Hazel Brooks: The Million Dollar Gamble

Here's a vintage newspaper article concerning actress Hazel Brooks from the summer of 1947.Though she had been one of the most popular pin-up girls for several years and had appearing uncredited in Hollywood productions since 1943, 1947 was the year when they tried to make Hazel Brooks a true screen star. 'They' is Charlie Einfeld, a former Warner Brothers publicity director who at this time was running an independent studio called Enterprise. After signing Hazel Brooks, he is quoted as telling his team "...you can spend anything up to a million dollars. But make Hazel Brooks a star."

Of course, it didn't work out very well. Hazel Brooks had a pair of relatively high-profile featured roles in two major motion pictures, Body and Soul in 1947 and Sleep, My Love in 1948, after which she suddenly became a lot less visible. It ranks as one of those Hollywood travesties that an actress this beautiful wasn't given more screen time.