Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/679317
38 P E R S P E C T I V E | M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 6 B ut it was Mr. Allen's romance with his future wife of over seventy years, Iris, that again changed his career path, circa 1940. His family ties to the Los Angeles Police Department—his grandfather and his uncle had been policemen also, and a sister, Gertrude, had married a policeman—along with the appeal of steadier paychecks, inevitably led young Mr. Allen to apply to the Los Angeles Police Academy. He was accepted, and subsequently completed his training there. Now a police officer and a young husband, Mr. Allen was assigned to the West Los Angeles station mere months prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He was an LAPD officer on the night of the so-called "attack on Los Angeles" in January 1942. He claims to have slept peacefully through the entire night. But this Westside civilian patrol was not for long as, with sailing a longtime hobby, he enlisted in the United States Navy in 1942. However, his wartime naval aspirations were not precisely what he expected. He was soon diverted, due to his valuable law-enforcement training and experience, into the landlocked Base Investigations Unit of the key US Naval Base at San Diego. He served at this important, yet unsung, detail through most of the war, being later transferred to Los Angeles for his 1945-46 transition into peacetime. Upon being mustered out, already with a young family, Mr. Allen was able to again pursue his long-delayed dream. Momentously, he chose not to return to the Los Angeles Police Department, where a position awaited him and he surely would have flourished as "Butch" Allen's Navy-vet son. He instead took a chance on his talent, with Uncle Sam's assistance, enrolling at the Chouinard Institute, probably Los Angeles' leading art school, which was eventually to become California Institute of the Arts. He had been advised by his sketch artist pals at Warner Bros. in the 1930s that Mrs. Neibert Chouinard's school was his best bet for local training. Such art schools were booming in enrollment following World War II, due to the G.I. Bill of Rights, and talented Above: George Cukor (center) discusses the script for MY FAIR LADY with Gene Allen (right) and film editor William Ziegler (left). Opposite page: Three production stills from, top to bottom, MY FAIR LADY, A STAR IS BORN (1954) and HELLER IN PINK TIGHTS (1960).