i
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
HARTYO WISMADI JULIASMONO
Student Number: 034214125
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
A Sarjana Sastra Undergraduate Thesis
THE CAUSE OF RAGS-TO-RICHES LIFE IN BEVERLY
LINET’S LADD A HOLLYWOOD TRAGEDY
By
HARTYO WISMADI JULIASMONO Student Number: 034214125
Approved by
Dr. Novita Dewi, M.S.,M.A. (Hons) 4 August 2007 Advisor
Drs. Hirmawan Wijarnaka, M. Hum. 4 August 2007
Co-advisor
(TRANSFORMER, 2007)
NO RUSH TO STEP ON, WHEN YOU SEE
THE RESULT WILL BE DISSAPOINTING
This thesis is dedicated to:
My beloved parents
My only grand mother
My brother
And
All my friends
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to thank God for blessing me, especially, in making all this happen, so that I could finally finish my study and the thesis writing. I would also give my big thanks to my family: my parents for supporting me financially, mentally, and spiritually, and my brother for his best supports and inspiring experiences in his life. To all of my cousins, I thank you for your inspirations, and also to my family, especially to om Sito, for supporting my financial need on the field work (KKN) after the earthquake tug at everything my family had, and mbak Eny for giving me supports by her inspiring passion in life.
In the process of completing the thesis, Dr. Novita Dewi, M. S., M. A. (Hons) is my leading lecturer to whom my next big thanks will go. She was giving me advices and guidance, and also checking my terrible thesis formulation, structure and grammar along the thesis writing. My lovely friend, Dini, also helped me much. I would be pleased and thankful to her for giving me the best advices and guidance from her own personal experience. Special thanks also go to Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka,
M. Hum., Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M. Pd., M. A., and all the lecturers. Thank you all for teaching me during my study in the whole semesters for four years.
Special warm thanks to all my class friends (Abit, Afril, Ketut, Maya, Clara, Leni, Ryan, Daud, Tyas, Mei, Dewi, Yuni, Agnes, Nani, Sondang, Inop, Ginting, Muji, Biggar, Cicil, Jamil, Yaco, Al, Ike, Oni, Joe, and those who are too many to
mention) and to my teams: O’life (Ida Ayu, N’du, Ana, Lina, and Amie), the desired people, the play team, Sastra Mungil, the helpful members from TSD, Potluck Party, Jaksa, the Gedongan Wetan team of KKN (Marine, Leli, Oky, Nia, Mega, Maya, Melia, Adit, and Anggie), Narcist. Inc, the Nite goers (Eko, Mitha, Mina, Chazzy, Clara, Paul, Bonie, Sandra, Ardi, Sherly and her beloved, Numan, Abah, Enrico, Fafa, Agung, and all the Embassy-aholics). My unforgettable thanks go to Vera (Cheche Mar Cheche) my boo for giving and lending her books to me, Nana for the disks copy-burning and her cameras, Princess for the Psychology books, Olive for HoeLit books, Mesya for her dictionary, Jatie for the computer building and setting, Tyas Cherry for my frogie bank, and for those that could not be mentioned. Thanks too to my second family, T-qa, Mesya, Gilang, tante Wieke, and om Untung. You are all the best things I have ever had.
HartyoWismadi Juliasmono
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A. Review of Related Studies………... 7
B. Review of Related Theories………. 11
1. Theory of American Dream: Rags-to-riches……….. 11
2. Theory of Character……….. 13
3. Theory of Setting……….. 14
4. Theory of the Intertwinement between Literature and Society 14 5. Theory of Society………. 15
6. Theory of Psychology………... 15
a. Psychology on the Social Environment………... 16
b. Psychology on Socio-Culture……….. 17
C. Review on the Biographical Background……… 18
D. Theoretical Framework……… 20
A. Rags-to-riches Life: The Depiction……… 28
1. The Contrast of the Character’s Life………. 29
2. The Character’s Personality……… 33
B. Rags-to-riches Life: The Cause……… 47
1. Family………... 48
2. Society………. 57
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION………. 65
BIBLIOGRAPHY……….. 69
APPENDICES……… 72
A. Cover of the Novel……… 72
B. Summary of the Novel……….. 73
ABSTRACT
HARTYO WISMADI JULIASMONO (2007). The Cause of Rags-to-riches Life in Beverly Linet’s Ladd a Hollywood Tragedy. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
The novel chosen for this thesis is Ladd A Hollywood Tragedy by Beverly Linet (1980), set in the era when Hollywood began its rise of film-making. The time is called the Golden Era of Hollywood. The growth of movie industry has brought an effect to American people and their social values. In this biographical novel, the American social values in early 1930’s were reflected in the main character Alan Walbridge Ladd.
There are two problems to discuss in this thesis. The first problem is the depiction of rags-to-riches as reflected before and after Alan Ladd became an actor in Ladd A Hollywood Tragedy. There are some aspects which depict rags-to-riches life through the main character, such as the contrast of the character’s life, the character’s personality, and the setting. The second problem is to see how the novel shows that the society contributes to Alan Ladd’s tragic life. To answer the second problem, the writer analyzes the novel through psychology on the family and social aspects to show their influences toward the character’s life condition.
This thesis is done through library research. The writer used socio-cultural approach to see if the cultural and social conditions in the novel may reflect the same conditions that happen in reality.
From the study, it can be concluded that the author of this biographical novel shows the depiction of rags-to-riches life in relations between the social economic condition as depicted in the novel and the social condition at the time the author produced the work, and the influence of the society to the character’s life. The true story of the biographical novel bases such criticism to come up. This thesis shows that in order to criticize the modern life, the author brings a specific idea of rags-to-riches as the message to pass on to the readers of the biography.
ABSTRAK
HARTYO WISMADI JULIASMONO (2007). The Cause of Rags-to-riches Life in Beverly Linet’s Ladd a Hollywood Tragedy. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
Novel yang dipilih oleh penulis dalam skripsi adalah Ladd A Hollywood Tragedy (1980). Novel yang ditulis oleh Beverly Linet dengan penempatan waktu pada saat Hollywood mengawali keberadaanya dengan perkembangan produksi filem. Masa pada saat itu disebut sebagai Masa Keemasan Hollywood. Perkembangan dari industri perfileman telah memberi pengaruh terhadap masyarakat Amerika dan nilai-nilai sosialnya. Dalam novel biograpi tersebut, nilai-nilai-nilai-nilai sosial masyarakat Amerika pada kisaran waktu 1930 tersirat pada gambaran tokoh utama Alan Walbridge Ladd.
