The refurbished statue of Myrna Loy hidden under her veil, waits for her unveiling in front of Venice High School.
Back in 2004, when a Los Angeles Times reporter and photographer showed up at the Venice High School campus in a search for the missing statue of Myrna Loy, the newshounds started their search in the VHS front office, asking probing questions of the staff on duty. It was summer, so perhaps the staff wasn't all up to snuff because when asked, "Where is the statue of Myrna Loy?" the front office person shrugged her shoulders and said, "David King has her," an answer about as off the wall as anyone could have possibly been! At that very moment, I had never even heard of Myrna Loy let alone 'have' her! But that was to change.
The Times reporter, sleuthfully, sought out The Learning Garden and banged on our faculty parking lot gate asking for David King. He told me I "had Myrna Loy" and he wanted to see her. This is almost like being told I had been nominated to pilot the next craft to Mars! He must have known something was a tad amiss when I had to be told Myrna Loy was a film star and her statue had been in front of Venice High School for a number of years and that he was looking for that statue.
In our conversation, I realized that this statue wouldn't be a little thing, and in an effort to clear my name, I asked him to look around the garden with me; he would see no Myrna and that would be the end of my involvement with this hair-brained scenario and I could go back to work.
Out behind my office, I glanced over to a building material yard adjacent to the Garden. There on the ground in a tattered tarp appeared to be a cylindrically shaped bit of concrete. Pointing to that, with a bit of bravado (afterall, it could have been a hunk of sewer pipe in the canvass), I said, "There's your Myrna!" It was NOT 'in the garden' as subsequently reported, but garden-adjacent. The Plant Manager had to be called to let him into that yard and, it was, in fact, the statue of Myrna Loy.
My autograph is still for sale at very reasonable prices.
Just ask.
david
