Editing Myrna Loy (section)

===1905–1924: Early life===
[[File:Myrna-Loy-1911.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Loy (left) at age six, standing on her grandmother's porch in Helena, Montana, with her cousin Laura Belle Wilder (1911)]]

Loy was born Myrna Adele Williams on August 2, 1905, in [[Helena, Montana]],{{sfn|Leider|2011|p=1}}{{sfn|Parish|Bowers|1974|p=443}} the daughter of Adelle Mae (née Johnson) and rancher David Franklin Williams.{{sfn|Leider|2011|pages=1–4}} Her parents had married in Helena in 1904, one year before Loy was born.{{sfn|Leider|2011|p=13}} She had one younger brother, David Frederick Williams (1911–1983).{{sfn|Leider|2011|p=385}} Loy's paternal grandfather, David Thomas Williams, was [[Welsh people|Welsh]], and emigrated from [[Liverpool]], England to the United States in 1856, arriving in [[Philadelphia]].{{sfn|Leider|2011|p=9}} Unable to read or write in [[English language|English]], he later settled in the [[Montana Territory]] where he began a career as a rancher.{{sfn|Leider|2011|pages=9–10}} Loy's maternal grandparents were [[Scottish people|Scottish]] and [[Swedes|Swedish]] immigrants.{{sfn|Leider|2011|pages=10–12}}<ref>{{cite web|author=Reed, Rex|author-link=Rex Reed|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9A07E5DF1F39E63ABC4B52DFB2668382679EDE|title=Myrna's Back – And Boyer's Got Her|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=April 13, 1969|access-date=August 31, 2018}} {{closed access}}</ref> During her childhood, her father worked as a banker, real estate developer, and farmland appraiser in Helena, and was the youngest man ever elected to serve in the [[Montana state legislature]].{{sfn|Leider|2011|pages=11–12}} Her mother had studied music at the [[American Conservatory of Music]] in Chicago, and at one time considered a career as a concert performer, but instead devoted her time to raising Loy and her brother.{{sfn|Leider|2011|p=12}} Loy's mother was a lifelong [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]], while her father was a staunch [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]].{{sfn|Leider|2011|p=12}} She was raised in the [[Methodism|Methodist]] faith.{{sfn|Leider|2011|p=14}}

[[File:Venice High School Fountain of Education.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Loy modeled for the central figure in Harry Fielding Winebrenner's ''Fountain of Education'', a sculpture at Venice High School in Los Angeles (1922)]]

Loy spent her early life in [[Radersburg, Montana]], a rural mining community approximately {{convert|50|mi|km}}{{sfn|Swartout|2015|p=34}} southeast of Helena.<!--
--><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.myrnaloy.org/bio.html|title=About Myrna Loy|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705012959/http://www.myrnaloy.org/bio.html |archive-date=July 5, 2008|url-status=usurped|access-date=July 20, 2018}}</ref><!--
--><ref name=loy2>{{cite web|url=http://www.greatfallstribune.com/multimedia/125newsmakers1/loy.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111102212127/http://www.greatfallstribune.com/multimedia/125newsmakers1/loy.html|archive-date=November 2, 2011|title=125 Montana Newsmakers: Myrna Loy Reynolds|work=Great Falls Tribune|location=Great Falls, Montana|date=August 23, 2011|access-date=August 30, 2018}}</ref><!--ENDRef
--> During the winter of 1912, Loy's mother nearly died from [[pneumonia]], and her father sent his wife and daughter to [[La Jolla, San Diego, California|La Jolla, California]].{{sfn|Leider|2011|p=22}} Loy's mother saw great potential in [[Southern California]], and during one of her husband's visits, she encouraged him to purchase real estate there.{{sfn|Leider|2011|pages=22–23}} Among the properties he bought was land that he would later sell, at a considerable profit, to filmmaker [[Charlie Chaplin]] for his film studio there. Although her mother tried to persuade her husband to move to California permanently, he preferred ranch life and the three eventually returned to Montana. Soon afterward, Loy's mother needed a [[hysterectomy]] and insisted Los Angeles was a safer place to have it done, so she, Loy, and Loy's brother David moved to [[Santa Monica neighborhoods#Ocean Park Neighborhood|Ocean Park]], where Loy began to take dancing lessons.{{sfn|Leider|2011|p=22}} After the family returned to Montana, Loy continued her dancing lessons, and at the age of 12, Myrna Williams made her stage debut performing a dance she had choreographed based on "The Blue Bird" from the ''Rose Dream'' operetta<ref>Willis, Gertruce Knox and Mrs. R.R. Forman. W. [http://www.antiqbook.com/boox/trylin/C04000008.shtml ''A Rose Dream: A Fairy Operetta for Young People in Two Scenes.''] {{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}} Philadelphia: Theodore Press Co., 1915.</ref> at Helena's Marlow Theater.{{sfn|Kotsilibas-Davis|Loy|1987|pages=17–18}}

