"I AM BIG. IT'S THE PICTURES THAT GOT SMALL"
Ode To Gloria Swanson—A True Renaissance Woman
People grow old because they get bored — first with themselves, then with the world around them …That’s not my idea of living.” — Gloria Swanson
Hola, Friends!
We just returned from a short trip to Mexico City and, as Jared told many an Uber driver in his rudimentary espagnol—esta es una hermosa ciudad. It truly is a beautiful city with cosmopolitan flair, tons of public parks and green spaces, delicious food, and the loveliest locals. Oh, and great news for travelers who tend to get hangry after a long day of sight-seeing, AKA Jared; there are pastry shops/cafés every two feet so you’ll never suffer from a low-blood-sugar freak out.
We certainly did our darnedest to support the Pastelería economy, especially following our 13-mile bike tour around the city. If that makes it sound like we’re seasoned cyclists, let me assure you, we are not. The last time I rode a bike was in 2015, when I borrowed a beach cruiser from our airbnb and bumbled along a dirt path in Edinburgh’s Holyrood Park for about 20 minutes and . . . scene. 🎬
The tour company in Mexico City (Viator) wisely refrained from revealing the distance of said bike tour because, as our guide Yibran pointed out, “If people know it’s 13 miles, they will think they can’t ride that far.” I would absolutely be that person. “13 miles?! Who do you think I am? Beryl Burton?” I don’t even own any proper cycling attire. ⇩
Cut to—the bike tour ended up being one of the best things we did in Mexico City. We loved cruising along the shady, tree-lined streets via dedicated bike lanes, taking in the sights, sounds, and aromas of the city, and learning about all about Mexico’s history. Shout out to my friend, Sanjiv for urging us to do the bike tour and all of his stellar recommendations!
GLORIA SWANSON WAS A REAL RENAISSANCE WOMAN
True story: A couple of nights ago, I slid a tray of marinated tofu in the oven and a famous line from the movie Sunset Boulevard popped into my head —"I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.” I even said it aloud. No idea why. It’s been years since I’ve seen the film. Minutes later, I started listening to Julia Louise-Dreyfus interview Carol Burnett for Dreyfus’ wonderful podcast, Wiser Than Me. Early in the conversation, Burnett (age 90) remarks that when she was a kid, 50 sounded like an ancient age. She then marvels at the fact that in the movie Sunset Boulevard (no lie!), Norma Desmond—a silent film star past-her-prime —was 50 years old, as was the actress who played her, Gloria Swanson. Dear readers, I’m still processing the news that I’m older than Norma Desmond.
As some of you may know, Carol Burnett did hilarious spoofs of Norma Desmond, so it makes sense that she’d bring her up in an interview. But why did that line of dialogue from Sunset Boulevard pop into my head out of nowhere? Was the universe trying to tell me something? I couldn’t be sure, so I decided to dive down a Gloria Swanson rabbit hole just in case. What I learned was, Gloria Swanson continually reinvented herself, pursued numerous passions, and refused to conform to agist stereotypes. In other words, she was a total inspiration.
The first fun fact I came across was a rumor started by the director, George Cukor that at height of Swanson’s popularity, she was “carried in a sedan chair from her dressing room to the set.” ⬅︎ All aspiring divas should take note.
Born in Chicago on March 27th, 1899, Gloria May Josephine Swanson—an only child and self-proclaimed “army brat”— went by the nickname “Glory” as a child. Clearly, she was destined for BIG things. At age fifteen, Glory accompanied her aunt to Essanay Studios in Chicago, hoping to catch a glimpse of the movie star, Frances X. Bushman. A talent scout spotted her and soon teenage Gloria was playing thirty-year-old society women on screen. In time, Gloria Swanson rose to global stardom, appearing in over 70 films from 1914 to 1943. Her films grossed millions of dollars during an era when the admission price was five cents. She was named the most fashionable woman in the world and started her own production company.
A TRAILBLAZING HEALTH FOOD ADVOCATE
In the mid-20s, after her friend/heartthrob, Rudolph Valentino died at thirty-one years old, Swanson grew suspicious of doctors and radically changed her diet. She became a vegetarian/health food advocate, bringing her own lunch of steamed veggies in a tin box to functions. She brewed her own sweetener by steaming raisins while her high-falutin friends washed down lumps of foie gras with Dom Pérignon! Though ridiculed by her peers, she’d tell anyone who’d listen to avoid rich food and sugar. “I know people say I’m an obsessive crank about food and diet,” she once remarked. “But your body is the direct result of what you eat as well as what you don’t eat. Health is just everyday sensible care of your body.” Perhaps the ghost of Gloria Swanson was trying to tell me she approved of my marinated tofu? 🧐
LIVING LIKE A QUEEN
During her reign as a silver screen queen, Swanson raked in $8 million dollars, which amounts to $124,130,400.00 today. Alas, she burned through a lot of it by living large and investing in extravagant items like a gold bathtub for her bathroom and spending six figures a year on her wardrobe. By the end of 1927, she had $67 in the bank.
“The public wanted us to live like kings and queens. So, we did… And why not? We were in love with life,” Swanson told an interviewer in 1965. “We were making more money than we ever dreamed existed and there was no reason to believe it would ever stop.”
