Veronica Lake Movies
When Brooklyn-born Constance Ockleman was prodded into a performing career by her ambitious mother, she chose her stepfather's name, Keane, for her nom de stage. After a year of thankless bit parts, she was dropped by RKO Radio Pictures. When she re-emerged at MGM in a small role in the Eddie Cantor vehicle Forty Little Mothers (1940), she was known as Veronica Lake. While posing for publicity pictures, Lake inadvertently allowed her blonde hair to obscure one eye, thereby creating her movie persona as "the girl with the peek-a-boo bang." Signed by Paramount in 1941, Lake quickly ascended to leading roles. Directors such as Preston Sturges and René Clair had the patience to draw genuine performances from her, but, for the most part, she was cast on the basis of her beauty and popularity, with acting hardly an afterthought. In This Gun for Hire (1942), Lake was teamed with up-and-coming Alan Ladd, thereby launching one of Paramount's most successful screen duos. Eventually renegotiating her contact and finding brief domestic happiness with her second husband, director André De Toth, the actress flourished professionally and financially until 1948, when she was hit with the double whammy of being dropped by Paramount and being sued for support payments by her mother. De Toth wangled a good role for Lake in the 20th Century Fox film Slattery's Hurricane (1949), but it failed to rekindle her stardom. She left Hollywood in the early '50s, making a living with stage appearances. But increasing personal problems and a stage injury effectively ended her career, and, by 1959, she was working as a Manhattan barmaid. Lake staged a comeback as a Baltimore TV host in the early '60s, and, in 1966 and 1970, financed two cheap films for herself (Footsteps in the Snow and Flesh Feast). She wrote a tell-all autobiography in 1969 and sought stage work in England. Lake returned to the U.S. in 1971; but after more personal problems and failed comeback attempts, she died of hepatitis two years later while visiting friends in Burlington, VT. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1940
This domestic comedy is the final episode of the 17-film "Jones Family" series. The story begins as restless Father decides to leave the simplicity of small-town life for the sophistication and excitement of the city, so he sells the family drugstore and moves his family to the Big Apple. Soon they find themselves surrounded by con men, and sleazy women trying to steal everything they own. Mayhem ensues until they decide they've had enough and hightail it for the safety of home. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jed Prouty, Spring Byington, (more)
- 1939
Sorority House is based on Mary Coyle Chase's short story Chi House. Anne Shirley plays a middle-class college student who is pledged to a snooty sorority. As Shirley struggles to qualify for membership, she becomes disillusioned by the prospect when she realizes the shallowness of her wealthy future sorority sisters. She finally declines the invitation, but since she's fallen for campus jock James Ellison, her social life won't be too bleak. A loose reworking of RKO's earlier Finishing School (34), Sorority House was scripted by Dalton Trumbo, who'd later get into hot water with the HUAC for another screenplay about a group of ladies living together, Tender Comrade (43). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anne Shirley, James Ellison, (more)
- 1939
All Women Have Secrets affords a rare film starring role for James Cagney's talented sister Jeanne Cagney. Set on a college campus, the story concerns the trials and tribulations of married student John (Joseph Allen) and his pregnant wife Kay (Cagney). In addition to their existing financial woes, Kay faces dismissal from her nightclub singing job as her waistline expands. The "secret" refers to the fact that Kay has been withholding the fact that John is about to become a father , lest he offer to quit school to support them both. Some much-needed laughs are provided by Peter Lynd Hayes as the typical campus cutup. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph Allen, Jr., Virginia Dale, (more)
- 1939
Lana Turner (a mere 19 years old at the time) stars in this lighthearted musical comedy as Patty Marlow, a dancer fighting her way up the show business ladder. Famous hoofer Freddie Tobin (Lee Bowman) is about to start work on a new movie when his dance partner becomes pregnant and drops out of the project. Press agent Joe Drews (Roscoe Karns) dreams up a publicity stunt to find Freddie's new co-star: he'll stage a contest on college campuses to find a dancer among the student body. However, the contest is merely a ruse, and, when Joe and his cronies spot Patty, they realize she is the perfect girl for the job. Now, they have to pass Patty off as a studious co-ed for the sake of the "contest," which has begun to attract the suspicious attention of student journalist Pug Braddock (Richard Carlson). Artie Shaw and his band perform several numbers (Shaw and Turner would marry two years later), and keep an eye peeled for Veronica Lake in a bit part (she was still known as Constance Keane at the time). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lana Turner, Richard Carlson, (more)
