Changes

Between July 1928 and December 1928, Renee Adoree went from 125 pounds to 97. According to a later account, Adoree’s look was still too heavy for the figure her industry desired, and she began a strict calorie-reduced diet which she continued until it landed her in a hospital in 1930 (at approximately 80 pounds). Reports from the period suggested that Adoree had been working too hard. Journalists stated that her first hospitalization, in March 1930, was due to a bronchial cold. The following hospitalization, in October 1930, was due to a physical breakdown, though her frailty left her vulnerable and she contracted tuberculosis. Renee Adoree remained hospitalized for two years. In 1932, Adoree’s friends and family began to hope for her return. She had gained 25 pounds in the two years and appeared to be making strides towards progress. When physicians released Adoree, she wanted to get back to work. Upon her return, she relapsed to her prior condition. When Adoree passed away on October 5, 1933, newspapers credited “chronic respiratory ailment” as the cause of death—not her 85 pound weight.

Hollywood is still often credited with providing negative examples of health and beauty. And while there have been recent examples of fashion designers and film directors moving towards more healthy, positive body images, the Lulu Hunt Peters’ work has not been undone. Her work in linking beauty to thinness was so successful that it remains.<ref name="Carl Malmberg" [Carl Malmberg, Diet and Die, (New York: Hilman-Curl, Inc., 1935), p. 18].</ref>