Val Chard

(b.**/**/***** - d.**/**/****) Val Chard was the young boy who acted the part of the shipwrecked Dick as a child in the 1923 version of H. De Vere Stacpoole’s novel The Blue Lagoon directed by Dick Cruikshanks and William Bowden. His young co-star was Doreen Wonfor as Emmeline and in the film they grew up to be replaced by Arthur Pusey and Molly Adair respectively. A Stage & Cinema of 29 April 1949 compares the 1923 and 1949 versions of The Blue Lagoon. It uses the following caption with one of the photographs: “At the time, the child actors’ families became friends and the children’s education was continued under one governess. Today they are married, have a child of their own, and live in Johannesburg.” Apparently they featured in a full page advert for Old Gold Cigarettes in a Look Magazine of 30 August 1938. (FO)