Lena Horne

Happy birthday, Lena! Lena turns 82 on 30th June, 1999!

A website dedicated to Lena Horne, the lady, her life and her music
 
 
I can't recall how it is exactly I got into Miss Horne. Her first movie for me was probably "Stormy Weather", her movie as a "loan" to Fox from her home studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Anyhow, I was mesmerized with this lovely beauty with a sweet singing voice and decided to get to know more about her. There were more movies that I came into contact with. As I got to know more about her, I was disappointed in the fact that whenever she appeared in a Metro musical, they didn't have the courtesy to give her a decent talking role unless it was with others of her race, like "Cabin in the Sky". With that came the discovery of race politics and prejudice that was so rampant in classic Hollywood. Of course, I had always known that classic Hollywood had been a racist industry. However, the degree to which this racism impacted an individual's career was unknown to me till I read accounts of Miss Horne's life. Her marriage with Jewish conductor/composer Lennie Hayton always fascinated me because it seemed to me that she was almost challenging the powers that be during her tenure at Metro.

Surprisingly enough, there isn't a single site on the Web (that is reachable through search engines) completely dedicated to Lena. I was quite disappointed in that.

Racial prejudice was at least a little bit instrumental in Dorothy Dandridge's downfall. Luckily, Lena was stronger and wiser and has prevailed enough so that she is able to celebrate her 82nd birthday this year (1999). Lena never said die even though there were circumstances trying enough in her life. So, here I present, a website dedicated to the one and only Miss Horne.
 

Lena Links

Filmography
Biography
Music
Books

Write to her at :
Lena Horne
23 E. 74 St.
New York, NY 10021
This site is under construction. Work started 28 June, 1999 by Mitali Chaudhuri.