Photo: Veronica Lake in a publicity photo for “I Married a Witch,” listed on EBay for $5.99.
Back in the glory days of the Hollywood studio system, the movie studios wonderfully practiced the art of ballyhoo promoting their films and actors. One great way to win publicity for their stars was by posing them in all manner of holiday art and taking stills to be sent freely to magazines and newspapers. The studios’ best still photographers spent time gorgeously lighting the sets and creating effects to match the often wonderful get-ups created by the costume department. Halloween seemed to be the highlight of all the holiday art, with all manner of ghosts, goblins, black cats, and other demonic creatures haunting usually gorgeous starlets dolled up in body hugging, short outfits. Here’s Veronica Lake for your pleasure.
Seeing both eyes of Ms. Lake is a rare pleasure. One was often mysteriously hidden behind an ample hank of hair. The film she’s promoting, ‘I Married a Witch’, was copied more than a decade later and became a the cherished TV series, ‘Bewitched’.