Modern Screen (Jan-Dec 1960)

Bob said. "I committed a crime, I was caught and now they're going to get me." "This crime," the Chaplain asked, "what was it?" "I told you I stole," Bob said. "And you stole what — a jeep, a truck, an airplane?" the Chaplain asked. "Aw, come on. You know what I stole," Bob said. "You've read the reports. I stole a can of gasoline." "And why, Private?" the Chaplain asked. Bob shrugged. "It's not important," he said. "But it is," the Chaplain said. "If you're convicted of this charge it could mean years, long years, in prison." "So what?" Bob asked. "I want you to tell me why," the priest said, raising his voice now, the smile gone from his face. "I want you to stop being a wise guy and tell me why, so that maybe I can help you." "Well," said Bob, "at night when you and all the other officers are sleeping in your barracks, we guys — " He looked down. "You guys what?" asked the Chaplain. "We guys," said Bob " — we're out in those tents of ours." "Yes," the Chaplain said, breathing deeply, "yes, I know." "Father," Bob went on, staring down at his shoes, "the last few nights . . . it's been murder. Fifty-five below. Fifty-eight below. Four nights ago one of our guys, while he was sleeping, his ears froze and turned black on him. The next morning the medics came and took him away. That afternoon they cut off one of his ears. A big guy. A healthy guy. They took off one of his ears." "Yes," the Chaplain said. "And two nights ago," Bob said, "I woke up. It was in the middle of the night. And I saw this guy who sleeps next to me. He'd been mumbling something about his fin gers beginning to turn color and freeze. He was afraid they were going to freeze but good in a few hours and that they'd have to be cut off, too. And so he was standing there now, trying to make a fire out of two lousy post-cards he'd received from home. He was crying and shivering and afraid, and his hands were so frozen he couldn't even strike the match. . . . "Well," Bob said. He paused. "Well, our stove had gone out. We'd used up all the gasoline we had for the night. We needed more. I knew, too, where the gasoline was stored. So I left the tent and went there and stole a can and came back and filled up our stove. It was a little warmer after that. It wasn't as cold as it had been before." He looked up. "That's it," he said. "That's what happened." "And you were caught," the Chaplain said. "This sergeant," Bob said, "in the morning, he followed my footprints from the storehouse to the tent. I was caught, all right." The Chaplain offered Bob a cigarette now. and took one for himself. For a while neither of them, the priest nor the private, spoke. And then the priest said, "Blake, I'm going to see what I can do for you, see if I can get you out of this mess." Bob shook his head. "Father, I don't want to sound like that wise guy you were talking about before. But I say what I think. And I think that if you're doing this for me to be grateful, so that I start coming to Chapel on Sundays or do any of those things I don't do any more — well, I just don't want you to go wasting your time then. I'm not the kind of guy who goes to church or anything like that." "You mean you don't want me bugging you about God?" the Chaplain asked. "If that's the way you want to put it," Bob said. The Chaplain shook his head. "I'm not going to bug you, Blake," he said. "I'm going to try to help you, period, no strings attached, because I think you did the right thing, because I don't want you to be punished for something you felt you had to do . . . About God — " He sighed. "God will help you in His own way, in a way and at a time He deems best, when you're most alone, when you need His help most. For God, you see, Private, God — " He shook his head again and put out his cigarette. "I'll try to help you, son," he said, then. " — period, no strings attached. All right? . . . That's all." "I got out of the court-martial, thanks to the priest," Bob remembers. "And after a while my Army hitch was over and I got out of that. And I found myself back in L.A., in Hollywood. And I found that things seemed somehow different about me. my life. I wanted to work, really wanted to work, for the first time. I wanted friends, too, people to like and to like me. It wasn't easy at the beginning. But as time passed, things worked out. I started getting the jobs, good jobs. And I started having friends. And I was closer to any kind of happiness than I'd ever been before. Like I am now . . . Sometimes I wonder how it happened. Why it happened. I honestly don't know. But sometimes I find myself thinking that maybe it has to do with what that big Irish priest told me that day, about God. God helping you when you're most alone, when you need that help. And I find myself thinking, Well, maybe. . . ." end Robert is in The Purple Gang. Allied Artists. 7. I LIKE LANA TURNER: GO more than almost any star GO a lot GO fairly well GO very little GO not at all 00 am not very familiar with her 1 READ: GO all of her story GO part GO none IT HELD MY INTEREST: GO super-completely GO completely \T\ fairly well GO very little GO not at all 8. I LIKE PAT BOONE: GO more than almost any star 00 a lot HO fairly well 00 very little 00 not at all 00 am not very familiar with him 1 READ: [j] all of his story 00 part 00 none IT HELD MY INTEREST: GO super-completely GO completely QO fairly well GO very little GO not at all 9. I LIKE DIANE VARSI: nrj more than almost any star [T| a lot 13. The stars I most want to read about are: (3) AGE NAT ADDRESS CITY 0 fairly well 00 very little 00 not at all 00 am not very familiar with her 1 READ: [TJ all of her story GO part 00 none IT HELD MY INTEREST: [TJ super-completely GO completely 00 fairly well [JJ very little GO not at all 10. I LIKE BRIGITTE BARD0T: GO more than almost any star GO a lot 00 fairly well GO very little GO not at all 00 am not very familiar with her 1 READ: GO all of her story 00 part GO none IT HELD MY INTEREST: GO super-completely GO completely 00 fairly well GO very little GO not at all 11. I LIKE JANET LEIGH: GO more than almost any star GO a lot GO fairly well GO very little 00 not at all 00 am not very familiar with her I LIKE TONY CURTIS: GO more than almost any star GO a lot 00 fairly well 00 very little 00 not at all GO am not very familiar with him 1 READ: GO all of their story GO part GO none IT HELD MY INTEREST: GO super-completely GO completely 00 fairly well GO very little GO not at all 12. I LIKE GENE BARRY: GO more than almost any star GO a lot GO fairly well GO very little GO not at all GO am not very familiar with him I READ: GO all of his story GO part GO none IT HELD MY INTEREST: GO super-completely GO completely 00 fairly well GO very little GO not at all (1) . (2) . (3) . . ZONE STATE