A swell article that truly catches the spirit of the time. You will read about the war-torn Hollywood that existed between the years 1941-1945 and the movie shortage, the hair-pin rationing, the rise of the independent producers and the ascent of Van Johnson and Lauren Becall:
"Lauren, a Warner Brothers property, is a blonde-haired chick with a tall, hippy figure, a voice that sounds like a sexy foghorn and a pair of so-what-are-you-going-to-do-about-it eyes" Mention is also made of the hiring of demobilized U.S. combat veterans to serve as technical assistants for war movies in such films as "Objective Burma".
An article from TRICOLOR MAGAZINE explains how the French film industry fared under the German occupation. There is no doubt that the Hollywood matinee idol Errol Flynn (1909 - 1959) was the Charlie Sheen of his day, and thanks to the unrelenting press control that the Hollywood studios exercised over the fan magazines of that day, we probably only know about a quarter of his assorted debaucheries. He was a masher and a lush, and the one law suit that the studio executives couldn't kill was
"the great case against him for statutory rape which, had it stuck, would have given him jail for fifty years. For weeks in 1942 it replaced the war news in the headlines."
In 1938, Flynn wrote an article in which he weakly defended the unique moral codes of Hollywood actors; you can read it here.
A single page article on the topic of Ginger Rogers (1911 – 1995) and her career as it had progressed up to the year 1939:
"Virginia Katherine McMath is the real name of this famous star and she was born in Independence, Missouri, on July 16, but most of her childhood was spent in Fort Worth, Texas."
"She is five feet, four inches tall and weighs 108 pounds. She never has to diet because dancing keeps her in perfect condition. Dancing is listed as her very favorite hobby, too."
"She had her first taste of real success on the screen with the winning roles in 'Gold Diggers of 1933' and '42nd Street'."
Click here to read about the young Lucile Ball. American audiences came to know Audrey Hepburn (1929 – 1993) when she was teamed up with Gregory Peck for the 1953 William Wyler production "Roman Holiday" (Paramount) - but the king makers of Hollywood sat up and took notice of her a year earlier, when she appeared in the European comedy "Monte Carlo Baby" (briefly reviewed herein). This movie was pretty quickly forgotten - and today "Monte Carlo Baby" cannot be found on DVD or cassette, and the film's producer, Ray Ventura (1908 - 1979), is primarily remembered for his talents as a jazz pianist. The attached three page article about John Wayne appeared at the very doorstep of the Fifties - the decade that was uniquely hisown. The uncredited Hollywood journalist who wrote this column was doing so in order to announce to the reading public that Wayne was coming remarkably close to being the top box office attraction:
"Wayne reached this eminence by turning out film after film for 18 years. Working with a steady, un-nervous strength for four studios: Republic, RKO, Argosy and Warner Brothers. - he shifts back and forth between Westerns, sea-epics and war pictures. With each movie he makes (most of them re-hashes of of standard action-film plots, but a few of them film classics), his fans grow".
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