Saturday, May 03, 2008

Old Hollywood's worst-kept secret

I'm sure fans of oldtime Hollywood already knew this, but it was news to me. I learned from watching "Girl 27" that Loretta Young and Clark Gable had a baby together.

According to the film, Young hid the pregnancy even when giving a press conference in her bed at eight-months pregnant (claiming it was just a stomach ailment). Then she gave birth to her daughter, gave her to an orphanage for a year and a half, and then "adopted" her own child. The little girl, Judy Young, looked so much like her parents however that Young even had her have an operation to pin back her ears so they didn't stick out like Gable's did. And Hollywood and the media all knew, but covered it up.

When interviewed in "Girl 27" (which isn't about Judy Young, but instead about a rape covered up by MGM), she says that when she finally confronted her mother with the truth of her parentage, her mother vomited, and then called her daughter a "walking mortal sin." Good Lord. How sad for that innocent girl.

3 comments:

Dimestore Lipstick said...

If your library happens to have a copy of Judy's book, "Uncommon Knowledge", you should check it out. I reccommend it, but it is heart-wrenching.

Anonymous said...

Whoa-universe weirdness. I just read a question in Parade magazine about stars & out of wedlock babies, and it cited the Loretta Young/Clark Gable baby. Never heard of it before, then twice in the same day. Weird!!

Suzy said...

I remember reading about this in Good Housekeeping years ago, when I was a teenager. The photo of Judy (pre-ear surgery) was the spit and image of Clark Gable! And apparently that surgery is one of the most painful you can have ...