As Howard Hughes contemplated what to do with Jane, career-wise, throughout the 1940s, he sometimes had her study acting. Here she is in 1944 with acting coach Florence Enright.

In 1947, Jane recorded nine songs which were released in a 78 rpm recording vinyl set titled Let’s Put Out the Lights. Jane was a avid music fan, particularly jazz and loved recording.
Jane loved music and enjoyed singing, possibly more than acting. When Kay Kyser invited her on his radio program in 1947, she jumped at the chance. Kyser also helped Jane launch her recording career.
Long before audiences had a chance to see The Outlaw in theaters, they got a sneak audio peek in May of 1941 when Jane and Jack Buetel acted out scenes from the film on Louella Parsons’ radio show Hollywood Premiere. Here’s Jane with Louella the day of the broadcast.
I was so busy wrapping up Girl Scout cookie season for my Troop today that I almost forgot to post about Jane! Since I have cookies on the brain, Jane drinking milk on the set of Macao pairs nicely.
What’s better than one Jane Russell? Why two! Here’s an interesting double study of Jane to promote – what else? The Outlaw!
Here’s a fun piece of ephemera I picked up on the Jane journey – a homemade scrapbook dedicated to The Outlaw. Many of the clippings date from the 1946 release and the emphasis is totally on Jane, though that could be out of preference or sheer volume of publicity. I love that the book ends with a page devoted to the ticket stub from a screening. Mission accomplished!
Here’s a gorgeous color candid of Jane in the early 1940s, scanned from an original color slide.

Here is original sheet music from The Outlaw. Like everything else relating to this film, there’s so much going on all at once, and Jane looks fab.
Even though Jane only had two films released between 1940-1947, her Howard Hughes-fueled publicity was long-lasting and far reaching, as is evident with this Spanish-language publication.