Modern Screen (Dec 1949 - Nov 1950)

pleasant TO TAKE pleasant IN ACTION TWO LOVES HAVE WE (Continued from page 33) ook in his eyes. The same look comes into ds eyes whenever I have to do a fast riding cene. (It's the only thing we ever argue ibout. He doesn't think I'm strong enough o hold back a high-spirited horse. I don't either, but I hate to admit it!) What gets ne is that I've seen that same look in Roy's •yes when we're on the radio and only Pretending that we are galloping! And often, if it has been a tough mornng, and I lie down in my dressing room to -est, knowing I'll have to get up in a minlte or two if I want to get lunch in the hort lunch period — well, I don't have to ;et up! Before I know it, Roy has entered :arrying a well-loaded tray. And so in this way we live our extra ■omance — but never openly. Although ince we did forget. While we were standng on the set waiting for a camera call, ^oy, right up in front of the whole crew, »ave me a peck on the cheek. "Hey! Do that on your own time!" called jut director, Billy Witney, who sees all, mows all, and always makes sure that ;verybody else hears about it too. We aiew that Billy was kidding but we both ictually blushed — because it was so unlike is when we were working. It was more ike — well, it was more as if we were marked or something. And that we certainly we not — in the studio! Sometimes Roy will flub a line of diaogue when we are doing a close-up, even .hough he has memorized it perfectly — and : know why. It's for my benefit. You see, .vhen a scene has to be done over, the ights and our faces have to be rechecked. \nd when the closeup is shot again, somehing he had noticed — a bad shadow cast Dver my face, or something imperfect with -ny makeup — will have been corrected. He Drefers to do it indirectly this way, without not&s or creditseeking demonstration. •heir blue heaven . . . But if we have our little daily vacation Tom marriage, we make up for it when we eave the studio. Then begins— or resumes, •ather— that part of our lives that is just crowded with conventionality: Mama tryng to maintain order and system among ;hree children, 11 dogs, and assorted xiends of both; Pop walking around with lammer, screwdriver and pliers stuffed nto his back pocket as he works at keeping the house from splitting at the seams. The house itself, especially the layout aid the furnishings inside, is my domain. ! like to decorate. That's okay with Roy. : like to redecorate. That's not so okay. Redecorating usually calls for a little taik:alk with Roy before I can go ahead. And ril have to have a good reason, too. I needed one when I wanted to paint the louse again. I wanted it done darker, in a naroon, instead of the white finish it had. Roy said he thought white was fine. I agreed — that is, if it stays white. But Roy ets three of his dogs run loose around the outside of the house and I showed him the decorating they had done — a highly personalized sort all around the base of the ;tructure, as only dogs can decorate! It was a case of his either chaining up ;he dogs or letting me have my way. After :alking it over with me, Roy went out and :alked it over with the dogs. They must aave told him they wouldn't care for chains /ery much. The house is now dark maroon. And there was the love seat in the living -oom which I wanted to do over. Roy held jut against it. But one day he sat down on i:he love seat while he had on levis with ;he inevitable screwdriver iutting out of his back pocket. There was a loud r-r-rip! — and a two-inch gash in the upholstery when he jumped up. (I've often wondered if that was his way of settling the argument without giving in on his stand!) Not long ago, he gave me a charm bracelet with 12 charms. Six of them — a grand piano with a top that opens up; a church; a pair of baby shoes; a typewriter, a Charlie McCarthy miniature, and a camera — practically tell the whole story of my early life. T.ie church is where I first sang publicly. I was five and without front teeth, so I sang the whole song, a Christmas carol, with my hand over my mouth. I was certain that everyone in the church would call out, "Hello, Miss Snag!" if they saw my bare gums. (Everyone in my family did, of course!) The piano represented my first music lessons as a child, lessons that I didn't practice faithfully because I was dying to play, not exercise, and attempted to learn by ear. Those days my parents kept after me always to practice. Now Roy does it. The typewriter was a reminder of how I got my actual start as a professional singer. I was a secretary in a Memphis insurance office when the boss happened to hear me singing at my work. The song was Mighty Lak A Rose, and my audience consisted of another secretary and the office boy. The boss insisted that I sing at an insurance association banquet for -which he was planning the entertainment. I did — and was heard by a radio program manager who gave me my first singing job with pay. The baby shoes, of course, are replicas of those of my son, Tommy, who was born to me in my first marriage. And the Charlie McCarthy charm stands for what I dreamed about when I started singing for a living, but never thought I would attain — the "big time," which I achieved when I signed with the Edgar Bergen radio show. Naturally, the camera means picture work, and shortly after that my association with Roy began. So the six remaining charms all have to do with us. There is a gold fence which represents our favorite picture together, Don't Fence Me In, a juke box which is a reminder of the records I have made, a tiny engraving of the first verse of the 46th Psalm — "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble" — which signifies our turning to the church as a family. The three remaining charms are a pearl-handled revolver with a barrel that twists, a rearing horse, and a good-luck token. These stand for, respectively, Roy, Roy and Roy. . . . And that's the story of our two loves— at the studio and at home. But I can't end it quite yet. No story involving Roy Rogers has ever been written without at least a mention of a certain horse. Yet, as you can see yourself, in this story I had no reason to bring him in. How am I going to do it? Oh, yes! You know one of the charms I mentioned above — the one that's a rearing horse? Of course! That's him! That's Trigger! 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