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<blockquote data-quote="ClassyCo" data-source="post: 300085" data-attributes="member: 7">Betty Grable&#039;s persona was definitely unique. You couldn&#039;t easily categorize her as &quot;sexy&quot; or &quot;wholesome&quot; because she was distinctly both. And yet she wasn&#039;t entirely either of them. As something of a precursor to Monroe, Grable occupied that blurring middle line between sexiness and girl-next-door vulnerability. Marilyn just intensified that when she took over from Betty at Fox in the early-&#039;50s and immortalized it. 

Betty&#039;s persona slid effortlessly from the early-to-late-&#039;40s without any major changes. In the early-&#039;40s, she was escapism for the oncoming World War; in the mid-&#039;40s, she was the morale-booster for our servicemen overseas, giving them the sense of &quot;what they&#039;re fighting for&quot;; and in the late-&#039;40s, she represented the optimism that all was going to end well post-war. And she did that all by making her formulaic musical romances where she was often clad in designer clothes or in outfits orchestrated specifically to showcase her world-famous legs. Well, June Haver wasn&#039;t necessarily brought in by Fox to keep Grable &quot;in line&quot; the way Sheree North and Jayne Mansfield were used by the studio to threaten Marilyn. For the most part, Grable enjoyed her time at Fox, and she gave the studio next-to-no issues whatsoever in making her films. She wrestled her way back from child birth very early to make DIAMOND HORSESHOE (1945), and was practically forced to take a vacation in 1946 because Zanuck didn&#039;t want to wear out his good luck penny. 

Fox knew that Alice Faye was loosing interest in making movies, especially musicals, by the mid-&#039;40s, and they needed someone to pick up the slack and take some of the pressure off Grable. That&#039;s where June Haver came in as a cheaper, younger alternative to make modestly-budgeted musicals. She wasn&#039;t necessarily a &quot;threat&quot; to Grable, but yet a companion piece, a colleague. Another actress making similar films, but yet with slightly lower production values to keep the profits high. Haver took over two roles originally meant for Faye in IRISH EYES ARE SMILING (1944) and THE DOLLY SISTERS (1945), while Faye herself was recouping from child birth hoping to be well in time to play Aunt Sissy in A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, a role that instead went to Joan Blondell. 

So, no, Haver wasn&#039;t used in the way Fox tried to use Sheree and Jayne a decade later. Marilyn gave the studio many issues, and Zanuck and his buddies hoped Sheree and Jayne would duplicate her success without the headaches. Instead, they found that Marilyn&#039;s success couldn&#039;t be easily replicated and that their stand-ins had their own problems: Sheree lacked any strong on-screen personality, and Jayne sabotaged her own career by her desperate need for publicity and the fact that half her contract obligations couldn&#039;t be fulfilled because of her multiple pregnancies. </blockquote>

[QUOTE="ClassyCo, post: 300085, member: 7"] [JUSTIFY]Betty Grable's persona was definitely unique. You couldn't easily categorize her as "sexy" or "wholesome" because she was distinctly [I]both[/I]. And yet she wasn't entirely either of them. As something of a precursor to Monroe, Grable occupied that blurring middle line between sexiness and girl-next-door vulnerability. Marilyn just intensified that when she took over from Betty at Fox in the early-'50s and immortalized it. Betty's persona slid effortlessly from the early-to-late-'40s without any major changes. In the early-'40s, she was escapism for the oncoming World War; in the mid-'40s, she was the morale-booster for our servicemen overseas, giving them the sense of "what they're fighting for"; and in the late-'40s, she represented the optimism that all was going to end well post-war. And she did that all by making her formulaic musical romances where she was often clad in designer clothes or in outfits orchestrated specifically to showcase her world-famous legs. [/JUSTIFY] [JUSTIFY]Well, June Haver wasn't necessarily brought in by Fox to keep Grable "in line" the way Sheree North and Jayne Mansfield were used by the studio to threaten Marilyn. For the most part, Grable enjoyed her time at Fox, and she gave the studio next-to-no issues whatsoever in making her films. She wrestled her way back from child birth very early to make DIAMOND HORSESHOE (1945), and was practically forced to take a vacation in 1946 because Zanuck didn't want to wear out his good luck penny. Fox knew that Alice Faye was loosing interest in making movies, especially musicals, by the mid-'40s, and they needed someone to pick up the slack and take some of the pressure off Grable. That's where June Haver came in as a cheaper, younger alternative to make modestly-budgeted musicals. She wasn't necessarily a "threat" to Grable, but yet a companion piece, a colleague. Another actress making similar films, but yet with slightly lower production values to keep the profits high. Haver took over two roles originally meant for Faye in IRISH EYES ARE SMILING (1944) and THE DOLLY SISTERS (1945), while Faye herself was recouping from child birth hoping to be well in time to play Aunt Sissy in A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN, a role that instead went to Joan Blondell. So, no, Haver wasn't used in the way Fox tried to use Sheree and Jayne a decade later. Marilyn gave the studio many issues, and Zanuck and his buddies hoped Sheree and Jayne would duplicate her success without the headaches. Instead, they found that Marilyn's success couldn't be easily replicated and that their stand-ins had their own problems: Sheree lacked any strong on-screen personality, and Jayne sabotaged her own career by her desperate need for publicity and the fact that half her contract obligations couldn't be fulfilled because of her multiple pregnancies. [/JUSTIFY] [/QUOTE]

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