Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1963)

Continued from page 8 Elizabeth Taylor fans (over 1600 of them). They couldn't wait to get their hands on tickets for a film that was (at the time) five months off! That fact will, no doubt, displease and confound the letters-to-the-editor senders, who denounce Miss Taylor and her friendly co-star, Richard Burton, for making their idyll so public. Many of them went so far as to threaten to boycott “Cleopatra” and any attractions offering the talents of Liz and Dickie. The fact is that few stars have been jilted by the public when they were trapped in alleged scandal: Lana Turner, for example. Ingrid Bergman survived her ordeal with Roberto Rossellini. Doris Day was heading the list of movie stars (at the box-office) when she landed on the Page Ones. She still is No. One box-office. Jayne Mansfield, to the amazement of many, landed among the Top Ten ticketsellers this year. One of us is willing to wager that it wasn't her histrionics, but her romantic roles off-the-screen. What we are trying to report is that getting your name in the paper via juicy headlines that keep tongues cluck-clucking no longer hurts at the box-office. As it did when tremendously popular Fatty Arbuckle of the Silent Screen got himself in a front-pager involving a young lady who died in his bathtub during a wild party. “Cleopatra” has been told so many times it will hardly be a novelty. Expert showmen are sure the drawing power and beauty-magic of Elizabeth Taylor will account for the packed houses during the predicted long run. Would Liz still pack them in without the Burton headlines? I think so. But not at $5 per ticket. The foregoing recalls the time that one of the greatest of the opera larks complained to her manager. “The critics all said I sing beautifully. They even mentioned my lovely costumes and said I was gorgeous to look at. Then why don't I play to crowded houses?” “My dear,” replied her manager, “you have such a beautifully clean reputation that if you really want to be a popular star — get yourself involved in a scandal!” That counsel doesn’t apply to non-showpeople. For some strange reason, when common folks get involved with other men’s wives (and so forth) they invariably pay a very high price for their folly. There was Mr. Nobody, for instance, who was rewarded with a trip to Paris by his Steel Company boss, for twenty-five years of loyalty and never being tardy. Our Hero, a single man. was intoxicated bv the Paris scene on his first night there. He landed in the front page headlines following a raid on a lady’s suite. Her husp band named him co-respondent. When the cables flashed the story over “You have disgraced this company!” he yelled. “Come back at once. You are fired!” “But.” butted the innocent bystander, “there was nothing wrong, really. It is true I was in her apartment, but the door was wide open!” “You fool!” bellowed Mr. Boss. “Doors were meant to be closed!” New Yorkers back from holidays at San Juan are still yak-yakking about Juliet Prowse’s appearance at the Caribe Hilton. Her performance, they reported, “was so hot the night club burned down.” Which is a fact. We caught Juliet’s act at the Winter Garden (where the critics scolded her harshly for being so nekked ) and we can’t blame that blaze on her talent alone. We suspect the arson followed the heat generated by her alleged costumes. That is, her lack of them. They could not be scantier. We plan asking a jury of star strippers (Gypsy Rose Lee. Lili St. Cyr & Co.) to study La Prowse’s so-called GStrings and then tell us what kind of a string is skinnier than Juliet’s. You just cannot believe your eyes! ❖ Yves Montand was among the stars who entertained at a Washington affair to help the Democrats pay off bills to put JFK in the White House. Yves was asked what he’d like to see most while in the Capital. He put the Mona Lisa on top of his list and chuckled: “I've always been too busy to see her in Paris.” ❖ Dorothy Lamour and her mother were feasting in the Cub Room of the Stork Club the other night before going to witness Bert I.ahr in his new hit. “The Beauty Part.” We had the adjacent table. “I see your piece in Photoplay every month,” flattered Dorothy. “How come you never mention me?” She then told us that she still gets royalty checks (after 20 years) for the various “Road” films she made with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. “The Road to Morocco” epic (which was televised again recently) brought Dorothy a check for sixteen cents. She says she mailed a photostat of the check to Bing and Bob with this memo: “Can you poor boys afford this?” To which Hope telegraphed back: “Aw, Shaddopp! You've been Overpaid!” * Celebeauties About Town: Gorgeous Elaine Stewart rushing to Channel 7's “Girl Talk” program which she enlivened with her bubbling banter. She revealed that she married William Carter, her longtime uh-huhney, abroad. . . . Former child stars Jane Withers and Freddie Bartholomew swapping hand-waves at the Hotel Stanhope’s Rembrandt Room. . . . Inger Stevens taking in the hit shows between Jets. . . . Susan Kohner amusing autographcollectors by removing a shoe which has her signature inscribed. . . . Dinah Shore at the “40 Pounds of Trouble” opening, getting the lustiest hand. * Robert Stack, the star of “The Untouchables,” reluctantly agreed to play the role for a fourth year, arguing that he didn't want to be typed. He was talked into signing, however, when Desilu agreed to buy his one-fourth ownership in the popular series. They gave him One Million Dollars in Desilu stock. Oscar Fraley, the UPI sports page historian, whose book on Eliot Ness inspired that series, plans a film titled “The Story of Eliot Ness.” It will deal with the Prohibition Agent’s life after he helped put A1 Capone in Alcatraz Prison via income tax fraud, etc. “The Untouchables” deals only with the four years Ness served Uncle Sam. Fraley offered Stack a young mint to play Mr. Ness, but Stack politely declined. Mr. Fraley will produce the picture anyway, confident that he can sign an actor who will do justice to the role and the film. Will another image (instead of Bob Stack) help or hurt “The Story of Eliot Ness?” Considering how Mr. and Mrs. Television embraced Bob Stack in their homes year after year? I wonder. I also am reminded of the show-biz adage: “You are never really missed. The curtain always goes up!” ❖ Anthony Quinn’s realistic drunk-scenes with Margaret Leighton in the play “TchinTchin” remind some people (who know him well) what good acting it is. He is a teetotaler. Never touches the stuff. * Is a Puzzlement: While strolling Broadway the other night, I decided to aeain drop in to see some of “The Longest Day.’’ In Manhattan this movie is called “a hard ticket.” meaning “two performances a day.” Reserved seats. The film had just started and the box-office was turning away tardy patrons, but they let me in. To my wonderment. I noticed a good many empty pews. Why were people told “no more seats?” Prob’ly the management figures it is better advertising ( Continued on page 96)