Lana Turner as Star (Lecture)

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Born 1921, died 1995.

1 Polysemy

Polysemy

Ordinariness

Enduring Hollywood myth: Discovery at Schwabb’s drugstore
- Suggests that any ordinary person can become a star.
- Turner qualifies the myth; it was really the Top Hat Malt Shop
  - Discovered by Billy Wilkerson, of the Hollywood Reporter
- Hired by MGM
  - The studio manufactured a family background (promotion)
    - That her father was a wealthy mining engineer
    - Later it was revealed that (publicity) her father was a gambler, murdered by friends, when she was 10.

Glamor

Turner’s image emphasizes transition from ordinary to glamorous.
- The manufacturer of her image is not concealed, unlike "natural" beauty (e.g., Natalie Portman).
  - False eyebrows
  - Bleached blond hair
  - High-fashion clothes
  - Make-up
    - She traveled from film to film with her own make-up crew (see in The Bad and the Beautiful):
      - Del Armstrong – make-up
      - Helen Young – hair

Romance, marriage

Seven marriages
- Signifies her as a hopeless romantic (i.e., drawn to bad or unattainable men).
1. Artie Shaw
  - Musician
  - Married in Las Vegas, after knowing each other just a few days.
  - Divorced 6 months later
  - She had an abortion, which was not publicly revealed until much later.
2. Stephen Crane
  - Restaurateur
  - Married 1942/1943
  - Had her only child with him — daughter Cheryl Crane (born 1943).
3. Bob Topping
  - Wealthy jet-setter
  - Married 1948
  - Divorced him, claiming adultery.
4. Lex Barker
  - Actor (“Tarzan”)
  - Married in 1953/divorced 1957
  - Had stillborn child — not publicly revealed until later.
    - Connotes "problems" with motherhood.
5. Fred May
  - Married from 1960 to 1962.
  - He raised horses in the country. She had simple, bucolic life with him; which she eventually became dissatisfied with.
6. Robert Eaton
  - Married from 1965 to 1969.
  - Divorced for adultery
7. "Dr" Ron Dante
  - Nightclub hypnotist
  - Deserted her after 6 months, taking thousands of dollars with him.
  - Married from 1969 to 1972.
Numerous romances/affairs were seen in her publicly available private life.
- Tyrone Power
  - Actor
  - Married
  - Turner proclaimed him the "love of her life" in her autobiography.
  - Typical of the unattainable men to which she was drawn.
- Johnny Stompanato
  - Affair began in 1957, just two years before Imitation of Life (1959)
  - Tempestuous relationship, with many fights and break-ups.
  - 4 April 1958: Stompanato's murder
    - Cheryl (then 14) heard arguing
    - Got a knife from the kitchen
    - Went to their bedroom
    - He lunged at her, she stabbed him one time
    - At coroner's inquest, she was cleared: justifiable homicide
  - Cheryl was removed from Lana’s custody, as she was judged to be an unfit mother.
    - She was placed with Turner’s mother
  - At this time, her publicity represents Turner as a bad mother
    - But despite negative publicity:
      - Imitation of Life is a huge success.
      - Sympathy for her maintained
      - She is perhaps seen as victim?

Sexuality

Well-known sex symbol
Began with her image as the "Sweater Girl"
- Rooted in 1937’s They Won’t Forget, in which she plays a young woman in a Southern town who is raped and killed.
- A walk down the street in a tight-fitting sweater established her sexuality.
- Ordinariness connoted through sweater
During World War II (1941-45)
- She was a major pin-up figure
Following the War, her sexuality took a dark turn.
- E.g., in 1946’s The Postman Always Rings Twice
- She plays a devious femme fatale in this film noir.