The Second Van Johnson Blogathon: The Partnership of Van Johnson & June Allyson
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 becoming actors one day. 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 ...