News

Based on the real-life experiences of co-writer and co-executive producer Nathaniel Deen, who appears at the end to bestow his approval on the dramatization and invite the audience to take its lessons to heart, “Brave the Dark” is a low-key inspirational indie that sensitively elicits empathy and sympathy without ever pushing too hard or simplifying complexities.

Short on surprises but brimming with warm-hearted insight, the film may have a few too many mildly edgy elements to qualify as family-friendly entertainment suitable for all ages. Even so, it likely will pass muster with parents looking for entertainment they can share with children in their early teens and older. Perhaps even more important, the children just as likely will appreciate being brought along to see something a tad more substantial than sanitized kid stuff.

The year is 1986, the place is Lancaster County, Penn., and the storyline focuses on the relationship between Nathan...

Judy Garland, who would have turned 100 years old this week, wasn’t just billed as “the world’s greatest entertainer” – in her time, she really was.

Garland was much more than just little Dorothy Gale from Kansas who once had an adventure in far-off Oz. She spent 45 of her 47 years in show business, eventually making 34 feature films and more than 200 radio appearances, releasing 80 singles and 12 albums, making 60 TV appearances (including 30 of her own shows), and doing 1,100 concerts.

“She had the amazing ability to convey joy and pathos and humor and sincerity and honesty,” says author and Emmy-winning producer John Fricke (“Judy Garland: A Portrait in Art and Anecdote”), “yet by giving of herself on that level, she had no guard, no protective shield. She was a million percent vulnerable.”

See More: Judy Garland: Her Life in Photos

Just watch 16-year-old Judy sing “Over the Rainbow” from “The Wizard of Oz...

Team Experience is revisiting a dozen Judy Garland movies for her Centennial. Here's Nathaniel R...

A behind the scenes shot of Judy's first scene in "Babes on Broadway". She's a fountain of tears in the scene but laughing between takes.

History has a way of shifting truth from facts to a more universally agreed upon fiction. Though The Wizard of Oz is now the movie most associated with Judy Garland, it was not as universally beloved in 1939 when it first premiered. Though it was ostensibly "a hit," the sixth highest grosser of Hollywood's most mythic year, it also carried the whiff of failure since its large budget prevented initial profits. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayor got a much much bigger immediate return on their Garland investment through her other 1939 musical. Babes in Arms (1939) opened just two months after Oz and proved a slightly bigger hit (again "at the time"). The Wizard of Oz proved...

7 random things that happened on this day, January 18th, in showbiz history

1942 Dates on this one tend to vary but some sources say the Mickey Rooney/ Judy Garland film Babes on Broadway arrived in movie theaters on this day. A year later it would be up for Best Original Song at the Oscars for "How About You?" but lose to "White Christmas" in the film Holiday Inn... ...

The King Baggot Tribute will take place Wednesday September 28th at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). The 1913 silent film Ivanhoe will be accompanied by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra and there will be a 40-minute illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot by We Are Movie Geeks’ Tom Stockman. A Facebook invite for the event can be found Here

Here’s a comprehensive look at the life and career of King Baggot

Article by Tom Stockman

They gathered to see the stars at St. Louis Union Station on Saturday March 25th 1910. President Taft had made a stop near the Twentieth Street entrance ten days earlier, but the crowd this day was much larger. Thousands, mostly excited women wearing ankle-length dresses and waving felt pennants lined up hoping for a glimpse, or perhaps...

The King Baggot Tribute will take place Wednesday September 28th at 7pm at Lee Auditorium inside the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri). The 1913 silent film Ivanhoe will be accompanied by The Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra and there will be a 40-minute illustrated lecture on the life and career of King Baggot by We Are Movie Geeks’ Tom Stockman. A Facebook invite for the event can be found Here

Here’s a look at the final phase of King Baggot’s career.

King Baggot, the first ‘King of the Movies’ died July 11th, 1948 penniless and mostly forgotten at age 68. A St. Louis native, Baggot was at one time Hollywood’s most popular star, known is his heyday as “The Most Photographed Man in the World” and “More Famous Than the Man in the Moon”. Yet even in his hometown, Baggot had faded into obscurity.

