LATEST DOINGS FROM THE STUDIOS

Chronicle (Levin), 19 October 1946, Page 6

LATEST DOINGS FROM THE STUDIOS

Les. M.

Murphy)

UNKNOWN GIRL STARS WITHVAN JOHNSON

(SPECIAL — From

Van Johnson will co-star in his next film with a completely unknown Californian girl who has never been on stage or screen. She is Janet Leigh, a 19-year-old, who hails from Stockton, Galifornia. The pair will make "The Romance of Rosy Ridge" for M.-G.-M. It is a story- of. the American Civil War, d ealing with the relationships between Northern and Southern families. Janet, who was discovered by Norma Shearer, is being claimed j by the studio as the first example in many years of the Hollywood Cinderella fable. Much fanf'are will mark her debut. Bob Hope was best man at last month's wedding between Gloria Blondell and advertising executive Vic Hunter. Gloria's film star sister Joan was matron of honour. i, The wedding was a formal affair. '' A few days after o'otaining her final divorce decree from Edward Lindsay-Hogg, Geraldine Fitzgerald wedd'ed Stuart Scheftel, business man with movie interests. i After an absence of two years, . Brian Donlevy has returned to the M.-G.-M. lot to join forces with Robert Walker and Tom Drake in the starring roles of "The Begin- ( ning Or the End," the film that is based on the invention of the , atomic bomb. Other prominent , members of the cast are Beverly ( Tyler, Hurd Hatfield and Audrey , Tolter. Don Stannard, a young English actor from whom great things are oxpected, has been given the leading male role opposite Terry Randai in Butcher Empire Films' musical romance, "I'U Turn to You.'! Bcfore the war Stannard was set for a future in Hollywood. He had been discovered in England and taken to America to be groomed for stardom. He appeared with success in seyeral of the "Crime Does Not Pay" series before the war. He returned to England and joined the , Royal Navy. He was invalided ofit and scored a success in his first British film, "Pink String and jScaling Wax." The 20-year-old son of fabulous Hollywood producer Sam Goldwyn will learn the film business in England at Gainsborough Studios. Called ajfter Pop, Sam Goldwyn, Junr., was only recently demobbed from the U.S. Army in Paris. Goldwyn, Senr., knew nothing about- -his son's intentions until: Junior wrote to tell him. "Grand,"i cabled back Goldwyn Senr., "Go| ahead." Sam Junr., said he wanted , to stay out of Hollywood until he | really knew the job. "I am proud } of my name, but people expect so| much of me," he said when he j arrived in London recently. 1 Everything comes to him who waits — provided he not only waits, but works. Robert Montgomery has long yearned for a chance to try his hand at directing. He'll have that chance when "Lady in the Lake" gets under way. Montgomery will direct the film and star in it. Elizabeth Taylor will star in "The Spindle Age," the story of an adolescent -girl in search of glamour and a beau. Young Miss Taylor has recently finished work in "The Courage of Lassie," in which she co-stars with the famous collie dog. "The Courage of Lassie," which is a technicolour production, will be released early next year. .♦a, mii ii — n — n — n — i 0 — f) — f O nif )