This is a story from a critical, early phase of Ida Lupino's multi-decade long career in Hollywood—from a time when acting and music were her pursuits and her directing career lay far off—from a time when she was well-known, but still an up-and-comer and not yet a major star. It is the story of a year in her young life that saw her career fortunes tumble unexpectedly and precipitously.
At the beginning of 1937, Ida Lupino was one of the most talked-about young actresses in Hollywood and had just been awarded a contract extension and a raise from her home studio. Approaching her nineteenth birthday, it appeared she was on her way to the top.
At the end of 1937, Ida Lupino was out of work—with no contract and with no screen prospects.
How did this happen?
Lupino started that year as a Hollywood veteran of over three years and a lead actress of nearly four, including films she made in her native England She was celebrated as an accomplished light comedienne, plus was gradually winning more acclaim as an actress.
She had been under contract to Paramount studios since mid-1933. They had immediately put her into lead or prominent supporting roles in modestly-budgeted films, then had moved her into supporting roles in prestigious fare like the Gary Cooper-Ann Harding drama Peter Ibbetson and the Bing Crosby musical Anything Goes.
In 1936, she had the good fortune of Paramount loaning her to a new independent studio run by United Artists co-founder Mary Pickford and producer Jesse L. Lasky. There, Lupino made a big splash in two comedies: first as Francis Lederer's leading lady in One Rainy Afternoon; then, thanks to her strong showing in the first, as opera singer Nino Martini's in The Gay Desperado. Her performances in these well-publicized films, bracketing a juicy role in Paramount's own Yours For The Asking as a humorous crook, propelled her to a new level of stardom. She appeared to be on the verge of a major breakthrough.
Unfortunately, Paramount could not produce another good role for Lupino. A lead role in a forgettable football picture called Rose Bowl was her next assignment. An attack of tonsillitis spared her from from that role—probably for the best. In the last months of 1936, Paramount loaned Lupino out for two modestly better films, but still in innocuous leading lady parts: RKO's Sea Devils and Columbia's Let's Get Married. As Lupino was highly-sought after for such "ingenue" roles, Paramount exercised its option on Lupino's contract and gave her a raise from $1000 to $1750 per week.
"Ida was not the sort to be content with smooth sailing and comfortable checks. She had ambition," wrote Hedda Hopper a few years later.
So, at the end of 1936, Lupino was troubled. Picture Play magazine caught up with her in an anxious mood: "I've been fighting with every one at the studio, and I don't think my career is doing very well." She realized she was at a critical juncture. She had worked to put herself in a position to rise into the top tier of Hollywood actresses. Yet she could easily sink into a sea of undistinguishable starlets if Paramount continued to give her average parts in unmemorable movies.
On a brighter note, her hobby of composing music was taking off and earning her substantial publicity. Press reports suggested she was aiming to have thirty of her songs published. She also wrote chorus music for local stage performances. One piece of hers, variously referred to as "Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp" or "Aladin Suite", was performed and broadcast over the radio twice in February by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Describing the Aladdin performance, the Los Angeles Times wrote that Lupino had "penned some most excellent music and lyrics."
By late March, both Sea Devils and Let's Get Married had been released to modest reviews—and garnered Lupino little attention. One reviewer of the latter described Lupino as "now at the peak of her screen career", but mentioned that was due to her 1936 Pickford-Lasky films.
In mid-April, Paramount cast Lupino in a movie on their own lot for the first time in almost a year. Jack Benny picked her to be his co-star in an elaborate musical production called Artists and Models. Lupino and Richard Arlen would play the romantic leads in a plot-thin farce that was essentially a variety show. Despite Lupino's music and dancing skills, she was not involved in any of the production numbers. The film is enjoyable and well-produced, but the limited role must not have been fulfilling. (Artists and Models notably marks the first of four times Lupino was directed by Raoul Walsh, who later became one of her mentors for her directing career.)
As preparations began, a press item noted that Lupino had changed her hair color from blonde to "light brown, her natural color". One of Lupino's more memorable scenes in Artists and Models involved her falling into a swimming pool while wearing an extravagant evening gown. Columnist (and her close friend) Harry Mines reported her discomfort. "In practically everything I've done, I've taken a soaking," she said. "But I think this is the worst. The pool is so shallow I'm afraid I'll brain myself. I'd hate to be poor Dick [Arlen]. He has to dive in head-first." She added, "I know I have to do it. There's no way out."
Her composing hobby continued. In May, the BBC reportedly requested some of her songs to be played during the coronation of King George VI. In June, orchestra leader Andre Kostelanetz, also involved in Artists and Models, used one of Lupino's songs on his national radio program, which reportedly left her "agog".
