Famous Knitters – Birthday Images

My interest in films from the 1930s and 1940s, and sometimes as far as the 1960s, may be known to long-time readers of this blog. Apart from performances, story lines and the luminosity of the mostly black and white images, I am still enjoying them for the history of clothing, furnishings, manners, social commentary, etc., as well as the history of film making and rights of actors.

Thanks to the internet, I have created a collection of images of many of the women in these films engaged in knitting, either before or behind the camera. Non-acting famous knitters are also sprinkled within the collection. The knitting needles, bags and projects of these knitters are another reason to take a good look at these images. Some of these women were well-known in their circles for truly enjoying handwork, like Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. Others may have knit to pass the long times on set between takes, relieving boredom, or were posed for publicity shots, perhaps not knowing how to knit at all.

I shall share these images here on this blog during the coming year with little or no commentary, on the birthdays of the subjects. The first is Loretta Young (January 6, 1913 – August 12, 2000) – 100 years young today!  She seems to be counting stitches in the knitting photograph (1942.) I am more interested, however, in the highly textured cardigan she is wearing in the image found here and wish I could find the original pattern:

http://tweeasvolk.blogspot.com/2011/12/knitting-advent-calendar-8-loretta.html