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Template:Did you know nominations/Gloria Swanson

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The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by SL93 (talk) 02:26, 11 October 2020 (UTC)

DYK toolbox

Gloria Swanson

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Gloria Swanson in 1972
Gloria Swanson in 1972

Source: She kept hearing about the scientists stuck in Nazi Germany and began to hatch a plan: what if she could create a company that would employ both refugee inventors and herself? In no time Swanson convened a board of directors, all men with industry experience, and Multiprises,her least likely entrepreneurial adventure, was born. She sent an envoy to Berlin in search of scientists who needed employment—and a way out. (former husband [Marquis de La Coudraye]) Henri de la Falaise ...living in France, came to Gloria’s aid, graciously providing a Paris office for the new company’s “headquarters.” He wrote letter after letter assuring the authorities that Multiprises guaranteed jobs for the four Viennese inventors Swanson’s envoy located. By the time their temporary US visas expired, the inventors were in New York, Multiprises was up and running, and the US was at war with Germany. Multiprises provided financing and marketing for the group’s inventions, eventually patenting parts used in manufacturing, recording, appliances, automobiles, and musical instruments ... with military applications as well.Welsch, Tricia (2013). Gloria Swanson: Ready for Her Close-Up. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 299–301.(subscription required)

Improved to Good Article status on September 20, 2020, by Maile66 (talk). Self-nominated at 15:15, 20 September 2020 (UTC).


General: Article is new enough and long enough
Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation
Image: Image is freely licensed, used in the article, and clear at 100px.
QPQ: Done.

Overall: I'm AFG the source as I don't have a subscription. Please fix the image description of the infobox, as it's currently "Black and white photo of a woman". Also a personal opinion: can't you use a more flattering photo? Corachow (talk) 16:43, 21 September 2020 (UTC)

@Corachow: The image description is there, following the word "caption". You are confused about the "ALT text" used for screen readers for the blind. It's been discussed recently at WT:DYK, but not a requirement, so I'll delete that. — Maile (talk) 21:05, 21 September 2020 (UTC)
Agree about the photo which makes her look like a puppet in this reduced size. I honestly thought it was somebody's art project with pasted collage cutouts from a glossy magazine. Binksternet (talk) 16:53, 21 September 2020 (UTC)
For both of you, the woman in the image was 73 years old when that was taken. Exactly how flattering is a 73-year-old woman supposed to look? And it was taken by Allan Warren, a professional photographer for royalty and show business celebrities. He licensed a lot of his images to Commons. — Maile (talk) 21:05, 21 September 2020 (UTC)
Hi, I'm in the process of adding more images to the article, and will propose a different image from Swanson's film career to accompany this nomination. Yoninah (talk) 10:12, 25 September 2020 (UTC)
  • Here are some new images. I think she's pretty well known in our generation for her 1950 role in Sunset Boulevard. Alternately, here's a nice glamor shot from 1933:
Gloria Swanson and William Holden in Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Gloria Swanson and William Holden in Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Gloria Swanson and John Boles in Music in the Air (1933)
Gloria Swanson and John Boles in Music in the Air (1933)
  • I really like what you've done here. I'm adding a cropped image of the one you loaded of her and her husband since the two of them are mentioned in the hook. — Maile (talk) 18:35, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
Gloria Swanson and Henri de la Falaise
Gloria Swanson and Henri de la Falaise
  • That one's good too, both because it matches the hook and for those who have no idea who she is anyway. Yoninah (talk) 18:47, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
  • Here is tighter hook wording for the image of the two of them together:
  • ALT0a: ... that actress Gloria Swanson created an inventions and patents company to employ refugee scientists whom she and her former husband Marquis Henry de La Falaise (both pictured) helped escape Nazi Germany? Yoninah (talk) 18:57, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
  • @Corachow: Well, what do you think of the additional images loaded here? — Maile (talk) 18:51, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
  • The additional images are great, personally I like the Sunset Boulevard the most. Corachow (talk) 19:12, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
  • Maile, I do find the hook wording rather heavy, and not matching the image at all. Would you consider a different hook to go with the Sunset Boulevard pic? (I surprised you didn't say anything in the article about Wilder having to persuade her to play a Hollywood has-been). Yoninah (talk) 19:20, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
  • Yoninah the whole point of putting this up at DYK in the first place, is to put her Multiprises venture on the main page. No, I do not go along with a different hook. It has to be about her Multiprises venture, and include Henry de La Falaise. They were genuine heroes for that. Who cares about one more hook about an actress in one more movie?.— Maile (talk) 19:36, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
  • Maile, fine. But I'm surprised that info doesn't appear in the article. Yoninah (talk) 19:44, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
  • Yoninah That's important to you personally, but maybe it could be worked into the article about the film itself. This woman's life and career was so interesting, that a little thing like that ... is ... a little thing, overall. — Maile (talk) 19:49, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
  • Maile Really? That's not what I see in other film bios. This one spends a lot of time describing the plot when it could be describing her role in the production. Yoninah (talk) 19:54, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
  • Yoninah Well, specifically to this DYK, if the hook cannot be about her Multiprises venture, I would just as soon as close this as a failed nomination. I don't think this is the place to argue about what you personally thought was left out of the article, which achieved GA without that ever coming up. — Maile (talk) 19:58, 26 September 2020 (UTC)
  • Small comment here, as I just re-read the sources. It was not Swanson who objected to playing a has-been. That was Mae West. Swanson objected to a screen test, but she did it anyway. She was convinced by the money, and so admitted in her autobiography. She was being offered a great deal more than she was then making otherwise. I've added a couple of small corrections to that section of the article. — Maile (talk) 13:36, 28 September 2020 (UTC)
*Note to promoter: This is the hook and image preferred by the nominator:
Gloria Swanson and Henri de la Falaise
Gloria Swanson and Henri de la Falaise

*ALT0a: ... that actress Gloria Swanson created an inventions and patents company to employ refugee scientists whom she and her former husband Marquis Henry de La Falaise (both pictured) helped escape Nazi Germany? Yoninah (talk) 00:18, 11 October 2020 (UTC)

Also, Yoninah wrote this hook, so someone else needs to promote it. Thanks. — Maile (talk) 00:28, 11 October 2020 (UTC)
  • Hook looks good. 186 characters without the parenthetical "both pictured". Supported by article refs. Interesting content. Image is public domain. Good to go! Binksternet (talk) 01:05, 11 October 2020 (UTC)
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