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