Talk:Gloria Dea

Gloria Dea Shulem?

 * Originally posted to User talk:Jkaharper, moved here when it became clear it would be relevant to article development. --GRuban (talk) 01:26, 10 November 2022 (UTC)

I was looking for an image for your article per the request on the talk page (and found one). Along the way, though, I found a slew of articles (with images) about a lady named Gloria Dea Shulem, who was also an actress, and active in Burbank politics and society, at about the proper time. https://dp.la/search?q=gloria+dea+shulem (there are others on newspapers.com). Seems her mother is "Mrs. Leo Day", while Leo was Gloria Dea's father's name, and her face seems rather similar here: https://tessa2.lapl.org/digital/collection/photos/id/56654 However your article says nothing about her being Shulem. Is she the same person? Or not? --GRuban (talk) 19:00, 9 November 2022 (UTC)
 * It seems very likely. Here, https://www.myheritage.com/names/jack_shulem "Jack Shulem was born circa 1916, to Sam Shulem and Bessie Michinger ... Jack married Gloria Dea on month day 1955, at age 39 in marriage place, California." The hits on newspapers.com for "Gloria Dea Shulem" are between 1955-1964. https://www.newspapers.com/search/?query=%22gloria%20dea%20shulem%22 However, in 1954, we have 3 results for "Gloria Dea" on the same page with a "Jack Shulem". These two are especially telling:
 * https://www.newspapers.com/image/693982969/ "If AFL-CIO unity is ever to work, it will have to be as much on the local level ... That's why ... the San Fernando Valley Labor Co-ordinating Council is especially significant. ... Credit for the idea is being given Jack Shulem, AFL International Typographical Union. ... Board members are Gloria Dea, American Guild of Variety Artists:" - if being an actress and a magician isn't being a variety artist, I don't know what is!
 * https://www.newspapers.com/image/580598985/ "LABOR OFFICERS INSTALLED ... Jack Shulem, vice president; Gloria Dea, executive board member; ..." it's a photo and they're standing next to each other.
 * I'm going to ping User:SusunW who is amazing at historical research, and even specializes in articles on historical women, with, um, let's say, multiple remarriages. Susun, I can't find a source that specifically says "this actress/magician married this union organizer in 1955, between her second and fourth marriage" but I'm almost sure there is one somewhere. And if we can find one, I think her article becomes even more interesting, and gets even more pictures! --GRuban (talk) 19:46, 9 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Let me see what I can discover. SusunW (talk) 19:57, 9 November 2022 (UTC)
 * https://www.newspapers.com/image/382334110/ July 1965 has her as Gloria Dea again with Mrs. Leo Day, so I'm guessing they split in 1964-5. Not directly relevant, but on the subject of Dea's divorces, here's one of the articles with a photo of her that I found: https://www.newspapers.com/image/380728576/ Los Angeles Times, 24 Mar, 1945: "Gloria Dea, 22, model and actress, divorced John F. Statham accordion player. "He would always find an excuse not to kiss me," she said of the 33 year old musician. "Either he was smoking a cigarette, or I was wearing lipstick, or something."" --GRuban (talk) 20:10, 9 November 2022 (UTC)
 * Marriage license issued 14 May 1955. Marriage license says her maiden name was "Gloria Day" and that her father was Leo L. "Day" and mother Martha (née Heyman), but she completed the license with the surname “Dea” and signed it like that noting that she had previously been married twice. Jack died 14 May 1978 (He was born 25 Oct 1915 in Canada).. Let me look at newspapers now. SusunW (talk) 20:28, 9 November 2022 (UTC)
 * This is a little harder than it seems, but I'm sure it's all the same person. Nothing really definitive in newspapers.,,,,, so I went back to primary records. Her birth record shows the same date verified in the article and confirms her mother's maiden name was Heyman. The family appears as Metsner on the 1930 census, Metzner on the 1940 census,, but as Day on the 1950 census. Obviously the first is a misspelling, but did they actually change their name (WWII phobia against German-sounding name?) She married Statham in 1944,, Harold Steinborn (aka Hal Bourne) in 1946, then Shulem in 1955, but apparently they divorced because in 1969 she married James Day but she divorced him in 1970.. The records are all consistent in giving her mother's maiden name and Dea's birth year, so I am confident these are the correct spouses. SusunW (talk) 21:57, 9 November 2022 (UTC)

Thank you Susun! I also emailed Kenneth R. Marks, this morning, who maintains the https://www.braunhart.com/stories/gloria-the-magician page used as a reference. He wrote back an hour ago and said "Thanks for contacting me. I don't have the time to help much re Gloria's life, although next to her self I know more about her life than anyone. She is my Dad's first cousin.  I talk to her and see her frequently.  Yes, she was married to jJack Shulem in the time period mentioned, although I don't have the divorce date. I may have the marriage certificate but will have to look for it. Let me know how else I can help. She has received a number of awards in the past year as a result of her career in magic." So I am also confident we're good. I'll put a paragraph or two about her decade as Gloria Dea Shulem on the article page, with newspaper images, over the next few days. --GRuban (talk) 01:46, 10 November 2022 (UTC)
 * No problem Great work finding the name for expansion and nice to know that Marks confirms what we see in the records. It is always a joy to work with you, let me know if I can help more. SusunW (talk) 14:11, 10 November 2022 (UTC)