Ada dua persoalan yang akan dibahas dalam skripsi ini. Persoalan pertama adalah tentang penggambaran rags-to-riches yang ada didalam kehidupan Alan Ladd pada Ladd A Hollywood Tragedy sebelum dan sesudah si tokoh menjadi pemain filem. Ada beberapa aspek yang menggambarkan rags-to-riches lewat pengamatan tokoh utama, seperti perubahan kehidupan dan kepribadian pada tokoh, dan seting. Persoalan kedua adalah mengenai bagaimana novel tersebut mengisyaratkan bahwa lingkungan masyarakat memberi dampak pada kehidupan yang tragis yang dimiliki Alan Ladd. Pada persoalan kedua, penulis menganalisa hal tersebut melalui segi psikologi dari unsur-unsur keluarga dan lingkungan sosial supaya dapat menunjukkan pengaruh-pengaruh kedua unsur tersebut pada kondisi kehidupan si tokoh.
Skripsi ini diuraikan dengan menggunakan penelitian lewat perpustakaan. Penulis menggunakan pendekatan sosio-kultural untuk mengetahui bagaimana kebudayaan dan kondisi-kondisi sosial yang ada pada masyarakat dalam novel tersebut bisa juga menggambarkan kondisi yang sama yang terjadi pada kenyataan.
Dari penelitian ini dapat disimpulkan bahwa si pengarang novel biograpi menunjukkan gambaran dari kehidupan rags-to-riches dalam keterkaitannya antara kondisi sosial-ekonomi didalam novel dengan kondisi pada saat penulis membuat isi novel, dan pengaruh dari lingkungan sosial kepada kehidupan si tokoh. Cerita nyata dari biograpi mendasari munculnya kritik. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa supaya dapat mengkritik kehidupan moderen, si pengarang menyiratkan kemunculan gagasan khusus mengenai pengertian rags-to-riches sebagai pesan bagi pembaca biograpi ini.
1 A. Background of the Study
Most popular novels or literary works take the issues in daily life as the bases of inspiration. It is certain that they are written for commercial purpose so that readers can enjoy and become interested in reading them. Issues and criticism on the present social phenomenon are fresh to explore in writing, and it might not only cost more than just a profit, but public interest as well. By this, popular works of literature may also serve as criticism to the real social situation.
Modern era tends to be judged as a materialistic social category, along with the term rags-to-riches where people are mostly obsessed to reach the maximum wealth to fight poverty, especially in western society. Since the twentieth century until today, we live in the era of modernism, where economic aspects, especially finance, take an important role in many aspects of life. Such is the characteristic of materialistic society.
Ladd in confronting his financial problem. The life which is described in the novel is even a way to have the kind of changing positions, from the ordinary life into the extraordinary one. The character is described as one who was born in a poor family. They never have a settled living, in that Alan Ladd thinks the poverty and nomad to be serious problems. An obsession then comes up by a principal to reach the success of fame and wealth. By this, it can be assumed that richness is the passion of the character and it becomes an incredible obsession under the idea of rags-to-riches, until it causes problems.
Rags-to-riches life is a term which is built following the idea of the American Dream. The idea of American dream focuses on the greater social and political aspects of America in creating a better, free, and democratic America. Although the term has been developed since the early time of Victorian era, several arguments, however, judge it as having the differences in concept from what is caught in the earlier time and in recent situation. People, in order to clarify, might differentiate what is depicted as the former and the new concept of the term American dream, as Victorian-based concept and non-Victorian or modern-based concept. Thus, the changing portion of the definition also indicates the adaptation of the existing idea of the term rags-to-riches as to match and similar with the idea of American Dream.
development of the character. The thesis uses Ladd A Hollywood Tragedy as primary data. It represents the cause of Rag-riches life which becomes one phenomenon in world society, especially the western. This study can be used as to see the issue happening in the recent era as giving influence from the author’s work. This study is certainly important in a way to see that what the author provides in the work can reveal the condition of the real society and the issue of the era, in this case, the modern era. Therefore, it is essential to explore of the work as to criticize the real situation.
B. Problem Formulation
As a guide for the writer in referring to the particular elements to discuss, these questions below will direct the writer’s writing on the certain scope of the analysis. They are stated to be the problems, as well as the basic construction of the thesis.
C. Objectives of the Study
Studying the topic proves that literature has a relation with the real social condition, related to the time of the author’s work. The social condition reflects the rags-to-riches and tragic life issue in the society, especially the twenty first century western society, in which starting from 1930’s film-making has been indicating the extreme public awareness of rags-to-riches phenomenally.
The objective of the study is to know that the analyzed literary work, Ladd A Hollywood Tragedy, represents and criticizes the real society. It is a particular social environment which gives influences to the term rags-to-riches and it is the real society that gives the backdrop of the story in the examined work. Besides, the thesis proves that literature enables the author to criticize the real society.
D. Definition of Terms
1. Rags-to-riches
Rags-to-riches is one terminology which is defined as the process when a person is dealing with a hard and serious economic problem that in some way the person is forced to get revived trying to reach up the betterment of life. In other words, the person has been yearning for the success which is granted to be real. According to the Longman Dictionary of English Language, it is a situation from being very poor to being very rich (Procter, 1995)
2. Hollywood
In a way to see the time that Hollywood is situated in the novel, the Hollywood in the novel is described in sky-rocketing moment as kind as the Golden Era, where people started to see the dream of becoming a movie stars and it remains challenging to them. The rise of Hollywood had taken a Start with a shining moment, years after its pace in the business of entertainment. During 1930, Hollywood took an honor to name the time as the “Golden era” of Hollywood. This is time when people were at the most competitive moment to hit the time with big chance and full of hope to make the reality among them into the kind of sparkling life in the world of film-making.
cinema-goers to escape from the humdrum reality of their daily lives into a world of fantasy. The studio system, which was dominated by a few big film companies, such as MGM, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, and Universal, controlled the production of films, their distribution, and their exhibition in the cinemas that the studios owned. Film-making had become a very profitable big business dominated by a small number of
7 A. Review of Related Studies
On the web site, Metrotimes gives an access to see a comment about the main character in Beverly Linet’s Ladd A Hollywood Tragedy, Alan Walbridge Ladd. Critics simplify arguments that the rise and fall as the impact of the rags-to-riches of his career proves several aspects to obscure his success under the work of film-making. Racism and discrimination are some of them
The Western is alternately reviled and revered. Most Westerns can be regarded as oaters: moldy, badly acted B movies with noisy cowboy-and-Indian fights, helpless women, more gunfire than Gettysburg and a cocky, cardboard hero galloping off in a dust cloud of self-righteous importance. Cliches were prevalent in Westerns, and so was racism. Insensitive scripts scribbled by Hollywood hacks freely referred to Native Americans as "savages" or "redskins," who ironically were often played by Europeans. Although Ladd often played the part of the rugged hero, he was only 5 feet 3 inches tall. His films with Lake were helped by the fact that she was even shorter than he was. But in other films, directors often had him stand on boxes so he wouldn't look so diminutive. Still, the pint-sized the spian gave a towering performance in what stands as the finest Western ever made (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000042/bio).
