Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1963)

better, people tell me Gary is moping around, very blue. I say, you’re kidding. “Last week we heard the strangest thing. The house Gary’d bid for and couldn’t get, well, last week we heard the seller was willing to give it to us at our price. Not before, mind you, when we were ready to be married and had made our honeymoon reservations and all the rest. Then we couldn't have it. But now, the owner was willing to come down after he’d read in the papers the wedding was postponed. “So here we stand. You might say it’s like the status quo. Gary and I are very, very good friends. There’s the same amount of stimulation on both sides. It’s always been this way, as if we reacted to everything like one person. But if it’s not to be, GARY SAYS Continued from page 42 we set a date like the week after Easter. In the back of your mind you keep thinking, ‘I’ve got to find out now. I’ve got to know now, because it’s only thirty-three days away.’ Under this strain, you’ll keep arguing. You can’t think clearly enough about anything to find out what’s wrong. “Doubtless it’s a lack of maturity on both our sides. Connie and I keep arguing over nothing. Situations come up that just shouldn’t. “In the past we’ve often blown up at one another and had bitter arguments over some slight thing. And there’s been a lot of hurt and a lot of pain. But I always thought a lot of things would dissipate themselves and no longer be a problem by the time we finally got married. And I still think we can. “Everything seemed fine” “For a while we were very close to doing this. When I gave Connie her ring three months ago and we started making plans, everything seemed fine. We got along great. Then, all of a sudden, it was all back again. There was no reason that I could see. And this non-communication— we were like two strangers. “Maybe, as Connie feels, it’s because of a lack of awareness on my part where Connie and her problems are concerned. If that’s the case I’ve got to find out why. Anyway, we keep blowing up over nothing. Or rather, over what I’ve felt was nothing,” he adds. Then, on Christmas day, they had a veritable quarrel-a-thon. That was the argument to end all arguments. Plus ending, in all probability, immediate plans for their wedding. As Gary says, “I think that was the argument that started everything. That one started . . . the reaction.” Connie and Gary were making Christmas visits, and the first was the home of his former wife and her husband. “But we started arguing before we left Connie’s house,” Gary says now. “I don’t even remember what started it. That’s irrelevant anyway. But it was just nothing. Connie was in a very low mood Christmas day, and I tried to pull her out of it. I really tried — but I just couldn’t do it. “We left the house and went over to see my boys and take car coats and gifts we had for them. Connie was fine with them. The boys love her. We took pictures of Connie with them, and she was laughing and everything was apparently fine. We left the house, and she was right back in the mood again. We got out to my Dad’s place, and she was the life of the party. Laughing, you know, and bugging everybody. Then just as soon as we got back in the car, back in the mood. We went on to my brother’s house, and my mother was there, and Connie started telling her about the argument. And exaggerating everything, and I was saying, ‘Wait a minute, it wasn’t that way at all,’ and she kept needling, and I finally exploded and said, ‘Forget it.’ ” Connie feels Gary’s thinking about them has been influenced by his first marriage. “That’s been one of our big arguments,” she says. “I’ve told him again and again, ‘Please don’t compare me with anyone else. I’m not like anybody else.’ But Gary’s confusing our problem with all the other troubles he’s had in his life. Instead of being optimistic about us and remembering, well gee whiz, it’s already lasted six and a half years.’ ” “I am probably influenced by my former marriage,” Gary agrees, “but I know the heartache that was caused by the split-up. And I’m not comparing Connie with anyone. I’m making no personality comparisons at all. It’s the end result that concerns me. I saw what could happen. I know the sadness that was there. I’ve seen how much the hurt can be. And I want to make sure this doesn’t happen to Connie and me.” But Connie says “now or never.” This seems like an ultimatum to Gary. Especially since they had set the date, gotten the bridesmaids’ dresses, and even received some wedding gifts. But with his concern for their future, “I didn't feel we should let a diamond or a dress, or the press, influence us at this time. We’d made no official announcement about the wedding, and it was unfortunate that the news leaked out. For at that time we were still trying to iron things out between us, and the pressure from the press, added to the rest of it, only made it tougher. Neither of us could really think.” “Close to Valentine” Ironically enough, the columns announced a wedding just when they’d reached an impasse. They’d been making plans since Gary had given Connie her four-carat triangular shaped diamond in October. They’d chosen picturesque St. Francis de Sales Church in Sherman Oaks for their wedding. And they had decided to be married on February 9, which, as Gary says, “Was the closest date we could get to Valentine’s.” Contrary to the items printed, a church wedding presented no problem, other than their own awareness of the binding vows they would be exchanging there. “Connie well, I’m a big girl now. If I don’t marry this boy whom I certainly love, it’s good enough for me that we’ll have a fine relationship the rest of our lives. At least that’s the way I think about it.” — Jane Kesner Connie’s new film is Warners’ “Palm Springs Week-End.” Watch her on ABCTV’s “Hawaiian Eye,” Tues. 8:30 EST. wants a church wedding, and so do I,” Gary says. “Why would two people who love each other be married out of the church with the thought . . . ‘Well, if it doesn’t work, we’ll get a divorce.’ No religious problems “There was no problem with the church. My first marriage was performed by a minister of another faith in a wedding chapel. But we had to get all our certificates and things in order, and we couldn’t announce a date until then.” But there were outside pressures. Connie was being sued for half a million dollars. Gary’s contract with a major record label had hit a snag. His ex-manager was suing „ him for $25,000 to settle their contract. And he was working virtually around the clock on the set of “The Virginian,” at Revue Studios. “Connie says part of our trouble is the whole thing is too much responsibility for me now,” Gary goes on. “True, there would be studio problems, our problems and financial problems, and whether or not I can cope with all of them now is the important thing. With her sensitivity, am I going to make Connie’s life miserable because I’m too involved with my own problems and g career? “Our problems are within each of us. and they have to be solved individually. Connie can’t help me with mine. This is something I have to do by myself. Which is what I have done all my life. “I’m hoping the realization that we’re so close to spending the rest of our lives i together will help provide the answers for whatever has been wrong between us. Provide a more solid basis for a better under ! standing. And one thing sure, I think our love is going to last.” As this is written their official status !. is fairly indefinable. By Gary’s decision : the wedding is postponed. By Connie’s. 1 they’re no longer engaged. Connie and Gary are together a lot. And ’ getting along. And Gary still has marriage very much in mind. “Connie and I are seeing one another ; and it’s all very pleasant,” he says. “We’re :j not arguing, and I hope we can keep our relationship this way. That’s the only way if it will work. “I know we love each other. We’ve started again now — fresh. And I’m going to try and just make this thing bloom all over again. Then when it’s right — for Connie— for both of us, I’ll say, ‘All right, next Thursday is a very good day for a wedding.’ ” What if Connie has another date? “Well, if Connie’s going to have those 1 ten children,” grins Gary,” she’d better be there.” — Maxine Arnold See Gary on “The Virginian,” via NBCTV, every Wednesday night at 7:30 EST. !