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After the success of It Happened One Night (1934), Claudette Colbert became the biggest actress under contract to Paramount Pictures. Although the film had been made at Columbia, its popularity did not escape the attention of Paramount's executives, who decided to capitalize on Colbert's newfound fame as a comedienne. The studio promptly commissioned screenwriter Claude Binyon to create another romantic comedy for the actress. The result was The Gilded Lily (1935), the story of a stenographer who becomes a member of café society and must choose between a dashing English aristocrat and a common newspaper reporter. Fred MacMurray and Claudette Colbert appeared in seven pictures together. Whereas the part of the Englishman was perfectly suited for Ray Milland, there was some difficulty in casting the role of the reporter. Paramount initially wanted Franchot Tone, but Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer refused to loan him out. Cary Grant was then considered, but his light cockney accent made...

In late 1940, an aspiring young actor named Van Johnson was hired by director-playwright George Abbott as a chorus boy and Gene Kelly 's understudy in the Broadway musical Pal Joey . The show opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Christmas Day of that year, a few months after Cole Porter's Panama Hattie premiered at the 46th Street Theatre (now the Richard Rodgers Theatre). In the cast of Panama Hattie was another young hopeful, June Allyson, who was understudying Betty Hutton. One day, Van happened to meet June at the apartment of a mutual friend and, by all accounts, the two instantly became «soulmates.» Van Johnson and June Allyson were lifelong friends and appeared in six films together.   Van and June were both avid movie fans and they both had dreams of someday becoming actors. Whereas Van idolized Spencer Tracy — with whom he would later co-star in A Guy Named Joe (1943) and Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) — June thought Margaret Sullavan was the screen's ...

Ginger Rogers sunbathing in 1936 (Side note: I LOVE her shoes!) Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart with their son, Steven (early 1950s) Ava Gardner in Phillip Island, Australia during the making of On the Beach (1959) Rita Hayworth and Robert Mitchum in Trinidad and Tobago during the filming of Fire Down Below (1957) Natalie Wood and Steve Rowland at the Thalians Beach Ball in Malibu (July 1956) Henry Fonda at the Atlantic Beach Club (1936) Joan Crawford and Douglas Fairbanks at Catalina Beach in 1929 Diane Ellis and Carole Lombard at the beach in 1929 Rock Hudson at the pool (1950s) Audrey Hepburn in Monaco during the making of Monte Carlo Baby (1951) Jane Wyman and Ronald Reagan in their pool (1940) Randolph Scott and Cary Grant poolside at their Santa Monica beach house (1935) I hope you are having an amazing summer!