THE KENNEDY CURSE
In the late 1920s, Swanson’s producing partnership and romantic entanglement with banker, Joseph Kennedy (JFK’s father) certainly didn’t help her financial situation. Kennedy roped her into lousy deals and lost her a ton of money. By 1934, Swanson’s star had faded and the work dried up. Some folks are under the false impression that, like Norma Desmond, the advent of talkies rendered Swanson obsolete. That wasn’t the case at all. Swanson made a seamless transition into talkies—her first film with sound, The Trespasser, earned her an Academy Award nomination in 1929. Unfortunately, her next couple of films were expensive flops and audience’s tastes were changing. New stars had arrived on the scene to snap up roles and Swanson’s dust-up with the head of Columbia Pictures had made her persona-non-grata.
A MASTER OF REINVENTION
Now here’s where her story takes an intriguing turn, IMHO. Swanson subscribed to Popular Mechanics Magazine and was fascinated by science and inventions. “I’ve always had a mechanical mind, wanting to know the ‘why’ of things. I guess you’d call it an instinct rather than actual knowledge,” she once said.
One day in 1928, she tried to summon her butler by pushing a button that tripped a light in her kitchen. It occurred to her that if the butler wasn’t in the kitchen, he couldn’t see the light. She’d read about soundwaves in Popular Mechanics and wondered if there was a way to invent “a little (wearable) gadget” that could signal the butler via soundwaves, ergo, a wireless device. She ran the idea by inventor pal, George de Bothezat, and he came up with a design. A year later they applied for a patent. Suddenly, Swanson had caught the invention bug.
In the 1930s, she created a think tank of sorts called Multiprises, Inc. and recruited several prominent inventors from Europe, many of whom were Jewish and in danger due to the rise of Nazism. She spent $25K of her own money and used her clout to secure safe passage for those men. One of those inventors, Richard Kobler said, “There is no question that Ms. Swanson saved [our] lives.” The group is credited with inventing a carbide-steel-alloy cutting tool, the first plastic buttons for clothing, and early iterations of the dictaphone.
In addition to running Multiprises, Inc., Swanson appeared on the stage, in radio shows, wrote a syndicated weekly column, had her own TV show in 1948, and took up painting and sculpting. Look at this adorable still life she painted that’s giving me some Stuart Davis vibes. ⬇︎
LIVING IN NORMA DESMOND’S SHADOW
When offered the role of Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard, Swanson happily signed on, glad to earn more money than she was making in TV. She loved being back on a film set, exclaiming, "I hated to have the picture end ... When Mr. Wilder called ‘Print it!’ I burst into tears...”
Released in 1950, the film garnered excellent reviews and was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including one for Swanson for Best Actress (she lost to Judy Holliday). But rather than serve as a vehicle for the actress’s triumphant return to the big screen, Swanson’s rich performance as the faded and delusional silent film star, Norma Desmond, led the public to confuse fiction with reality. “People ask me if Sunset Boulevard was my own life, which was rather odd. There are no dead bodies in my swimming pool,” she once quipped.
A MASTER OF REINVENTION
Afterwards, she was offered more Norma Desmond-type roles and turned them all down. “I could obviously go on playing it (Norma) in its many variations for decades to come until, at last, I became some creepy parody of myself, or rather, of Norma Desmond. A shadow of a shadow.”
Instead, at age 50, she put her creative energy into exhibiting her paintings, working as a celebrity journalist, and designing a line of clothes under the label “Forever Young,” which was manufactured by the Puritan Dress Company between 1951 and 1981. To promote the line, she’d visit shops and narrate fashion shows. Allegedly, during intermission, she’d go backstage and do a headstand.
FINDING HER HEALTH FOOD SOUL MATE
By 1946, Swanson had divorced five husbands. It wasn’t until she was in her 70s that she finally met her match in William Duffy, a writer (17 years her junior) best known for ghost writing Billie Holiday’s life story, Lady Sings The Blues. Their meet cute took place in a diner where Swanson witnessed Duffy dumping a bunch of sugar into his coffee and told him he was killing himself. Months later he showed up looking a lot healthier (having given up sugar) and claimed that she’d saved his life. In 1975, he wrote the best-selling book, Sugar Blues, describing sugar as a drug and dedicated it to Swanson. They married in 1976, living happily together until her passing 1983.
COLLABORATING WITH CAROL BURNETT
As I scoured the internet for info about Swanson, one of my favorite discoveries was the following video of the 70-something starlet appearing on the Carol Burnett show. According to Carol Burnett, Swanson had been so tickled by Burnett’s portrayal of Norma Desmond, she sent Burnett fan mail and ended up appearing as a guest on the show in 1973. Isn’t she just sensational?
LET’S ALL BE LIKE GLORIA SWANSON
I hadn’t planned to devote this newsletter to Gloria Swanson, but once I got rolling, I realized that she’s the perfect In With The Old role model. From silent film star, to inventor, to painter and sculptor, to fashion designer, to journalist, and health food guru, she never let age or stumbling blocks stop her from expressing herself creatively and living a fulfilling life. Much like the famous line from Sunset Boulevard that started this deep dive, Gloria Swanson was BIG, and as she went through life, the pictures were a very small part of her identity.
And speaking of creative types, my friend/Creativity Coach,
, the writer extraordinaire behind the Stack, The Spark, is looking to chat with folks who’ve had to hit pause on their creative dreams. She needs help fine-tuning a workshop and wants to understand what obstacles are preventing you from pursuing your passion. She’s not selling anything and it’ll only take about 20-30 minutes of your time. If you’re game to chat with her, you can message her here.Okay. That’s a wrap today. If you enjoyed reading about Gloria Swanson as much as I enjoyed writing about her, hit the ❤️ button or leave a comment. I always love hearing from you. xo Hilary
My favourite movie! I loved learning more about Glory.