
Amazon and bookstores. H we just touched the tip of
the iceberg. Bernard does a wonderful job of diving into
the life of Loretta Young, and we appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Thank you, Thank you for having me on.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Thank you, and thank you for listening to this episode
of Forgotten in Hollywood. Your search for Doug keaster Forgotten
in Hollywood. You can also find me on Twitter on
Instagram at has Doug fourteen. If you listen to this
podcast on iTunes or another podcast service, please subscribe, rate
and review this episode, and tune in next week for
the latest episode of Forgotten Hollywood. Thank you for listening
and we will see you then.
Let's go bye Forgotten Hollywood. We don't forget what Forgotten Hollywood.
You'll remember Forgotten Hollywood where we came from. Forgotten Hollwood.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hello everyone, and welcome to Forgotten Hollywood, your podcasts and
memories of Yesteryear. My name is Doug Hasse and if
you're tuning in Forgotten Hollywood for the first time, what
I do on this podcast is take you on a
journey back in time and share with you pieces of
Hollywood that you may or may not know about. And
in this episode we have Bernard Bernard F. Dick, and
(00:49):
he is here to talk about his book Hollywood Madonna
Loretta Young. Bernard, Welcome to Forgotten Hollywood.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Well, Bernard, like I said, thank you for spending some
time with us today to talk about your book regarding
Loretta Young. And what we always do with our authors
is to allow them to start off by maybe giving
a quick overview of what the book's about.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Well met his life actually from her birth to her dad.
It was very She was very unusual in the sense
that her career as a the child star, I should say,
started when she was four. It was played by accident
(01:39):
because she was living there with her mother, mother's brother
in law who was working then and there about pictures.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
Well, at the time it was called.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Last Game and they needed a child and a movie.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Called Sirens of to see and.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Loretta was asked to just go before the camera and
get ridsk job and to see him. And of course
we did one day shooting a cat Riva Island and
that's really how she began.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yeah, absolutely, and she had a long career. Sometimes when
you have what I'm going to say, as a child actor,
sometimes they you know, they grow up, they mature a
little bit, and sometimes they're just not fit for the camera.
But that wasn't really true for her. She had a
very long and distinct career in Hollywood.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Yes, it went from nineteen seventeen to a very last
movie in Hollywood, which was in nineteen fifty three.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
But then she went on to another life.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
On television with The Loretta Young.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
Show, and that was extremely popular.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
And he went from ninety fifty nineteen sixty one. She
tried to revive it the following year, but the.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
Nearly lasted first season.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
But still in all was a very very.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
Long career, yes, and it's not something that is for everyone.
Not everybody that starts your career in Hollywood can say
that they can last as long as she did. And
she was able to kind of weather the storm for
lack of a better word.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yes, And also Toll was a very devouted Roman catholy right,
I was opposed to a great problem when she went
off to make called Wild nine thirty five, and that
was with.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Clark Gable, uh huh.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
And you know, lo Red ain't been.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
Married before that.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
She was married at seventeen to Grant new Withers. But
you know that actually ended in divorce, but it was
civil divorced because she was married with.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
A child, and it's what she could know about.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
That was no problem as far as the Catholic.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Church was concerned.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
But there was a problem where she was shooting called
the Wild because Loretta just became very enamored of Clark
a bar He was very aggressive towards her, and one
thing led to another that resulted in Loretta's pregnancy. But
(04:26):
in nineteen thirty five, you know, if you were an
unwed mother, I mean your career was over. The scenario
was very very well orchestrated.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
By a doctor, I mean wrots.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Her hollering, he had very un connections with the archdiotis
of Los Angeles, and with the help of Gladys, with
the help of Loretta's mother, Gladys Lettuce found a place
for them to have The baby was in Venice, which
(05:06):
was pretty seedy at this time, I'm going to very upscale.
And she delivered a child, and the scenario got a
little complicated.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Because what is she going to do with her child?
She wanted to name.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Judas well, Hold discovered a orphanage in not in Los Angeles,
because you know, there wouldn't be too obvious, san Francisco.
So in San Francisco, the child, Judy was placed in
an orphanage and Loretta was able to adopt the child.
