Vintage Everyday

Gloria DeHaven Posing for Thanksgiving, ca. 1952

2026-11-14T00:56:11.902+07:00

Here, American actress and singer Gloria DeHaven posing in themed promotional publicity stills for Thanksgiving, ca. 1952. During Hollywood’s Golden Age, major studios routinely staged seasonal pin-up shoots to keep their contract players in newspapers and fan magazines year-round.

At the time these were taken, DeHaven was a prominent contract star for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Studios produced thousands of holiday-themed photos, ranging from Fourth of July sparklers to Thanksgiving turkeys, and distributed them to the press for free to promote their actors and upcoming films.

Photographers dressed DeHaven in a playful “farmer’s daughter” outfit complete with a straw hat, plaid shirt, and shorts. This was a popular, wholesome pin-up aesthetic of the era that contrasted with the actors’ glamorous on-screen personas. Although they look like candid farm shots, the dramatic cloud backdrop, clean hay bales, and staged lighting show that the photos were taken on an indoor soundstage or studio backlot.

The Spirit of America: 40 Stunning Portraits of Gertrude Olmstead in the 1920s

2026-11-13T22:16:12.919+07:00

Gertrude Olmstead (November 13, 1897 – January 18, 1975) was a prolific American silent film actress who appeared in 56 films between 1920 and 1929. Her entire screen career took place during the 1920s, where she became known for playing sweet, conventional heroines opposite some of Hollywood’s biggest male stars.

After winning a 1920 beauty contest out of 5,900 entrants to represent “The Spirit of America” at the Elks Club national convention, she won a $10,000 one-year contract with Universal Pictures. She debuted in Tipped Off (1920) and gained her first credited role in The Fox (1921), quickly becoming a frequent leading lady in westerns starring Hoot Gibson. Her highest-profile role came in 1925 when she starred opposite Rudolph Valentino in the drama Cobra.

After moving to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), she worked alongside major icons including Lon Chaney (The Monster, Mr. Wu), Greta Garbo (Torrent), and John Gilbert, as well as director John Ford (Cameo Kirby).

In 1926, she married prominent MGM director Robert Z. Leonard, and the two remained together until his death in 1968.

Like many silent-era stars, her career slowed with the arrival of “talkies” in the late 1920s. Comfortably married and no longer needing to work, she retired from acting in 1929 following appearances in The Time, the Place and the Girl and The Show of Shows.

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