From the late 1940s to the mid-'50s, the quality of Westerns movies began to grow, including Red River (1948), High Noon (1952), Shane (1953) and The Searchers (1956). The scripts had more touches in the body, and the characters tended to be more depth (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000042/critics).
Yet, metrotimes.com also argues about the condition of his career. The film-making may also bring pros and contras to public assumption, thus it also becomes another consequence to the career rise and fall.
In the history, the movie Shane was reached to be a sensational movie. However, Shane existed to make such controversy and criticizes. Among western movies, it was outstandingly different, and it was judged to be the most unromanticized romantic Western ever made (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000042/critics).
After his long role in film-making bringing the success to both the growth of movie production and the position of his career, the movie Shane which was expected to impress the public has brought the declining interest. This situation results the loss of attention and disappointment to the public.
impact, thus it results a down fall in the following situation after his rags-to-riches career.
Reviews on websites also relate to the discussion on the way his career in movie production performs both supporting critics and negative views to public. As one of the examples is the comment from the reviewer, Frank Thompson, on a website named Film Reference. He says:
After This Gun for Hire Ladd became more prolific and quite popular, but his range never extended appreciably. Stalwart and manly, he could also be dour; he seldom smiled without irony. Never a personable figure on the screen, Ladd's appeal was that of an icon: serene face, athletic body, piercing eyes, and an overall tough-guy demeanor that was precisely appropriate for the dark side of the 1940s.
(http://www.filmreference.com/Actors-and-Actresses-Ke-LeLadd-Alan.html)
Frank Thompson in film reference, for instance, gives an opinion about the character’s contribution in movie production. During the character’s journey in filming some movies, his career which starts from nothing carries him to play in This Gun of Hire. He, then, could step on to far better position as to gain his success in acting, so that he also plays a great deal in rags-to-riches of his career.
the conditions of his earlier life. It proves that the character has a long-term process to achieve a successful career.
However, Ladd was still a long way away from entering the world of Hollywood film-making. Before becoming an actor, Ladd worked a number of odd jobs including gas station attendant, hot dog vendor, and lifeguard. Starting in the entertainment business, Ladd played small parts in radio shows and local theatre productions. For two years, he also worked as a grip on the Warners lot. Ladd's early film work was mostly minor parts, such as the role of a reporter in Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane (1914) (http://www.delorenzosdugout.comladd.htm).
It can be seen from the comments above that his rags-to-riches life is defined mostly with the term of his career which has been so long to come up in its process. Reviews from the websites focus only on the details of the character’s career, so that the study, however, limits the discussion, especially toward the elaboration in carrying the idea of rags-to-riches life as the whole.
main issue that mostly appears in the era, especially in the Hollywood society: The rags-to-riches life. The analysis attempts to look further what is based on the novel, that life in the society at that time makes the people confront the problem in financial aspect and let them to get rid of the problem, thinking of desirable need of using money and buying things.
B. Review of Related Theories
There are some theories that the writer will apply, such as theory on relationship between literature and society and theory on society. These theories will support the analysis of the novel Ladd A Hollywood Tragedy.
1. American Dream
The term American Dream was first used by James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America which was written in 1931.
The American Dream is built from the society in United States of America, as related with hard work and determination that can lead to a better life, usually through economic success. These were values held by many early European settlers, and have been passed on to the newer generations. Currently this iconic middle class lifestyle is lived by a sizable minority. The American Dream has been criticized for its emphasis on material possessions as a way of finding happiness. Classes prove to be a dominant phenomenon involving a person’s consideration on the pride and preciousness to exist among the social life or society.
also rings more complex issue in the personal, economic, and political freedoms.
Rags-to-riches life is one term that can be categorized as one element found in the American dream, in that, later, the theory will be prominent in maintaining the analysis. Rags-to-riches is the term in which a person is dealing with a hard and serious economic problem that in some way the person is forced to get revived trying to reach up the most betterment, so that moreover the situation where the person has been yearning for the successfulness is somehow granted to be real. Then, the person is considered to have the preciousness of American Dream.
2. Character
According to Murphy, there are four ways of analyzing and finding the understanding of character, since character helps the readers to interpret and catch the point in reading of the literary works. He states in his Understanding Unseen that some indications can be proved to help understanding character. It is based on the four concepts he has built. Those are:
a. Personal description: physical appearance, dressing, attitude, etc. b. Character as seen by another: the description among the eyes and
opinions of others.
d. Reaction: to certain events or situations (Murphy, 1972: 161-170).
3. Setting
In A Glossary of Literary Terms, M.H. Abrams says that the whole setting of a narrative work includes general locale, historical time, and social circumstances in which its action occurs (Abrams, 1981: 192). Usually the background of the character concerns with the setting of time and place in which the character lives, so that it may construct a great personalities, actions, and way of thinking (Murphy, 1972:141).
4. Intertwinement between Literature and Society.
Literature can be defined as the imitation of the real life and it represents the reality to be happening in the literary work with both relational existences. Author may imitate the society in his/her work, in that it involves the constructions of plot, theme, conflict, issue, setting, character, and many other aspects of literature.
which is similar with the phenomenon in the reality (Wellek and Warren, 1956: 95).
5. On Society
Society creates culture and gives influence on the members of the society. It is able to be learned or imitated by others. One and the most of things that builds the kind of ambition or even ambitiousness on achieving the materialistic idea and richness in the life of the society is the reference from one group of the society to the other group(s).
Schifman and Kanuk state that in contemporary societies, the existence of social classes can be identified by seeing the common reality which shows that people who are more in reaching richness or have more prestigious occupations are often more highly valued than those who are under that position. In other words, the more we afford wealth the better people appreciate and give respect on us (Schifman and Kanuk, 1978: 407).
6. On Psychology
Psychology is an academic and applied field involving the study of the mind, brain, and behavior, both human and nonhuman. Psychology also refers to the application of such knowledge to various spheres of human activity, including problems of individuals' daily lives and the treatment of mental illness. Psychology concerns more in seeking to capture explanatory generalizations about the mental function and overt behavior of individuals (http: //www. wikepedia. org /wiki /psychology# principles_of_psychology)wiki/psychology#principles_of_psychology). In practice, however, there is quite a lot of cross-fertilization that takes place among the various fields. Psychology differs from biology and neuroscience in that it is primarily concerned with the interaction of mental processes and behavior, and of the overall processes of a system, and it does not simply the biological or neural processes themselves, though the subfield of neuropsychology combines the study of the actual neural processes with the study of the mental effects they have subjectively produced .
