Myrna Loy (66 page)

11. “obviously a curtain”:
Variety
, July 5, 1925.

12. “were supposed to look”: ML, quoted in Ardmore, “Myrna Loy Brings Excitement,” 10; “I remember how”: ML, quoted in Hall, “The Truth about the Mysterious Miss Loy,” Part 2, n.p.; “more willpower”: ML, quoted in Chandler,
Not the Girl Next Door
, 40.

13. “Joan Crawford used to ask”: ML, quoted in Hall, “The Truth about the Mysterious Miss Loy,” n.p.

14. “a parasite”: Crawford, quoted in Newquist,
Conversations with Joan Crawford
, 32; Crawford’s early life: Crawford,
A Portrait of Joan;
Houston,
Jazz Baby
.

15. Rambova’s private life: Emily W. Leider,
Dark Lover
, chap. 17.

16. “She told me”: ML, quoted in Moak, “The Girl Hollywood Couldn’t Beat,” 25.

17. “a rather adroit”: Mrs. Valentino’s New Picture,”
LA Times
, June 24, 1925.

18. “She slanted”: ML, quoted in Hall, “The Truth about the Mysterious Miss Loy,” Part 2, n.p.

19. “There’s a great buzzing”: review of
What Price Beauty, Motion Picture
, Sept. 1925, 35.

20. “He told me”: ML, quoted in Hall, “The Truth about the Mysterious Miss Loy,” Part 2, n.p.; sound poet: ML, quoted in Barthel, “Quartet of Queens”; “to float”: ML to James Day on WNET-TV’s
Day at Night
, Jan. 17, 1974.

21. “the girl who”: ML, quoted in Hall, “The Truth about the Mysterious Miss Loy,” Part 2, n.p.

5. WARNER BROS.’ EXOTIC VIXEN

1. “tall and thin”: quoted in Young, “Interview by Robert Gitt and Anthony Slide,” 2–3; murdered Flint in court:
LA Times
, July 18, 1930.

2. “Myrna Loy has been signed”: “Presenting the Cinema Debutante,”
LA Times
, Sept. 27, 1925; Rambova’s “entire life”: Ed Sullivan,
New York Sunday News
, July 23, 1939.

3. “a kind of halo”: ML, quoted in Rubin, “Jay Rubin Interviews Myrna Loy,” 4.

4. “Myrna Loy never looks”:
LA Times
, April 10, 1927.

5. “Myrna Loy is a revelation”: Edwin Schallert, “War Film a Hit Uptown,”
LA Times
, Oct. 4, 1926.

6. “where crime”:
Crimson City
trailer, Library of Congress—Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division; “Nobody thought of me”: ML, quoted by Rex Reed,
New York Times
, April 13, 1969.

7. “the most beautiful figure”: “Girls Who Are Good at Figures,”
Photoplay
, Nov. 1925, 56–57.

8. It spent roughly half: Glancy, “Warner Bros. Film Grosses, 1921–1951,” 56; Warners contracts: ML legal files, 1925–29, Warner Bros. Archive, University of Southern California.

9. drilled holes: Harris,
The Zanucks of Hollywood
, 29.

10. “about cheating”:
Variety
, Oct. 31, 1928; “I’m on the other side”: ML, quoted in
LA Times
, Sept. 23, 1928; “Myrna Loy, with her exotic”:
Variety
, Sept. 5, 1928; “the dual”: Mayo, quoted in
Washington Post
, Oct. 13, 1928; “caviar”: Delight Evans, quoted in Carr,
More Fabulous Faces
, 62.

11. “one of the best”:
Variety
, March 3, 1926.

12. “A Stupendous”: ad in
Jamestown Post
, July 25, 1928.

13. Barrymore came to Warners: Kobler,
Damned in Paradise
, 202; Mary Astor: Astor,
A Life on Film
, 45–46.

14. goosed by a buzzer: Stuart and Thompson,
I Just Keep Hoping
, 42.

15. “sets were dark”: Astor,
A Life on Film
, 48.

16. “slinking around”: Loy, “Reminiscences of Myrna Loy,” 1423;
Life
, Aug. 26, 1926, n.p.

17. “Vitaphone Stirs”:
New York Times
, Aug. 7, 1926; “Vitaphone Bow”:
Variety
, Aug. 11, 1926;
Don Juan
grosses: Glancy, “Warner Bros. Film Grosses, 1921–1951,” 56.

18.
Don Juan
premiere in Hollywood:
LA Times
, Aug. 20, 23, 1926.

19. “Who the hell”: quoted in Warner and Jennings,
My First Hundred Years in Hollywood
, 168.

20. Jolson had uttered: Custen,
Twentieth Century’s Fox
, 93.

21. “I have no fear”: Parsons, quoted in Francisco,
Gentleman
, 52.

22. “Articulate films”:
Variety
, Jan. 2, 1929; “It was impossible”: Mohr, “Reminiscences,” 72.

23. “Seated soundstages”: Eyman,
The Speed of Sound
, 118–20.

