From June 26 - 28, in honor of the
90th anniversary of the founding of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Silver Scenes is hosting the MGM Blogathon. This post, originally published in 2011, has been updated and re-published as my contribution for the blogathon. Click here for links to all participating blogs.
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Once upon a time there
was a feudal kingdom known as 20th Century Fox and in it lived a handsome
prince and a beautiful princess…
A too-fanciful opening? Maybe not, given that the
prince and princess in this particular tale are Tyrone Power and Loretta Young.
Talented, in the blossom of youth and blessed with storybook good looks, the
two were becoming the American equivalent of royalty – Hollywood movie stars - when
they first began working together in the 1930s. Under contract to Fox, the pair first shared the screen (along
with Janet Gaynor, Constance Bennett, Don Ameche and Paul Lukas), if just barely,
in Ladies in Love (1936), a
Budapest-set precursor to 1953’s Bacall/Monroe/Grable vehicle How to Marry a Millionaire. The movie
was a success, the studio deemed Power and Young a matched set, and in 1937 starred
them opposite each other in three lighthearted screwball comedies in rapid
succession.
It was her trademark, her calling card and, in 1931, the name of a film for which she received third billing. Platinum Blonde had originally been intended as a vehicle for top-billed star Loretta Young but, by the time it was released, the film's title had changed and changed again until it was an outright reference to pale-haired co-star Jean Harlow. It was not Harlow's breakout picture, that had come with Hell's Angels (1930), nor is it generally cited as one of her great classics, but Platinum Blonde was pivotal - it proclaimed her stardom.
