Van Johnson, 1916-2008

Oh Vanny. Not you. Not the tousle-haired sailor, the baby-faced boy in battle, the relish-ably rogue redhead intent on weakening the prudish underpinnings of June Allyson with a wry smile and a soft-spoken sweet nothing. You were the redoubtable romance of so many black-and-white blockbusters, the genial gentleman in MGM's most dazzling musicals. You were boyish onscreen - boyish yet broad-shouldered, disarmingly darling yet deftly deceitful, a wooer of women with a shy sincerity submerged in a charming casanova front (do you remember getting June drunk in that grotto? I can never forget it). And now you're gone.

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Charles Van Johnson, 92, passed away Friday, December 12, 2008. The Rhode Island-born only child made his Broadway debut at just 18, understudied Gene Kelly in the latter's hit stage hit Pal Joey, and coasted into cinema in 1940's Too Many Girls, having been brought to Hollywood as a member of the film's Broadway cast. He played bit parts in MGM B-movies after the studio picked up his three-year contract from RKO, but when serious injuries from a near-fatal 1942 car crash left him ineligible for military service, Van was one of the few young actors stranded stateside during WWII, and so gained a valuable foray into leading roles by virtue of his youth, appeal, and circumstance. His affability and humility after the gruesome accident earned him the acceptance and affection of millions of moviegoers, and, paired with some of the most beautiful and bankable actresses of his day - June Allyson, Judy Garland, and Esther Williams - Van proved to be a hugely popular star and top box-office draw for MGM.
After a string of successful dramas and romantic comedies in the postwar 1940's and 1950's, Van scaled back his film career, appearing onscreen only infrequently, focusing more on stage and television work, often collaborating with former fellow film stars like June Allyson and Angela Lansbury in the latter medium. He maintained a low profile in his final years, though he reportedly loved to reminisce about his golden days at MGM.
Van is survived by his estranged daughter, Schuyler, by his late former wife, Eve Wynn.

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There is a scene from Two Girls and A Sailor that has been with me today. June Allyson's character has been dreaming, and in her sleep-heavy state she is led through her dream to a wispy, glorious, cloud-covered place that could only be Heaven in a Pasternak production, vivid and bright even in black-and-white. The film's hero meets her here - Van Johnson, of course - and he is everything a film hero should be: winningly adorable yet non-threatening, endearingly tender, a touch shy, brave, lovable...the essence of Van Johnson, really. The dialogue doesn't matter, but the image of Van and June in heaven...I would like to savor that today.



"Van Johnson is one of the nicest boys who ever lived, and Hollywood hasn't spoiled him. Nothing ever will. He's just as honest and sunny-dispositioned as he looks." - Lucille Ball

Decades of Darling!

I will admit it. When I read of eternally-cute June Allyson's outspoken, matchmaking fans in her mildly heartstring-tugging 1984 autobiography, I knew immediately that I was one of them. After June's smash success alongside Van Johnson in their 1944 film, Two Girls and A Sailor, moviegoers the globe over began to plan the pair's nuptials, write scenarios of their wedded bliss, and submit potential names for future Allyson-Johnson offspring - all hypothetical, of course - to movie magazines of the day. While a reflective and amused Allyson divulged that she adored Johnson but enjoyed only a platonic relationship with him, their onscreen interaction was, and is, so sparkling and wholesome, so innocently romantic, so darned charming, you can't help but imagine a preacher and a white picket fence in their near future every time the credits roll on one of their five collaborative films.

Imagine my pure and unfettered delight, then, upon discovering the painfully adorable partners in a 1984 episode of the Angela Lansbury television classic, "Murder, She Wrote". Forty years after their first screen pairing, Van and Junie were still as darling as they had been when they were sharing marquees with Jimmy Durante and Gloria deHaven, and I'm sure there were more than a few erstwhile audience members thrilled at their onscreen reunion upon the show's airing nearly 25 years ago (though Van and June were still pretty young themselves: she was a mere 67 to his 68). Despite a rather lackluster storyline in the 48-minute mystery and a disappointing amount of screentime alloted Miss Allyson (she appears but briefly as a pivotal supporting character), that old MGM chemistry was in full force between those two dolls - all that was missing was a little Technicolor, Butch Jenkins and a Freed Unit number, and it would've been 1944 all over again!


The episode of "Murder, She Wrote" featuring Van Johnson and June Allyson is entitled "Hit, Run and Homicide" and is available in the first season of the show's DVD release.