Lucy Ball And Van Johnson
Were great friends, and it was Miss. Ball that helped get Mr. Johnson's career going.
Story has it the two were having lunch one day, and Mr. Johnson was bemoaning his lack of work, etc, and Miss. Ball was lending an ear and shoulder to cry on, when who should the latter spy with her little eye? None other than a very senior man at MGM also havinglunch, and with a comment about Mr. Johnson behaving "like the star I know you are", she made the introduction.
Mr. Johnson, light in the loafers? Well who knew? Still, the man was a class act all the way. It is a credit to him that though the rumor and or truth may have been known around Hollywood, no one ever blabbed or tried any funny business.
Remember seeing the ILL sketch, with Mr. Johnson dancing (very well I might add), with Miss. Ball. IIRC, the story was that one of Lucy's friends from New York was out in Hollywood and Lucy began making brag about how many Hollywood stars she knew as "friends" and what not. To cap it off she goes into how she personally knows Mr. Johnson who is headlining his own show at the hotel. Well you know the rest, Lucy gets called out, and has to make good on her boast, with the most funny results. Best scene has her pretending to chat up Mr. Johnson poolside, while the later is dead asleep. While Lucy looks the other way, VC opens his eyes and when Lucy turns around jumps with shock then scurries away pretending the whole thing was a mistake.
Always remember Mr. Johnson in "The Last Time I Saw Paris" with Elizabeth Taylor. That big tall cool drink of Mid-Western water, with a mop of blonde hair, that drank and fooled around on his gorgeous wife (with Eva Gabor no less).
L.
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