Close-Up is a column that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Terry Gilliam's The Fisher King (1991) is playing from June 1 - June 30, 2016 in the UK.In an overview of the accomplished, fraught, tumultuous career of Terry Gilliam, The Fisher King (1991) can look like not just an artistic turning point, but an economic one. Gilliam had just finished a loose trilogy of comic fantasies—Time Bandits (1981), Brazil (1985), and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)—each visually baroque and laced with a kind of surreal, dark, absurdist humor that marked them as a natural extension of his time as the lone American in Monty Python. Time Bandits was a head-turning left-field hit, and Brazil, the subject of a legendary battle with Universal over final cut, is often cited as Gilliam's masterpiece. But Munchausen, though held dear by a cult following, was a blow to Gilliam's career. It went quickly over-budget (wildly so,...

Anne Marie is tracking Judy Garland's career through musical numbers...

1941 was a year of beginnings and endings for Judy Garland. It was the year of Judy's last Andy Hardy film (Life Begins for Andy Hardy, wherein nobody sang). And she wasn't just growing up on film - 1941 was also the year of Judy's first marriage: to David Rose, the musical director of the Tony Martin Radio Show. At only 19, Judy Garland was transitioning from child sensation to full fledged star.

 

The Movie: Babes on Broadway (1941)

The Songwriters: E.Y. Harburg (lyrics) and Burton Lane (music)

The Players: Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Virginia Weidler, Fay Bainter, Margaret O'Sullivan, directed by Busby Berkeley.

 

The Story: As the country entered World War II, the Freed Unit was lining up a series of nostalgia-inflected new hits starring Judy Garland for MGM. While Babes on Broadway looks at first glance like the typical...

The King Baggot Tribute will take place Friday, November 14th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium beginning at 7pm as part of this year’s St. Louis Intenational FIlm Festival. The program will consist a rare 35mm screening of the 1913 epic Ivanhoe starring King Baggot with live music accompaniment by the Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra. Ivanhoe will be followed by an illustrated lecture on the life and films of King Baggot presented by Tom Stockman, editor here at We Are Movie Geeks. After that will screen the influential silent western Tumbleweeds (1925), considered to be one of King Baggot’s finest achievements as a director. Tumbleweeds will feature live piano accompaniment by Matt Pace.

Here’s a comprehensive look at the life and career of King Baggot

Article by Tom Stockman

They gathered to see the stars at St. Louis Union Station on Saturday March 25th 1910. President Taft had...

The King Baggot Tribute will take place Friday, November 14th at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium beginning at 7pm as part of this year’s St. Louis Intenational FIlm Festival. The program will consist a rare 35mm screening of the 1913 epic Ivanhoe starring King Baggot with live music accompaniment by the Rats and People Motion Picture Orchestra. Ivanhoe will be followed by an illustrated lecture on the life and films of King Baggot presented by Tom Stockman, editor here at We Are Movie Geeks. After that will screen the influential silent western Tumbleweeds (1925), considered to be one of King Baggot’s finest achievements as a director. Tumbleweeds will feature live piano accompaniment by Matt Pace.

Here’s a look at the final phase of King Baggot’s career.

King Baggot, the first ‘King of the Movies’ died July 11th, 1948 penniless and mostly forgotten at age 68. A St. Louis native, Baggot...

There is no question that blackface is a racist trope too regularly used on film, TV, and in magazines. While not nearly as rampant as it was in the 1930s, there have been hundreds of instances of blackface employed in the past twenty years. Everyone from Paris Hilton to Ben Stiller and Jimmy Fallon to Billy Crystal has donned a form of blackface in an attempt to be funny, controversial, or — in Hilton’s case — cute. (The things people will do for a laugh.)

The most recent use of blackface is by a repeat offender, Chris Lilley (pictured above), who is the star of the new HBO series, Jonah from Tonga. The series, which follows the story of a Tongan teenager, features Lilley in brownface make-up and a curly wig. In other series, the actor has portrayed S.mouse, an African American rap artist from California and Jen Okazaki, a Japanese mother of three.

