Mamie Van Doren: Hollywood’s Casting Couch & Post-War Exploitation

Mamie Van Doren details her early Hollywood exploitation, including the casting couch, and her decision to leave for a better life. She reflects on vulnerability, surviving industry pressures, and impactful wartime performances despite the dark aspects of her career.

The Casting Couch & Early Exploitation

Van Doren knows the subject firsthand. Recalling her very early years in Hollywood, she defined really feeling “utilized” and “guilty,” composing, “I was currently component of that wide range of stories about the casting sofa.”

“Females can, and should, really feel encouraged by the support of their sis. … Young women being preyed upon and attracted by savage Hollywood producers, celebrities and studio heads is a tired cliché, however like all clichés, it is based on truth. The casting sofa was, and is, component of Hollywood’s scandalous heritage.”

“I think I was born with it,” said Van Doren. “I certainly opened a great deal of doors during a postwar time when points were very conservative. I was way in advance of my time. … I wasn’t going to be playing religious woman duties, that’s for sure.”.

Leaving Tinseltown Behind

I just thought it was time to leave Hollywood. “I desired to provide him a much better life than Hollywood.

“And there was a part of me that could not think it either. … I got into bed that night holding my little brown Scriptures next to my heart, praying to somehow survive the pressures swirling around me, praying that I would live to see my kid again, and hoping that I would take care of to bring something worthwhile to the combat soldiers’ dark globe.”.

“I wanted to give him a much better life than Hollywood. And he obtained interested in boats. I really did not have that many good friends in Hollywood to start with.

“I got away from all the poor things that was going on,” she said at the time. A lot of my contemporaries were gone. I just thought it was time to leave Hollywood.

… Young ladies being preyed upon and attracted by rapacious Hollywood producers, celebrities and studio heads is a worn out cliché, yet like all clichés, it is based on truth. The spreading sofa was, and is, part of Hollywood’s scandalous heritage.”

Connecting with Combat Soldiers

Van Doren described meeting Charlie, an 18-year-old Marine from Toledo. As a gift, he gave her his “lucky charm,” a scratched and nicked Zippo cigarette lighter. Van Doren originally refused, yet he insisted. When she asked him regarding his luck, he smiled and stated, “I obtained matches to light my smokes. And I obtained an M-16 for the remainder.”.

“The amount of more lies would certainly I need to inform prior to I got what I desired? As I drove home, I asked myself if this was the way I wished to become a flick celebrity. Tonight, the answer had clearly been that I would f– for it. There was a chilly, ill knot in the pit of my belly, signaling that my conscience was evaluating in.”

Reflecting on Life’s Journey

“I wake up every day to a brand-new obituary. I have actually been honored with a long life. When you reach this factor in capital climb, it’s just all-natural to see one’s contemporaries fall by the wayside. Father Time does not miss out on. … I’ll dare to price estimate the Book of Job, King James Version, 1:15. ‘And I only am run away alone to tell thee.'”.

“The rainfall began once again, yet I did my entire show,” she remembered. “When it was over, all of us were saturating damp. Everybody was smiling. As the soldiers straggled back … one stopped me and said something that I would certainly listen to a whole lot in the next couple of months: ‘Mamie,’ he informed me gratefully, ‘I can not think you’re below.'”.

Hollywood’s Promise & Risk

‘ Well, I’m in it currently,’ I told myself. I was discovering a difficult lesson concerning Hollywood’s promise and risk: You might be allowed to get to the elevations, however at the very same time, you may be cursed or feel vulnerable and unsafe– and a little tarnished.”

I was finding out a hard lesson regarding Hollywood’s promise and risk: You may be enabled to reach the elevations, yet at the same time, you may be cursed or really feel unprotected and vulnerable– and somewhat sullied.”