24. Operators: Walker,
The Shattered Silents
, 66.

25. theaters had been wired: Ibid., 209.

26. “the girl with the”:
Photoplay
, Oct. 1929, n.p.

27. “all of a sudden”: Capra, “Reminiscences,” 78.

28. “Jack Warner took me”: Loy, “Reminiscences of Myrna Loy,” 1425.

29. “little more than”:
New York Times
, March 13, 1929; “Mud, Blood”: Dolores Costello, speaking in Brownlow and Gill,
Hollywood: The Pioneers
, episode 8.

30. “My contention was”: Hal Mohr in an undated Brownlow interview, courtesy Brownlow.

31. “It was a kind of”: Loy, “Reminiscences of Myrna Loy,” 1429; “Vere ees Pierre?”: ML, quoted in Chierichetti, “Myrna Loy Today,” 6.

32. “stay away”: Loretta Young, quoted in Kotsilibas-Davis interview fragment for
BB
, MLP, Box 30, folder 21, 1089.

33. “really horrible”: quoted in McBride,
Searching for John Ford
, 169; “an unwieldy combination”:
LA Times
, May 10, 1929.

34. “Hollywood is wasteful”:
Photoplay
, Jan. 1928, 24; “has never had”: Creighton Peet, quoted in Kay,
Myrna Loy
, 42.

35. “Myrna doesn’t”: Colman, “The Siren from Montana,” 112.

36. “I had airs”: ML, quoted in Chandler,
Not the Girl Next Door
, 40.

37. Barry Norton: York, “Doug’s Office Boy Makes Good,” 96; “first adult love”: ML, quoted in Hall, “The Truth about the Mysterious Miss Loy,” Part 2, n.p.; Norton later came out: André Soares, telephone conversation with the author.

38. a Chinese man . . . “What depressed me”: Steel, “Myrna Loy,” 6. I owe this reference to Donna Hill.

39. Zanuck would later: Johnston, “Myrna Loy,” 12.

6. BREAKTHROUGH

1. “Los Angeles is”:
Variety
, Feb. 12, 1930.

2. “The directors”: ML, quoted in a 1939 20th Century–Fox press release, MLP, Box 33.

3. “Myrna Loy makes”:
Variety
, April 16, 1930.

4. “Eleanore is”: ML, quoted in
LA Evening Herald
, Nov. 15, 1930.

5. “They had to keep”: Baxter, quoted in an undated
Screen Mirror
clipping, MLP, Box 33; “Her strange eyes”: W. E. Oliver,
LA Evening Herald
, Nov. 14, 1930.

6. “Miss Loy is”: Parsons,
LA Examiner
, Dec. 12, 1930; Fox contract: Contract dated Oct. 7, 1930, Fox legal files, UCLA; “This brings”:
LA Evening Herald
, Oct. 9, 1930.

7. Fox during . . . turmoil: Gomery,
The Hollywood Studio System
, 43–44; “the worst year”:
Variety
, Dec. 19, 1931; Fox profits plummeted: Balio,
Grand Design
, 16.

8. Embassy Club dinner:
Hollywood Daily Citizen
, Oct. 14, 1931.

9. Fox failed to pick up:
LA Evening Herald
, June 11, 1931; Fox dropped its option: May 1 and May 19, 1931, anonymous letters to Harry Reinhardt, Fox legal files, UCLA.

10. Lonsdale to Goldwyn: Berg,
Goldwyn
, 193.

11. “the best and most natural”:
LA Examiner
, Feb. 7, 1931.

12. “Jeanne Eagels”: ML, quoted in Colman, “The Siren from Montana,” 112.

13. “a restraint”:
LA Record
, Aug. 12, 1931; “Myrna Loy, who has wrecked”: Parsons,
LA Examiner
, Aug. 12, 1931.

14. “I wanted ceilings”: James Wong Howe, quoted in Higham,
Hollywood Cameramen
, 88; “one of the most”: ML, quoted in
LA Record
, Aug. 8, 1931; “pushes everything back”: Howe to John Barber, “Jimmy Wong Howe,” undated
World Film News
article, Kevin Brownlow Collection.

15. Howe considered her: Howe to Barber, “Jimmy Wong Howe,” undated
World Film News
article, Kevin Brownlow Collection.

16. “Myrna Loy, as I met her”: Hal Wiener,
LA Evening Herald
, Oct. 31, 1931.

17. In his autobiography: Stewart,
By a Stroke of Luck
, 176.

18. commanded $30,000 . . . to Myrna’s $750:
Rebound
budget, March 1931, RKO Collection, UCLA; “That woman”: quoted by ML to Chierichetti, “Myrna Loy Today,” 7.

19. “I had a part”: Loy, “Reminiscences of Myrna Loy,” 130.

20. “I have fallen”: Sidney Howard, revised
Arrowsmith
script dated Aug. 19, 1931, Goldwyn Collection, AMPAS.

21. “intelligent and forceful”:
New York Times
, Dec. 8, 1931; Sinclair Lewis at premiere:
LA Times
, Dec. 13, 1931.

