Charley, My Boy?

THE WHITE HOUSE

Since their first formal date a year ago, Lynda Bird Johnson and Movie Actor George Hamilton have sunned in Acapulco, sipped champagne in New Orleans, frugged in Hollywood, and cooed on location in a Utah desert. Then, for a change, Lynda, 22, flew off last month on a Hawaiian vacation sans George, even stopping en route to visit an old beau in San Francisco. Back in Hollywood, where he had just finished a Civil War epic, The Long Ride Home, and a romantic farce co-starring Sandra Dee, Doctor, You've Got to Be Kidding, George was making the rounds -- and the columns -- with a succession of starlets. Just as it seemed that their ardor had cooled, Lynda abruptly broke off her Hawaiian vacation, and has been making the scene with George ever since. By last week, in fact, there were signs that Lynda's father may have to resign himself to the inevitability of George -- even though in private the President, feigning ignorance of .the fellow's real name, often refers to him as "Charley." Visiting the L.B.J. ranch, Hamilton, 27, seemed to settle comfortably into a new role as member-of-the-family. Although he is a Christian Scientist, he joined the Johnsons for Sunday-morning services at the tiny Episcopal church in Blanco, dutifully held the hymnal as wide-eyed Lynda did her best to concentrate on the services. Afterward, while the President stood to one side, George, decked out in a Continental suit and buckled shoes, autographed church bulletins for tittering girls, later picnicked and water-skied with the family. At Randolph Field, getting ready for the flight to Washington, George was even allowed to join the President's handshaking rites--and he stole the show.

Merge Verge. In Washington, handsome George squired Lynda to the White House state dinner for West Germany's Chancellor Erhard. Another dinner guest, Beauty Columnist Arlene Dahl, wondered how George could "bring out all that beauty in one woman." Part of the answer, of course, is that he introduced brown-eyed Lynda to Hollywood makeup artists and jet-set couturiers. But her new look does not disguise the rare effulgence of a girl in love. Diagnosed Dahl: "She's mad about the boy."

Broadway columnists reached the same conclusion last week (on "the merge verge," as Earl Wilson put it) when Lynda and George visited Manhattan. One night they dined at "21," attended a penthouse party for Actress Ruth Ford after her Broadway opening in Dinner at Eight, then danced until 1 a.m. at El Morocco. Another evening they dined at Orsini's with Actress Merle Oberon, her husband Bruno Pagliai, and the Henry Fords, afterward returned to El Morocco.

After shooting a few scenes in New York, George will leave for Europe to finish Jack of Diamonds, a movie in which he. plays a dashing young cat burglar who falls in love with a cat burglaress. For her part, Lynda, who, against Papa's wishes, turned down a Washington job with National Geographic, has begun to re-explore job possibilities in New York. Offers so far include a staff position at the Ford Foundation, which is headed by former White House Aide McGeorge Bundy, and the "Youthquake" editorship at McCall's magazine.

Meanwhile, she scotches all rumors about her jack of hearts and herself. When an eye-catching diamond sprouted on her left hand last week, Lynda insisted: "It was my Aunt Effie's, and she was a maiden lady."

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