Modern Screen (Jan-Dec 1960)

Debbie Reynolds: Frustration (Continued from page 21) survive on any less. I do some dating on the weekend, when I don't have to work. But, sometimes I'd just as soon go out with friends, as I went to the Dean Martin testimonial dinner with the Buddy Adlers. It's comfortable to go out with old friends, and then I can leave and go home any time I want. "Even though my life has no romance, I'm not without love. I have a great deal of love in my life. The love of my children. When you have two young children like mine, your house is full of love and there is plenty to do, just picking up after them. "I also have the love of my family and of my friends. I have friends I have known for years and years, and I can't say merely that I like them. They are so close to me that I love them." Millionaires and a gas station attendant But what about recurrent rumors of new romances for Debbie? One columnist even boldly predicted that she would become the new Mrs. Harry Karl as soon as he was free of Joan Cohn. Debbie laughed over that one. "I don't even date him now," she said. "I don't believe in dating someone who is not free of his marriage. When he is divorced, I'll probably go out with him again. Harry is one of the nicest people I know; he's kind and generous and has done a great deal of good for many persons. But there's no question of a romance." Nor is there any romantic attachment involved in her dates with Bob Neal, she said. "I've known Robert for nine years — almost since I started in the business," she explained. "We have fun on a date and we're excellent friends. That's all." The same goes for Leon Tyler, she added. He is an old buddy and they like to go dancing together — when she isn't tied up in a picture and he isn't working at his father's gas station. It somehow seemed quite like Debbie to number as her dates two millionaires and an actor who pumps gas in a service station. I asked her if she shared Kim Novak's complaint about the scarcity of males in Hollywood. For that and other reasons, Kim prefers the New York life. "It's true that there might be a more solid group of men to pick from in New York," Debbie said. "You have a more stable community there; there are men of the advertising world and the stock market. Out here in Hollywood, there are fewer men, and many of those lack stability. "But the lack of eligible males doesn't concern me right now. And I'm different from Kim, anyway. When I go home after work, my two children are there, and the house is lively and full of love. There's no chance to be lonely. "When you work all day and then go home to an empty house, it can be awfully lonely. No matter how many servants you have, it's still a lonely house." She conceded that in Hollywood her dates are likely to be actors, and she's not so sure that is a good idea. "I think it's a good idea to date men who are in the industry or understand it," she said. "It's a lot easier when they know what you have to face. A lot of men wouldn't understand when you said you had to leave the party at ten because you had to work the next day. Or they would resent it when you stopped to talk to fans in a public place. "But though I feel an actress needs a man who understands her problems, I'm not so sure of the actor-actress relationship. There is bound to be some competi tion present, and that's bad for a marriage. "In some cases, the actor-actress relationship has worked. Take Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis. They had their problems, but they have worked them out and they're very happy together. But one of the main reasons is that Janet has subordinated her career to Tony's. She doesn't make many pictures any more. That's the way most marriages of actors and actresses succeed." Filling the vacuum in her life But isn't it difficult for an actress to loosen her grip on a career she has fought so hard for? "It wasn't for me," Debbie replied. "I did it when I was married to Eddie. I made only three pictures in a three-year period. I didn't mind. I felt my home and family were more important." The bust-up with Eddie changed all that. She is devoted to her children spends more time with them than many working mothers. But the vacuum in her life caused by the end of her marriage has been filled by work, work and more work. Debbie has been on a schedule that would make a stevedore tired. She has gone from one picture to another with scarcely a day off between. Say One for Me . . . It Started with a Kiss . . . The Gazebo . . . The Rat Race . . . The Pleasure of His Company. . . . All of them big, important pictures. All of them hard work for Debbie. "The only thing that saved me was going to Hawaii for a month," she said. "I took all my family along, so I could really rest; I wouldn't be able to relax if they were back here. I slept most of the time. I got up late, sat on the beach and then took a nap with the children. I was back in bed by nine o'clock at night." Besides making movies, Debbie has served as president of The Thalians, the charity organization of young people of Hollywood. "It has been a big job, but well worth it," she said. "We put on two big dinners this year. Our last one raised $100,000. Deducting expenses, that means $80,000 will go toward helping mentally disturbed children." Debbie is no mere figurehead in the organization. She pitches right, in and helps with plans and projects, playing a major part in the entertainment at the dinners. She is not a girl to do anything half-way, and that helps to explain the tremendous leaps her career has taken. Until recently, she has been tied to MGM, for whom she has labored ten years. But now she has only one more picture to make for the old home lot and she will be her own master. She has the future well planned. Already Debbie has made a dream deal for several films with Perlberg-Seaton, which will bring her a healthy salary, plus ten per cent of the gross income. That means for every dollar that comes into the box office, Debbie gets a dime. Only a dozen top stars in Hollywood can exact that kind of deal. "Then I've got my own company, Harman Productions," she said. "It's named after my grandmother — it's my mother's maiden name and a lucky one. I've already bought a story that I'd like to do, and the company would make pictures that I didn't appear in, too. "This doesn't mean that I'm going to blossom out as the girl producer. I'd be out of my head to try that. I'll hire a producer who knows what he's doing, and I'll sit in on the preparations. 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