Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 28 September 1948 — Page 11
TUESDAY, SEPT. 28, 1948 — THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES
M-G-M will team Susan Hay vard and Peter Lawford in “The|
health commentator. . . .
Austin, the Sinatra of the Twen-
Hay-| J
ties, is making a film come-
back warbling “My Blue Heaven” in a - musical short
for * Martin Murray Produc
tions. . . +» John Lund and Mace Donald Carey are wearing tights for “A Mask for Lucretia.” Maybe they'll" retitle it ‘Father Wore Tights” . . . Tough break for Marilyn Maxwell, who was set for the lead opposite Joel McCrea in “Tennessee's Partner.” When Enterprise folded, the picture went down with it. Ld s ® Producer Lester Cutler wants to get Laraine Day's name on a contract for “House of Cards.” He'll also ask Leo Durocher if he would like to play a bit in the picture. - n » BOB CROSBY is finding himself a red-hot composer. A song he wrote six years ago, “Until,” is just hitting the hit parade. . . . Gary Cooper, leaving the set of “The Fountainhead,” was asked what film he'll do next. “Don’t know,” he said, “I'm open to offers if anyone wants me.” If anyone wants him! . " ” - KEN MURRAY has his Xmas
underwater and saying: too busy to wish you a Merry Xmas.” » » ” JOEL McCREA will be stared in another hoss opera, “Colorado Territory.” . . . Bob Cummings will co-star with Lizabeth Becott in “Bitter Victory” at Paramount. . Dan Duryea gets the lead op-
posite Dottie Lamour in “The|"
Man Who Stole a Dream.” My . HUGH HERBERT and his wife will get a divorce after 30 years of marriage. .. . Olivia de Havil-
stage shows. +. +
ust nixed Glen dene 's]’
plans to reorganize his band and go on the road... .. Promised and hoped for: Frank Morgan playing
a college math professor who suc:| *
cumbs to the gambling lure M-G-M's “The Great Sinner.”
» » ” More trouble’ for Maria Montez. Producer Charles Rogers is suing for $47,000—charging breach of -contract for a film titled “The Scarlet Feather.” The only thing he got out of Maria was & tickle. -
" = " HOWARD HUGHES is starting to move at RKQ. He's signed Cary Grant for five pictures and Ann Sheridan for three.
” ” BETTY ROWLAND, burlesque’s “Ball of Fire,” says she's giving up the runway for good. She’ll concentrate on movies and singing. First song she'll record after lifting of the Petrillo ban will be “Never Go Steady With Betty.”
” ” o FRANCIS LEDERER goes into “A Woman's Arms” on Broadway this fall, which is nice going... Lauritz Melchior says he's going to Africa to hunt big game and put it all on .film for television showings. Television invades darkest Africa.
It happened x San Francisco during location filming for “I Remember Mama.” Two women were watching the shooting and one said:'“With all the trouble they're taking, why don’t they shoot this movies in - techni color?” To which her friend replied: “Don’t be silly. The action fakes place in 1910 and they didn’t have technicolor in those days.”
2 “BURLESQUE” started its third season on the road in Madison, Wis. Bert Lahr nd Rochelle Hudson are co-starred. . . . The old story about people forgetting to remember got an argument at a local playing of “The Drunkard” at the Theater Mart. L
o - ” 2? CHARLIE McCARTHY is’ writing the story of his life titled, “The Sapling.” . . . Headline: “Miss America Insists No Hallywood. Wanna bet?
o -. 8 THE FEUD must be off again. Jimmy Dorsey's band has been bpoked into ‘brother Tommy's Casino Gardens ballroom at Ocean Park for October. . . . Vir-
Madison in the remake of a Man's a Man.”
for a weekly half-hour series. . .. Jimmy Stewart goes to Néw York late this month for the annual meeting of the Air Force Association, of which he’s a v. p. .
calling it a day. . and his band will collect $5000 for five hours work when they play at the New Year's Eve party
hosted by the Ford family in
Detroit.
Interviews Movie Mogul Harold Lloyd
Erskine Johnson
Skinny Seasons ‘Oh-Oh’
Erskine Johnson makes his wages reporting movie stars in Hollywood.
He has to get up every morning at 7. : Erskine Johnson looks something like a film performer.
