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Show Ha daughter Mia Farrow mother Maureen O'Sullivant out-sho- TV IT i vmcT ne P' t l J : I h: i v. n ll tnp ... n Kinc nr .map T- xx i u : i' t ii nn ouintj nuuywuuu ujjbpriug uuvu juuuu gicuiu nrn Mnrrpr? rnnip.Q whn finrJ thfl hnrrifisf rnlf .--j Barrymore, did their part to make the family democratic again, they also set the stage, with John Barrymore, Jr., Ethel Barrymore Colt, and others, for a deluge of other For some time, however, the Barrymorea reigned as a dynasty virtually alone. There was, combination it is true, an occasional father-so- n like the Douglases Fairbanks, pire and fils, or, more recently, Ed and Keenan Wynn, but there was certainly nothing approaching a real dynasty or even any such thing as today's trend. Indeed, stars of yesterday took a dim view of Hollywood's traditional nepotism elsewhere particularly in the producer ranks. It was the late Spencer Tracy, for example, who first commented on the fact that the late David Selznick saw his career take a sharp turn for the better on the occasion of his marriage to Irene Mayer, daughter of the late Louis B. Mayer. "The Tracy said, "also rises." Recently, however the show has been on the other foot. On stage, screen, and television there sons and has been such an influx of daughters that nowadays you can hardly go to a show without meeting the whole family the star's, that is, not yours. Everywhere you turn you are offered the offspring of Charlie Chaplin, Bing Crosby, Henry Fonda, Frank Sinatra, Rex Harrison, John Wayne, Dean Martin, Danny Thomas, Lloyd Bridges, Edgar Bergen, Raymond Massey, Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, John Carradine, Maureen O'Sullivan, Ann Sothern, Gordon and Sheila MacRae, Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, etc., etc. , Even Errol Flynn's daughter is a stunt girl which, we suppose, in some way figures and one daughter of not one but two stars, Jean Pierre Aumont and Maria Montez, recently adorned, unadorned, "Playboy" magazine. Some of these, of course, are more talented than others. Jane and Peter Fonda would go hi?h on this list, as would Geraldine Chaplin and" Candice Bergen. Some even would have to be rated far more talented than their parental stars ever were Mia Farrow, for example, over Maureen O'Sullivan. And some, of course, are more talented than others right in the same family be it Chaplins, Martins, Sinatras, or who. WHh the vast majority, however, from Pat Wayne to Luci and Desi Arnaz IV, far too many of them are like bad photostats overexposed and underdeveloped and the main reaction one has to watching them is that they all may want to get into the act all right, but the only trouble is most of them can't act. The current trend may be said to date to the Crosby boys all four of whom assayed careers. From Dennis, with his marital actor-familie- s. , fcl III 1 1 1 II M Binfl Crosby enjoyed great success as an entertainer. His four sons did not follow in his footsteps. son-in-la- century ago an English boxer by the . name of Maurice Blythe changed his name to Barrymore because it had, he said, "a gentlemanly ring one suitable for both boxing and the stage." In so doing, boxer Blythe started something among other things, America's first "star" dynasty. A One day Mr. Barrymore, alias Blythe, was strolling the boardwalk at the English seaside resort of Bright n. There he chanced upon a Engli ,h actor by the name of Charles Vandenhoff. The latter, at that moment, was being beset by two toughs who had, in the manner of toughs, taken exception to the fact that Vandenhoff had, in the manner of actors, a girl on each arm. In any case, boxer Barrymore promptly rushed to Vandenhoff's rescue and with two punches dispersed the toughs. Afterward, .when Vandenhoff heard Barrymore had acting ambitions, he offered him a job in his company. Traveling to America with this company, Barrymore fell in love with and later married an American girl by the name of Miss Georgie Drew. Miss Drew was not only an actress herself but also the daughter of Mrs. John Drew, the celeof Philadelphia's Arch brated Street Theatre a lady who, incidentally, held out for some time against the marriage on the grounds that, professional as Maurice was as a boxer, as an actor he was an amateur. Nonetheless, Maurice and Georgie soon had three extremely professional children Lionel, Ethel, and John all of whom soon made the Barrymore name not only the royal one of the American theater but of Hollywood as well. And if the offspring of these three, notably the late Diana weli-kno- time-honor- time-honor- actress-manag- I f - t I P 1 By CLFVELAND AMORY li i - er Family Weekly, August H, 1969 ed ed star-studd- ed show-busine- ss problems, to Gary, who had more fights outside the ring than many people in it (not to mention Philip and Lindsay), all of them soon proved that their best performances were reserved not for the entertainment pages but for gossip columns. "The old man and I," said Gary Crosby of his estrangement from Bing, "just don't jive." In fairness to the Crosby boys, however, they were soon joined by a host of far worse troubles notaLly Edward G. Robinson, Jr.,and Cheryl Crane, daughter of Lana Turner and Steve Crane. And even in the cases where the situation was less sad, there was much hidden evidence that playing a son or daughter of a star is one of the hardest roles there is off the stage or on it Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., recalls his father speaking frankly to him about being a father. "You know," he said, "I have no more paternal feeling than a tiger in the jungle for his cub." And on the Hollywood distaff side, things are no better. Two of Joan Crawford's four adopted children, Christine and Christopher, made headlines with their revolts. "Most of my friends," says Jayne Meadows, wife of Steve Allen, "are lousy mothers including the actresses no matter what they say. Half of them are never even around their children. The other half who are with them might just as well stay away." Most off such difficulties are, of course, not confined to Hollywood. They are the problems of the rich in general. But Hollywood's problems in which, to riches, is added fame, and in which, to fame is added multiple marriage, have reached incredible proportions. In Hollywood, it is not only a wise mother who knows her own son it's a pretty second-generati- second-generati- on on second-generati- on smart father, too. Take, for example, the Chaplin family.' Two of the star's sons, the late Charles Chaplin, Jr. and Charlie Chaplin's daughter Geraldine succeeded where brothers failed. Mother Oona is in rear. vv-i- "(ft |