22. “He got stuck”: quoted in McBride,
Searching for John Ford
, 187.

23. in
Transatlantic: LA Record
, Oct. 12, 1931.

24. “All the heartbreak”: ML, quoted in Moak, “The Girl Hollywood Couldn’t Beat,” 67.

25. “I’m tired”: ML, quoted in Moak, “The Girl Hollywood Couldn’t Beat,” 67; “The screen was turning”: Manners, “At Last, the Heart-Stirring Love Story of Myrna Loy,” 12.

7. CUTTING THE VEIL

1. “as if his words”: “Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,”
Fortune
, Dec. 1932; repr. in Balio,
The American Film Industry
, 314; Robert Montgomery considered him: Eyman,
Lion of Hollywood
, 204; “Thalberg was”: Mannix quoted in Marx,
Mayer and Thalberg
, vii.

2. “I believe”: ML, quoted in Hall, “Should a Girl Forgive?” 5.

3. “His gaiety”:
Photoplay
, Nov. 1932, 29.

4. “virgin spring”: Jason Joy to Harold Hurley, Aug. 9, 1932, PCA files for
Love Me Tonight
, AMPAS.

5. “easy and graceful”:
New York Times
, Aug. 19, 1932.

6. in the original: Nollen,
Boris Karloff
, 86.

7. “The picture is”:
LA Record
, Dec. 9, 1932.

8. “final break with”: ML, quoted in Hall, “The Truth about the Mysterious Miss Loy,” Part 2, n.p.; “adult” pictures: Selznick, quoted in Lasky,
RKO, the Biggest Little Major of Them All
, 77; considered for Broadway:
LA Times
, Oct. 8, 1933.

9. first screen test: Hepburn’s “Animal Kingdom” screen test is included in the DVD
Hidden Hollywood: Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults
, Image Entertainment, 2002.

10. “insufferable bossiness”: Leslie Howard, quoted in Edwards,
Katharine Hepburn
, 74.

11. Irene Selznick drove: Terry Hornblow to the author, April 21, 2005; “crisp and debonair”: Irene Mayer Selznick,
A Private View
, 118.

12. susceptible to his leading ladies: Van Neste, “Leslie Howard,” 27, 31.

13. “It takes three”: ML, quoted in Henderson, “It Takes 3 to Make a Love Affair,” 19.

14. “made a vivid”:
Variety
, Jan. 3, 1933; Mordaunt Hall:
New York Times
, Dec. 30, 1932; “Myrna Loy, as I’ve been”: Jerry Hoffman,
LA Examiner
, Jan. 3, 1933.

15. Screen Actors Guild was founded:
Variety
, Oct. 3, 1933; Myrna herself did not join: SAG historian Valerie Yaros, email to the author, Feb. 23, 2007.

16. “an Irishman”: Marx,
Mayer and Thalberg
, 72.

17. “It was all”: Frances Goodrich letter, quoted in Goodrich,
The Real Nick and Nora
, 63.

18. “Tits and sand”: Stromberg, quoted in Marx,
Mayer and Thalberg
, 103; “all shots”: James Wingate to E. J. Mannix, PCA files for
The Barbarian
, AMPAS; rerelease denied: Breen to Hay, Feb. 20, 1936, ibid.

19. a musicale: undated clipping, MLP, Box 15, folder 5.

20. “another shining”:
Hollywood Reporter
, May 8, 1933.

21. “lovely and distinctive”:
New York Herald Tribune
, Sept. 11, 1933; “Myrna Loy reveals”:
Variety
, Sept. 12, 1933.

22. He did his editing: David O. Selznick made this observation in an unsent letter to Hitchcock, quoted in Selznick,
Memo from David O. Selznick
, 277; Pauline Kael: in Kael,
5001 Nights at the Movies
, 758.

23. “The reckless pace”: Van Dyke, quoted in Sharpe, “W. S. Van Dyke,” 107; according to Selznick: Selznick,
Memo from David O. Selznick
, 115; “In his Western”: Johnston, “Lord Fauntleroy in Hollywood,” 20.

24. “He always knew”: Loy, “Reminiscences of Myrna Loy,” 1433.

25. “I’ve had too much”: ML, quoted in
Hollywood Citizen News
, April 7, 1933.

26. Howard Hawks left the set: McCarthy,
Howard Hawks
, 182; Hawks had managed: John Lee Mahin, interview by Todd McCarthy and Joseph McBride, in McGilligan,
Backstory
, 248.

27. “national socialist feeling”: Quoted in Doherty,
Pre-code Hollywood
, 94.

28. “an unsophisticated”: ML, quoted in Lyn, “Unmasking Myrna Loy,” 70.

29. “simply delicious”: ML, quoted in
LA Times
, Oct. 8, 1933; he feared: Lyn, “Unmasking Myrna Loy,” 70; his most recent conquest: Stenn,
Bombshell
, 125–26.

30. Practical jokes: Robert Cannom,
Van Dyke and the Mythical City of Hollywood
, 280.

31. Carnera only agreed:
Variety
, Nov. 14, 1933.