There is no question that blackface is a racist trope too regularly used on film, TV, and in magazines. While not nearly as rampant as it was in the 1930s, there have been hundreds of instances of blackface employed in the past twenty years. Everyone from Paris Hilton to Ben Stiller and Jimmy Fallon to Billy Crystal has donned a form of blackface in an attempt to be funny, controversial, or — in Hilton’s case — cute. (The things people will do for a laugh.)

The most recent use of blackface is by a repeat offender, Chris Lilley (pictured above), who is the star of the new HBO series, Jonah from Tonga. The series, which follows the story of a Tongan teenager, features Lilley in brownface make-up and a curly wig. In other series, the actor has portrayed S.mouse, an African American rap artist from California and Jen Okazaki, a Japanese mother of three.

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will remember Mickey Rooney this Sunday, April 13, with a 24-hour marathon of his classic films beginning at 6am Et. Rooney passed away April 6 at the age of 93. According to TCM, the memorial tribute to Mickey Rooney will include some of his most iconic performances, including Boys Town (1938) and its sequel Men of Boys Town (1941); the first two films in the Andy Hardy series, A Family Affair (1937) and You’re Only Young Once (1938); Babes on Broadway (1941), one of Rooney’s many pairings with Judy Garland; Captains Courageous (1937); and National Velvet … Continue reading →

The post TCM remembers Mickey Rooney with 24-hour film marathon appeared first on Channel Guide Magazine.

Mickey Rooney dead at 93: Four-time Oscar nominee, frequent Judy Garland co-star may have had the longest film career ever (photo: Mickey Rooney ca. 1940) Mickey Rooney, four-time Academy Award nominee and one of the biggest domestic box-office draws during the studio era, died of "natural causes" on Sunday, April 6, 2014, at his home in the Los Angeles suburb of North Hollywood. The Brooklyn-born Rooney (as Joseph Yule Jr., on September 23, 1920) had reportedly been in ill health for some time. He was 93. Besides his countless movies, and numerous television and stage appearances, Mickey Rooney was also known for his stormy private life, which featured boozing and gambling, some widely publicized family infighting (including his testifying in Congress in 2011 about elder abuse), his filing for bankruptcy in 1962 after having earned a reported $12 million (and then going bankrupt again in 1996), his eight marriages — including those to actresses Ava Gardner, Martha Vickers, and Barbara Ann Thomason...

Los Angeles (AP) — Mickey Rooney, the pint-size, precocious actor and all-around talent whose more than 80-year career spanned silent comedies, Shakespeare, Judy Garland musicals, Andy Hardy stardom, television and the Broadway theater, died Sunday at age 93. Los Angeles Police Commander Andrew Smith said that Rooney was with his family when he died at his North Hollywood home. Smith said police took a death report but indicated that there was nothing suspicious and it was not a police case. He said he had no additional details on the circumstances of his passing. Rooney started his career in his parents' vaudeville act while still a toddler, and broke into movies before age 10. He was still racking up film and TV credits more than 80 years later — a tenure likely unmatched in the history of show business. "I always say, 'Don't retire — inspire,'" he told The Associated Press in March 2008. "There's a lot to be done.

Mickey Rooney passed away today at the age of 93. His health had been failing for quite awhile.Mickey Rooney's parents were a comedian and a chorus girl who played on vaudeville, and he made his first appearance on the stage with them aged only seventeen months. He was a scrappy kid in the silent-era Mickey McGuire shorts (1927-1933), then played "lead character as a boy" roles - such as in The World Changes (1933) and Manhattan Melodrama (1934) - and Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935). A star turn as a good-natured, trouble-prone teen in A Family Affair (1937) led to a long series of folksy Andy Hardy pictures that represented MGM head Louis B. Mayer's ideal of the United States. This was followed by energetic musical teamings with fellow MGM property Judy Garland in Babes in Arms (1939) and Babes on Broadway (1941). He won an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor...

Anthony McCartney, AP Entertainment Writer

Los Angeles (AP) - Mickey Rooney, the pint-size, precocious actor and all-around talent whose more than 80-year career spanned silent comedies, Shakespeare, Judy Garland musicals, Andy Hardy stardom, television and the Broadway theater, died Sunday at age 93.

Los Angeles Police Commander Andrew Smith said that Rooney was with his family when he died at his North Hollywood home.

