Screenland (Nov 1950-Oct 1951)

The Johnson half of the Ann Miller-Van Johnson dance team at the Chuck Wagon Whoop-De-Do finds he isn't as spry as he thought he was. "Three Guys Named Mike" is Van's next film. lines when Bette Davis flew to the border city to divorce William Grant Sherry on July 3 ( the decree became final appropriately enough on Independence Day), and then Bette returned on July 28 to marry Gary Merrill whom she met when they were working together on 20th's "All About Eve." On August 6, as a further corollary to the Juarez decree mentioned above, William Grant Sherry took Marian Richards as his bride. As the Summer wore away, so did a number of additional marriages, among them that of Benay Venuta and Armand Deutsch, that of Linda Darnell and Pev Marley, that of Myrna Loy and Gene Markey, that of Mary Andersen and Leonard Behrena, that of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Montgomery, that of Dan Dailey and Liz Hofert, that of Barbara Pay ton and John Payton, that of Lynn Bari and Sid Luft, and that of Ann McCormack and Jackie Coogan. Mrs. Gladys O'Brien, Margaret's mother, was granted a divorce from orchestra leader Don Silvio Sbrigata, and Ginger Rogers' divorce from Jack Briggs became final. In March, .Janet Blair divorced Lou Busch, who forthwith married Margaret Whiting in Mexico. Nan Grey was severed from jockey Jackie Westrope after eleven years of marriage, Jo Carroll Dennison and Phil Silvers decided it would not work after six years as husband and wife, Peggy Morrow and Louis Hayward called quits after four years, and Mr. and Mrs. 54 Edward Arnold secured a final decree after twenty years. Two of the Andrews sisters went to court: Maxine to secure her final decree from Lou Levy, and Patti to shed Marty Melcher via the interlocutory step. There were wedding bells during the year for Ona Munson and Painter Eugene Berman, at the Beverly Hills home of Igor Stravinsky. Jean Wallace married Jim Randall, thought better of it, and had the union melted. In London, on February 25, Moira Shearer of "Red Shoes" fame, married Ludovic H. C. Kennedy in the Royal Chapel of Hampton Court Palace; on February 19, Cornel Wilde and Patricia Knight reconciled and went to Europe to make pictures; also on February 19, Mercedes McCambridge married radio producer Fletcher Markle. In New York, perennially youthful Irene Rich married utilities executive, George Henry Clifford, and in San Bernardino, California, John Barrymore's daughter, Dolores Ethel, married Thomas Alexander Fairbanks. Nancy Olson and Allan Jay Lerner said "I Do," and so did Joan Leslie and Dr. William Caldwell ( on St. Patrick's Day), Hannah Williams and comedian Thomas Monoghan, Hildy Parks and Jackie Cooper (in Boston), and (in Las Vegas) Patty Lydon and Johnny Meyer. It was a single ring ceremony for Michele Morgan and Henri Vidal in Paris, and for Mrs. Virginia Dix (Richard's widow) and Walter Van de Kamp in Brentwood. Beverly Hills was the scene of Joan Caulfield's marriage to Frank Ross; Palm Springs was the setting for Helen Walker's wedding with Edward Nicholas du Domaine; Mrs. Ruth Favor Davis, Bette 's mother, went to Las Vegas to marry Captain Otho W. Budd, USA RET.; and Ruth Warrick chose Los Angeles as the city in which to be married to decorator Carl Neubert. The great, great wedding of the year was that of Elizabeth Taylor and Nicholas Conrad Hilton, Jr., in Beverly Hills. Their honeymoon was spent in Europe and they are currently at home in a dream suite at the Bel Air Hotel. In Rome, Mischa Auer married Susanne Kalish; in New York Don Keefer took Catherine McLeod as his lawfully wedded; in San Diego, Joy Forstrup promised to love, honor, and obey Douglas Fowley, and in Los Angeles, Jan Sterling and Paul Douglas became a partnership, while Ann Dvorak reconciled with her estranged husband, Igor Deaa. Frankie Laine thought the Beverly Hills Club would be a charming place for his wedding with Nan Grey; Marilyn Thorpe (Mary Astor's eighteen-yearold daughter) chose her home in Van Nuys as a setting, and Don Wilson liked Santa Barbara for the culmination of his romance with Lois Virginia Corbet. August was marked by the weddings of Vanessa Brown and Dr. Robert A. Franklyn, Jennifer Howard ( daughter of playwright Sidney Howard) and Samuel Goldwyn, Jr., and Margaret Sullavan and Kenneth Arthur Wagg. It was also the month of the re-marriage of Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell. Completing the year with a burst of wedding bells, Judy Canova married Cuban orchestra leader Philip Rivero, Madeleine Carroll became the wife of Life Magazine publisher Andrew Heiskell, Gloria Lloyd (Harold's daughter) was wed to William Guasti of a pioneer California family, Bruce Cabot married beautiful young Francesca De Scafla, Joan Barton married Earl Muntz, and Sally Forrest chose December' for her wedding with Milo Frank. There were a few additional landmarks worth mentioning: on January 18, Gary Crosby debuted on his dad's radio program and set America on its delighted ear. Michael Redgrave, the son in' "Mourning Becomes Electra" gave the academic reputation of the motion picture industry a boost when he won a M.A. degree from Cambridge University. In April, the United States gained two valuable new citizens in the persons of Elsa Lanchester and her husband, Charles Laughton. And in September, the symbol of an era passed when Falcon's Lair, once the home of Rudolph Valentino, was removed from its lofty hill top in order for the way to be cleared for California's brisk new Hollywood Freeway, an express highway to speed all the world to and from Hollywood whose greatest legend is still Rudolph Valentino.