Modern Screen (Dec 1949 - Nov 1950)

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Marta has the chiseled features of a Swedish beauty . . . she found the U.S.A. friendly from the start . . . American slang really puzzled her you don't have to know the language by Jane Wilkie ■ The first fan letter Marta Toren ever got read like this: "Dear Marta, Your sex appeal drives men mad. You hit the jackpot, baby." "Baby?" she puzzled. "I am not a baby. And what, please, is a jackpot? What is this I have hit?" It was the first of thousands of fan letters, all of them pretty much the same. Sweden seems to have an uncanny ability to turn out ravishing beauties, and is kind enough to donate them to the United States. Garbo was the first, then came Ingrid. There have been others — Viveca Lindfors, Signe Hasso — knockouts, each one. Marta Toren is the latest, and perhaps the fairest, with her wide, lovely eyes, her tall yet curvesome figure, her high cheek bones and chiseled features. But Marta has something that even Garbo never had; a delicious sense of humor and a zest for living that will never let her become a haloed recluse. It's often difficult for foreigners to understand the informality and brashness of Americans, but when Marta arrived three years ago, a shy and homesick girl, she summed up the whole continent as friendly, and she wanted to become American in every way. It hasn't been easy. Two months after her arrival she was starred in Casbah, with Tony Martin. The extent of her English was confined to what she had been taught in Swedish schools, by Swedish teachers, so her lines for the film were learned by memorizing the sounds. One day, the whole set was quivering with high-strung people, notably the director and producer who had disagreed on a point of production. Tony Martin wandered over to Marta's dressing room. "It would be nice," he said, "if you went to the director and said something to ease the situation. You know — something to let him know you are sorry that things are not going well." "Ya," said Marta. "What is it I am to say?" Martin wrote a few words on a scrap of paper and handed it to her. Marta read the message and looked up with a puzzled expression. • "I am not stupid," she said. "These words — they do not sound quite right." "Don't worry," Martin told her. "It's American slang — means you're sorry. Go ahead. It'll be all right." And as Marta walked toward the director, Martin winked at him behind her back. Once more she consulted the note in her hand, then looked at the director sympathetically. "Drop dead, you dumb jerk," she said, sweetly. "Thank ^you, Marta," said the director. "That's very kind of you." It was the joke of the afternoon and accomplished its purpose of breaking tension EXPERTS TOOK HER BY THE HAND. THEY EVEN TOLD HER WHAT TO SAY— BUT WHEN THEY LET MARTA TOREN WALK