Modern Screen (Dec 1949 - Nov 1950)

WHY SHIRLEY'S MARRIAGE FAILED! (Continued from page 26) 56 knew she was no golfer. She's never been much of any sort of an athlete. Some girls aren't. As a schoolgirl, Shirley accepted this lack of prowess philosophically. She had many other compensations. But when she married Jack Agar and discovered after three years that time and circumstance had made her a golf widow, she decided to do something about it. Golf, she felt, would give her more hours with Jack, more common ground to share with him. She began to take lessons and to play. She trudged down the fairways even though she didn't like the game, even though it meant blisters and sore feet and weary muscles. She tried, as part of her marriage, to make a success of the sport. You see, she figured that if only she could make a go of the various parts which constituted the whole of her marriage, then it followed logically that the marriage would have to succeed. But despite all her efforts, despite all Jack's — despite the most sincere, heartfelt and determined combined effort, the most celebrated screen marriage of modern times was announced a failure on October 13, 1949 — exactly four years, 23 days, 11 hours and seven minutes after it was established. tried so hard . . . Six months before her divorce announcement, Shirley got together with her lawyers, George Stahlman and Grant Cooper, in a series of conferences concerned with the state of her unhappiness with John Agar. "She discussed the possibility of divorce," her lawyers said, "and we all decided that first, everything must be done to avoid it. If however, it became unavoidable, then the divorce was to be conducted as quickly, quietly and respectably as possible, and Shirley was to say nothing to anyone." By October, Shirley became convinced that she and Jack would never be able to see eye-to-eye on the really basic, important points of marriage. It was a conclusion she reached sadly, because it implied that she had failed in a woman's major work in life — wifehood. "I didn't want to break up my home and my marriage," she sobbed later. "I didn't want it to be this way. I start to cry every time I think about raising the baby without her father." The basic truth in the Shirley TempleJack Agar marriage is that for more than 30 months before Shirley decided to call it quits, the marriage had not been happy. During that, time, these two sterling young people had been living a brave lie. In magazine layouts, in newspaper interviews, on the screen and on the radio they had played the perfect young couple, the blissful young-marrieds; and yet through it all, Shirley knew in her heart that this was a horrible mockery. More than two years ago she went to David Selznick and said, "My marriage is going on the rocks. What shall I do?" Selznick, Who has both Shirley and Jack under contract, could help the bewildered little actress very little. "In a case like yours," he said paternally, "you must follow the dictates of your own heart and your own mind." For almost two-and-a-half years, Shirley followed those dictates. She gave birth to her daughter, and Jack developed into a rising young star; but even these two milestones had no adhesive effect on the marriage, and gradually it began to rend apart at the seams. By last October, Shirley was convinced that a thorough disintegration had set in, that whatever hope there had once been for re-building the marital structure had completely dissolved. After a conference with her parents and lawyers, she decided to file for divorce. She and her little daughter, Linda Susan, went down to Palm Springs and there joined Shirley's parents. Despite the fact that the Desert Inn was then officially closed, the management saw to it that Shirley and her family occupied a cottage. "For six days," Shirley says, "I tried to think out the best thing to do. I didn't want to break up my home and my marriage, but there was no other way." Shirley came back to Los Angeles and spoke with her lawyers. "I'm going through with it," she told them. She then phoned her husband — he was staying at his mother's house in Beverly Hills — and told him that she was filing for divorce. Jack was stunned. He had no idea that for six months Shirley had been confering with her lawyers. "When Shirley came home from Palm Springs," he says, "and told me that she wanted a divorce, I was shocked. It was the first news I had had about her intentions. I'm sorry it happened. I agree with Shirley that the divorce must be conducted in a dignified manner. But I don't have an attorney." A day later, however, Jack hired legal counsel, because one afternoon after Shirley told him her fateful decision, he was presented with a copy of the formal legal complaint that had been filed one hour previously in the clerk's office at the California Superior Court. By this time, of course, the news that Shirley Temple had filed a divorce complaint was emblazoned in headlines across the front pages. Shirley, despite her lawyers' warnings, had also called many of the local journalists to explain her action. She told them, "I don't want to hurt Jack. He's a nice boy but he's a little mixed up. . . . We have been trying to make this marriage work. We both tried hard. We really did. But it just didn't work." In Shirley's complaint, which was a legal masterpiece of brevity, she charged that Jack had "treated her with extreme cruelty and inflicted grievous mental suf MODERN SCREEN "You see the movie, dear — I'm staying home tonight.' fering." No particulars were mentioned The complaint also stated that Jack anc Shirley had no community property; thai Shirley wanted no alimony, no support only the custody of the baby; and that Jack could have rights of "reasonable visitation"— which means he can visit his daughter almost any time he wants. Now, once this complaint hit the press the news-hungry public realized that to aU intents and purposes it was a whitewash that said nothing. And they demanded to know the true story behind the divorce. The Hollywood reporters were compelled therefore to give rational explanations. Shirley had filed for divorce, newspaper reports then implied, because: (1) Shirley was more than fond of Johnny . Johnston, crooning Jiusband of actress Kathryn Grayson. (2) Shirley's husband was more than fond of a number of girls around town. (3) Shirley and Jack had been involved in a violent ir.-law mess. (4) Career rivalry came between Shirley and Jack. All these stories are false. The true reason for the break-up is that Shirley and Jack were mis-mated from the very beginning. At 17, Shirley was too young to get married, and at 24, Jack was too young to marry an American institution. mix-ups . . . But first, let's get to the reasons ascribed to the divorce: Johnny Johnston, a slim, curly-headed blond crooner from Kansas City, is the husband of Kathryn Grayson and the father of three children — one by Kathryn, and two by a previous wife. He married Kathryn in Carmel, California on August 21, 1947, and while she was pregnant, he began shooting a lot of golf. On the golf links, he met Jack Agar, the two began playing together, and this naturally led to a fairly close friendship. It was a friendship, however, that Kathryn Grayson didn't particularly like. She felt that her husband was seeing too much of Mr. and Mrs. Agar at a time when she was at home awaiting a baby. "I didn't feel very well," Kathryn was quoted as explaining, "and thought Shirley wasn't very kind to invite Johnny to go with them . . . when I was home all alone. Shirley had a baby and she should have known how I felt, and I told her so, too. And then there was one time when we had a spat, and Johnny took off and went to live at the Agar house." To this, Shirley is reported to have replied, "Kathryn is pretty silly to take such an attitude. John did ask my husband if he could come to our house and stay a few days when he was having trouble with his wife. But he stayed in the chauffeur's quarters, and Jack was always in the house as long as he stayed." According to Kathryn, the man mainly responsible for the rumors about her and Johnny Johnston and the Agars is Joe Kirkwood, Jr., another golfing crony of Jack Agar, and the actor who plays Joe Palooka in pictures. Kirkwood recently married Cathy Downs. "A few weeks ago," Kathryn explained, "I heard that Joe was telling different columnists about trouble between me and Johnny. I was so angry I went to see him to talk about it. When I left his place I slipped and sprained my arm." "I wish she'd sprained her neck," Kirkwood was reported as saying. "I was just trying to help everybody out and persuade Kathryn that she was wrong in thinking