As Psychology is related to the influence of environments or society, below are the reviews of psychology and their relations.
a. Psychology and Social Environment
and the personality. This forming through the development creates a permanent mark on the memory that the child has in mind, so that either good or bad, it will result an impact through the child’s development in reaching up the grown up situation (DR Kartini Kartono, 2000: 166-167).
b. Psychology and Socio-Culture
According to Dr. A Supratiknya, based on the theory of abnormality, socio-cultural background can also bring effects on developing the psychological condition. The objectivity of the social environment carries out the concepts of making judgments, which are objective and less objective. The way people judge something, in less objective way of thinking, tend to be damaging. Sometimes they confront the loss of moral indication by making the gaps or discriminations through social status, race, and priority. This stressor is able to infect the attitudes of a person toward the social life into the changing condition, along with psychological problems that follow (Supratiknya, 1995: 21).
psychological problems. This theory explains about the complexity of this kind of psychological problem, in which the characteristic of a person is changed into having the attitudes of feeling obsessive and insecure, caused by the repression on the traumatic experiences of the previous moments. This kind of problem is also followed by the condition of feeling guilty and sinful of having the traumatic and unforgettable memory ( Supratiknya, 1995: 18).
C. Review on Biographical Novel
As a non-fictional novel, Stone says that biographical novel is based not merely on fact, but on feeling, the legitimate emotion. Facts can get lost with almost too great facility, but and emotional experience, once lived, can never be forgotten. (http: //ecplio. net/ megafile/ msa/ speccol/ sc5300/ sc5339/ 000060/000000/000001/restricted/ecp-10-240/stone01.html accessed on 21 September 2006). Therefore, biographical novel cannot be separated from emotional experience. Emotional experience in a biographical novel will bring the readers to feel it like own.
instead of based on the true story of Alan Ladd’s life before he died, it also has the novel’s requirements, such as character, plot, conflict, and setting.
D. Theoretical Framework
There are several elements which will be necessarily viewed in the analysis of the novel. The writer will use some concepts of theories, such as Rags-to-riches in American Dream, setting, society, and character, Psychology, and social influence in the following. The theories will also be used along with the answering of the analysis based on the problem formulations.
The implication of the relations between the main theory and other aspects, such as social and culture is considered to be necessarily used in describing the condition of one personal development among the environments. It then gives the understanding that the writer can prove the cause of the rags-to-riches life, as the main aspect of personal or internal background, to be involved along with the external situation, in this case is the character’s society. Therefore, instead of using the focus on inter determination of one personality, social condition is also following ahead in taking the contribution to fulfill a continuity of both aspects.
22 A. Object of the Study
The object of the study is one novel written in the era of the early Hollywood film production and film making. Ladd a Hollywood Tragedy is a novel by Beverly Linet published by Arbor House in 1979, and later A Berkley Book published it in 1980 in New York. This novel tells about the life process of a man through certain social life and family conditions, especially in the era where people tend to have an obsession in reaching up fame and an involvement on the film growing.
his former wife, decides to divorce. They have their own beautiful house, another baby, named Alana, and Ladd is definitely a millionaire.
B. Approach of the Study
Since this approach is also combined with certain aspects, as an example, psychological approach, in away to see the relation of the rags-to-riches life with the character’s tragic life in the novel, it can also create a combination in giving the clear explanation of the problems that happen to the character. Therefore, the combination may construct certain idea of relating the analysis of the work to the criticism of the society in the real life.
Each society in its own time creates its own culture and problem. Thus, the modern society, to see the relation with the society in the work, brings the idea of popularity and free-commerce in broadening and speedy growth, in which money and richness can be the aim of the people in competing to reach the most betterment and wealthy in life. As factually happening, it all shows a significant growth among people’s desires and the dream of Americans in the central place of economic growth.
C. Method of the Study
Library and Internet researches are used in the thesis. There are also two kinds of sources which are used, the primary and the secondary sources. The primary source is the novel by Beverly Linet, Ladd a Hollywood Tragedy. The secondary sources are based on the books and articles on theories and supporting arguments in the analysis.
Supratiknya’s Mengenal Prilaku Abnormal and Dr. Kartini Kartono’s Hygene Mental are used to provide information on personality, the influence of the family, the background of building a culture, and certain elements of mental aspect through the existence of cultural background among the society. Kanuk and Schifman’s Consumer Behavior, and Francesco M Nicosia’s Consumer Decision Processes are used to provide the data more on the description and the supporting idea of the society, particularly in America and Hollywood.
The theory of Literature and all that is related to it, such as theory of character, setting, society, and the relation of literature and society are largely taken from Abrams’ A Glossary of Literary Terms, Murphy’s Understanding Unseen, Hans P. Guth’s The Literary Heritage, and Milies’ Literature and Live in America are the way to know and see the significant of Literature. In order to see the other theories in Literature, some data is taken from Rene Wellek and Warren’s A Theory of Literature, and Dr. Schoonder Woerd and Drs. Van De Laar’s An Approach to English Literature.
Procter’s Longman Dictionary of English Language is used as to find the data through definitions those are used in the thesis.
hsse.nie.edu.sg/staff/blackburn/hollywood.htm is the last data which provides such information about society and theory that can be used in supporting the thesis writing.
28
This chapter is divided into two parts. The first part concerns more on the reflection of the idea of rags-to-riches life in Ladd a Hollywood Tragedy. This part will first give certain depiction of rags-to-riches life by seeing the contrast before and after the main character becomes an actor. The elaboration of the first part also consists of the setting and the significance of the character in Ladd A Hollywood Tragedy in giving influence to the life of the character. The second part is a way to discuss the contribution of the society to the tragic life of the character. This part will be the category in showing the focus of Character’s development by the involvements of family and psychological aspects, particularly in relations with the character itself, and the influence of fame to the character’s mind reaction and the way of thinking. The importance of showing these relations is to see how they are really connected, in which society contributes to the character and is connected with the phenomenal issue in social aspect.
A. Rags-to-riches Life: the Depiction
character experiences with his family in the lowest social status as poor and financially desperate kind of family. Next, he rises with his ambition to reach a successful career that brings a lot of money, so that he could never feel the financial loss any more. In fact, the situation and the atmosphere of the setting at that time construct certain speculation in which film making, movie production, and Hollywood were at the most up reaching position as kind as the golden age. Therefore, this condition is one of the aspects that can stimulate the character in gaining the life to be called a rags-to-riches life. It becomes one real condition of the character that the dynamical process of his life constructs a contrast differentiating the life in the past and in the following.
In pursuing further, the depiction of rags-to-riches life through the portrayal of the character, the discussion will focus on the contrast of the character’s life (as the depiction of rags-to-riches), the character’s attitude toward rags-to-riches life, and the setting at that time.
1. The Contrast of the Character’s Life
house where they can live permanently. Even more, the condition is getting worse after he loses his father.
Alan’s most vivid childhood memory was of the day in 1917 when he was four and saw Ladd Sr. tip over and die of a heart attack. He was too young to grasp the significant of the event, too accustomed to the man’s absences from home to feel any sense of loss-at least at that moment (Linet, 1980: 4).
