Modern Screen (Jan-Dec 1960)

I nominate for STARDOM continued The Cash Kings —and Queens as box-office bonanzas during '59. After Rock came: Cary Grant, James Stewart. Doris Day. Debbie Reynolds. Glenn Ford, Frank Sinatra. John Wayne, Jerry Lewis, Susan Hayward. It's the first time Debbie Reynolds has made the sacred-money circle and the second year in a row Doris Day has led the women. Again — male stars dominate as the top movie 'draws' — seven against three. Jerry Lewis is the only out-and-out comedian to make it — although the films of Debbie and Glenn Ford were 'light'. Only confirmed Western star is John Wayne. The entire industry considers this poll very important as it reveals — in a cash-on-the-line way — what the public wants. Once again Rock Hudson is back in No. 1 spot as the star who lured the most paying customers to the box offio during 1959. Rock had been on top in '57. slipped to No. 5 spot during 1958, then boomed back in '59 on the strength of This Earth is Mine and Pillow Talk. Only five other actors in the 28-year-old history of the Motion Picture Herald's poll of the nation's exhibitors, have bounded back to number one position after slipping. They are John Wayne, Bing Crosby. Mickey Rooney. Shirley Temple and Marie Dressier. Nice going, Rock. Now to get back to the others who rated Doris and Rock were votedtopbox-officestars. Visit from Marilyn Of all times to be told that Marilyn Monroe has dropped in unexpectedly to say "Hello" and is downstairs — is just after a gal has shampooed her hair and her head is dripping wet! Yes, that's what happened to me. This visit of MM's couldn't have been more surprising, as it was on the same day she gave a party to introduce Yves Montand and her other co-star of Let's Fall in Love, Frankie Vaughn, at the 20th Century-Fox studio. I was unable to attend the party — and believe me. no visitor could have surprised me more than the hostess dropping in the day of her party. Emily Post doesn't exactly cover this situation socially, so I just asked Marilyn to come up to my bedroom while my hair was pinned up to dry, and I finished dressing for a dinner engagement. I hadn't seen Marilyn for quite awhile — and I had been told she has put on weight. But she looked very pretty in a beige cocktail dress she had worn to the party and quite slender, I thought. Marilyn admitted she had lost some weight, "as usual" before starting a picture. Marilyn gave a party to introduce co-stars Yves (left) and Frankie. "You couldn't come to the party," laughed Marilyn, "so I came to you. You are one of the first friends I ever had in Hollywood." Marilyn seemed unusually happy and excited about starting a picture although she much prefers the original title of The Billionaire to the switch to Ler's Fall in Love. I asked her how she liked having two new co-stars, Yves and Frankie, the latter the singing idol of the British teenagers. "Oh, Yves is an old friend," she explained. "He was in Arthur's (Arthur Miller, her husband) play, The Citadel, in Paris. It was just a question of his learning English quickly, which wasn't hard for him. Yves speaks several languages fluently — and it was not hard for him to pick up English." As for Frankie Vaughn, Marilyn thinks he will be every bit as popular with the American fans as he is with the English after her picture is released. Ler's FaJJ in Love has been a long time getting started following a series of delays. "But we get going next Monday," said Marilyn, "and I'm looking forward to it." So what happens? On Monday our girl came down with the flu and the picture had to start without the star! All I can say is — I hope she didn't get the flu from my wet head! Peter Palmer— the genial giant ex-football star of the University of Illinois, who makes his screen debut as a full-fledged star in the title role Li'i Abner. Starting at the top is nothing new for Peter. His first appearance on the stage was as the star of Li'J Abner on Broadway. And when the show played Las Vegas for twelve weeks, Peter's name was up in electric lights in the gambling mecca. Having started as a star— he's beginning to wonder where he goes from here? "I owe my good start to a fluke," Pete tells you honestly. "When producers Norman Panama and Melvin Frank were getting ready to cast their Broadway version of Al Capp's cartoon, they happened to be looking at some TV shows hoping to get some new talent. They happened to turn the dial to Ed Sullivan's show just as I was doing my bit as one of the Army talent contest winners singing Granada. Later, they told me they made up their minds then and there that I was their 'Li'l Abner'." However, it took Panama and Frank two weeks to locate Pete and make the necessary arrangements with the Army to fly him to New York for an audition. "I had done a lot of singing at the University of Illinois and during my Army stint — but 'Abner' was my first professional engagement," Pete says. Of the two mediums — the stage and the movies, he prefers motion pictures. He felt not a whit nervous before the cameras, because he had played the part so long on Broadway it was second nature to him. Although his home town is Milwaukee, Pete attended the "U" of Illinois and played right tackle on the football team from '50 to '54. When he started singing the school wits dubbed him "Brawn 'n' Brahms." Now he hopes it will be "Pete 'n' Pictures." 12