Another day, another centenary!
Sharing her celebration with a whole cornucopia of unconnected "names" such as our current King Charles III, Claude Monet, Louise Brooks, Letitia Dean, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Freddie Garrity, Barbara Hutton, Dick Powell, King William III, King Hussein of Jordan, Fanny Mendelssohn, Wendy Carlos, Astrid Lindgren, Michael Robbins, Aaron Copland, Russell Tovey, Condoleezza Rice, Paul McGann, Big Daddy, Michael Dobbs, and fellow centenarians Boutros Boutros-Ghali and the first BBC radio news broadcast...
...it's one hundred years today since the birth of the exotic Hollywood screen icon, the "Peek-A-Boo Girl", Miss Veronica Lake!
Facts:
- Her trademark "one-eye-draped" hairstyle was a (happy) accident on set for her first film They Wanted Wings.
- She was famously the model for "Jessica Rabbit" in the 1980s, and her image inspired many "femmes fatale" over the decades like Lizabeth Scott and (later) Kim Basinger.
- She had numerous affairs (many while she was still married), including with the likes of Howard Hughes, Aristotle Onassis and Marlon Brando.
- She didn't (ahem) get along with a number of her leading men, however: Joel McCrae refused ever to work with her again; she and Frederic March despised each other and fought throughout filming I Married a Witch; Eddie Bracken referred to her as "The Bitch". The esteemed Raymond Chandler called her a "Moron" ("Moronica Lake") during production of the film version of his The Blue Dahlia.
- Her hair may have become a fashion sensation, but during WWII she had to make a public broadcast warning women working in war munitions factories who had copied her style to tie their hair back to avoid it being trapped in machinery.
- Her high-flying career during the "Golden Age of Hollywood" didn't last; she went bankrupt at least once, was "rediscovered" working as a waitress in a cocktail bar, and tried her hand at television and on stage in both Broadway and the West End, but never regained her iconic status.
Hers was an archetypal rags-to-riches-to-rags-again tale of the perils of stardom - but by heavens! Her "look" is immortal, and for that we are grateful.
Veronica Lake (born Constance Frances Marie Ockelman, 14th November 1922 – 7th July 1973).
Yes, Connie Ockelman doesn't have quite the same star quality...
ReplyDeleteIt isn't really a surprise she changed her name (although she apparently hated it, as "Veronica" was her pushy "showbiz Mom"'s real name, and they had fallen out by the time stardom beckoned). Others whose fame might not have been so memorable include Norma Deloris Egstrom (Peggy Lee), Tula Ellice Finklea (Cyd Charisse), Doris Mary Kappelhoff (Doris Day), Margarita Cansino (Rita Hayworth), Lucille Fay LeSueur (Joan Crawford) and Ruby Stevens (Barbara Stanwyck), to name but a few. Jx
DeleteMargarita Cansino sound more showbiz that Rita Hayworth, though. It's mostly down to prejudice she couldn't use it.
ReplyDeleteAnd Lucille LeSueuer is a drag name
The "studio system" made young Margarita dye her hair and wear "whiter" make-up to make her more marketable - and yes, Miss LeSueur, even as Miss Crawford, was always a role-model for drag queens. She certainly had bigger balls than anything that appears on Drag Race. Jx
DeleteYes lot of racism went into people's marketing - eg Betty Perske becoming Lauren Baccall, though that's not a showbiz name either
DeleteHollywood Diva with ugliest real name has to be Frances Ethel Gumm though and she was a white Protestant.
Demi Moore was born Demetria Guynes, which gives Miss Gumm a run for her money... Jx
DeleteWow, that's a way better name.
DeleteI went to school with a little boy called Demetrius who was known as Demi. Never met a female Demi though
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ReplyDeleteSome have told me once in drag, that I resembled Ms. Lake. That's a healthy compliment, I can live with that. Tootles!
DeleteIt's probably better than being told you resembled Marie Dressler or Kathy Bates... Jx
DeleteGive it another 20 years.
DeleteJust 20? 🤣🤣🤣 Jx
DeleteOh dear...I was going to say that, when a shoulder-length natural blonde I let my hair-dresser friend dye me red. One of the bosses came in next day and said ""Good lord! Veronica Lake!"
ReplyDeleteHow odd - Miss Lake was blonde... Jx
DeleteFor pre-Halloween we watched I Married A Witch. She was such a talent and had a great look, but had a wicked sense of humor and glug glug. Sigh. Such an odd life... but such an icon.
ReplyDeleteShe certainly had more talent than anyone gave her credit for - but like the old saying goes, "never shit on too many people on your way up the ladder, for you are sure to meet them again on your way down". And she was her own worst enemy in that regard. Jx
DeleteMy Mother always referred to her as miss vasaline lips
ReplyDeleteAre we sure that was just Vaseline? Jx
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