Smith said police took a death report but indicated that there was nothing suspicious and he had no additional details on the circumstances of his passing. The Los Angeles County Coroner's office said it was not their case because Rooney died a natural death.

There were no further immediate details on the cause of death, but Rooney did attend an Oscar party last month.

Rooney started his career in his parents' vaudeville act while still a toddler, and broke into movies before age 10. He was still racking...

• Ryan Gosling may direct and star in a biopic of famed director and choreographer Busby Berkeley. Warner Bros. has optioned Jeffrey Spivak’s book Buzz: The Life and Art of Busby Berkeley for Gosling and Marc Platt (Drive) to produce. Berkeley was known for his elaborate, geographic dance numbers in studio musicals such as 42nd Street and Golddiggers of 1933. He moved on to directing films like Babes on Broadway and For Me and My Gal. It’s still very early in the process, and no writer is currently attached. [THR]

• Channing Tatum is reportedly in talks to co-direct an adaption...

A classic Hollywood moment: Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney

Rehearsal for the “Yankee Doodle Dandy" number in Babes on Broadway

Mickey Rooney remembers Judy Garland:

She was my sister from the beginning, the sister I never had. … She was born to be one of the greatest performers in the world. … She more than acted her lyrics, she lived them.

Aaron Sorkin is a big fan of Aaron Sorkin’s work. The Social Network scribe and Syracuse University grad delivered a commencement address at his alma mater on Sunday and as Syracuse student Chelsea DeBaise first noticed, the speech included several lines that were recycled wholesale from a convocation speech Sorkin gave at Syracuse in 1997.

Among the repeated moments: In each oration, Sorkin began with the same anecdote about a long-married couple. In both, he described an actor who backed out of A Few Good Men to appear in a film that was never made, following the story with this...

Hollywood veteran Mickey Rooney spent the Christmas holidays recovering from a painful fall at his California home which left him with a cut to his head, according to a U.S. report.

The Babes on Broadway actor, 91, is alleged to have taken a tumble on a staircase at his Westlake Village property on the morning of 7 December and he was admitted to the Westlake Urgent Care facility, where he received stitches to a deep gash on the side of his forehead.

A source tells America's Globe tabloid, "The head wound was so deep that Mickey had to have it stitched up. He also had bruises on his legs and other parts of his body."

A representative for Rooney had yet to comment on the report as WENN went to press.

The Muppets

Directed by James Bobin

Written by Jason Segal and Nicholas Stoller, based on characters created by Jim Henson

imdb USA 2011

The central difficulty with reviving a beloved franchise like The Muppets is that what you gain in brand recognition, you lose in the established fan-base’s resistance to change. Keeping the older fans happy while pleasing new fans is a tricky tightrope to walk. The Muppets one big advantage over a franchise like Star Trek is that it is something that today’s parents loved as kids and that they are really looking forward to introducing to their children. That was certainly the case at the preview screening that I attended.

The Muppets come to theatres boasting the best marketing of any film this year. The clever, parody Muppet movie trailers have excited long-time fans of the Muppets and created new fans. At the same time, older fans...

The Muppets

Directed by James Bobin

Written by Jason Segal and Nicholas Stoller, based on characters created by Jim Henson

USA, 2011

The central difficulty with reviving a beloved franchise like The Muppets is that what you gain in brand recognition, you lose in the established fan-base’s resistance to change. Keeping the older fans happy while pleasing new fans is a tricky tightrope to walk. The Muppets one big advantage over a franchise like Star Trek is that it is something that today’s parents loved as kids and that they are really looking forward to introducing to their children. That was certainly the case at the preview screening that I attended.

The Muppets come to theatres boasting the best marketing of any film this year. The clever, parody Muppet movie trailers have excited long-time fans of the Muppets and created new fans. At the same time, older fans are...

Mickey Rooney's former assistant has dismissed reports she defrauded the Hollywood veteran, insisting she simply discouraged him from investing in "get rich quick schemes".

Lawyers for the 90 year old actor recently filed papers against Cindy Smith, who reportedly worked for Rooney from 1984 to 1991 and again from 2000 to 2010, alleging she defrauded the star and was emotionally cruel to him.

