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Louella O. Parsons IN HOLLYWOOD PRESS CLIPPING BUREAU 165 CHurch Street -oNew York DAILY REPORTER HOLLYWOOD, CAW. JUN 11 1953 NITERY NOTES Set to back Peggy Lee in her Ciro's I engagement opening June 19 are Marty I Paich, piano; Joe Mondragon, bass; I Pete Candoli, trumpet and Frankie I Capp, drums. Singing pianist Jerry Marlowe ex- I tended another two weeks at Pete and I Billy Snyder's Melody Room. Arthur Lyons has signed the Grey- lords, vocal trio, to open a week's run at the Saddle and Sirloin in Studio I City starting next Tuesday. Doodles and Skeeter, current attraction at the Valley .night spot, close Sunday and open next week at the Cable Car Village, San Francisco, for a month. Darvas and Julia open at the River- side, Reno, tonight with Frank Libuse I and Margot Brander. Frankie Laine I follows June 25 for two weeks. Columbia recording singer Charles Nelson Bns tomorrow at the Sandgt, ?√ß Hotel, Las Vegas, for two weSRS"."*1*" ^TBWT Hn'3' rlayes and Mary Healy wind at Reno's Riverside Hotel tonight and come here for June 24 opening of four weeks at the Ambassador's Cocoanut Grove. Peruvian singer Yma Sumac and her troupe are at Lewisohn Stadium, New York, tonight following a top-biz stand at Montreal's Sans Souci. Take Away the Cameras and VAN JOHNSON By Louella O. Parsons Motion Picture Editor % '.'.- International News Service. THERE never was a mor$&lgfatr fptiecl boy in this wide^Vorld thJ|pf Vart Johnson when he made his debut as a night club enter- taWe^4-He said he was so scared thaf^ihad to be pushed out onto the stage. "But that was just at your opening," * I said. "Surely you weren't nervous after reading all your wonderful notices?" I ^That'si what you think," he replied. "I was covered with medals sent me by Roz Russell and my The family was on hand en masse for Van Johnson's night club debut ?╟÷ and they literally had to push him out onto the stage. other Catholic friends, plus one I was given in Rome while 1 was there making 'When in Rome.' I wouldn't go on stage without wear- 'ing them! "I never realized," Van continued, "how nice it is to have a wife until I went to Las Vegas. Evie looked after my clothes, gave me courage, saw to the lighting, and was always sitting out front at every performance. She only left me when she had to take the children home." "You mean the threp children were there?" I said. 'They were certainly there for Despite hir| success as a night club entertainer, Van is just waiting for good screen stories*|to come along, and .there is talk of his doing a musical on Broadway. the opening," Van said. "In fact, my daughter Schuyler wanted to get up on the stage with me, but I wasn't hep enough in the beginning to let her come up on the stage. I was afraid to do anything not planned. The boys (and Van was speaking of Evie's sons by Keenan Wynn) were surprised." ' "But why?" I asked. "Oh, they've always thought I rah a projection machine at the studio: they never knew I was an actor. You see, I run movies at home, and they've always seen me operate the machine. We want them to have a normal childhood,-without a lot of publicity." I Van was on his way to further night club engagements and had stopped to see me. In all the years he has been coming to my house for interviews (and that's since he joined Metro in 1942), I've never seen him look as well groomed, as thin, and as alert. mf^^^^ "The last night of m^go^age- ment in Las Vegas," "the waiters, mjj men possible rpre red socks^ Van says he lind Russell ha sisting that he take time off and do a musical on Broadway. 0^ "Judging from the people you drew into the night clubs," I said, "it might be a smart idea." He said he had not been on the stage in years! "And don't forget," he added frankly, "then I was only a chorus boy." I heard an interesting story about the way Van was brought to the attention of M-G-M moguls. A young girl went to New York, and M-G-M's publicity depar%ient was warned by Louis B. Mayer, then head of the studios, that he did not want her going to nightjifaibs, but that she could go to a theater. That girl wasT^% Garland, and Press Agent Milton Weiss took her to see "Pal Joey/' Milt told me that on the way home, from the thea-ftr Judy stopped and bought a penny postcard and sjSTlt to L. B. She wrote: "HaVe- Jffist seen two young men I think ari^hotogenic. Their names are Van Johnson and Gene Kelly." Van doesn'f confirm this, because he says he wei^^^t to Columbia studios before joining M-G-M. "But," he laughed, "if Judy is responsible for my being a|jM-G-M later I am certainly gratefj^^^ As Van left, jp?║e$narked that one of the nicest things that has happened in Hollywood in a long time is his great success in night clubs, and I'm sure that the good stories he wants will be coming his way now. / JUL ens PRESS CLIPPING BUREAU Established 1888 PORTLAND Seattle San Francisco - Isos Angeles Everett, Wash. Everett Herald (Cir. 24,183) JUN 2 3 1953 BIDING HER TIME?╟÷Jackie Lee, 22- cf^Cape Njetfdicfc, Maine, is -fclcflng hpri ^line ?╟≤ dancing a^^ffl^Sln^^fesJ^^- Vegas, Nev., un+ll: July $ wfreTTshe wiH competoj' ft^rajti Miss Universe contest at Long Beach, Calif. 5he war^nosen Miss Maine before leaving hoggT^NEATetefoto.)