Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1946)

INSIDE STUFF Checkmates — William Eythe ties in with Andrea King’s jacket at a recent gay party ¥e don’t care what your calendar says — it's June on the cover! And the sunny June Allyson has a lot of the attributes her name implies. She’s got sky-blue eyes, hair as blond as a daffodil, and a warmth and brightness that’s reminiscent of the loveliest month in the year. For you statistic hounds, we will also state that she’s five-feet -one and weighs in at exactly 99. There’s no way to measure charm, but she’s got oodles. fa And speaking of charm, M-G-M was looking for exactly that when they needed a star to play the part of Julia Sanderson in "Till The Clouds Roll By”. When Miss Sanderson, the famed musical comedy star, was commencing her career, she was small, blueeyed, blonde, with a sweet voice and a delightful dancing style, so it was as if they’d found her all over again when they cast June Allyson in the role. It’s a performance — and a picture — you mustn’t miss. fa June was as delighted as the studio with her role in "Till The Clouds Roll By”. It’s the life story of Jerome Kern, and to anyone as fond of the theater as June, playing a part in it has strong sentimental inducement. You'll remember June got her start in musicals on Broadway, first as a chorus girl in "Sing Out The News”, and then graduating to specialties in other song-and-dance shows. It was in one of those that M-G-M spotted her, and since then she’s become as delightful an actress as she is an entertainer. fa If you saw June in her early pictures, then you realize how ably she fulfilled her promise in "Two Girls And A Sailor”, "Music For Millions”, "Two Sisters From Boston” and other hits. But the ardent Miss Allyson was never more excited than now. She’s like that about her work— and "Till The Clouds Roll By” has her as exuberant as a kid with a sugar -plum. fa That sparkling enthusiasm is one of June’s characteristics. She’s that way about everything — her home, her hobbies, her career! June is avid about swimming, sailing, horse-back riding. She collects records and loves planes. But her greatest interest right now is her new home — and her neighbors feel just the way her fans do — she’s a lot of fun and their favorite person! k suit M’G’M ☆ TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY ☆ as he affectionately called her, did the New York shops, the shows and the town. Hollywood instantly liked the tall, blonde Englishwoman who served as a British WAAF during the war. At the dinner table at Tyrone’s that fatal evening, when they began playing the whispering game, where one tells a tale to his dinner partner who repeats it to his partner and so on until the last person repeats the garbled version, Mrs. Niven called across the table to David, “You’re beginning the game counter clockwise, David. That’s such bad luck.” An hour later while playing “Sardines,” a game in which one person secretes himself in a corner and the players attempt to locate him in the dark, Mrs. Niven opened the cellar door by mistake and plunged twenty feet down. At first they all thought it was merely a concussion but as the hours wore on it became apparent her injury was serious. Never have hearts been so tom with emotion as they have for the popular David. Hollywood knows this will always be a great tragedy in his life and is waiting to help him bear it as best the town can. ’rofiled at the same arty; Helen Walker I tresses the point to lase Kurt Kreuger ( Continued from page 17) rogedy: The tragedy of the month was re sudden death of Mrs. David Niven s a result of an accident at the home f the Tyrone Powers’. Every Sunday re same group of friends, including the i.ex Harrisons, Richard Greenes, Arrur Little Jr., Cesar Romero, Gene ierney and Oleg Cassini, and the Nivitrs, gathered at Tyrone’s for an afterioon of croquet, tennis or swimming ,rrd an evening of parlor games. Time |nd again someone in the group had ^ported how glowingly happy the Niv,rs were and how deeply David loved is wife whom he had met during an ir icid in England. When she was due to arrive, David as on hand to meet her. “She’s had wretched time of it during the war ithout fun or new clothes,” David lid, “and this eighteen-day crossing ith the two babies has been hazardjs. Certainly I want to be here to ieet her.” So David stayed east, flew Ip to Maine to meet the boat from ngland when it landed there and back i New York arranged with the Raymond Masseys to care for the two small ffldren while he and his “Primmie,” p 19