Movieland. (1949)

once again a familiar sight on the mar¬ quees. Looks like Ginger’s once again found A-staire-way to the stars. * * * Any day now we expect to hear some violent explosion between Elizabeth Tay¬ lor and her studio. Seems Lizzy thinks the studio ain’t doin’ right by her when it comes to stories. She hasn’t had a really good picture since “National Vel Entertainment at Slapsie Maxie’s has Esther Williams and Ben Gage wholly enthralled. vet,” and Lizzy, who has grown into one of our most beautiful and talented young actresses, is tired of supporting other people. She may try to break her contract on the grounds that it was signed when she was a minor. Joan Leslie tried the same thing, and look what happened to her. Her career has practically died on the Vine Street. Producers are chary about signing any actress, however talented, if they risk becoming embroiled in a lot of legal en¬ tanglements. # * * Audie Murphy and Wanda Hendrix came within an ace of a Mexican mar¬ riage before Wanda left for Italy to play opposite Tyrone Power in “Prince of Foxes.” Audie had the wedding ring al¬ ready bought when the couple decided to talk it over with Wanda’s parents before traveling south of the border the next day. After the family conference, Wanda and Audie decided to wait until her return from Italy. Then they’ll plan a church wedding with all the trimmings. But Wanda left with a brand new dia¬ mond, which Audie placed on her finger — for safe-keeping purposes. * * * Madeleine Carroll, who threw over Hollywood to do one of the greatest feminine jobs of the war, is ready to re¬ sume her career where she left off. But if she stays in Hollywood, it will prob¬ ably mean long periods of separation from her husband, Henri Lavorel, and that’s not good. Madeleine is not the Alice-Sit-By-The-Fire type, and we predict that unless the couple can ar¬ range their lives so that they will be to¬ gether, there’ll be a case in the divorce courts. * * * James Mason, whose acrid views on sundry subjects have been aired freely in the public prints, put thumbs down on a top feminine columnist and a cer¬ tain fan magazine (not this one) when he came to Hollywood. Otherwise, he gave the press the green light. He objected to the fan magazine because it once printed an article about him that his wife had re¬ fused to okay. He objected to the femi¬ nine columnist on general principles. She simply didn’t jive with Mr. Mason. , Now that his legal troubles have been settled, it can be expected that the Masons will settle down in Hollywood. They like the town; but their future here will depend upon the success of his pictures. During his two-year layoff from the screen, while waiting for his contract troubles to be ironed out, many of James’s early and inferior films were re¬ leased on an unsuspecting public. Amer¬ ican audiences began to wonder if Mason wasn’t going backward instead of for¬ ward. * * * Danny Kaye, one of our greatest am¬ bassadors of good will, is having a wel¬ come mat spread clear across the Atlan¬ tic to return to England again. Sixty thousand people already have made re¬ quests for tickets to see Danny in his next appearance in London, which prob¬ ably will not be until next year as he is scheduled to make a picture first. Inci¬ dentally, Danny’s reconciliation with wife Sylvia seems to be completely on the solid side. Other battling Hollywood couples could take the Kayes as an example in ironing out their marital affairs. (Please turn to page 12) The Henry Fondas seem to have John Dali on his knees, but it’s nothing serious. He’s just table hopping at the Stork Club. Now that Sonny Tufts has finished “The Untamed Breed,” there’s time for a bit of night club funning with pretty wife Barbara.