Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1963)

ROCK and MARILYN continued. they say you’re headed for the altar. If you date a girl only one time, they say you've split up. Believe me, this is no big, red hot romance.” And so they were married — then. Now Marilyn, when asked about her relationship with Rock, says, ‘‘All the gossip is spoiling a beautiful friendship.” That’s what they say — sometimes — but it’s how they act all the time that really counts. Put together the column items that appeared during Marilyn’s recent serious illness, place them on one of those foot-of-the-bed charts you find in ‘‘Ben Casey” hospital rooms, and you'll see the dramatic record of a brave woman's fight against disease. But in addition to this up-anddown graphing of illness, you'll also discover a constant line that runs clear across the chart: a man’s concern for a woman. Chart entry #1, made by columnist Dorothy Manners: ‘‘Rock Hudson has stepped up his long-distance calls to Marilyn Maxwell in Westchester Hospital in Mt. Kisco, N.Y., to three a day. That’s how worried he is over Marilyn’s condition. Marilyn had been told she would be in for four or five days. Now it has been stretched to two weeks or more. But, as Rock keeps telling me when he calls from the set of ‘A Gathering Of Eagles,’ the main thing is for her to receive proper treatment and care for the intestinal disorder which hospitalized her.” Chart entry #2, made by columnist Louella Parsons: ‘‘Shocking word received by Rock Hudson about Marilyn Maxwell’s condition at a Mt. Kisco hospital following surgery. She has been put on the ‘gravely ill’ list. Still tied up in his picture, Rock is putting in long-distance calls to her bedside every few hours.” Chart entry #3, made by columnist Sheilah Graham: “Rock Hudson gave me good news of Marilyn Maxwell. ‘She’s very much better,’ Rock told me happily. Marilyn has had a bad stretch of illness in the last month or so.” Chart entry #4, made by columnist Sheilah Graham: “Marilyn Maxwell, recuperating at the home of her brother in Armonk, N.Y., is receiving constant bouquets of flowers from Rock Hudson. ‘I’m getting well, and the florist is getting wealthier,’ pens Marilyn.” Chart entry #5, made by columnist Louella Parsons: “Rock Hudson heads directly to Armonk, N.Y., and Marilyn Maxwell when he finishes his final scene in ‘A Gathering Of Eagles,’ in Omaha. ‘Marilyn is much better and much happier since she’s been joined by her five-yearold son Matthew,’ Rock tells me. ‘In fact, she’s entered the youngster in kindergarten there.’ ” Chart entry #6, made by columnist Hedda Hopper: “Rock Hudson’s best girl, Marilyn Maxwell, is getting a bit restless in Armonk, but her doctors insist she hang around for another month until she is well.” A rising-falling chart of illness; a constant graph of love! An unfair diagnosis? Just a nice guy’s normal, sympathetic reaction to the plight of a friend in trouble? Well, let’s focus on two other related scenes, then, involving the two. Scene 1 — just before Marilyn was to fly from California to New York to open at the Latin Quarter. Here’s what happened, in Marilyn’s own words: “When I was leaving Los Angeles to come east, Rock was the last one I talked to on the phone. I knew he had to attend the preview of his latest picture, ‘The Spiral Road,’ that day and would be too busy to see me off. I asked him to call me at the airport, if he found time, to let me know what the critics said about the film, if they liked it. “About five minutes before my plane was to leave, I was called to the phone over the public address system. It was Rock. “I almost fainted when he told me he was downstairs at the airport. He had rushed all the way out after the screening to see me off. I was so touched, I felt like crying." Scene 2 — Marilyn’s Latin Quarter opening. Even with her rush-rush, last-minute preparations for her night (Continued on page 88)