Amphetamines, specifically Benzedrine, were introduced into mainstream American medicine in the 1930s and were widely prescribed for a range of conditions including depression, obesity, narcolepsy, and fatigue. Their stimulant properties were well-known, and their use in contexts where sustained alertness and energy were commercially valuable was not unique to the entertainment industry. Military personnel, airline pilots, and others in high-stakes operational roles received amphetamines as a matter of course in this period.
For a teenage girl whose work required sustained physical performance — dancing, singing, rehearsing, filming — the appeal of amphetamines from the studio’s perspective was straightforward: they suppressed appetite (addressing the studio’s persistent weight concerns), maintained energy through long working days, and appeared to produce no immediate harmful effects. The longer-term effects of amphetamine use — dependency, psychological dysregulation, the crash that followed the stimulant phase — were understood less clearly in the 1930s than they are today, and the norms of the period did not categorize the administration of amphetamines to an adolescent performer as obviously harmful.
The barbiturates administered at night to counteract the stimulants were equally well-established pharmaceuticals with specific medical applications. Phenobarbital and related compounds were the primary pharmaceutical treatment for insomnia in this period. Combined with stimulants, they produced a cycle: the stimulant drove the performer through the working day, suppressing the normal fatigue responses that would otherwise have signaled the need for rest; the barbiturate then forced sleep in the context of a nervous system that had been driven past its natural rest threshold; the stimulant the next morning reset the cycle.