This article explores an early and formative moment in the career of actress Myrna Loy, highlighting how photographer Henry Waxman played a key role in bringing her initial Hollywood attention.Loy had a small role in the silent film “What Price Beauty?”, a production filmed in 1925 but not released until 1928.Although her part in the film was minor, it became a significant stepping stone in her rise within the film industry.Henry Waxman, who discovered Loy while photographing performers at Grauman’s Egyptian Theater, captured a series of striking portraits of her.These images circulated widely after being seen by influential figures such as Rudolph Valentino and producer Natacha Rambova.Rambova was impressed enough to cast Loy in the film, giving her a more visible role as part of a stylized dream sequence.Loy later recalled in her memoir how Rambova’s support helped revive her struggling early career after failed screen tests and minor background work.

She described the production as having a weak script but noted its strong visual and artistic ambition, particularly in its avant-garde costume and character design by Adrian Greenberg, who would later become a major MGM designer known simply as Adrian.

Waxman’s photographs of Loy in her distinctive “intellectual vampire” costume—featuring a red velvet outfit and a stylized blond wig—were eventually published in Motion Picture magazine.These images sparked public curiosity, often captioned with questions such as “Who is she?”, which helped elevate Loy’s profile.Ultimately, the exposure contributed to her securing a contract with Warner Bros., marking an important step toward her later success as a major Hollywood star.The article situates this moment as a key intersection of photography, early film marketing, and studio-era talent discovery in silent-era Hollywood.