When Artists and Models concluded in late June, Paramount immediately shipped Lupino off to another studio, loaning her back to RKO for another innocuous leading lady role—this time in a Jack Oakie comedy, Fight For Your Lady. Lupino's romantic counterpart would be John Boles. In this movie, she finally had a chance to reveal some of her non-acting talents, playing a singing ventriloquist. She also has a solo dancing routine with a dummy in top-hat-and-tails, a la Fred Astaire. Alas, virtually none of her routine made the final cut, with the camera instead focused on Oakie and Boles mugging at each other in the audience.
Throughout the year, the press regularly commented on the long-term romance of Lupino with actor Louis Hayward—who she had been dating regularly since early in 1936. The press frequently suggested they were on the brink of marriage. In early August, Lupino was reported saying that she'd love to marry him, but "he hasn't asked me yet." The reason was that each wanted to get more professionally established first.
After Fight For Your Lady completed filming in August, Lupino's mentions in the press dropped off dramatically. No prospective projects were publicized. The most notable press item regarding her in this period was in late October when Louella Parsons and another columnist mentioned that Gary Cooper was using Lupino's dressing room after refusing Carole Lombard's because it was "too dainty".
This was the calm before the storm that was about to erupt. It would be fascinating to know what was going on behind the scenes between Lupino and Paramount in the fall of 1937.
The storm hit in mid-November.
"Ida Lupino walked out of Paramount a few days ago taking her contract with her," Louella Parsons reported on November 20. "Her grievance is Jungle Lover, in which she was asked to support Dorothy Lamour, who was just starting when Ida was playing leads. Playing second fiddle isn't the little Lupino's only annoyance, but her brief four pages of dialogue was the straw that really broke the camel's back."
Two very prominent New York columnists also mentioned the Lupino-Paramount blow-up. On November 22, Ed Sullivan wrote that "Ida Lupino could have got her Paramount release without stalking off the lot." On the 24th, Walter Winchell picked it up, saying "Ida Lupino walked out of Her Jungle Love rather than risk emoting in a pewy role. The contract she mutually agreed to tear up brought her $1,750 per!"
"Paramount had decided to get rid of me," Lupino told a reporter three years later. She added, "The studio handed me a part which was so brief it was an insult. I quit—and we were both happy." Paramount had a replacement officially named the next day—the inexperienced and then-unknown Dorothy Howe (later and better known as Virginia Vale)—indicating that they were not exactly surprised by Lupino's abrupt walkout.
Years afterward, after Lupino had reconstituted her career and reached new heights, she credited Hedda Hopper with encouraging this "rebellion". Hopper was still an actress and not yet a notorious gossip columnist. She and Lupino had become friendly on the set of Artists and Models, so Lupino asked Hopper's advice on how to break out of her rut of ingenue roles. Hopper encouraged her to change to a more natural look and to "go and think and study a bit about acting", as Lupino recalled.
Lupino told Hopper, “It’s now or never, if I’m going to get anywhere."
With her walkout, Lupino's four-year tenure at Paramount was suddenly over. Her substantial paycheck was gone. With an unremarkable series of roles over the previous year, would she be able to succeed as a free-lance actress? Nothing concrete was on the horizon.
Louella Parsons suggested Lupino's new plan was to return to her native England and make a picture with her father—well-known stage and screen comedian Stanley Lupino. She also had Louis Hayward to consider, who was intent on establishing himself in American movies. So to close out the year, Lupino remained in Hollywood, taking a radio gig in mid-December on Cecil B. DeMille's Lux Radio Theater, co-starring with Robert Montgomery in The Thirty-Nine Steps. The brief on-air chat after the drama did not mention any screen prospects for Lupino. Instead, they discussed her music hobby. "What's your latest composition?" DeMille asked. Lupino replied:
Something I've just sent to London. The score and book for a musical comedy. Look, I hope no one is going to get the impression that I think I'm a great musician. In fact, I know so little that I often use a code to take the place of notes and musical symbols until I have time to figure out what I'm trying to do. I use the letters of the alphabet for a code. If you ever saw one of my scores, you'd think someone had spilled alphabet soup on an orchestration sheet.
Ultimately, Lupino would not return to England to make pictures there, and she would not start work on another Hollywood film for another year.
As 1937 drew to a close, Lupino was entering her career wilderness phase—apparently washed up before her twentieth birthday. It was a challenging period for her, but it would set her up for the breakthrough that did happen in 1939. That is a story for another day.
Sources
- Newspapers.com archives for United States newspapers
- Media History Digital Library archives of Hollywood fan magazines and trade papers
- This is Your Life: Ida Lupino, television program, 1958.
- Lux Radio Theater: The Thirty-Nine Steps, radio program, Dec. 13, 1937.
Quotes taken from these articles not mentioned explicitly
- Ida Lupino Has Strange Tale to Tell, Frederick C. Othman, United Press, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 25, 1940.
- Hedda Hopper's Hollywood: Ida Lupino's Story of Screen Success Told in Three Small Words, Hedda Hopper, Los Angeles Times, July 28, 1940.
Awesome piece. Thanks for doing this. Good research.
Posted by: Jorge Trujillo | Aug 28, 2022 at 08:18 AM