The author of The Unforgettable Loretta Darling shared her guide to La La Land in all its Golden Age glory. Books, movies and more about 1950s Hollywood.
We asked the author of The Unforgettable Loretta Darling – Karen Ball, writing under the pseudonym Katherine Blake – to create a 1950s primer, helping us to dig deep into the world that her brilliantly conceived Loretta Darling occupies. Books, movies, and makeup tutorials – boy, she sure delivered! When done here, be sure to check out the full Page and Pairing Guide to The Unforgettable Loretta Darling.
The Unforgettable Loretta Darling
by Katherine Blake
THE BOOKS
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Anyone who reads The Unforgettable Loretta Darling will be struck by one of my unashamed influences, the magnificent The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. I adored every page of this novel and was swept away by the voice and storytelling, the richness of the Hollywood world and the scope for scandalous adventure. It’s no surprise that this novel has sold over half a million copies. If you haven’t read it yet, you absolutely should!
Wise Children
by Angela Carter
I recently reread Wise Children for the first time in about twenty years, and was happily surprised to see how much this story of twin actresses – Nora and Dora – had influenced The Unforgettable Loretta Darling. Both novels feature a bygone Hollywood and specifically the writing enclave, Gardens of Allah. Half the fun of Wise Children is guessing which parts are entirely made up and which are inspired by true story. It’s written as a memoir of sorts and, after all, don’t we all embellish our own lives in the retelling?
Hollywood, the Dream Factory
by Hortense Powdermaker
Published in 1950 – the exact year my novel is set – Hollywood, the Dream Factory continues to be the only existing anthropological study of Hollywood. I was lucky enough to stumble across a secondhand copy and it became my Bible during the writing of The Unforgettable Loretta Darling. Hortense Powdermaker – what a name! – set out to study a first-world tribe. And, boy, did she find it in Hollywood! She went from waiters to studio executives, starlets to Oscar winners, and asked all the questions I needed answering. How much they earned, where they lived, what plastic surgery they’d had done, and why they were here at all. Strictly hierarchical, rigid and ruthless, this remained a town that people fell in love with. Hollywood, I discovered, loves to talk about Hollywood!
THE MOVIES
“Wish You Were Here”
Yes, most of The Unforgettable Loretta Darling takes place in Hollywood – but it starts in a small, northern British seaside town called Morecambe, close to where liners would set sail from Liverpool to New York. Loretta Darling’s voice is most definitely influenced by the attitude of one Emily Lloyd in her movie debut, “Wish You Were Here.” This is a rich, entertaining film that will give you a glimpse into what it was like to be a post-war teenager in Britain.
“LA Confidential”
How could I not mention “LA Confidential”? Released in 1997, it features a stellar cast including Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe, and Kim Basinger. A masterpiece of film noir, it’s all set around Christmas Eve in 1950s Los Angeles. Kim’s prostitute character, and her carefully carved face, inspired one of mine. Primrose turns out to be the best friend Loretta doesn’t even realize she needs in a brave new world – she runs a den of iniquity based on the most famous brothel in California, the Hacienda Arms. If we’re to believe the history books, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, and Spencer Tracey all visited the madame there. Let’s not dwell too long on what that meant for the young women with stars in their eyes who ended up as prostitutes there. Or maybe, we should . . . Yes, I think maybe we should. The #metoo movement was a huge influence on my debut novel and the themes remain as relevant today as they did more than seventy years ago.
YOUTUBE
Lisa Eldridge
Possibly most unexpected of all, but a huge inspiration for the novel was watching makeup tutorials on YouTube as I fell asleep in my bed during lockdown. Isolated as I was, with no physical contact, these became a huge source of succour. Makeup is both intimate and meditative. And how lucky I was to stumble across Lisa Eldridge, with her passion for vintage makeup. As she talked us through one of her collections, my author brain was set alight. She described how Hollywood moved from black and white to Technicolor. Makeup artists had to start all over again, mixing potions from scratch. Potions, I thought. Anything could go into a potion . . . I was off and running! But if you want to discover where that path led me, I would suggest reading . . . The Unforgettable Loretta Darling!