Modern Screen (Dec 1940 - Nov 1941)

THE MEN I HER LIFE (Continued from page 47) some tips." She underlined that last sentence with an ironic smile. "I'll never forget one scene in which I was on the witness stand, and he was cross-examining me. 'Where were you on the night of August 15th?' he thundered. 'Why, I was at home,' I said. Several more lines flew back and forth. After the take, I told Bill, 'You nearly threw me in that scene. You never looked at me.' He laughed again. 'I was too busy, looking at the camera,' he said. 'You'll learn, you'll learn'. . . . And I did learn, thanks to him. "I was very lucky, getting with Willie the Pooh in my first picture. I might have gotten with some so-and-so, who would have said, 'Really, I cahn't take time to teach these stage actresses how to get by in the movies!' "Bill was the complete opposite of what I, as an actress from The Theatre" — her intonation indicated that she was jibing at her earlier self — "expected a movie actor to be. I expected all movie actors to talk only about themselves and The Cinema. And here, the first movie actor I encountered was a man who was thoroughly real, completely natural, amusing and mentally stimulating. Far from being an egotist, he constantly made himself the butt of jokes. He was a Jack Benny with sophistication. "I ran into him again six months later when Myrna Loy and the studio had a little disagreement, and I was sent in to pinch-hit for her in a picture with Bill. That was my first lead. The day I walked on the set, Bill came all the way across the sound-stage to greet me. 'Roz,' he said, 'I'm so glad you're doing this picture.' I knew very well that he would have preferred Myrna, but he made the effort of trying to make me feel that I was the one he wanted. ... A woman can't help liking, a man like that. And finding him exciting. "In my second picture, 'Forsaking All Others,' I met up with Gable and Montgomery, which was no hardship. My principal recollection of Clark on that first set is of playing poker with him. (That was in the good old days before gin-rummy.) They were always yelling for him, and he was always pretending not to hear. 'I've got three 5's,' he'd say. 'What have you got?' . . . He was one of the crowd, mixed with everybody, talked everybody's language. It was a cinch to get along with Gable. "I came to know him better when we made 'China Seas' together. "I remember, at the time, when a cer Want to see your own Hollywood honey in our GALLERY SECTION? Just send us his or her name on the coupon below, then watch the next few issues! Information Desk, Modern Screen 149 Madison Ave., New York City I'd like to see a gallery picture of in a forthcoming issue of Modern Screen. Name Street City State / You've looked forward IT1ST your luck, you moan. . ■ • that sults lis ^oree for week ^ ^ ^ tfs the u j„ pise doesn t sun y 7.1, 7ou could «f> ^ugh ^ *. 1* of A. P"'?'^" " ana so can yo»< Bu. they Well, other girls L, by „««»(! ■ ■ • , don, get rid of Jsttag corofor-Ko,., They've learned the sanitary napkins. means you're no You Bee-Kotex is k» ^ not all • • • bothered by rubbmg and chafing Kotex helps take ^ shield which gives a nas a new raoisture-resrstan • J and p01se „irl added protection • • «W ^ Kotex there can g And what a rehef to know i y^ S° 1S a^er to ya«r*~ when you. itotrga/an^appy ^ carefree. f dent • comfortable . . . carefree Be confident . . • -III ! Ill ★ Trade Mark Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. „vrlRi SMOUIO KNOW WHMEVV, ftrdo ^at not to about What to do, for OCTOBER, 1941 79