Lana Turner is a bit of an odd duck with me. Not having lived back then I don’t know what was really going on, only what I read and perceive from her work. Hollywood being of zero intelligence and no creativity, pigeonholed Lana like they did so many others (Esther Williams: She swims! Judy Garland! She has to sing! Ginger Rogers dances! Bette Davis plays crazy old bats!) Hollywood knows nothing else. That’s why there is a law in Hollywood that allows them to only make remakes. If they make something new they have to pay a fine.

Hollywood’s perception of Lana was that she could only play oversexed bimbos. When her parents moved to San Francisco her parents separated and she was placed in the foster care system. Meaning we pay adults to abuse these children in their care. Hollywood just continued the abuse. They nicknamed her “the sweater girl“. Married 8 times. Her 14 year old daughter stabs to death her mom’s abusive gangster boyfriend. She was a wild ride.

I knew nothing about all this until recently. I had a hard time remembering her name. The only reason she came on my radar at all was that I saw “The Postman Always Rings Twice” was coming on TCM and I had always wanted to see it. I had really come to appreciate John Garfield. As far as Lana Turner having sex appeal? Not for me. Nothing. She’s beautiful, but she certainly didn’t bring any heat. But that’s like a lot of what Hollywood tries to force on you; Joan Crawford, a young Katharine Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, and on and on.

The other noteworthy work of hers from my perspective was Peyton Place (1957). Visually it was a stunning work. The people, the locations, the clothes. It was part of Hollywood’s period where they were a little ham-handed trying to take down mainstream American society. They wanted to make it clear that it wasn’t okay to be white. That traditional American culture was responsible for all the world’s problems. It wasn’t just me that liked that one, she received an Oscar nomination for it.

And none of this wasn’t to say old Hollywood couldn’t take a stunning photo. But that’s all they were, visual pageantry. Thus Lana was useful to them for awhile.