Vintage style

Betty Grable: I had the privilege of meeting this delightful lady on several occasions; Betty was the armed forces No.1 Pin-Up Girl everywhere during WW2 and brought enjoyment to millions more with her numerous musical films…
Most of Grable’s immediate ancestors were American, but her distant heritage was of Dutch, Irish, German and English stock.She was propelled into the acting profession by her mother. For her first role, as a chorus girl in the film Happy Days (1929), Grable was only 12 years old (legally underage for acting), but, because the chorus line performed in blackface, it was impossible to tell how old she was. Her mother soon gave her a make-over which included dyeing her hair platinum blonde.
For her next film, her mother got her a contract using a false identification. When this deception was discovered, however, Grable was fired. Grable finally obtained a role as a ‘Goldwyn Girl’ in Whoopee! (1930), starring Eddie Cantor. Though Grable received no billing, she led the opening number, “Cowboys.” Grable then worked in small roles at different studios for the rest of the decade, including the Academy Award-winning The Gay Divorcee (1934), starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, where she was prominently featured in the number “Let’s K-nock K-nees”.
Grable’s later career was marked by feuds with studio heads. At one point, in the middle of a fight with Zanuck, she tore up her contract and stormed out of his office. By 1953, Zanuck was grooming Marilyn Monroe to replace Grable as the Fox’s resident sex symbol. Far from feeling threatened, on the set of How to Marry a Millionaire Grable famously said to Monroe, “go and get yours, honey! I’ve had mine”. It was at this point that Grable lost her father ‘Conn’ Grable in 1954, at age 71.