The Picture Show Annual (1947)

The East Side Kids with Milton Kibbee and Minerva Urecal in “ Mr. Muggs Rides Again.” Wanda Hendrix, the little girl who gave such a fine performance with Charles Boyer in “ Confidential Agent.” I! N 1939 the film version of the sensational play, “ Dead End,” introduced us to a group of young New York slum toughs played by the stage cast—Billy Halop, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, Gabriel Dell and Bernard Punsly. Their fights, wisecracks and cheek won them fame over- night, and they became known as the “ Dead End Kids.” Since then “ The Little Tough Guys ” and “ East Side Kids ” have carried on the tradition, with variations in players and characteis, only one or two of the original cast now remaining. Although her curls and “ cuteness ” had won Gloria Jean a local reputation, her reputation might have remained localised and a professional career untried however, if Joseph Pasternak, Deanna Durbin’s dis- coverer and producer, had not met her. Her talent impressed him as well as her looks, and he persuaded Universal to give her a contract. Her first film, The Underpup, in 1939, was a great hit for her, and she has been a star ever since. Bom in Buffalo, New York, on April 14th, 1928, her real name is Gloria Jean Schoonover. One of the most noticeable developments of the screen during recent years has been the increasing popularity and numbers of films dealing with family life. This has required children of considerable variation in age, such as the Brown family in National Velvet, or the poverty-stricken shantyboat swamp dwellers of Florida whom we saw in Sunday Dinner for a Soldier. This film introduced us to a clever and charming little actress, Connie Marshall, who played the part of Anne Baxter’s little sister. One of the most delightful and unusual of the war-time novels was made into an equally delightful film— The Pied Piper, by Nevil Shute. It was the story of an elderly English gentleman who reluctantly shepherded a handful of children across France as the German breakthrough spread confusion and terror. One of the children was Peggy Ann Garner, who fol- lowed this with a sensitive portrayal in Jane Eyre. Then came a fine performance as the imaginative little slum girl in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and Peggy Ann Gamer became a star at the age of thirteen —starting her career at the age which used to mean the end of a child star’s career. She is neither beautiful nor “ cute,” but she has a load of talent. Playing the part of Peggy Ann’s young brother in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn was Ted Donaldson who was picked after a host of others had been tested, to play the leading role with Cary Grant in Once Upon a Time, that delightful fantasy of a boy who had a dancing caterpillar. Ted, with his red-gold hair, blue eyes, snub nose and freckled face, won his way to picturegoers’ hearts as he tootled “ Yes, sir, that’s my baby ” on a mouth organ for his caterpillar. One of Peggy Ann Garner’s later films, Junior Miss, introduced Mona Freeman, who did much to add to the hilarity of the comedy. Her only previous film was Together Again, but there are more to come. A boy who started his career at about the same age as Peggy Ann Garner, but several years before, is cheery, snub-nosed Jimmy Lydon. Bom in 1923, he was ten when he decided he wanted to be an actor, and five years later, when he made his film debut, he had already scored considerable success on the stage and wireless. He is best known for his work in the Henry Aldrich series. Stanley “ Stash ” Clements started his career some seven years ago when he was verging on the “ awkward age.” He specialises in portraying the sort of boy who has an inclination to get on the wrong side of the law. He was such a type in the Bing Crosby film, Going my Way, and he followed this with an Anthony Wager, of Finchley, started his career as “ Pip ” in “ Great Expectations ”