Smith has now submitted her own court documents, obtained by TMZ.com, claiming that she looked out for the star's best interests.

She also alleges Rooney was a tough employer, declaring, "Mickey was condescending and gruff, hostile and rude, insulting and dismissive - and yelled quite often."

The legal action came after the Babes on Broadway star won a restraining order against his stepson, Christopher Aber, and his wife amid claims Aber had been attempting to convince the star to sign over control of his assets, leaving the ageing actor fearing for his safety.

Hollywood veteran Mickey Rooney has launched a lawsuit against his stepson, accusing him of tricking the star out of millions of dollars.

The Babes on Broadway actor won a restraining order against Christopher Aber and his wife earlier this year amid claims Aber had been attempting to convince the star to sign over control of his assets, leaving the 90 year old fearing for his safety.

Rooney's attorney Michael Augustine was appointed temporary conservator of his legal and financial affairs in March.

Now the actor is suing Aber, accusing him of spending the star's money "as if it were his own" and keeping him "in poverty", according to papers filed in Los Angeles.

Aber and his wife have been accused of breach of trust, abuse and fraud over the last decade, after he allegedly paid himself a generous salary out of Rooney's earnings.

The legal documents, obtained by the BBC, state, "While Chris instilled fear in Mickey and kept him in poverty, Chris took advantage of his unfettered access to Mickey's income. Chris consistently paid himself a generous salary from Mickey's earnings, took advances on his salary and spent Mickey's money as if it were his own."

But Aber, who is the son of Rooney's eighth wife Jan Chamberlin, is accusing the star's legal team of driving the case.

He says, "This lawsuit is not from Mickey Rooney - it's from his conservators who are stealing from him."...

The Lincoln Center and the Paley Center here in NYC have joined forces to celebrate the all-singing all-dancing legend that is Judy Garland! 

Shout 'Hallelujah', c'mon get happy!"

Once upon a time she was dubbed "The World's Greatest Entertainer." Few celebrities have ever earned their PR self-mythologizing titles the way Judy G did. There's just no beating her for musical pleasure and cathartic heartbreak. And as if her sensational singing and dancing weren't enough, she was a fine actress, too!

I missed the first week of the celebration being in Michigan but I'll see what I can catch for the remainder of the summer program which ends August 9th. If you're not in New York City, you can always follow along at home as best you can with an impromptu DVD festival.

 

Still to come in the festival are...

Young Judy:

Everybody Sing (1938), For Me and My Gal (1942), Presenting Lily Mars...

As Hollywood threatens to remake The Thin Man, Turner Classic Movies and Warner Home Entertainment are releasing a Thin Man collection as one of three new classic film collections being added to their Greatest Classic Films and Legends lines (The Thin Man, After the Thin Man, Another Thin Man, Shadow of the Thin Man), all starring the iconic screen couple William Powell and Myrna Loy as happily tipsy sleuths Nick and Nora Charles. The other two collections also feature Golden Age screen couples, but of the singer-dancer variety: young MGM-era Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland (Girl Crazy, Strike Up the Band, Babes in Arms, Babes on Broadway) and the second-tier Astaire and Rogers Volume Two (Flying Down to Rio [pictured], Follow the Fleet, The Story ...

Impressive retrospective of Judy Garland.s films will feature 31 titles including a presentation of seldom seen short films and rarities as well as a special .sing-along. screening of The Wizard Of Oz.

On the occasion of what would have been Judy Garland.s 89th birthday, the Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Paley Center have announced the details today for Fslc.s comprehensive retrospective of the peerless film icon.s work, All Singin., All Dancin., All Judy! which will screen at the Walter Reade Theater July 26 . August 9 and The Paley Center.s comprehensive retrospective of Garland.s television work,Judy Garland: The Television Years which will be presented July 20 . August 18.

With autumn marking the 75th anniversary of Judy Garland’s feature film debut (Pigskin Parade, 1936), the Film Society of Lincoln Center will screen 31 titles from July 26 . August 9, including each of her big-screen acting performances, to pay tribute to...

Hollywood veteran Mickey Rooney has blasted his stepson for allegedly taking his honorary Oscar statuette and selling it off for his own financial gain.

