Editing Lana Turner (section)

===1937–1939: Discovery and early films===
{{quote box|align=left|width=22em|quote=Her hair was dark, messy, uncombed. Her hands were trembling, so that she could barely read the script. But she had that sexy clean quality I wanted. There was something smoldering underneath that innocent face.|source=– Mervyn LeRoy on Turner during her first audition, December 1936{{sfn|Wayne|2003|p=165}} }}

Turner's discovery is considered a show-business legend and part of Hollywood mythology among film and popular cultural historians.{{Sfn|Valentino|1976|p=18}}{{Sfn|Basinger|1976|p=27}}{{efn |An article published in the ''Los Angeles Times'' in 1995 after Turner's death recounts the varied retellings of her discovery, and notes their status as show-business legends. A 2001 documentary on Turner refers to her discovery as the "most legendary star discovery story" in Hollywood.{{sfn|Langer|2001|loc=event occurs at 05:20}} Turner would dismiss the widely circulated version that had the event occurring at Schwab's Pharmacy, insisting she met William R. Wilkerson at the Top Hat Malt Shop while drinking a Coca-Cola.<ref name=lawilk />}} One version of the story erroneously has her discovery occurring at [[Schwab's Pharmacy]],{{sfn|Fields|2007|p=79}} which Turner claimed was the result of a reporting error that began circulating in articles published by columnist [[Sidney Skolsky]].<ref name=lawilk>{{cite news|url= https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-07-01-ca-19119-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|date=July 1, 1995|title=Writing the End to a True-to-Life Cinderella Story| author=Wilkerson, W.R. III|access-date=May 23, 2018}}</ref> By Turner's own account, she was a 16-year-old junior at [[Hollywood High School]] when she skipped a typing class and bought a [[Coca-Cola]] at the Top Hat Malt Shop<ref name=":0" />{{Sfn|Wayne|2003|p=165}}{{Sfn|Lewis|2017|p=91}} located on the southeast corner of [[Sunset Boulevard]] and McCadden Place.{{Sfn|Lawson|Rufus|2000|p=41}} While in the shop, she was spotted by [[William Wilkerson|William R. Wilkerson]], publisher of ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]''.{{sfn|Valentino|1976|p=18}} Wilkerson was attracted by her beauty and physique, and asked her if she was interested in appearing in films, to which she responded: "I'll have to ask my mother first."<ref name=lawilk/> With her mother's permission, Turner was referred by Wilkerson to the actor/comedian/talent agent [[Zeppo Marx]].{{sfn|Busch|1940|p=64}} In December 1936, Marx introduced Turner to film director [[Mervyn LeRoy]], who signed her to a $50 weekly contract with [[Warner Bros.]] on February 22, 1937 (${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|50|1937}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US}} dollars {{inflation-fn|US}}).{{Sfn|Wayne|2003|p=165}} She soon became a protégée of LeRoy, who suggested that she take the stage name Lana Turner, a name she would come to legally adopt several years later.{{Sfn|Turner|1982|p=24}}

[[File:Edward Norris and Lana Turner.jpg|thumb|right|upright=.8|alt=Woman seated at a desk, being instructed by a man, crouching|[[Edward Norris]] and Turner in ''They Won't Forget'' (1937), her feature film debut]]

Turner made her feature film debut in LeRoy's ''[[They Won't Forget]]'' (1937),{{sfn|Busch|1940|p=63}} a crime drama in which she played a teenage murder victim. Though Turner only appeared on screen for a few minutes,{{sfn |Langer|2001|loc= at 6:05}} Wilkerson wrote in ''The Hollywood Reporter'' that her performance was "worthy of more than a passing note".{{sfn|Wayne|2003|p=166}} The film earned her the nickname of the "[[Sweater girl|Sweater Girl]]" for her form-fitting attire, which accentuated her bust.{{sfn|Busch|1940|p=64}}{{sfn|Fischer|1991|p=187}} Turner always detested the nickname,{{sfn|Langer|2001|loc=event occurs at 6:40}} and upon seeing a sneak preview of the film, she recalled being profoundly embarrassed and "squirming lower and lower" into her seat.<ref name= donahue/> She stated that she had "never seen myself walking before… [It was] the first time [I was] conscious of my body."<ref name=donahue/> Several years after the film's release, ''[[Modern Screen]]'' journalist Nancy Squire wrote that Turner "made a sweater look like something [[Cleopatra]] was saving for the next visiting [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]]".<ref name=squire/> Shortly after completing ''They Won't Forget'', she made an appearance in [[James Whale]]'s historical comedy ''[[The Great Garrick]]'' (1937), a biographical film about British actor [[David Garrick]], in which she had a small role portraying an actress posing as a chambermaid.{{sfn|Jordan|2009|p=221}}{{sfn|Valentino|1976|p=63}}

