"REEL" BIRTHDATES?

When attempting to locate anyone on a census it is always helpful to have their date of birth or even just the year they are born. This is not an easy task when it comes to tracking movie stars and other celebrities. Katharine Hepburn, devastated by the suicide of her beloved brother, used his birthday as her own for many years.

Unfortunately the studio system perpetuated biographies that made stars a little older; and more often a lot younger than their true ages. Most biographers state Doris Day's birthday as April 3, 1924. Ms. Day is recorded as seven years old on the 1930 Census, making her year of birth 1923.

Many celebrities on the 1930 census appear a year older or a year younger than the age in their studio bio. It can only be speculated that this was not an error, but a calculated maneuver. Tweeking a celebrity's age by just a year hardly adds to their youthful image. Perhaps the change in ages had a practical purpose. Tabloids could be merciless in reporting celebrity scandal and stories of the celebrity's past could stall or end a career. If a birthday was incorrect, then perhaps snoopy reporters had a greater difficulty in digging up dirt on early indiscretions.