You Oughta Be in Pictures

Over at Flickr, Sunrise1982 has given all of us who live for obscure Hollywood starlets a veritable treasure trove of glistening images. There are a few well-known names scattered about, but for the most part, these fascinating portraits are of girls and women who never quite realized their ambitions within the Dream Factory.

To be sure, somtimes one can easily see why. For instance, Syra "Miss Swiss Cheese" Marty, Marion Marshall (the ex-Mrs. Stanley Donen and ex-Mrs. Robert Wagner), and Florence Marly (aka the Countess Degenhart Wurmbrand) never became reigning glamour queens, most liklely because their attempts at serving up "sultry" resembled something more like "snarly." Fortunately, as noted above, all three ladies had other avenues of opportunity to fall back on.




At other times, Hollywood's famous fetish for "cloning" top stars with lookalikes sometimes came a little too close for comfort; as long as Kay Francis, Myrna Loy, Peggy Lee, and Anita Ekberg were still in business, their would-be successors, Mona Barrie, Gwili Andre, Peggy Maley, and Sylvia Lopez were out of it.









Still others simply fell through the cracks; whether it was a lack of talent, or promotion, or simply that "certain something," no one can be certain. But Rose Stradner, Margaret Sheridan, and Greta Granstedt (who, in true trouper fashion, has over 100 appearances, many uncredited, listed on imdb.com) at least had a few, flickering moments of greatness in front of the still lens:




And then there are those poignant lasses, for whom the bell never tolled, with obvious reason. Veronica Lake may have become a sensation with her "Peekaboo" hairstyle, but Cecilia Parker's "Doggie-Doo-Do" understandably didn't cause quite the same stir.


And Marilee Earle arrived on the scene a few decades too early; had she come of age in the 1980's, we're sure John Waters would have snapped this big-boned Texas beauty up for Hairspray in a heartbeat.


To all those who have dreamed, dreamed big, and gone after those dreams, we say, "Brava!" And to Sunrise1982, we simply say, Thank You.