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Double Feature: Loretta Young

© K Cruver

These days Loretta Young is most famous for the dramatic entrances she made in elegant gowns for each episode of her long-running television program The Loretta Young Show. However, by the time she turned to television, Young had been acting in movies for decades. She had risen from childhood bit parts in silent movies to starring roles in glossy forties vehicles.

Though the image of Young as a glamorously dressed, elegant woman is rightfully enduring, it is especially pleasing to see her films from the early thirties, when she first began to play leading roles. Though she occasionally played bad girls, for the most part she played characters who struggled to keep their self-respect despite the difficulties of the Depression era. She was charming in those days; a gal who always pulled through, with strength that belied her delicate appearance. Here are two of her best performances from that period.

Platinum Blonde (1931)
Directed by: Frank Capra
Also starring: Jean Harlow and Robert Williams

Though a picture of white-blonde Jean Harlow is featured on the video box today, Platinum Blonde was originally meant to be titled Gallagher. The name change was the studio's attempt to capitalize on Harlow's explosive rise to fame, but her performance in the movie is one of her most awkward. The real female lead is Young, playing a young newspaper reporter known to her coworkers as Gallagher.

She is in love with Stew Smith, a fellow reporter who sees her as "one of the boys". As he is blind to her devotion, he falls for Anne Schuyler (Harlow) a spoiled heiress. It takes him a while to wake up to the fact that his buddy is also his soulmate.

Young plays her role with humble warmth. She is a smart working woman, full of humor, love and devotion. When she learns Smith has become engaged, she flees to the bar downstairs from the newsroom to hide her heartbreak. When he finds her there, she is tough enough to hide her tears, but tender in her acceptance of his decision. The movie may have a different title than it started with, but Gallagher is the name to remember.

Employee's Entrance (1933)
Directed by: Roy Del Ruth
Also starring: Warren William, Alice White, Wallace Ford

In a story about a department store struggling to stay profitable in the Depression, Young plays Madeline, a starving young woman looking for work. She hides out in a display house in the store, hoping to be first in line the next morning to interview for a job as a store model. When store manager Kurt Anderson (Warren William) finds her there, he offers her a meal and a little extra help getting the job. Before the evening is over, she finds the price for his aid must be paid in bed.