Saturdays with the Stars: June Allyson

Each month of 2024 we are taking a look at an actress who bore the title "America's Sweetheart" during the peak of her film fame, and what she did with the title (including when it was passed on to the next Hollywood princess).  Last month, we discussed Shirley Temple, whose stardom as a young girl kept a studio afloat during the depression, but who couldn't translate into adult success in the film industry...so instead she went into politics.  This month, we're going to focus on one of the few women of the 1940's who would qualify for the title of "America's Sweetheart" when strong, independent women like Barbara Stanwyck & Bette Davis were more in fashion in film (thanks to the war effort).  Our star this month was a noted singer, who specialized in musicals, and would enjoy a surprisingly long career, ending in one of the most unusual places imaginable for a former screen legend.  This month's star is June Allyson.

Little is known about Allyson's early life, or at least most of it is the stuff of studio-enhanced myth & rumor, but what we do know is that she did not have an easy childhood, with both of her parents largely abandoning her with her grandparents, and an accident when she eight-years-old left her stuck in a wheelchair, with doctors initially saying she wouldn't be able to walk again.  Her one escape was the cinema, and she was especially in love with the films of Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers.  When she did, in fact, learn how to not only walk again but also to dance, she got a job in the chorus at the Copacabana, and then on Broadway.  A chance case of measles for lead actress Betty Hutton when Allyson was her understudy in Panama Hattie got her her big break, first as a Broadway lead, and then a studio contract with MGM.  Two years later, she was one of the biggest stars on the lot.

June Allyson's career is really interesting, and is going to mirror a few of the women we're going to see throughout our year of America's Sweethearts in that it isn't necessarily "taken seriously" by film historians because Allyson was never nominated for an Academy Award and appeared in largely musicals or comedies.  Despite starring opposite critically-acclaimed actors of the day like Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Stewart, William Holden, & Gene Kelly, she was never deemed an "important actor" even by some of her peers (you can see Joan Crawford mocking her in a What's My Line? appearance).  Part of that may have been because of Allyson's most lasting pop culture moment, a late-in-her-career series of commercials for Depends Undergarments (for those reading outside of the US, these are adult diapers), which led to less stigma about bladder control, but also opened her up for a lot of mockery.  This month, we're going to take a look at Allyson's career in total, not just the atypical ending of it, but also why America fell in love with her in the first place and if, perhaps, she should be a more seriously considered actress of her era.