He's big enough to wear his clothes well and he has a,
humanitarian for a barber. When he enters a hotel or restaurant, word races around that here's that writing fellow named Johnson. While employees scurry to wait on him, the head man comes over and utters those curt sounds peculiar to dining-room executives.
At gathering places like the Hollywood Knickerbocker,
the Ambassador, the Brown Derby or the House of Murphy
he is Mister rd
Inside Scripps-Howard he is “Skinny.” His associates don’t bother to quote it any more. They didn't devise the nickname to describe him. They merely corrupted his first nama, Mrs, Aohngon calls him Erskine. She's Isabel.
doesn’t mind rising at 7 retires early, This he does in a community sup] revel until sunup. Skinny loathes revels. If an “ope or a party looks newsy, he attends; but always on a & i ule that takes him home by midnight. Now and then he and Isabel look in on a starlit wedding largely to ascertain whether the bride can still put a semblance of spontaneity. into her “I do.” Laha Turner practically always invites the Johnsons to her weddings. After reviewing. Turner's most recent one, the Johnsons confided that it wasn't nearly so delirious as some press stories implied. As a matter of fact, they find Miss Turner as a bride is invariably sweet; whereas some of those other girls alo about the fifth or sixth wedding begin to lose their bri charm, from a spectator's point of view.
Away off in the hills, the Johnsons maintain a house, two cars, one son named Ronnie and one daughter named Kathleen. The children see almost no movies. On Saturdays when their playmates troop to a triple-bill matinee, the small Johnsons go to the beach where they practice diving and swimming in the Pacific. Thus they are illiterate on gangsters, sudden death and the cinematic penalty for evil; but they're champs at the crawl, jackknife and supper table. That's the way Mr. and Mrs. Skinny prefer it.
Because the family lives so far back in the hills, they n wo cars. Whenever Isabel wants an avocado or loaf of b she has to drive miles. Skinny’s daily news beat runs a minimum of 50 miles among the scattered studios, so he uses the other jalopy.
When Erskine Johnson drives up to a studio, the tourists staring around the gate know immediately that he isn't an employee because his pants match his coat and he wears a necktie instead of a scarf. Having driven up for years, Johnson is waved in without showing his pass. If he has a Secripps-Howard guest, he and the guard make big mumbo-jumbo a moment, then in goes the guest, feeling like Mr. Himself Producer. But to Skinny it's just being a reporter and knowing the cops.
As he parks and steps out into Oh-Oh Land, the guest wonders what now. Johnson explains that he’s here to cover the joint, so come on. He enters a factory-like plant, past all the signs frowning “Keep Out, Positively, Silence, Stop,” and past the workmen and gendarmes who greet him with that self-assurance of guys who know they are fruitful pipelines.
Erskine Johnson walks up to an assorted group of characters who are talking, mumbling, reading, pointing, climbing or merely standing. Performers n at him, executives and’ artisans say hello. Some of these names would make a bobbysoxer bust her bubblegum. The executives are friendly, with a touch of respect or reticence. They have learned that this lad’s Scripps-Howard column can torture trained seals who don't meet Skinny’s standards of public responsibility.
His Woo with Susan Heyward bores Robert Cummings.
Copy With Kneecaps
Among thes Individual, he talks and atau with 0 consulting the
1 Sn Teper, pink ski moles, skin, reach the subscribers although most
- at the editor's scissors.
As a Hol
nor does he yearn for keyhole ising the fe rr cafe | cuffs. Instead, he likes ea the SONS And Chie Sat + through the eyes of a conseientious citizen who emits y bleats whenever he detects signs of an unwholesome frend, While this may not endear him to all Holl jus. setters, it makes them aware of him. Most of them decided that he js more than an amusing and informative reporter; that when he gets his back hair up he isn't peing. so much a nuisance as a benefactor. So ey vis to openings, parties, weddings and similar ow Tn bv a puzzled understanding that he doesn’t care much for such. When he does attend, he is welcome to the juiciest delicatessen on the sideboard; when he stays away, he is welcome to a rain check. Things run smoothly Johnson and his news sources,
In his spare hours Skinny likes to duet with Isabel in praise of greater Los Angeles, that city (as ey Ne 3t it) of health, wealth, culture, happiness, chorus, in a few years Los Angeles over its shoulder at San Francisco, Chicago, Skinny and Isabel can't help it. Their civic consciousness is colossal,