Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star.: A Visit from the Photographer -- Ann Blyth's Convalescence

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

A Visit from the Photographer -- Ann Blyth's Convalescence

Ann Blyth was seriously injured when she was 16 years old, requiring a long convalescence as her career was put on hold -- and some feared her injury would end her career.

A few weeks ago we had a look at a photo in this post taken by the Universal studio of Ann at home, as she took part in a publicity chore which actually could be seen an invasion of her privacy. The scrutiny required by the publicity department became a bit more personal when a series of photos was taken of Ann recovering at home, an invalid confined to her bed in a body cast.

Here we see Ann posed as if making up before a hand mirror, gamely continuing with the priorities of a teenage girl. Underneath the bed jacket peeks the signatures and messages of family and friends on the body cast. Surely visits from friends were more welcome than from the photographers, but she was a professional and did her job.

The episode of her injury on a toboggan is recounted in my book Ann Blyth: Actress. Singer. Star.:

“I remember Ann did not get up at first. She just kept lying there in the snow.”

She had landed on a rock jutting from the snow. She fractured her spine. She was sixteen years old...

“It knocked the wind out of me and I felt as if my back had been driven into my chest.”

Her friends helped her to sit on a nearby tree stump, but the pain grew excruciating....

“At the hospital, the doctors were grave; my back was broken.”

The fracture involved two vertebrae that had jammed together. She was told she might not walk again.

“At first, I couldn’t look at my mother. When at last I raised my head, I was startled. Those warm, hazel eyes under her crown of auburn hair were actually smiling.

‘Have faith, my darling,’ she said. ‘You’ll walk.’”
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