In late 1937, LeRoy was hired as an executive at [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]] (MGM), and asked [[Jack L. Warner]] to allow Turner to relocate with him to MGM.{{sfn|Basinger|1976|p=31}} Warner obliged, as he believed Turner would not "amount to anything".{{sfn|Morella|Epstein|1971|p=29}} Turner left Warner Bros. and signed a contract with MGM for $100 a week (${{formatnum:{{inflation|US|100|1937}}}} in {{inflation-year|US}} dollars {{inflation-fn|US}}).{{sfn|Langer|2001|loc=event occurs at 7:00}} The same year, she was loaned to [[United Artists]] for a minor role as a maid in ''[[The Adventures of Marco Polo]]''.{{sfn|Wayne|2003|p=166}} Her first starring role for MGM was scheduled to be an adaptation of ''[[The Sea-Wolf]]'', co-starring [[Clark Gable]], but the project was eventually shelved.{{sfn|Breuer|1989|p=129}} Instead, she was assigned opposite teen idol [[Mickey Rooney]] and [[Judy Garland]] in the [[Andy Hardy]] film ''[[Love Finds Andy Hardy]]'' (1938).{{sfn|Langer|2001|loc=event occurs at 7:55}} During the shoot, Turner completed her studies with an educational social worker, allowing her to graduate high school that year.{{sfn|Turner|1982|pages=34–35}} The film was a box-office success,{{sfn|Dennis|2007|p=97}} and her appearance in it as a flirtatious high school student convinced studio head [[Louis B. Mayer]] that Turner could be the next [[Jean Harlow]], a [[sex symbol]] who had died six months before Turner's arrival at MGM.{{sfn|Langer|2001|loc=event occurs at 9:08}}

[[File:Lana Turner and Lew Ayres in These Glamour Girls.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.1|alt=Woman and man seated in car|Turner with [[Lew Ayres]] in ''[[These Glamour Girls]]'' (1939)]]

Mayer helped further<ref name=":1" /> Turner's career by giving her roles in several youth-oriented films in the late 1930s, such as the comedy ''[[Rich Man, Poor Girl]]'' (1938) in which she played the sister of a poor woman romanced by a wealthy man, and ''[[Dramatic School (film)|Dramatic School]]'' (1938), in which she portrayed Mado, a troubled drama student.{{sfn|Morella|Epstein|1971|p=33}} In the former, she was billed as the "Kissing Bug from the Andy Hardy film".{{sfn|Morella|Epstein|1971|p=33}} Upon completing ''Dramatic School'', Turner screen-tested unsuccessfully for the role of [[Scarlett O'Hara]] in ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]'' (1939).{{sfn|Morella|Epstein|1971|p=33}} She was then cast in a supporting part as a "sympathetic bad girl" in ''[[Calling Dr. Kildare]]'' (1939), MGM's second entry in the [[Dr. Kildare]] series.{{sfn|Morella|Epstein|1971|p=33}} This was followed by ''[[These Glamour Girls]]'' (1939), a comedy in which she portrayed a [[taxi dancer]] invited to attend a dance with a male coed at his elite college.{{sfn|Conklin|2009|p=116}} Turner's onscreen sex appeal in the film was reflected by a review in the ''[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]]'' in which she was characterized as "the answer to 'oomph{{' "}}.<ref>{{cite news|work=[[St. Louis Post-Dispatch]]|title=Thumbnail Reviews of New Movies|last=McPherson|first=Colvin|date=September 2, 1939|page=5|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/22038903/st_louis_postdispatch/|via=Newspapers.com |location=St. Louis, MO}}</ref> In her next film, ''[[Dancing Co-Ed]]'' (1939), Turner was given first billing portraying Patty Marlow, a professional dancer who enters a college as part of a rigged national talent contest.{{sfn|Conklin|2009|p=170}} The film was a commercial success, and led to Turner appearing on the cover of ''[[Look (American magazine)|Look]]'' magazine.{{sfn|Morella|Epstein|1971|p=35}}

In February 1940, Turner garnered significant publicity when she eloped to Las Vegas with 28-year-old bandleader [[Artie Shaw]], her co-star in ''Dancing Co-Ed''.{{sfn|Crane|1988|pages=39–43}}{{sfn|Langer|2001|loc=event occurs at 13:20}} Though they had only briefly known each other, Turner recalled being "stirred by his eloquence", and after their first date, the two spontaneously decided to get married.{{sfn|Turner|1982|p=40}} Their marriage only lasted four months, but was highly publicized, and led MGM executives to grow concerned over Turner's "impulsive behavior".{{sfn|Morella|Epstein|1971 |p= 40}} Turner later remarked that Shaw "stirred" her, but soon "flew into rages", adding "He was a very intelligent man, but he didn't treat women well. In the spring of 1940, after the two had divorced, Turner discovered she was pregnant and had an [[abortion]], at the insistence of studio executives.<ref name=":0" />{{sfn|Morella|Epstein|1971|p=41}} In contemporaneous press, it was noted she had been hospitalized for "exhaustion".{{sfn |Morella|Epstein|1971|p=41}} She would later recall that Shaw treated her "like an untutored blonde savage, and took no pains to conceal his opinion".{{sfn|Morella|Epstein|1971|p= 35}} In the midst of her marriage to Shaw, she starred in ''[[We Who Are Young]]'', a drama in which she played a woman who, against their employer's policy, marries her co-worker.{{sfn|Morella|Epstein|1971|p=42}}