Year of Jane Russell: Day 99

Here’s an original lobby card from Young Window. The film didn’t do much for Jane’s career. In later years she often quoted a film review that said – if the young widow had only died with her husband, this film need not ever have been made.

Year of Jane Russell: Day 97

Here’s Jane in 1946, around the time Young Widow was released. At the time, she was primarily a homemaker in Van Nuys and despite all the previous publicity for The Outlaw, had not yet fully transformed into a polished larger than life movie star.

Year of Jane Russell: Day 96

Howard Hughes released The Outlaw on a limited basis in early 1946, which meant Young Widow, also released in ’46 was the first opportunity many moviegoers had to see Jane in action. This proved too good a publicity angle for one theatre who released this image of an impatient JR fan.

Year of Jane Russell: Day 95

As Howard Hughes continued to delay the release of The Outlaw, he finally allowed Jane to appear in a second film by loaning her out to Hunt Stromberg for Young Widow. Here she is with co-star Louis Hayward on the set of the film in 1945.

Year of Jane Russell: Day 93

In the late summer of 1942, Jane and Robert Waterfield took a break from their relationship, and Jane entered into an intense romance with actor John Payne. They would joke that if they were married, she would become Jane Payne. Here they are at the premiere of Pied Piper.

Year of Jane Russell: Day 91

Here’s one more image of Jane taken at the Van Nuys home of her mother-in-law where Jane and husband Robert Waterfield resided for a spell. At first glance, it’s a charming photo of Jane behind the wheel. But, she’s also talking on a phone in the car, which was not a common occurrence in the 1940s! Since I know pretty much nothing about automobiles or early carphones, I turn to my friend Daniel Nauman who is rather well versed in both. He came back with much more information than I could have hoped! His theory is that Jane is posing in the Boss’s car, aka Howard Hughes. Here’s what he had to say:

The car is a 1946 Lincoln V12. There were no exterior changes to the car in 1947-8, so maybe HH [Howard Hughes] would keep it that long. A totally new car was introduced for ’49. He seemed to be partial to Lincolns.

LA had mobile service by 1947. It was more advanced than the phone call JR did on the Outlaw set in Navajo Country, but not by much. It was a dedicated FM system, just above the newly allocated FM broadcast band. The handset had a button to push to talk, release to hear. There was no dial system. The caller asked the mobile operator to connect to either another mobile or land line. If it was a land line, the mobile operator connected to the land line operator, who completed the call from her switchboard. In reverse, a land to mobile call was placed with the land operator, who connected to the mobile operator, who dialed the mobile unit—and if reached, made the connection. Early on, the light on the mobile receiver remained on if a call was not answered, so they knew someone had called. Not sure if the mobile operator kept track of calls, but probably did—especially for someone like HH.

Also note the compass protruding from the dash—HH was always off on some adventure. The knobs high on the dash in front of the steering wheel are not standard equipment. They may be controls for custom air conditioning, which was very very rare and expensive.

This would not be the first time Hughes customized a Lincoln. Jane’s salary under HH probably wouldn’t have allowed her to make customizations like this (and would she need a carphone?), even when combining her income with Waterfield’s paychecks from the Rams. Daniel’s theory that this was Hughes’ car seems reasonable to me!

Year of Jane Russell: Day 90

Here’s one more image of Jane posing with purses for an unknown reason. I love this one because the framed photo on the vanity is Jane as a kid.

Year of Jane Russell: Day 89

Here are some additional photos of Jane at home in the 1940s, showing off some purses. Love the slippers which reveal Jane’s love of casual clothing when she wasn’t on the clock for Howard Hughes.