The End of an Era/ June Allyson Dies

June Allyson was the perennial "girl next door" in film after film. There was something incredibly wholesome about her persona, perhaps reflecting the general naivitee of the 1950s. But she was a fine actress; she made wholesomeness believable, much like Doris Day.

She was a little doll...and a pleasure to watch. I especially loved that unique voice she had.


I was shocked this morning when I read that she had passed...mostly because I sometimes forget some of the old favorites are still around.

Thanks for posting, Phoenix.

See ya next week.

June was a favorite of mine in those days.

I enjoyed her as well. (What movie did she play wife to some baseball guy or musician... Jimmy Stewart as Glenn Miller...and was it Gary Cooper as a doomed baseball player (Gehrig?)

I always thought she did a great 'wife of famous person.'

Didn't June play a mean bitch in a movie called The Shrike, or some such thing? Yes, Phoenix, the end of an era.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048614/

She sure did. I have a vague rememberance of that film. I remember reading that people were not too happy about having "the girl next door" playing a miserable harridan.

My word, Phoenix. Thanks for that link. The only thing that I remember is that a shrike was some kind of bad bird. How odd about the ending of that movie. I do wish those movie folks would tell us more about the why's and wherefore's.

http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?_r=1&title1=&title2=Shrike%2C%20The&reviewer=A.%20H.%20WEILER&v_id=110029&oref=slogin

Letty- This is a much better review. Although categorized as a songbird, the shrike does take its prey, and put him on a thorn for safekeeping (sort of like Vlad the Impaler). There was one that used to sit on one particular tree in my neighborhood. Such an innocent looking birdie.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Northern_Shrike.html

Sheeeeze. I have to register to get the NYT's review, but thanks anyway, Phoenix.

Isn't it odd how such a sweet little bird can be so vampirish? <smile> Hmmm. I guess we all have that potential.

Letty- No big deal about the registration. I have been registered with the NYT for years, and I never get any junk mail from them.

Phoenix, my internet stuff has been so weird lately, that I am loathe to re register. I need to post my problems on the help forum, I guess, but it is difficult for me to articulate the problems. That's how odd they are.

Letty- Why don't you post your internet problems? I have found that some of the geekier A2K types are great in solving problems that would have me scratching my head!!

Sorry to hear about June Allyson's passing. Oddly, it seems that her best roles were as Jimmy Stewart's wife. As an "end of an era," however -- hmm, not so much. There are some stars from Hollywood's studio system who are still around: e.g. Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Taylor, Luise Rainer.

Phoenix, Letty--

I had a both a shrike and a thorn tree outside a dining room window when I was Single Again and struggling to make ends meet. I decided that the shrike was a very thrifty bird.

Love it, Noddy.

My thrifty neighbor impaled grasshoppers in her larder, rather than friends with feathers.

June Allyson
I found this site by looking for the movie June Allyson starred in with Gary Cooper as sick baseball player. That wasn't June Allyson like I thought, but Theresa Wright in "Pride of the Yankees" where he played Lou Gehrig.

I rather liked June Allyson, think it was her voice and manner, but don't remember any particular movies or scenes.

Tangentially, back before I had my first car... and it took me ages to get my first car, my family was strapped for money for years, and I lived at home during my free-tuition college years.. but at some point when I must have been around nineteen or so, and there was more chance than usual that I could get a car with parental help (I worked, but it all went to books, etc.), my dad got a bee in his bonnet and went used car shopping in west LA to find me something nice. Found a nifty early T-bird. Can't remember if it was a convertible or not, probably not, and white, I think. Previous owner was June Allyson, or so they said. My mother said no. I don't remember her reason. I was still sort of obedient at nineteen.
I can't remember the price.

She also played Jimmy Stewarts wife in "Strategic Air Command".

That's the only movie I could actually remember her being in, by name...sorry June.

When I was a little boy I really hated the sound of her voice, might have been because it reminded me of the wife on the Honeymooners {Audrey Meadows} similar tones but nowhere near as nasal. But when I hit my 20's, I found that I liked it...kind of soothing.