Today In Ginny features a producer/director who never made a film with Weidler.
Cecil B. DeMille (1881) was the bombastic producer/director of spectaculars. While ginnyfan thinks that BORN TO SING had a cast of thousands everytime he looks up all the birthdays from it, it really didn’t and Virginia never worked with DeMille…or did she?
It turns out the Mr. DeMille was also the host of the Lux Radio Theater and its wartime offshoot, The Victory Theater. On July 20, 1942, DeMile closed out his introduction of the night’s play with the following, “So tonight I raise the curtain on the first act of "The Philadelphia Story,” starring Cary Grant as C. K. Dexter Haven, Katharine Hepburn as Tracy Lord, Lieutenant James Stewart as Mike Connor, Ruth Hussey as Elizabeth Imbrie, and Virginia Weidler as Dinah.“
Arthur Aylesworth (1883) appeared in over 130 films, mostly in uncredited roles. He was in some good ones, DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK, THE WESTERNER, THE GRAPES OF WRATH. He seemed to have a perpetual frown on his face. He also made three trips to Ginnyland, appearing as a bill collector in THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1936 (1935), as Buck Wilder in GIRL OF THE OZARKS (1936), and as John Little, the orphanage manager in BAD LITTLE ANGEL (1939). He’s seen here with Virginia and Toto in BLA.
Actress Marjorie Reynolds (1917) appeared as a dancer in an early role in THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1937 (1936). She went on to a solid career in films in the 1940s but is probably best remembered for playing Peg Riley on the second TV version of THE LIFE OF RILEY.
French born actress Olympe Bradna (1920)was the beneficiary of a huge publicity campaign when she signed with Paramount Pictures. To bad they wouldn’t give her good films to appear in. Her one with Ginny actually was good, SOULS AT SEA (1937). Olympe (pronounced O-lamp according to the aforementioned campaign) had the role of Babsie. She would go on to be arm candy for heroic co-stars in a bunch of pictures then retire as soon as she got married in the early 1940s. In this photo from SaS, Bradna is second from left. The others left to right are: George Raft, Frances Dee, and Gary Cooper.
