Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli

With the end of silent movies in the early 1920s, Hollywood bounded into the glitz and glamour of the Golden Age of Movies. Names such as Clark Gable, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Tyrone Power and Judy Garland still conjure images of beauty and brilliant acting. These and many others rose to stardom in Los Angeles, the City of the Angels. However, in so many instances, their ascent to fame left behind a trail of sordid scandals in the city of those less than angels. While the public viewing their movies were felt constrained by a puritanical morality, many of these actors and actresses were freely indulging in a hedonistic pursuit of pleasure.

In 1922, Will H. Hays, the first chairman of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, worked with the heads of movie studios to insert “morality clauses” into stars’ contracts. Not only were actresses forbidden to have illicit affairs, but they were also forbidden to marry. Holly­wood moguls feared that pregnancy would destroy an actress’s image. It would detract from the pristine beauty of her body, making her less attractive on the screen. Thus, Louis B. Mayer was emboldened to forbid the marriage of Jeanette Macdonald, star of 26 feature films, to Eddy Nelson.

Nonetheless, the powerful heads of MGM, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., and RKO were powerless to prevent pregnancies happening from illicit affairs. As a result, most chose abortion as the way to keep their careers. Jean Harlow, for example, was one of the biggest movie stars of the 1930s. She was known as the “Blonde Bombshell.” By the time of her death at 26, she had multiple abortions. She followed the advice her own mother gave her at the age of 18, “A child can wait. A career cannot.”

Lana Turner, Bette Davis, Gloria Swanson, Jane Russell, and Rita Moreno joined untold others who chose their career over a child. So important was maintaining one’s image that, even when Judy Garland was with child by her first husband, her own mother and MGM arranged for her abortion (Bethy Squires, “Famous Women in History and Their Less Famous Abortions,” Identity, Sept. 16, 2016). Social pressure, false values, the fear of losing a career and the lack of responsibility to accept the gift of motherhood or fatherhood contributed to many a back-alley abortion in Holly­wood’s dark past. But not everyone offered incense before the idol of popularity.

In 1935, Loretta Young, an icon of serenity, grace and beauty, announced that she was exhausted from her heavy work schedule. She took time off and went into seclusion to give birth to a baby girl. The public was spared the shady circumstances of the child’s conception by the charming and well-known womanizer Clark Gable. The press and the movie moguls were kept in the dark. But, a child saw the light of day.

Loretta Young had refused to abort the child. But, to continue her career, she put the child up for adoption. Then, months later, she arranged to adopt her own daughter. Courage, heroism, responsibility and, above all, faith guided her choices in a culture ready to ostracize and destroy her for bearing a child. For this devout Catholic, mother­hood came first. Life was precious. A child was a gift from God, even in the most difficult of circumstances. What an example! Where there is faith in God, a child’s life is always protected.