Ziegfeld Girl (1941) Screenland publicity photo
Summary
Publicity photo for Ziegfeld Girl from Screenland; Left to right: Lana Turner, Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr.
The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City, produced by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. from 1907 to 1931 known for their elaborate costumes, sets, and special effects, as well as their beautiful performers, dancers, singers, and comedians. The Ziegfeld Follies were also known for their beautiful and glamorous chorus girls, known as the "Ziegfeld Girls," many of these became performers, such as Fanny Brice, Ruth Etting, and Billie Burke. The Follies helped to establish Broadway as a center for American entertainment. The last Ziegfeld Follies was presented in 1931, and Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. passed away in 1932.
Lana Turner (1920—1995), American film actress known for her glamorous looks and sexual allure. Though her skill as an actress was limited, Turner excelled in roles that highlighted her sexuality and working-class roots. She enjoyed her greatest popularity in the 1940s and ’50s, often playing the part of a “good girl gone bad.” Turner endured a difficult childhood. After the family moved to San Francisco, her parents separated and she was placed in a foster home (where she was abused). Soon thereafter her father was murdered. Turner was reunited with her mother, and in 1936 they moved to Los Angeles, where, as legend has it, the golden-haired starlet was “discovered” at a drugstore soda fountain by a Hollywood film journalist. That led to a small part in Warner Brothers’ They Won’t Forget (1937), directed by Mervyn LeRoy, who suggested she drop her nickname, Judy, for something more glamorous; she chose Lana. LeRoy took her with him when he moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1938, and she remained under contract there until 1956.
Hedy Lamarr (1914–2000), Austrian-born American film star who was often typecast as a provocative femme fatale. Years after her screen career ended, she achieved recognition as a noted inventor of a radio communications device. The daughter of a prosperous Viennese banker, Lamarr was privately tutored from age 4; by the time she was 10, she was a proficient pianist and dancer and could speak four languages. At age 16 she enrolled in Max Reinhardt’s Berlin-based dramatic school, and within a year she made her motion picture debut in Geld auf der Strasse (1930; Money on the Street). She achieved both stardom and notoriety in the Czech film Extase (1932; Ecstasy), in which she briefly but tastefully appeared in the nude. Her burgeoning career was halted by her 1933 marriage to Austrian munitions manufacturer Fritz Mandl, who not only prohibited her from further stage and screen appearances but also tried unsuccessfully to destroy all existing prints of Extase. After leaving the possessive Mandl, she went to Hollywood in 1937, where she appeared in her first English-language film, the classic romantic drama Algiers (1938). Lamarr became a U.S. citizen in 1953.
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