Junto Boys

THIS DAY IN 1919

Veronica Lake is born (Lest you think I’m getting too serious about these posts)



DETAILS

Like many starlets before and since, Lake headed to Hollywood to be discovered. She was one of the lucky ones that made it to leading roles in SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS, THE GLASS KEY, I MARRIED A WITCH, and THIS GUN FOR HIRE.

She appeared in only a few major films and yet her one unique feature that peek-a-boo haircut made her the It-girl in the early 1940s. So popular and emulated was she that the U.S. government asked her to cut her hair during the war because they were afraid imitating Rose Riveters would get their mane caught in the machinery.

In James Ellroy’s L.A. confidential the main hooker look-alike is a fake Lake.

Her career didn’t much have legs past World War II and by the 1960s she was tending bar in obscurity.

SIGNIFICANCE

Lake was a 1940s version of flavor of the month rising and falling within a short time. And though most filmgoers have not seen a Lake picture, she still holds just enough lore that she’ll be referenced in period novels and films. Unlike so many others of her time and ours she still has some sort of iconic significance that more beautiful and talented actresses never attained.

She’s also an example of the downfalls of fame. Just as her career was taking off she married a regular guy who worked on the sets. Years later she said that her biggest mistake was getting caught up in the euphoria and leaving her husband and breaking up her family. She died in early 70s from hepatitis probably aggravated by her heavy drinking.