MovieChat Forums > The Dolly Sisters (1946) Discussion > June Haver was much better than Grable, ...

June Haver was much better than Grable, IMHO... anyone else?

posted 11 years ago by QueenBeez
11 replies | jump to latest

Just finished watching this "sisterly movie" and I'm sure at the time, Grable was the Star who pulled in more money, but in my honest opinion she had nothing on June Haver! Just wondering if anyone else thought the same thing? If I had been John Payne, June is the sister I would've gone to. Of course, I know this seems to be the story of how "Jenny and Harry Meet". I also read on the REAL DOLLY SISTERS IMDB page that Rosie sold the rights to her and her sister's story in 1943 with the stipulation that Jenny's suicide and Jenny's daughters not be mentioned. Too bad that trust was broken. It was still an entertaining movie even if it didn't have much of a predictable story line.
** must not forget to mention that I just LOVE the works of S.Z. Skall - he ALWAYS plays such wonderfully funny characters!!

“Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy night!”
~Bette Davis in "All About Eve"

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] helptext 11 years ago

Betty Grable was actually very jealous of June Haver when both worked in The Dolly Sisters. Betty made catty remarks on June as being the only star on the Fox Lot with a crucifix in one hand and a rubber in the other (an allusion to the casting couch). I also prefer June in The Dolly Sister, she dances more lively and gracefully than Betty (a fact even Grable's biographer Larry Billman corroborated). Unlike Alice Faye, who was kind to an upcoming Grable in Ti Pan Alley, Betty Grable didn't encourage June Haver, whom she saw as a competitor instead a fellow co-worker. Betty helped spread the casting couch rumors I suspect fit Grable better than June, a very nice and talented actress whose career was too short.

[–] TheChamCham 9 years ago

Betty Grable had a problem with every pretty female co-star she worked with. With the exception of Alice Faye who could have put her in her place with one look and Carmen Miranda who also did not take guff from anyone, she harassed everyone, especially Carol Landis who played her sister in "Moon over Miami" but then had the gall to go to her funeral and cry crocodile tears for photographers.

"I say,open this door at once! We're British !"

[–] !!!deleted!!! (54331192) 8 years ago

Grable was loved by everyone she worked with. Havner tried to ape Betty and was a flop in movies. Betty is the only actor to be in the top ten stars ten years in a row. That goes unmatched to this day. June who?

[–] denis-38 7 years ago

In response to several of these posts, I've never heard that Grable was ANY kind of trouble on a set, or jealous of other performers.

She was a FOX girl, and knew the routine--one blonde was built upon another. Alice Faye in Shirley Temple movies...Alice Faye co-starring w the up and coming Grable...Grable co-starring with the up and coming Haver...and finally Grable and Monroe in "How to Marry A Millionaire." Betty was a doll to MM, and in that case she'd have had good reason to behave like a diva, considering the millions she'd made for FOX, and her astounding popularity. (She'd hoped to get "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" but that went to Marilyn. Grable held no grudges, and always spoke very fondly of MM.)

Grable was such a huge star that she literally re-made one of her most successful films, "Wabash Avenue." They gave her some new songs and fresher dialogue, but it was exactly the same story, in the same era. It was called "Coney Island" and was another big hit. I'd like to see that happen with any star today. Or even any star back then!

Betty didn't have a dramatic or tragic life--up until her early death from cancer. So, she's rather unfairly forgotten. But in terms of box-office, she was one of the biggest stars ever.

[–] gbennett5 7 years ago

I saw this movie for the first time Xmas Eve on TCM, and I thought that, while
Haver was technically prettier, and a technically better dancer, Grable had
a much prettier singing voice and far more personality. Each seemed to possess
qualities the other didn't have.

In any case, as big as Grable was in her time, she really doesn't have any
classic movies to speak of. Few of them would hold up now. And Fox, glitzy
though it was, wasn't MGM.

[–] denis-38 7 years ago

gbennet--

Yes, unlike Monroe, Grable was an easy-going, fairly stable woman with no great desire to prove herself as a "serious" actress. She never fought for a good role, even tho Zanuck thought she had dramatic possibilities. She preferred the fluff. Grable accepted the inevitable decline in her popularity and her value to FOX, tho naturally (like all of them!) she would have appreciated a bit more appreciation as she was shown the door.

