Lady in the Dark
July 1944Dearest Reader,
The film my grandmother saw in 1944 was Lady in the Dark, starring Ginger Rogers. Although she remembered it as Woman in the Dark. Released in 1944, Lady in the Dark tells the story of Liza Elliott, a successful magazine editor suffering from anxiety, mood swings and troubling dreams. The movie explores her struggle with what was then called psychoneurosis, following her through a series of psychoanalytic sessions in which a doctor helps her uncover childhood trauma buried beneath her polished exterior. The film was one of Hollywood’s early attempts to portray mental and emotional conflict on screen. For 1944, the film’s frank depiction of inner turmoil and psychoanalysis made it both unusual and modern.
Dr. Nancy Watson
Rambling With Nan
Washington
Read More From Nancy
Restricted Rails
My parents were married in May of 1944 while my father was home on furlough, a brief pause in the turmoil of a world at war. The letters they left behind include tender notes between two young newlyweds and the steady, pleading correspondence from my grandmother to her only son. These letters form an intimate […]
Convalescent Hospital
In July of 1944, letters to my father were addressed to Fort George Wright Hospital in Spokane Washington. Fort George Wright Hospital in 1944 was a key convalescent and rehabilitation facility for the US Army servicemen. Fort George was a US post established beginning in the late 1890s. The hospital was built on-site in 1898 […]
Psychoneurosis Letter
Reading my grandmother’s words, it is clear how complicated and emotionally charged the term psychoneurosis was in 1944, She writes: “You will note that Dr. Link, a noted psychologist, does not believe in the use of that term, that to call a man a ‘psychoneurotic’ is to go a long way towards making him one. […]
