Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1946)

Heart of a Yankee ( Continued, from page 43) Broadway. But the fact remained — he didn’t want to be a star on Broadway, he didn’t want to go back on the stage. His whole ambition, his whole desire was centered, as it had been for years, upon the movies. And the long, lonely six months had added fuel to that flame. He didn’t know anybody, he had nowhere to go, they wouldn’t even let him in the actors’ commissary at Warners most of the time, so he had spent afternoon after afternoon, evening after evening, at the movies on Hollywood Boulevard, the big palatial houses like Grauman’s Chinese, The Egyptian, Warner Brothers and Paramount. He had a regular circuit of all the neighborhood houses, sometimes seeing again pictures he’d already seen, sometimes seeing anything of Garbo’s three or four times. “I was,” Van told me with a grin, “undoubtedly Hollywood’s most persistent fan. If they wouldn’t let me on the screen, I could at least go and see them.” IN A long letter to his dad, Van had ' explained that he was on his way East. “I just didn’t make the grade,” the boy from New England wrote, “and while sometimes I try to kid myself I never could kid you, Dad, and so you’ll know how darn unhappy I am. I still think pictures are the one and only, I’d still rather be in them than anything else, and besides I’ve fallen in love with California. I had a little car — I’ve sold it now of course — and I did some driving around, down to the beaches and up to the mountains and this is a beautiful place to live. I’ve had that much out of it anyhow. I’m not squawking. I expect if I really had anything somebody would have spotted it. But at the same time, it doesn’t seem like I’ve had quite a fair chance. Of course being in front of a camera for the first time I was so excited I nearly exploded. You know how it is, Dad. You dream about something and think about it and then it happens and you know it’s true but you don’t believe it just the same. There I was, and the lights and the cameras and the director and all the things — but I sure do look different than I expected, but partly that is because they made me dye my hair black, so probably if you ever do see it, which I don’t think you will, you won’t recognize me at all. I feel pretty low, but I’m glad I came. You remember how we used to talk and how I used to say someday I’d get to Hollywood. Well, I got here and now I’m going back and I think before I stop in New York and see about a job I’ll come up and see you, so keep your eye peeled and I’ll be along and lots of love from me, Van.” He had written his father a great many letters while he was in Hollywood — but up to that very last one they had all been hopeful. Even when things were toughest, even when he’d been taken over to Columbia for a couple of small parts and things hadn’t gone so well. But Van wasn’t destined to make that trip back to New York, it would appear on the surface, because a certain group of people converged that night at Dave Chasen’s. The cast that was to play destiny to Van Johnson consisted of a New York detective named Gorman, the then District Attorney of Brooklyn and now Mayor of New York, William O’Dwyer, that brilliant young actress Lucille Ball, and the famous Metro -GoldwynMayer casting director, Billy Grady. Everything, Van says, happened at once. Gorman and O’Dwyer arrived and there was a shot in the arm, because O’Dwyer always makes everybody feel better just by being there. “And the point was,” Van tells EVELYN BYRD LAPRADE— Jhis lovely young member of the distinguished Byrd family of Virginia is delighted with Pond's new " sheer-gauge ” powder. " It brings exquisitely clear , subtle color to my skin! Miss LaPrade says. The more "sheer-gauge” your stockings are, the more glamorous their color looks "on”! Today — Pond’s "sheer-gauge face powder brings that same kind of glamour to your complexion. Because Pond’s powder is blended* sheer — to suffuse your skin with that same unmistakable luxury look! The same flawless, ultra-smooth color flattery. Choose from a wide range Pond’s lovely Dreamflower shades. They’re all "sheer-gauge”! "Sheer-gauge” means lovelier color for your face, too! Two stockings — same shade in the box — hut so different "on”! Pond’s Dreamflower Powder shades look lovelier on” because they’re so "sheer-gauge” !