This condition forces him to get adapted in the situations where he finds many different scopes of life in society than what he might have got in settled living. The family has not been supposedly recognized by the society and they are not situated in a position that they exist in a social life. There is also no record about the background of the family: his birth, photos, and the marriage of his parents. His life with his family seems obscene.
Thirty years later, a reporter who went to Hot Springs to investigate the Ladd family background could find no one who remembered either Ina or her husband, Alan Ladd, Sr.. But there were few in the community who didn’t remember the night the courthouse caught fire and burned to the ground. Thousands of valuable documents were destroyed in the blaze. Officially there is, therefore, no record that Alan Ladd was ever born
…
No relatives ever came to visit, and no photos of kinfolk were ever shown to Alan. He only knew that his mother was born on November 25, 1888, in West Chester, England, and had come to the United States in 1907 at the age of nineteen. That much was duly recorded (Linet, 1980: 3-4).
his eight. It is the moment that could bring him the pride toward his mother and ambition that someday he would be able to make his life far better than what he and the family have now.
A large potato farm outside Flagstaff, Arizona, needed harvest hands, and Ina was hired to do washing and cooking for the harvesters. Alan drew water and helped his stepfather dig tubers. At age eight he earned his first money and handed it to Ina with pride, promising that when he grew up he would make so much that he could hire people to wash and cook for her (Linet, 1980: 6-7).
In the early situation, Ladd is living in well-completed portion as a son, where he finds the figures of mother and father through his life. Yet, since his father’s death, he feels no longer completed. His mother has been the only figure that he could carry in through his life until the rest. He cannot even appreciate another man, his step father, to exist beside his mother.
The new family he built with the woman he loves is leading him to see the loss of his previous family. He loses the only mother and the figure that could raise his courage to overcome the poor condition he has to endure. Yet, he still has the courage, and he cannot stop thinking to find the way out from his tragic life. What he then realizes is that money is the only way to solve every problem he really has been dealing with. This ambition is the thing that later on becomes his obsession to defeat his tragic moments.
Ladd then proves his obsession to happen in real life. During his life with his new family with her wife, Midge, he has been working hard trying to reach the possible betterment in his life. The coming of Sue Carol to his life has brought significant changes through his destiny, until he can climb higher to the social class from a radio actor into a movie actor, hence from a poor life hood into life in Hollywood. Since demands for starring some movies are originating from him, his fame becomes more shinning and the movie called Shane brings him to achieve an Oscar in Academy Award.
Lierley agrees. “Alan got an awful lot of good press while working on the pictures we did over there, and the people got to know him and like him.”
…
Shane received outstanding critical acclaim, with even the toughest reviewers extravagant in their praise for both Alan Ladd and the film. “Magnificent.” A classic.” “A great Western.” Those words appeared in all the reviews along with the prediction that the film would be the year’s strongest Oscar contender (Linet, 1980:174).
The cost of building, furnishing, decorating, and maintaining this worldly Shangri-la was astronomical, but perhaps for the first time in his life Alan was unconcerned about cash flow. The lot of Maplenton Drive had cost him $13,000, but even before construction of the house had begun he had been offered $ 125,000 for it. With the house, the property was worth a half-million dollars.
…
Alan’s office doubled as an entertainment center, with a large screen, hidden in ceiling recess, that came down to turn the room into a theater whenever the Ladds chose to end a dinner party by screening a new film provided by Paramount (Linet, 1980: 131).
Ladd has Hollywood to see the different side in him. He finds Hollywood to be a new life which provides new things as being the opposite of what he had had in the past which only offered him the feeling of losing everything. From all the story of his life, the changing situation of his life in the past and in the following proves to be an indication of rags-to-riches life concept.
2. The Character’s Personality
Alan began to think seriously about earning some money as an actor. His voice had gone through the usual adolescent change, and his speaking voice and singing voice were superior. But he didn’t have a way to bring himself to the attention of the casting directors. Jim Beavers had no pull and was not aggressive enough to approach those who did. Besides, he thought Alan’s desire to act a teenage whim. So Alan dropped the notion-for a while…
…
When he was fourteen, Alan went to work for the Piggly Wiggly market chain, washing tomatoes, potatoes, and carrots, carting boxes and crates until dark-exhausting work which nonetheless built up his muscles and endurance (Linet, 1980: 11).
Since a little child, Ladd has the only one figure after his father’s death, which is his mother, and by this he has less masculine influence on him. The loss of his father has caused a great depression on his family. He also feels such depression that makes him insecure, since he thinks no one could take the position of his father. Therefore the insecurity soon comes up with the stimulation to adjust his position with the situation.
In time, the vagueness of his origins, the abrupt disappearance of a strong masculine influence (if indeed there had ever been one), and the lack of close blood ties were to make Ladd’s childhood lonely, unanchored, and insecure. The insecurity was to become so deep-rooted that it would prove the overriding force in his life (Linet, 1980: 4). Through this situation, he always shows too much dependency on his mother, even Ina, his mother, always spoils him and cannot be so distinctive to him, in that he could not take control of himself, along without his father.
Ladd is also the kind of person who, with his stubborn and uncontrolled emotional condition, cannot take control of his mood. He does not always have nice social environment as he expects, therefore he becomes indifferent in facing his society. He does not care about giving good intention to others. The following shows that he has never had good attachment with the society.
Alan hated his classmates’ nickname for him-“Tiny”-and reacted accordingly…”I guess I was a brat,” he said later. “I had a lousy temper and the first day some kid pushed my head in to the fountain. I started to punch him and found out he was twins, but I licked them both.”
…
Not having his mother to share with siblings, Alan had neither the need nor the desire to seek friends and the mutual dependency of mother and son for companionship continued to develop (Linet, 1980: 10-11).
Ladd, soon after he becomes a grown-up person, feels the same situation like he had in the life with his parents. Having a new family with Midge, his wife, still reflects the problem he always has from the beginning of his life, that he still faces a financial problem. As In the picture provided in the novel, the portrait of Ladd with his new family, Midge and Laddie, his son, describes the situation that he has to deal with in such poor condition and financial problem of his family. Ladd is portrayed wearing the simple kind of out-fit, in such old-fashioned look just like the same as his wife and his son. They are standing in front of a cheap rent apartment.
Yet, Ladd still never gives up. His attempt to reach the betterment in his life with the family, especially by his mother’s words to him that will always bring him out to the ambition of stepping on to his dream, forces him to keep moving on and on. So outstanding is he that he reacts to be a hard worker, and obsessed to his aim.
