Kelly, a talented new movie dog, could be expected to be a scene-stealer, but a redhead solved that problem.

EVERYBODY LOVES dogs. Everybody, that is, except actresses who have to play scenes with them. Dogs like babies, steal scenes- and that's no way to become an actress' best friend. Piper Laurie is the latest star to tilt with a canine thespian. Not that Piper isn't a dog lover; she has seven of her own. But she doesn't act with them.
It's different in her latest Universal-International release, "Kelly and Me." The Kelly in the title is a German Shepherd making his movie debut opposite Piper and costar Van Johnson. But Kelly is no amateur. For five years he's been playing tent shows and vaudeville houses throughout the country with his trainer, Ernie Smith.
Piper's had experience, too. She's made back-page history by eating a salad made of flowers, has posed for numerous pinup pictures, and when given a chance has shown real promise as an actress. When Kelly came into her life, however, Piper began worrying. Would her sheltered Hollywood training be a match for Kelly's 'school-of hard-knocks" apprenticeship? Would he steal important scenes? "I decided to win him over to my side," she recalls. "I used psychology."
Piper visited Kelly's rehearsal hall and introduced herself. According to Hollywood protocol, Kelly should have visited Piper, but the girl's friendliness made its point. Kelly became devoted to the hazel-eyed redhead- not really a hard thing to do. Of course, there were occasions during the shooting when the ham in Kelly came out, but that's expected in Hollywood. Like the time Van Johnson and Piper were playing a tender scene which Kelly was supposed to disrupt with a bark.
Kelly was on cue but too polite. "Make him bark louder," the director told Smith. That was all Kelly needed to hog the show. His barks kept drowning out the two stars, and their dialogue had to be dubbed in later.
On the whole, though, the cast worked together admirably. "Maybe that was because Kelly understood how I feel about dogs," Piper says. "All the time I was a kid I dreamed of having a dog. But my folks lived in small apartments in Detroit and Hollywood, where it wasn't fair to coop up a pet.
"When I was 18, we bought a house; the only thing it meant to me, though, was that I could have a dog at last. Later I got a large apartment of my own and was crestfallen to learn the owner didn't allow pets. I persuaded him to let me have one dog temporarily. Somehow, I ended up with seven, but the landlord never complained. At least I never heard him over all that barking."
Miss Laurie moved to New York after completing "Kelly and Me" and intends to enter Actors' Studio, the school which has helped Marlon Brando, Eva Marie Saint, and others to learn acting finesse.
As an old-timer mused upon hearing this- "She's already learned to upstage a dog. What more can anyone teach an actress?"

The article is accompanied by a full page cover photo of Red-haired, pony-taled Piper Laurie sitting next to Kelly the white German Shepherd and smiling broadly at the dog while clasping her hands to her upper chest; Ninth page black and white photo of PL holding Kelly while looking at Van Johnson (scence from the movie); half page black and white of PL kneeling on a mat while holding the front paws of a little black and white spotted dog sitting on its haunches- Costarring with Kelly didn't stymie Piper. Dogs are important in her life. She owns seven, including playmate here.