I like old time radio and I was listening to a Jack Benny show, with guest star Alan Ladd. The women in the audience were screaming for him. I didn’t know anything about him but the name so looked for a few more old time radio shows where he guest starred and he got the same reactions from the audience. Women were screaming.
Now I’ve heard old time radio shows where they had Frank Sinatra, Charles Boyer and others who didn’t get such a reaction.
So for those who now how big was he and what did he do to get the women hooting and hollering for him?
For those who don’t know here’s a link to a Wikipedia article on him
Alan Ladd was, for a time, Paramount Studios’ biggest box office draw. One of the most famous stories of old-time Hollywood involves the making of The Blue Dahlia, which was rushed into production after Ladd was called up to serve in the Army. The filmmakers had only a matter of weeks before Ladd was due to ship out, and the studio was so desperate to get the film made that it started shooting before the script was even finished; Raymond Chandler, the screenwriter, was sending fresh pages by limousine from his home to the studio, where they were immediately shot. (Chandler also finished the screenplay in the midst of an epic bender, but that’s another legend.)
It is a shame he died when he did. After years of being out of favor and making B-movies, he had just appeared in a supporting role in a Big Movie, The Carpetbaggers, and gotten rave reviews. Critics said it might be the beginning of a comeback.
My favorite Ladd story, which may or may not be true, is that when they were filming Shane, Ladd’s co-star Van Heflin was so much taller than Ladd that when they filmed some of the scenes where Van Heflin and Ladd were walking side by side they dug a ong trench for Van Heflin to walk in while Ladd walked along side of it.
And if you haven’t seen Shane, rent it today. It is truly an outstanding film in many, many ways.
I realize that but they if you listen to Jack Benny with Frank Sinatra he gets a few hoots, but three weeks later they have Alan Ladd and the audience goes nuts. It reminded me of the 70s when Fonzie would come onto the set on Happy Days and the reaction from the audience was so large it’d throw the timing off the comedy.
It was especially odd since when movie stars were on old time radio shows they generally (though not always) appeared to promote a movie they were in. And the script worked that in. But the plot lines always played to their image. So when Frank Sintara was on he would be in a plot where women would swoon. Or when Richard Whitmark was on he played a bad guy for which he was known.
But Alan Ladd played a regular joe so it seemed out of place judging by the reaction.
He was my first celebrity/movie star crush. He stayed my crush until Elvis appeared. Alan Ladd was gorgeous and he had a beautiful, sexy, deep voice, and sad eyes. Who could resist?
I didn’t realize he was so popular though. Thanks for the thread. I feel vindicated. None of my friends understood why I liked him. They thought he was old.
Just about any woman in her 70s or older will swoon at the sound of his name. He was the hottest of the hotties back in the day. I gotta say though, I don’t see it, myself.
In 1953, he was ranked as the #4 box office draw in the annual poll of theater owners, behind Gary Cooper, the team of Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis, and John Wayne. In 1954, he was #6, behind Wayne, Martin & Lewis, Cooper, Jimmy Stewart and Marilyn Monroe.
Back around 1940, a struggling comic book artist named Martin Nodell created a superhero to be an Aladdin riff. He had a magic lamp & ring, & he was going to be called Alan Ladd.
But then the actor Alan Ladd was getting very popular, so they changed the character’s name to Alan Scott.
Not that that tells you anything, but that’s my Alan Ladd factoid.
Well, according to Bill Finger, who was there, the name was changed because the editor felt the Alan Ladd/Aladdin connection was too obvious.
Jim Steranko in his “History of Comics” quotes Finger (who wrote the scripts based on Nodell’s concepts) as saying “I suggested the name Alan Ladd and Shelly [Meyer, his editor] said, ‘That’s ridiculous. Who’d believe that?’ So we substituted the name Alan Scott. A little while later Alan Ladd turned up as a movie star. Shelly could have kicked himself every time he throught of the publicity we might have had.”
The chronology would seem to support that. Green Lantern came out in July 1940. Assuming production time, and the comic had to be created several months earlier. In 1940, Alan Ladd had only been credited in a couple of films, and was only a bit player even in those.