(05:48):
Judy became not only Loretta's legitimate child or legit could
you look at it, but also her adopted job. But
you see, the scenario gets even more complex because Loretta
thought to herself or somebody.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Voted for.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
It might be a little better if she adopted two children. Uh,
and that's what press was given. Loretta was adopting two children,
both named. Both have said that they was beginning with Jay,
Judas and June. You know, obviously the Retta was not
(06:30):
going to keep both of them. She was voted, of course,
you know, for the press, and Loretta was put in
the situation of a conflicted mother, particularly when supposed to
bed June and or some reality have there, there are
(06:53):
two versions of the story. Decided she wanted June back,
which means Loretta had only one child to have to
worry about, So Julian became the child. June went off too,
if June even existed.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
I went off with some relative and Loretta was able
to adopt.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Her own daughter, you know, And I know that sounds good.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Kind of woman's picture. Yeah, I mean you wellmost see
it him in nineteen.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Thirties and forty but how fitting for something like that
in Hollywood. You know, It's almost like a movie within itself.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Yes, it was the same thing about it as Loretta
appeared and rough looks radio theater version of the Great
Live of Benny Davis movie of nineteen forty one with
Betty and Mary Aska and you have almost the same
situation there, Maryster and Betty I'm bout in love with
George Bridge. Mary is George, but her divorce hasn't gone
(08:06):
through yet. In the meantime, George disappears in the Joggles
him South America. Mary is left with a child on
the way, and Betty, in her magnanimous petition, manages to
deliver the child. They go off to Arizona and is
(08:27):
this windswept community, and she delivers the child. Mary goes
on to a concert career. But then when George.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Brad returns after the last.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Forgot knows how long, Mary decides she wants the child back.
So you know, Betty is now in a situation to me,
to readers, what am I going to do? I'm going
to have to give up my child to the mother,
even though.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
I have for a pectical purposes.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
And the mother well, of course Mary.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Besides that, she says, at the end.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Of the building, the child goes with the mother and
Mary starts banging away into.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Piano and that's the end of the movie.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
It was amazing that Loretta appeared in a lux radio
theater version of the Grade Line, and I was wondering,
you know, what's.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
This situation going through her mind?
Speaker 1 (09:26):
God, did guy do something like this?
Speaker 3 (09:29):
Did I make this movie?
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Well, of course he made it.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
It was a real life situation.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Yeah, you know, like I said, only in Hollywood with
something like that developed the way it did.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
It is Hollywood could can they get away with it too?
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Wouldn't do it?
Speaker 1 (09:47):
I mean, look what happened to a good birth been
in nineteen sixty when she bore a child to Rebert
to wrestling me.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
I mean she did now on the floor of the sentence, right.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
No, that's a great point. That that is a great point.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
No, Bernard.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
You know we see Loretta in her movies. What was
she like off screen?
Speaker 1 (10:08):
Well, off screen she was brothert Russell. I used to
call her mother superior. I mean, yeah, there was a colony.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Of Catholics in Hollywood.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Loretta, of course, Rosood, Russell, Irene Done.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
And Ready used to raise four retreats.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
For herself and Russell and Irene Done. I mean they
were they were Ready insistent really that they they should
all become exempleary Catholics.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
And they went to Mass and the Church of the
Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills.
Speaker 1 (10:45):
Uh. And you know that was that was her whole life.
I mean, there was there was Ready Young, and there
was Gretchen Young. Gretchen before she became Loretta Young.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
She wasna.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
The reason why the name was changed was because the
actor was calling Moore had a doll by the name
of Loretta, and when she looked at the rad season
Theretta looks exactly like my doll. So that's how Regge
became the retio. Wow.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Wow, just just incredible. But to bring your research and
writing of this book, what surprised you, Well.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
What surprissed me? First of all with the number of
free code films Thearetta made. I mean, you know, when
she was a star, and not by nineteen thirty, but
I mean in movies like Big Night Barry and part
of Big Business Girl, and particularly Life Begins, which I
(11:52):
think was nineteen thirty one then nineteen thirty two and
which you played.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Willan hucdd murder.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
And she's now pregnant and she's given the choice. You know,
you could have the child by sea section or you
could have an abortion. But if you have the abortion,
at least you will be able to live. If you
have the child by sea section, you're going to die.
And she chooses death.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Well, interesting night Mary.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
She played a gun mall's mistress and she ended up
killing the the gunman to protect the life of the
lawyer played by Franchise Town. So she was playing pretty
racy movies thirty most racy movies in those days, but
(12:45):
they didn't bother even people like Rossllin Russell, I mean
Robin Russell, who was an agen Barry cap They've made
Auntie made, which is pretty racy stuff.