“Alan had one aim in life, to be an actor, and none of us doubted that he would succeed. I think he felt he would make it as quickly as he had made his high school accomplishments, but Hollywood was a new ball game…”
…
There was no real reason, but nevertheless Alan was panic-stricken. Convinced that failure and deprivation had caused both Jim Beavers’ death at fifty-two and Ina’s addiction to liquor and subsequent suicide, he now had an almost demonic drive to get ahead. His son, he promised himself, wouldn’t be selling papers or cleaning up candy stores. (And he was right.) His wife wouldn’t become a worn-out shell before she turned forty (Linet, 1980: 18-29).
Through his attitude, nevertheless, Ladd can be assumed to have a charismatic identity in him that can attract people in seeing his personality through other sight. He is the one who is considered to be charming, multi-talented, and supple to everyone which all is brought to him in such humble and honest sides in him. This is to say that its combination constructs the attractiveness of Ladd’s character toward public, especially the way people could see the interest on him as a unique type.
He was like an athlete, just filled with energy and fun. He was very very funny, he could have you in stitches sometimes (Linet, 1980: 18).
It can also be the reason for another woman in Ladd’s life, Sue Carol, that she might find the attractiveness in him through his physical and personal uniqueness.
He came into my office wearing a long white trench coat. His blond hair was bleached by the sun. He looked like a young Greek god, and he was unforgettable.
-SUE CAROL LADD (Linet, 1980: 31).
In Ladd’s life, Sue is one of the important people who give great contribution to Ladd’s rags-to-riches life, after his parents. Ladd finds Sue to be another figure of woman that could bring him a fortune. Ladd has found something different from Sue. His career by Sue’s hands to handle could be enlightened, especially when he is promoted to the biggest film making company and movie production, such as Paramount. Ladd makes Sue feel so sure that he was born to be a star.
Sue’s first impression would be indelible: “He was very shy, but he had a wonderful smile. His eyebrows and his eyelashes were pitch-black over level green eyes which were deep and unfathomable-an actor’s ayes. He was for me.”
…
was an unexpected windfall for the young Ladds, and more than that, now sue had some film to show to casting directors (Linet, 1980: 37-41). This is only a start of everything he needs to gain. From the down-hood, now Ladd is so sure that his obsession which was considered to be impossible has now brought him to the Hollywood, a place that feels like a heaven to him- a moment that he has yearned for until it happens now. His rags-to riches life is no longer doubted. Beginning his life with Sue Carol as the part of his life, Ladd shows the interchangeable paradigm of personal excitement and the up-rolling position to get the strike of richness and finance-filled satisfactorily.
Also for finance reasons, Alan had already committed himself to the newly formed British company, Warwrick Production (which released it films through Columbia), to make his first picture abroad-in England. In addition to a flat $200,000 salary for The Red Beret, Warwick had agreed to pay him another $50.000 I expenses and provide suitable housing so he could take his whole family alone while shooting (Linet, 1980: 158-159).
From this, some steps forward have been done, yet the contradiction of his unconsciousness comes up with the indication of career-obsessed. Money can be one reason for him to have the sensation of the promising career acting in Hollywood.
The effect of his obsession in career is the failure of developing his own family. Ladd’s new life with Sue cannot be considered to be unpredictable to Midge. Whatever the way he takes to reach the betterment, he thinks it is not wrong. However, Ladd automatically proves the indication to drop Midge into the fatal disappointment of the broken faith he must have had for her.
She had the kind of love For Alan that meant she wouldn’t stand in his way. You might say when it came to how she reacted to Sue, she did it her way. It took courage and class, but being the type of person she was, she could act no differently. Most of us scream our rage outside. Midge screamed inside. She was a very private person. “Almost as private as her husband. But in this case, likes obviously did not attract. Alan needed someone more confident and secure than he was himself to supply the “anchor” Sue said he was forever searching for-and the push Sue alone could provide.
…
In July 1941, the case came up on the calendar, and Midge was quietly given the divorce she never wanted but refused to contest (Linet, 1980: 48).
the rewards, it demands perfectionist performance in frames as well as in the look that most famous people would like to show to public. Ladd proves it by showing his attractive and expensive attendance. He wears a full set of tuxedo; an out-fit which is really not cheap during the age of 40’s. Another consumerist behavior he has can also be seen through his perfectly luxurious house.
The formal living room was mainly a showplace, its focal point an elegant marble fireplace over which paints of Laddie, Alana, David, and Carol Lee were hung. Two large, tufted chintz-upholstered by a marble-and-wood coffee table. Built-in book shelves displaying beautifully bound-if rarely read-classics (not so out of character for Gatsby, after all) ran parallel to the fireplace.
…
Tastefully and expensively decorated though it was, not much living took place in the Ladd living room. Alan preferred the garden room, where he would conduct his interminable press interviews, hold informal business conferences and entertain friends who came by for a quick drink (Linet, 1980: 129).
His personality described in the novel signifies the idea of the contrast on the overall appearance he performs before and after he becomes successfully secured out of financial depression.
3. The Setting
he becomes a super star. Ladd confronts two distinctive places where he has to live along with the dynamical life he has been dealing with until the end of his life. When his journey begins, he moves in the early moment with the lowest height of his stepping position, life in a poor and depressing situation being nomadic and limited amount of finance. Then he continues to reach up the position that he has been dreaming about, the life in great finance, top of fame, and shining career.
Soon after Ladd loses his father, his mother can only be dependent on the insurance money of his father’s death which must be less than enough to feed him and his mother. She decides to find the new figure of the head in the family to help them managing a better steady income. The coming of Jim Beaver, his step father, would probably be helping. Yet, in fact, the condition of their finance is still not significant. During their journey to California, they decide to work and collect some money they really need to continue the trip. This is the life that they have to face; with the setting of the situation, their life is thus a “rag”.
A large potato farm outside flagstaff, Arizona, needed harvest hands, and Ina was hired to do washing and cooking the harvesters. Alan drew water and helped his stepfather dig tubers (Linet, 1980: 7).
different atmospheres in which two levels of class cannot be mixed together. One is the place where they are at, another is the place that Ladd wishes someday it could be his part.
The Beavers decided on a move to the San Fernando Valley, where they bought a small house for the modest down payment. Though close to Hollywood, the Valley was a totally different world. It was one huge, sunny orchard. There were no streetlights, the roads were dirt tracks, and the town nearest the house was Lankershim, several miles away (Linet, 1980: 10).
After the Valley in San Fernando, the Beavers moved to another place that they will not pay the rent for it. They decide to buy a living place. It is a small house that would end their adventure as no longer nomadic. It can be one step ahead for the family to be more settled in their living and certainly they live for something better and more comfortable because they live in their own living place.
The Beavers had now decided to live the Valley and they bought a small house at 969 South Serrano Avenue-a short distance from both the Ben Bard School and Paramount Studios in the heart of Hollywood. In those pre-freeway days it was a long trip to North Hollywood (Linet, 1980: 19).
