VERONICA LAKE | THE PEEK-A-BOO PINUP OF HOLLYWOOD’S GOLDEN AGE
The Selvedge Yard did a (very) little piece for DETAILS magazine’s online blog– The Daily Details here.
There was something about those lips, the flirty peek-a-boo eye, and that sexy, sweeping hair that’s seductive beyond words. Yes, Veronica Lake just had “it.”
Other pinups of her day may have been more racy (Bettie Page), more leggy (Bettie Grable), or more busty (Jane Russell), but in my book none of them can touch her stunning beauty, poise and indelible mystique. Standing a scant 4’ 11’ and weighing only 90lbs., Veronica Lake deftly filled the camera’s lens with more sex appeal in her little left eye than most beauties managed wearing half as much, and trying twice as hard.
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“I will have one of the cleanest obits of any actress. I never did cheesecake like Ann Sheridan or Betty Grable. I just used my hair.” –Veronica Lake
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Sadly, Her story was a tragic one. Beset by a troubled childhood, broken marriages, schizophrenia, and drinking woes (most likely in an attempt to self-medicate)—Veronica Lake was washed-up in Hollywood too early, and with little to live on besides her fading looks.
When one-time lover Marlon Brando heard she was working as a barmaid, he promptly had his people deliver her a check for $1,000. Too proud to cash it, Lake instead chose to have it framed as a memory of days gone by, and a not-so-subtle notice to others that she was once Hollywood’s reigning sex symbol.
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“I wasn`t a sex symbol, I was a sex zombie.” –Veronica Lake
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“Hollywood gives a young girl the aura of one giant, self-contained orgy farm, its inhabitants dedicated to crawling into every pair of pants they can find.” –Veronica Lake
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it’s ashame what happened to miss lake . she was an original . hollywood is littered with a lot of corpses . SUNSHINE NOIR
ur DEAD 4ever SHE @ least took notice of the light THAT bounces off of HER, she scratched her NAME on the CAVE wall 4 all TIME..
“I’ve reached a point in my life where it’s the little things that matter… I was always a rebel and probably could have got much further had I changed my attitude. But when you think about it, I got pretty far without changing attitudes. I’m happier with that.” (V.L.1970)
If you haven’t seen “Sullivan’s Travels”, I highly recommend it.
What a babe.
She could be really funny too. See “Sullivan’s Travels.”
“Sullivan’s Travels” is a good one, but “Blue Dahlia” is the movie that most evokes her image… which like every Hollywood actress was carefully studio crafted. Frances Farmer was a victim of that structure in similar ways, her trajectory even more tragic.
While V.L. may have rebelled against it, she epitomized pale cool sultry just as contracted. A sad life but immortalized in many ways, including the inane: I’m convinced she HAD to be the animator’s inspiration for Jessica Rabbit.
Though not as crazily voluptuous as Jessica Rabbit, it is acknowledged that she was the inspiration for the animated brickhouse.
JP, I was thinking that after seeing the first pic then saw your comment. Thanks for a great article
i dont do blonde-but there is so much mischief in that perfect form-again TSY sends me on a search for more.
Nobody has hair this great anymore. These days, every blonde seems to want perfectly straight hair. Curves and curvy hair…those were the days.
damn!
Love Veronica Lake from the great name to the great mane. And yes she defined sultry for that era….
Oh my!
Ironically, it was also her hair that was her undoing.
Being the star she was, women across America emulated her -to the nation’s detriment. This was war time, women were working in the factories and their veronica-esque hair was getting caught in the machinery. So, the war department personally asked Veronica to cut her hair.
In an act of patriotism she did but her career was never the same and thus began her tragic descent.
Sampson…
war is hell…
She sure was something in Sullivan’s Travels! Although she’s not really my type, I still appreciate her appeal and beauty, yet there is also something sinister about her mien.
Her story is a sad one. RIP.
Veronica Lake swam in a world of sharks and unfortunately paid too high a price for it. As far as I am concerned she was the epitomy of beauty, end of story.
What is the rest of the story?
Charles Laughton had cruel things to say about her as an actress but she delivers an uncannily buoyant performance in I Married a Witch. If it’s not great acting I don’t know what it is. I fall in love with her in every scene.