Speaker 3 (12:56):
Right.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Did she have a favorite movie a movie that she
thought was maybe a little unappreciated by the by the audience,
but was kind of soft she loved.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
I'm sure she loved playing and making Come to the
Stable and forty.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
I think she played a nun right. And she was
also in the Bishop's Wife, where she played the farmer's daughter.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
Uh huh Russ and Russell. Only everybody know what's going
to play for Morning becomes electrep.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
That was a sure shoe in for that award that night. Yeah, yeah, Now,
in your opinion, I'm sure that you've had you watch
a lot of these films. Is there a film that
you watched or you did some research on that you
think is kind of forgotten by by the by the
(13:52):
public that they should at least watch or attempt to watch.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Well, my friends, Michael act will do any young I
go way back. I grew up during the nineteen forties
in nineteen forty three for me, and I remember very
vividly was a very scary year since we didn't go
which way.
Speaker 3 (14:12):
The war was great to get and.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Some of those movies were like Behind the Rising Sun,
so probably we held by habit the can of the correctator.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
They made.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
All these movies were really for me as a child,
absolutely the frighting. But one of the most writing films
I ever saw, and it's never shown, is a movie
Paramount Shield with Loretta and Alan Ladd called China China.
(14:47):
Loretta plays a America who had to bring her some
female students back to their university, and she can't do
by herself since she gets Alan lad to help her
one of the students. Besides that, she wants to go
home before going back to the university, so she does. However,
(15:11):
when she gets home, there is a motorcade with Japanese
soldiers in it and they follow her.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Into the house.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Now we don't know any what's going to happen. Loretta
becomes very.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Concerned about the fact that the girls, to Re's heart,
they go to the house.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
And there's a rape taking place and it is a
gang rape. All you see is Loretta goes into the
house and she sees what's happening. Alan Lad kills the.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Rapists or the rapists.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Loretta takes her french coat off, and you know, she
only wears one posture throughout the whole movie, and that's
a trench coat and a half.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
She throws it over the girl.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
But you don't see anything.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Know what rape was?
Speaker 1 (16:03):
I was so Addison's in fighting. Worse is the girl
dies from it, and on her death bed Loretta resides the.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Twenty third song. Wow.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Yeah, there was a connection obviously between.
Speaker 3 (16:18):
The rape and the death.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Sure, but you know the Marvel was thinking about these
movies in those days. You had to make the connection yourself, right,
And I'm too young to make the connection, but I
knew that's the city death.
Speaker 3 (16:35):
Was the result of what had happened on to me
in the bedroom.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Uh yeah, Bernard. How was she on the movie set?
How was Loretta on the movie set? I assume she
was very professional.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
Oh, she wasn't a city professional. But you know, she
had her hours, and you know, she didn't work after
I think five o'park, but you know she started something
like eight in.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
The morning, right, and you know, and uh, that's one
thing about the Golden era with these actors and actresses
that I have always found is, you know, they they
were professional, they were on time. They expected you to
know their lines because they had rehearsed and knew their
lines from the night before, and they expected that from
(17:20):
from everybody else. And sometimes I just don't get that
same feeling the way Hollywood is today.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Well, can you understand the dialogue welling difficulty understanding what
they're saying? Yeah, they no respect for theretten word?
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Right.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Wait when you you look at well.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
Men like Jimmy Edwardie Robinson. My thought, but they spoke in.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Chicago and you understood every word that they were saying.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
No, I totally agree with what you're saying there. And
uh ah, how the times have changed and not necessarily
for the better.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Really cool.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
And I'm doing any program like gordmind people that they're
one of Golden Age.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Oh, absolutely absolutely. And we appreciate authors like yourself that
are constantly writing and you know, digging and uh getting
the word out. And I'm happy just to be a
small part of that. I think authors like yourself are
the ones that do really a lot of the heavy lifting.
(18:32):
So without you, what I do wouldn't be possible, So
thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Well anybody you knew and bringing it to about audience.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
True, absolutely, absolutely, and I think working together is great.
I also want to say a special shout out to
your publisher, University Press and Mississippi for printing this and Bernardo.
I know we're here out of time, but I want
to say thank you again for coming on and talking
a little bit about your book. And for our listeners,
(19:04):
please go out and get a copy of Hollywood Madonna
Loretta Young. You can purchase it out there at the
University of Press and Mississippi or wherever you buy your books,
Amazon and bookstores. H we just touched the tip of
the iceberg. Bernard does a wonderful job of diving into
the life of Loretta Young, and we appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (19:26):
Thank you, Thank you for having me on.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Thank you, and thank you for listening to this episode
of Forgotten in Hollywood. Your search for Doug keaster Forgotten
in Hollywood. You can also find me on Twitter on
Instagram at has Doug fourteen. If you listen to this
podcast on iTunes or another podcast service, please subscribe, rate
and review this episode, and tune in next week for
the latest episode of Forgotten Hollywood. Thank you for listening
and we will see you then.
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