A few months later the Harrolds moved into a new house on Cahuenga Boulevard, and Alan left Serrano Avenue to share an old house with an old school friend named Bill McCann, a small and unpretentious place on Fair Avenue. It was close to Midge’s house, and Bill was gone often enough for the newlyweds to spend some time together-away from Robert Harrold’s overprotective presence (Linet, 1980: 19).
From one avenue to another, Ladd keeps his attempt to find the better place for him and his wife to live. Nevertheless, Ladd never forgets his ambition to reach the life in Hollywood. As a matter of fact, Ladd he recently lives in some places where he can closely see the dream place he always wants. Beside San Fernando and South Serrano, Ladd finds a place to work where he can also learn many things related to acting, since his work as an usher gives him the opportunity to have wage and free movie-watching of every movie played in the cinema.
In the spring of 1933 when he was a senior in high school he had taken a job as an usher at the El Portal Theater on Lankershim Boulevard to see free movies and earn some pocket money. He would stare at Midge whenever she came to the theater, never thinking he’d have the chance to meet her (Linet, 1980: 16).
one atmosphere which surrounds him over along with his life time and process that he feels comfortable with.
At first, however, it might be all obscene. His life puts him in a destiny where he could not easily reach all that he is always dreaming. Instant career is not the thing he ever had along his life. First he starts earning money by acting as a radio actor and theater.
Alan had just about reached his breaking point when the calls began coming in again. Gradually he began to gain a reputation on Radio Row as a competent actor with extraordinary voice. He got leads in lesser programs and supporting roles on network favorites like “Hollywood Hotel,” the “Texaco Star Theater” and “Lux Radio Theater” (Linet, 1980: 29).
His great voice is brought to be practiced more and more. While he learns how to feel the sense of acting on radio, he also starts to love acting with the involvement of his imagination and sensibility that soon will be very supporting his developing acting. Radio acting has the historic record of his gain in acting. This is the place of how to start career and when to continue.
And then, one afternoon before leaving the station where had just completed a radio drama, Alan was summoned to the phone. The call was from the co-owner of the new Sue Carol-Bruce Shedd Agency. Sue carol had liked what she had heard that afternoon, she told him, and he was available for representation, she would like very much to speak to him in person. She was so persuasive that Alan impulsively made an appointment to drop by o the way home (Linet, 1980: 29).
competition. They are attracted to become an actor and actress. As Richard Maltby says in his writing, he argues that the money politic brings the rise of Hollywood as the only one that occurs at the time, yet there are many to come and chase its rise. He says:
By the early 1930s, Hollywood became well established as a big film factory producing films that were predominantly opportunities for cinema-goers to escape from the humdrum reality of their daily lives into a world of fantasy. The studio system, which was dominated by a few big film companies, such as MGM, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, and Universal, controlled the production of films, their distribution, and their exhibition in the cinemas that the studios owned. Film-making had become a very profitable big business dominated by a small number of
Hollywood studios (http://www.hsse.nie.edu.sg/staff/blackburn/hollywood.htm).
Ladd is one of the competitors that during the time, he is raised by one studio of film-making, named Paramount. The studio turns the wheel of his life from his “rags” to his “riches.” Paramount brings him not only bunches of money, but also the shining years of his career. Afterwards, Warner Brothers and United Artists take the second place of the history of Ladd’s acting career. Even though his acting starts with the minor role, he stares many movies to conduct. Some movies that take him to the top of fame and bring so much appreciation from public are This Gun for Hire, The Great Gatsby, Blue Dahlia, and Shane. However, through the journey of his career, he has stars for about forty six movies starting from the minor to the most important role in acting.
society and glamorous life style. In the room where he works he is surrounded by luxurious working environment, with comfortable working place and the maximum entertainment and cozy room.
Alan’s office doubled as an entertainment center, with a large screen, hidden in ceiling recess, that came down to turn the room into a theater whenever the Ladds chose to end a dinner party by screening a new film provided by Paramount. Chocolate brown and coral were the dominant colors. Two dark brown sofas had horsehead appliqués cut from the polished cotton drapery material. These, the horsehead lamps and several wall prints provided an equine theme for the room… (Linet, 1980: 131). From the studio Ladd works in film making, he is always served with high prosperity. During the press conference preparation, the room is situated in the place that can bring Ladd to the refreshing and pleasant eye sight among him. It is an image of Hollywood when a movie star has the power among public, the setting of publicity must be one of the powerful aspects for promotion, and public has to feel the sensational portrait of fame through the publicity. Certainly, there must be the press, the management attendance, the publication properties, mass media, big poster of the movie star, sensational speech, and it is all the kind of combination that can show the magical identity of fame in Hollywood.
Virginia MayoWill Rogers, Jr., Steve Cochran, James Cagney-Cagney being the only star from the old days still on the lot; Bogart Davis, Flynn, and Robinson-all had cleft Warners for other pastures (Linet, 1980: 155).
The setting which exists around the life of the character is able to explain the way the character deals with a process to reach certain achievement as to fulfill his obsessive dream during his tragic former situation. It is a rags-to-riches life, since the life, through the setting, constructs certain contradictive situation that symbolizes the condition of the character from the down fall of life situation into the rise of the forward life situation.
B. Rags-to-riches Life: the Cause
The writer of the thesis has discussed in the previous section the depiction of rags-to-riches life, the character physical appearance and personality, and the setting. In this section, the writer of the thesis still has one aim of analyzing the novel. Although the depiction of rags-to-riches is already discussed, in order to see the term rags-to-riches, the writer thinks it is essential to discuss the reasons why the main character in the novel stirs up the idea of rags-to-riches life to come up. Based on the discussion above and the reading of the primary data, the writer then relates them to see the presumption of another problem that happens along with the life that the character has undergone.
starts with the down condition, and then it moves on with the rise, yet in the end the tragic of the character’s death is clearly noted to be another fall which can be assumed to hurt more. From the process of building the concept of rags-to-riches portrayed in the novel, the cause of it can be seen through the perspectives on psychology, and the influence of the society, such as family, and social environment. Those things which can be found in the novel are crucial to be discussed, because from them a combination of elaborations can be connected in a way to find out another fissure of criticizing the idea of rags-to-riches. Therefore, the discussion about the character can be related with the psychological aspect through social, as well as family existence.
1. Family
together, especially when they really need money to move their living to another place. During the journey, they get crushed with the money-spending, and they live like nomadic finding the better place to work and to earn money for them. This is how the family starts to change Ladd’s motivation in his life.
At eight he earned his first money and handed it to Ina with pride, promising that when he grew up he would make so much that he could hire people to wash and cook for her (Linet, 1980: 7).
Since Ladd can rely and be dependent on his mother, Ladd changes and keeps moving on to reach his dream in accordance to his mother’s advice. Ladd thinks what his mother says to him would be the right thing for his future. His mother, thus, gives the most influence to his life, so that Ladd can build a better motivation to go straight up to the future.