Interestingly, Grable turned 36 during the production of "Millionaire" w MM. The studio had made it clear they were dropping her, and, obviously, promoting Marilyn--who was as despised by the head office execs as much as Grable had been admired. One wonders if Marilyn thought back to Grable, when she was fired from "Something's Got to Give" shortly after her own 36th birthday.

Grable made a few more movies and then had a good career in clubs, TV and stage work. I don't think Monroe--for all the already legendary aura around her, even in life--could have made the transition. For one thing, there was little industry support or affection for MM. She had worked too many nerves, burned too many bridges.

Grable has a lot of appealing sass, and played fairly bright women who were nobody's fool.

[–] gbennett5 7 years ago

I was always curious as to WHY Grable was the number ONE box office draw during
the time of Gene Tierney, Lana Turner and (especially Garland). But now it
seems obvious: Grable was pretty, but ACCESSIBLE. She was warm, almost "one
of the guys", with no pretense. Grable was someone fans felt they knew, whereas
Turner and Tierney had cold, remote auras (especially as Turner grew older).
And Garland, brilliant though she was, turned a lot of people off (both my
father and stepmother disliked her tremendously, even as a young star). I also
knew many other adults who couldn't take Judy. It was always for the same
reason: "She's so nervous."

Curiously, while I think Grable was probably technically more talented than
Monroe, she wasn't as "magical." And Monroe has many truly classic films.

[–] denis-38 7 years ago

gbennett--

Spot on! Grable really was "the girl next door." With considerable gumption. Lana started out that way, pretty much, but then MGM lacquered her up and she became less earthy, if more of a "star."

Interesting re Judy. I recall several of my relatives commenting on her--using that very word, "nervous." By that point (the early Sixties) they often added other remarks, rumors. But the word nervous was also a constant from people I'd come to know later in life who didn't care for Garland. She was quite intense, even as a young and reasonably stable performer. (That's what gives "Oz" its mythical energy. It's not a child's or even an adolescent performance. She stands a little aside from Dorothy, with a wry eye on the corn. I remember as a kid, watching "Oz" and finding her quite sophisticated on some level, tho I knew she was supposed to be an innocent farm girl.)

Mitzi Gaynor, who was very fond of Monroe, said this--she wasn't being bitchy, either: "I was technically more talented than Marilyn. I could DO more than she could. I even had a better figure. But she had that quality that nobody else had. That's why she was a star and that's why people still remember her."

Other MM fans might scream over that, but I agree. Monroe worked very hard on the talent she had, which was genuine but limited. The magic she was born with. (Jack Lemmon said of MM: "I don't think she was a great talent, but she did something quite rare--she used all her talent, all the time, every second. She was hard to work with, but she wasn't lazy.")

As for Judy, maybe she had too much talent. That much talent can make a girl "nervous."

[–] gbennett5 7 years ago

Garland was an exposed nerve in later years (watch her TV series), but even in
youth, she was so EMOTIONAL. I consider Garland the single greatest singer
of the 20th century (and beyond), not only by her voice, but by her sincerity.
She was the least artificial singer ever. Somehow, the truth always wins out.
Only Nat Cole and Sinatra share that same quality (Cole's phrasing was
impeccable).

I enjoy several of MM's films, but my personal fave is "Clash By Night." Yes,
Stanwyck, Robert Ryan and Paul Douglas (who loathed Monroe) are the true stars,
but Monroe is quite effective as "Peggy."

[–] denis-38 7 years ago

Too bad Marilyn didn't have the opportunity--or later on, make opportunities for herself--in roles similar to Peggy in "Clash By Night." She is so good in that, natural and down to earth. But the image that was made for Monroe, and that she made for herself, was something she could never really abandon. Nor was it an image she could have taken into middle age. Not without great effort and care. And a sense of security, which she certainly lacked.

Oh, I'm quite aware of Garland's TV series! (My mother wouldn't allow me to watch it, for reasons I can only guess at!) And yes, JG was always on the edge of some great roiling emotion, even as a very young actress/singer. God, what she puts into "It's Love I'm After" in "Pigskin Parade."