In the years 1931 and 1932 Loretta would appear as the featured leading lady in fifteen films. Following BIG BUSINESS GIRL and I LIKE YOUR NERVE, would be PLATINUM BLONDE. This film originally had been titled GALLAGHER after Loretta's character but was reshaped for the benefit of the second female lead, Jean Harlow. Loretta wasn't crazy about the development, but seeing how the men on the set reacted to Harlow, she understood it.
More important to her was a pivotal acting lesson she learned from director, Frank Capra. Robert Williams, the leading man, was from the New York stage, and would frequently voice his interpretation of his character. One day Capra asked Loretta, "What do you think?" Loretta said that it wasn't important what she thought, just tell her what to do and she'd do it. Capra responded very gently, "Oh no, Loretta, that's all acting is: thinking." From this point on, Loretta would try to put herself in her character's shoes, try to listen and react the way that character would think.
After THE RULING VOICE, she would do TAXI with Jimmy Cagney followed by THE HATCHET MAN with Edward G. Robinson. Already in TAXI, Loretta was putting to use what she had learned from Capra. In a nightclub scene where their characters had gone to celebrate their wedding day, they're sitting in a booth. He has his arm around her and she has her head on his shoulder, perfectly relaxed. Loretta recalls her interpretation of her character's mood at that moment, "She felt, 'He'll take care of me, this tough little fellow.'"