Physically, Alan showed some improvement from the move but his emotional problems still haunted him. At home, his dependency on Ina increased. At school, he was hostile and defensive.
…
Ina, Ladd’s mother, has a great depression that brings her into mental distraction, especially after the death of Alan Ladd, Sr. and Jim Beavers. This condition has been uncontrollably bringing her to serious mental illness. Ina can no longer take care of herself, and her habits to drink alcoholic drinks and to smoke cigarettes have changed her in to serious dependency. She then falls in to the alcohol addiction, with which she thinks it might help her to get out of the frustration of her problematic situation in the family with Ladd.
“What do I have to be thankful for?” she said to her son. “My life is over. What man is going to want a woman of my age? No body is going to marry a grandmother.”
…
In the late stages of menopause, looking older than her years, Ina was unable to cope with her loneliness. She was now an incurable alcoholic, spending every penny she could lay her hand on for beer or cheap wine (Linet, 1980: 23).
This is another portrait that Ladd records in his mind, beside the death of his fathers, Alan Ladd, and Jim Beaver. Ladd finds this tragedy too problematic for him, that it is hard for him to forget. His tragic memory is then considered to be worse, since her mother has decided to end up her life by committing suicide. She starts her plan by asking Ladd for some money to buy something in a drugs store near the house. At first, Ladd might think her mother would buy some liquor, so that she could get drunk. Yet, in fact, Ina buys some poison. She drinks the poison and it causes her to die. This tragedy is the most horrible moment that later on becomes one traumatic memory until the rest of his life.
Alan hesitated, certain that Ina wanted money to get a small bottle of cheap wine. “Don’t you think you’ve had enough?” he asked quietly. “I’m not going to the liquor store, “Ina insisted. “There’s something else I need. Something personal. Will you give me the quarter or won’t you?” Her voice was at hysterical pitch now, waking the baby, who had been asleep in the next room. “Laddie,” as they later called the child, began crying. Resignedly Alan reached ion to his pants pocket, found a quarter and handed it to his mother. “Buy what you want,” he said angrily. Anything to quite her down.
…
Alan begged his mother to tell him what had happened, but by now her eyes were glazed and no words came out of her mouth. Midge ran to get help from her father, who phoned for ambulance. When Midge and Robert Harrold returned, Ina was catatonic. By the time Ina was brought to the Georgia Street Hospital, it was too late to save her.
…
The autopsy, performed by Dr. S. T. Wagner of the Los Angles County Coroner’s office, confirmed what Alan had found: Arsenic poisoning by ingesting ant paste”-one of the most horrible and agonizing methods of suicide (Linet, 1980: 24-25).
Alan began to think seriously about earning some money as an actor. His voice had gone through the usual adolescent change, and his speaking voice and singing voice were superior. But he didn’t have a way to bring himself to the attention of the casting directors. Jim Beavers had no pull and was not aggressive enough to approach those who did. Besides, he thought Alan’s desire to act teenage whim. So, Alan dropped the notion– for a while….
…
By the end of the year Tiny’s patio had become a losing proportion. Alan was forced to look elsewhere for work and he turned toward the studios– but not at all in the way he had daydreamed. Warner Bothers was short of grips and was hiring men at $42.50 a week. Alan convinced the union he was qualified, but after eight months he quit his job for overriding reason: he still wanted to be an actor and his ambition intensified each time he watched the stars courted as though they were royalty. He’d hoped that an imaginative producer or director at Warners would bring him down from the “catwalks” and put him in front of the cameras, but since no one ever looked up he decided to try it another way–any other way he could dream up (Linet, 1980: 11-16).
Back again, the ideal perspective from Ladd’s mother is able to open up his mind: the more he can capture from the fall and failure of his past in family life, the bigger his aim to get his dream come true becomes.
Midge never doubted for a minute that Alan would make it. None of us did. But he was terribly ambitious and was disappointed that it was taking so long to happen. Still, a twenty-four, he had his whole life a head of him. There was no reason to panic.”
…
There was no real reason, but nevertheless Alan was panic-stricken. Convinced that failure and deprivation had caused both Jim Beavers’s death at fifty-two and Ina’s addiction to liquor and subsequent suicide, he now had an almost demonic drive to get ahead. His son, he promised himself, wouldn’t be selling papers or cleaning up candy stores. (And he was right.) His wife wouldn’t become a worn-out shell before she turned forty. Living with the Harrolds, even for a brief period of time, was a blow to his macho-image, although the Harrolds neither said nor did anything to undermine him (Linet, 1980: 28-29).
Thus, this situation could probably make his ambition turn to an obsession. Victimized by his own obsession, Ladd becomes inconsistent in building his new family with his wife, Midge. The coming of Sue Carol as another woman for him interrupts Midge’s curiosity and doubt about the future of the family. It, in fact happens to be real. Her feeling of being worried about the family defense, after Sue comes to Ladd’s life, takes a conclusion that the serious affair of Ladd and Sue remains a cause of the end of their marriage. Ladd purposes a divorce, and without any chance to chose she is forced to agree.
Midge even failed to protest when, according to Barbara, Sue hired the lawyer to represent Midge. In July 1941 the case came up on the calendar, and Midge was quietly given the divorce she never wanted but refused to contest. The judge granted her custody of Alan, Jr. (Laddie), three and a half then, but allowed Alan visitation rights.” However,” remembers Barbara, “aside from twenty-five dollars a week child support for the boy, Midge got practically nothing – one hundred dollars a month. Well, Alan didn’t have much at the time.”
...
…
A few weeks before receiving his interlocutory divorce decree, free from guilt for the time being deeply in love with Sue, he had sailed through still another test at RKO. With no hesitation or excuses Robert Stevenson, who had just completed directing Margaret Sullavan and Charles Boyer In Back Street, had cast him as Baby, a fugitive British Flier, in the Michele Morgan wartime adventure-romance, Joan of Paris. Ladd was given billing, and because there had been some early indecision as to whether the character was to be Scots, Welsh, or Lancastrian, he had begun working on dialects as diligently as he had on his voice range a few years earlier (Linet, 1980: 48-49).
After this moment, Ladd’s journey to have a great career in acting becomes enlightened. Paramount is the first production house to which Sue promotes him. Sue proves to enable him changing his life. He finds his success in the studio and in other film-making companies. Ladd soon becomes a rich man, though he never forgets to his responsibility to raise his child, Laddie, who is now in the hand of Midge. Now, he creates another life with the new family with Sue, and his children from their marriage. They are, according to the public, a happy and wealthy family.
Ladd has reached the top of his wheel of life. He takes it as he wishes he would never go down any more. What he feels to be rich man, a great actor with great career, and a father who makes his family filled with a complete life, is the ultimate satisfaction. It feels so much that he is afraid to fall again. This is the reason that may answer a questionable statement that everyone likes him and loves him, except himself.
Alan is a big star to everyone in the world except himself.
