came through. Dassin was also employed by Frank Tuttle as one of the lecturers for Hollywood School for Writers' new film directing class, along with Fred Zinnemann, Irving Pichel and László Benedek. In mid-November 1942, he was assigned to direct another romantic comedy, Young Ideas (originally announced as Faculty Row), under the supervision of producer Robert Sisk. The film was shot from mid-December 1942 to early 1943 and starred Susan Peters, Herbert Marshall and Mary Astor. The film was released in the summer of 1943 and received favorable reviews as a light comedy. In March 1943, Dassin joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In September 1943, after several months without a project, Dassin took over the directorial duties on a comedy film adaptation of Oscar Wilde's The Canterville Ghost. Original director Norman Z. McLeod had departed after five weeks of shooting, following a clash with producer Arthur Field and the cast, which included Charles Laughton, Robert Young and Margaret O'Brien. The film finished shooting in December 1943 and was released in the summer of 1944. Between the filming of scenes, Laughton often asked Dassin to play Russian classical songs on the piano, of which both were fond. The Canterville Ghost was very well received by critics and won a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation in 1945. In January 1944, producer Edwin H. Knopf selected Dassin to direct the suspense drama Secrets in the Dark (originally announced as Strangers in the Dark and The Outward Room). The motion picture was based on Millen Brand's novel The Outward Room and from the existing play version The World We Make, which had been adapted by Sidney Kingsley. The plot was that of a middle-class girl who escapes from an insane asylum and develops a love affair with a blue collar steel worker, and in turn overcomes her phobias. The property was developed as a starring vehicle for Susan Peters, newly promoted Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starlet. Gene Kelly was first cast as the male lead in January 1944, though he was replaced by Robert Young in February 1944. Other cast members included Fortunio Bononova, Katharine Balfour, Felix Bressart, Alexander Granach, Peggy Maley, Marta Linden, Morris Ankrum, Sharon McManus and Betty Lawler. Secrets in the Dark was to start shooting on February 20, 1944, with cinematographer Robert Planck, but was pushed back to early March 1944 due to production delays. On April 1,