I remember seeing Jan Sterling in a couple of movies — Ace In The Hole and The High And The Mighty — back when I was going through a 50s-movie craze. The former was forgettable, the latter anything but, and it came as no surprise when I learned that she’d got an Oscar nomination for her performance in that one.
Anyway, that’s enough of the bio stuff.
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Jan once told the story of traveling in Europe on her own (as a 16-year-old!) back in 1937. At the end of the trip and needing funds to come home, her father sent her airfare to fly back. However, on seeing some lingerie she liked in a shop window, she traded in the airfare to buy it, and with the leftover money booked a cheaper ticket aboard a steamship.
Midway through the voyage, she found out that the airfare had been for a flight on the Hindenburg. So she was beautiful and lucky.
Anyway, here she is in some period-correct lingerie.
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Gorgeous, in any period.