After 20th Century became 20th Century Fox, Zanuck moved his operation to the former Fox Studios on Pico Avenue. Renovations were made, including a new building for his star dressing rooms. With the exception of Shirley Temple who had her own bungalow, Loretta was Zanuck's top female star and was consequently assigned the number one dressing room. Located on the ground floor, the apartment included an office, kitchen, living room and bath. In addition, Loretta had a portable dressing room, crammed with closets and mirrors, that was rolled around from set to set. On top of this, she required a mirror right on the set for last minute primping. Further reinforcing her image as a star, Loretta was attended by an entourage that included her wardrobe woman, makeup person, hairdresser, and standin. Add to that, her studio driver who, driving Loretta's Cadillac Towncar, not only chauffeured her to and from her home, but from set to set during the day. Completing her attendants was the cook Loretta hired to prepare breakfast and lunch. From the studio's point of view, the thinking was that if you treated an actor like a star, they'd act like a star. They'd develop a persona larger than life, and this created a mystique that generated fan fascination, ultimately netting money at the box office.

Loretta was still in her early twenties when she was receiving all this attention and it must have complicated what is ordinarily hard for a person that age, that is believing that God has a better plan than your own for how you should live your everyday life in the real world. It seems that it is the human condition that young adults think that they know what is best for them and need to be in control of every decision that affects their lives. Instead of "thy will be done," happiness hinges on "my will be done", and there is great disappointment when personal expectations are not met. Eventually, the trials of life become so overwhelming, there is such a feeling of brokenness, that a person either attaches oneself to some kind of obsessive or destructive behavior that temporarily masks the pain, or cries out to God for help, and in the process, begins opening the window to surrender. That waterloo would lay ahead for Loretta by a couple of decades. For now, when her expectations were being met, she was happy.


The above excerpt is taken from Chapter Seven of Edward Funk's unpublished book "Loretta Young: Journey of a Hollywood Soul"

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