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<blockquote data-quote="ClassyCo" data-source="post: 444413" data-attributes="member: 7">I&#039;ve been skimming through some of the biographies the Internet Archive has of Betty Grable. It&#039;s been quite a while since I&#039;ve done any significant digging into her life and career. Betty was brought back to Hollywood from the Broadway stage in 1939 by Darryl F. Zanuck at 20th Century-Fox. Zanuck&#039;s biggest musical star, Alice Faye, had suddenly fallen ill, and he brought Betty in to save DOWN ARGENTINE WAY, a movie musical that would propel Betty to stardom. Despite rumors, Betty and Alice would get along quite well, and would co-star as sisters in TIN PAN ALLEY (1940). The two tried to work together again on at least two separate occasions, but the odds were never in their favor. Betty became too big a star to play second fiddle to Alice, and Alice was too established to make the transition back into being second fiddle for Betty. THE DOLLY SISTERS (1945) was one movie Betty and Alice had hoped to make together. Zanuck cast Betty, and he wanted Alice to co-star, but the producer, George Jessel, pushed Alice aside in favor of his newest protege, June Haver. Fox was notorious for having back-ups for the most popular stars. Betty had originated her time at Fox as back-up to Alice, but she had become a full-fledged star on her own. Now June was being used as a back-up to Betty. What surprised me most in these biographies I&#039;ve been reading is Betty&#039;s behavior towards June. Everything I had read and repeated echoed the story that Betty and June got along well. But that cannot be further from the truth. Betty simply didn&#039;t like June. Apparently, Betty saw June as a legitimate threat and was angry that Fox and specifically George Jessel was generating so much publicity for her. June, as it were, was quite a goody-goody, and would make undermining remarks towards Betty and her occasional tardiness. THE DOLLY SISTERS set was tense and the movie would take some seven months to complete. Grable and Haver would never work together again, although there paths would cross again in the years to come. Haver would make THE DAUGHTER OF ROSIE O&#039;GRADY (1950), a semi-follow-up to Grable&#039;s own SWEET ROSIE O&#039;GRADY (1943), and Haver&#039;s final film, THE GIRL NEXT DOOR (1953), had been turned down twice by Grable. [ATTACH=full]59634[/ATTACH]</blockquote>

[QUOTE="ClassyCo, post: 444413, member: 7"] I've been skimming through some of the biographies the Internet Archive has of Betty Grable. It's been quite a while since I've done any significant digging into her life and career. Betty was brought back to Hollywood from the Broadway stage in 1939 by Darryl F. Zanuck at 20th Century-Fox. Zanuck's biggest musical star, Alice Faye, had suddenly fallen ill, and he brought Betty in to save DOWN ARGENTINE WAY, a movie musical that would propel Betty to stardom. Despite rumors, Betty and Alice would get along quite well, and would co-star as sisters in TIN PAN ALLEY (1940). The two tried to work together again on at least two separate occasions, but the odds were never in their favor. Betty became too big a star to play second fiddle to Alice, and Alice was too established to make the transition back into being second fiddle for Betty. THE DOLLY SISTERS (1945) was one movie Betty and Alice had hoped to make together. Zanuck cast Betty, and he wanted Alice to co-star, but the producer, George Jessel, pushed Alice aside in favor of his newest protege, June Haver. Fox was notorious for having back-ups for the most popular stars. Betty had originated her time at Fox as back-up to Alice, but she had become a full-fledged star on her own. Now June was being used as a back-up to Betty. What surprised me most in these biographies I've been reading is Betty's behavior towards June. Everything I had read and repeated echoed the story that Betty and June got along well. But that cannot be further from the truth. Betty simply didn't like June. Apparently, Betty saw June as a legitimate threat and was angry that Fox and specifically George Jessel was generating so much publicity for her. June, as it were, was quite a goody-goody, and would make undermining remarks towards Betty and her occasional tardiness. THE DOLLY SISTERS set was tense and the movie would take some seven months to complete. Grable and Haver would never work together again, although there paths would cross again in the years to come. Haver would make THE DAUGHTER OF ROSIE O'GRADY (1950), a semi-follow-up to Grable's own SWEET ROSIE O'GRADY (1943), and Haver's final film, THE GIRL NEXT DOOR (1953), had been turned down twice by Grable. [ATTACH type="full"]59634[/ATTACH] [/QUOTE]

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