Unlike Betty Grable, who enjoyed an established Hollywood career by the time World War II (1939–45) erupted, Jane Russell (1921–) largely launched her entertainment career by appealing to servicemen at home and abroad during the war. Businessman and Hollywood producer Howard Hughes (1905–1976) discovered the young actress when casting for his western film, The Outlaw, in 1940. The thin plot was centered on the outlaw legend Billy the Kid (1859–1881), but Russell's curvaceous figure was clearly the focus of the film. The Outlaw began under the direction of Howard Hawks, but he was soon replaced by Hughes, who had never directed a film but knew what he wanted to see. Because of his inexperience, each scene took thirty or forty takes and one scene took more than one hundred. The entire film required nine months instead of the customary six to eight weeks to shoot. When the picture was finally finished...