When Loy was 13, her father died during the [[1918 flu pandemic]] in November of that year.{{sfn|Leider|2011|pages=27–30}} Loy's mother permanently relocated the family to California, where they settled in [[Culver City, California|Culver City]], outside [[Los Angeles]].{{sfn|Leider|2011|p=32}} Loy attended the exclusive [[Harvard-Westlake School|Westlake School for Girls]] while continuing to study dance in [[downtown Los Angeles]].{{sfn|Leider|2011|p=34}} When her teachers objected to her extracurricular participation in theatrical arts, her mother enrolled her in [[Venice High School (Los Angeles)|Venice High School]], and at 15, she began appearing in local stage productions.{{sfn|Kotsilibas-Davis|Loy|1987|pages=25–29}}

In 1921, Loy posed for Venice High School sculpture teacher Harry Fielding Winebrenner as "Inspiration"; the full length figure was central in his allegorical sculpture group ''Fountain of Education''.{{sfn|Leider|2011|p=41}} Completed in 1922, the sculpture group was installed in front of the campus outdoor pool in May 1923 where it stood for decades.{{sfn|Leider|2011|pages=41–42}} Loy's slender figure with her uplifted face and one arm extending skyward presented a "vision of purity, grace, youthful vigor, and aspiration" that was singled out in a ''Los Angeles Times'' story that included a photo of the "Inspiration" figure along with the model's name—the first time her name appeared in a newspaper.{{sfn|Leider|2011|p=42}}<ref>Perhaps ironically, in 1947 Loy co-starred in [[The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer]] as the older sister of Shirley Temple, who hopes to have her portrait made by Cary Grant, posing as "Young America".</ref> A few months later, Loy's "Inspiration" figure was temporarily removed from the sculpture group and transported aboard the battleship {{USS|Nevada|BB-36|2}} for a Memorial Day pageant in which "Miss Myrna Williams" participated.{{sfn|Leider|2011|p=42}} ''Fountain of Education'' can be seen in the opening scenes of the 1978 film ''[[Grease (film)|Grease]]''. After decades of exposure to the elements and vandalism, the original concrete statue was removed from display in 2002, and replaced in 2010 by a bronze duplicate paid for through an alumni-led fundraising campaign.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.venicehighalumni.com/help_myrna.htm |title=The Myrna Loy Statue Project}}</ref>{{sfn|Leider|2011|p=42}}

Loy left school at the age of 18 to begin to help with the family's finances. She obtained work at [[Grauman's Egyptian Theatre]], where she performed in what was called prologues, elaborate musical sequences that were related to and served as preliminary entertainment before the feature film. During this period, Loy saw [[Eleonora Duse]] in the play ''Thy Will Be Done'', and the simple acting techniques she employed made such an impact on Loy that she tried to emulate them throughout her career.{{sfn|Kotsilibas-Davis|Loy|1987|pages=33–34}}