The Babes on Broadway star won a restraining order against Christopher Aber and his wife last month amid claims his stepson has been attempting to convince the actor to sign over control of his assets, leaving the 90 year old fearing for his safety.

Rooney's experiences have prompted him to lead the charge against elderly abuse and he appeared before a Senate committee in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, urging politicians to create new laws to protect the aged.

He told the committee he felt "scared, disappointed... and angry" when Aber took control of his affairs, accusing his stepson and his wife of abusing him emotionally and financially.

Rooney claims Aber took a number of his personal items - including the star's treasured Academy Award, which he received in 1983 in recognition of his 50 years in the movie industry.

In an interview on America's Today Show, the ageing actor admits he suffered in silence for years because he was embarrassed.

He says, "As a man (I was embarrassed to speak out); our individuality was taken away from us. Our personal things, things that meant everything to us were gone. And he even sold my Oscar..."

But when he finally did speak out against Aber, Rooney felt abandoned: "It seemed that no one wanted to believe me."

Aber has denied all allegations of abuse. In a statement issued to the Today show, his representative says, "Allegations that Chris Aber threatens, intimidates, harasses, yells and screams at Mr. Rooney are false."

Rooney's calls to Congress appeared to be heard loud and clear - after the hearing, committee chairman Senator Herb Kohl introduced legislation that would create an Office of Elder Justice to help co-ordinate law enforcement response to chronic abuse of the aged.

Movie veteran Mickey Rooney is leading the charge against elderly abuse after urging leading U.S. politicians to create new laws that protect the aged from greedy family members and supposed carers.

The Babes on Broadway star appeared before a Senate committee in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday and urged the politicians to do what they could to make sure other elderly Americans don't suffer the same fate he claims he has faced at the hands of his family members.

Rooney, 90, told the committee he felt "scared, disappointed... and angry" when one member of his family took control of his personal and financial affairs.

He said, "You can't believe that it's happening to you... For years I suffered silently. I didn't want to tell anybody. I couldn't muster the courage and you have to have courage. I needed help and I knew I needed it. Even when I tried to speak up, I was told to shut up and be quiet."

Rooney has filed a restraining order against his stepson Christopher Aber and his wife, claiming they abused him emotionally and financially.

The actor called for Congress to pass a law that makes chronic elderly abuse a specific crime.

Fighting back tears, the film legend said, "I'm asking you to stop this elderly abuse. I mean to stop it. Now. Not tomorrow, not next month, but now.

And it appears Rooney's plea has been heard loud and clear by the Senate - after the hearing, committee chairman Sen. Herb Kohl introduced legislation that would create an Office of Elder Justice help co-ordinate law enforcement response to chronic elder abuse.

No 85 Judy Garland (1922-69)

She narrowly missed being "born in a trunk" on tour because her vaudevillian parents had gone off the road to manage a cinema with music hall acts in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. From taking the stage at the age of two, she remained in showbusiness up to her sudden death at 47 of an accidental drug overdose combined with illiberal use of alcohol while fulfilling nightclub engagements in London.

When she was four, her father had to relocate to Pennsylvania after importuning young male members of his staff. After working in a second-rate singing act with her older sisters and changing her name from Frances Gumm to Judy Garland, she was taken to Hollywood at the age of 13 by her fiercely ambitious mother (whom she later called "the real Wicked Witch of the West").

The biggest studio in town, MGM, added her to its roster of juvenile performers raised on the premises,...

No. 78: Donna Reed 1921-86

Every Hollywood studio had its girl-next-door under contract in the 1930s and 40s, a pretty, wholesome, reliable future homemaker, usually a small-town girl from the midwest. The most perfect of them all was Donna Reed, brought up on a farm Iowa, 5ft 7in, brunette and exuding an unaffected purity. She was spotted by an MGM scout in a student show at Los Angeles City College, where she was in secretarial school. The studio changed her name from Donne Belle Mullinger to Donna Reed and cast her in a succession of lightweight films including Shadow of the Thin Man with William Powell and Myrna Loy and Babes on Broadway with Rooney and Garland. By 1944, with the help of the MGM publicity department, a Us battalion in Europe voted her "the girl we'd most like to come home to".

She came into her own as the war...