Screenland Plus TV-Land (Jul 1959 - May 1960)

STUART WHITMAN continued 'Marriage has helped me keep my feet on the ground. It Since he couldn't belong anywhere, he fought to get on the inside. He adopted a belligerent attitude, such as the one he had when he told everyone that the old train which had sat near his grandmother's house for years, unused, was his train. And then he waited for anyone to try to dispute his "ownership" claim. Being a fighter wasn't new to Stuart because his father was, as Stuart put it, "Always putting his dukes up and showing me how to use my fists." Actually, the relationship between Stuart and his father in those early days wasn't an ideal one. The young kid made a point of staying clear of his father as much as possible. He even tried to eat dinner before his dad came home because he'd get a whack if his manners weren't all they should be. Consequently, Stuart went into his own shell. Wherever Stuart moved, and most of the places he lived in in the East, he found gangs. After he had his first fight he decided to have his own outfit called the Fifth St. Gang. He had plenty of buddies to follow him. "After I finished the first grade I went to live with some friends of my family's in Connecticut," Stuart said. "In summers, my parents sent me to a farm or some camp, and STUART and Patty eloped in 1952 after she'd become engaged to another. She has since admitted she planned the whole thing. for a while I lived with my grandmother and several of my cousins. I don't remember being close to anyone at the time, although I did enjoy listening to my older cousin Terry tell us scary stories at nights. "From the beginning, I was hard to get along with. I had a man-sized temper. I recall once getting mad at my grandfather. He had a furniture store and to get even with him I painted some of the furniture green. Boy! did my dad tan my hide then! I was almost raw! "I had a crazy attitude then. I got pleasure out of doing something dangerous because then I felt I was closer to living. I used to do risky things — like in the winter taking my sled and riding down the roller coaster. I also used to dive off the pier in winter — without knowing how to swim. After I did this enough I learned how to swim all right, even without lessons. "To me, school was a waste of time — from the very beginning. I didn't like many subjects except arithmetic and I hated that later. Above all. I loathed spellin?. My only school memories are those times when I was called into the principals' offices because I'd been fighting — and facing my mother and father there. After each meeting, my dad belted me good. I was expelled from over half of the schools I attended — and I had gone to 26 of them by the time I was ready for high school." Stuart's parents recognized that his temper was his biggest problem. They talked to him about it but nothing seemed to do much good. However, his mother can still remember the time he came home and proudly said to her. "Mom. I had a right to lose my temper todav but T didn't." The way he bragged about it proved he had moments when he tried to control himself. He didn't lose his temper with his dad. though, because he knew his father would take care of him for that Few people touched his life until he spent almost a year in upstate New York. His parents had taken a cottage near a lake — his father was starting a housing development nearby — and there were no conveniences of any kind. Water even had to be carried from the lake to the house. But there he met two people who brought some warmth into his existence, who made him feel that he mattered. One was a man who was a snake trader and the other was a girl. "I used to go out in my boat with a shotgun and pop off the heads of turtles and snakes that I could see above the water." Stuart said. "One dav this man caught me and gave me quite a lecture. He then told me that each animal had a purpose in life, even the poisonous snakes. He had a boa constrictor, several rattlers and other snakes penned up in his cabin, all of which fascinated me. "r I ^HERE were a good many coral snakes in that country, so -J I'd go out and catch them for him. He sold them and gave me a commission. We had quite a friendship. "As for the girl — at 14 I fell in love for the first time. She was the daughter of a judge in the town and the only friend I made in school that semester. I thought she was great. But before the romance could really bloom my dad brought me the fatal news — we were moving again and I had to leave her. It almost broke my heart. We wrote to each other for quite a while and then the letters dwindled away." Before Stuart left this upstate New York town, however, he had his first taste of acting when, as a school activity, he worked two seasons in summer stock. But the bug didn't bite him too hard. Then his family moved to California — and, of course, his continued on page 64 48