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

Long Distance Love continued jrom page 27 ee. the cooperative, sensible, earnest ess, simply slipped away from Holly<1 on alternate Friday nights, perfecther 25-minute departure routine. An t p.m. takeoff from L.A.'s International x>rt landed her in New York at six next morning. By taxi-ing to the Colli apartment Lee was able to join her oand for breakfast. He was always irised: he kept expecting her to be id out and de-winged, v flying out of La Guardia Sunday at night. Lee was able to reach Holly4d in time to shower, gulp a cup of ee, and report to the studio brightd and a little smug over her secret, t was during one of these stolen week5 that the Collerans pioneered a family g that has stood them in good stead r since. One Saturday evening in the dleglow of their favorite bistro, they into discussion — over a glass of sherry •f foreign affairs. Bill had one idea iut the activities of the U.S. State Detment. Lee held another, iill became slightly intense about it. ?. in the indulgent manner of womand's standard reaction to man's academic cussion, remained unruffled. Smiling, changed the subject. "'I'm starved,'" j ■ said. jfa silence fell between them as they 1 oiled toward the small restaurant that j i become "theirs" during the year of '] ;ir courtship. Lee, busy with thoughts '.' Dut the picture she had abandoned in Hywood, had forgotten the problems the State Department in the first block. L~e had no idea that her preoccupation [ s weighing Bill with a feeling of guilt d remorse. " When Lee paused before a brightly 1 hted display window. Bill said, "Honey. i awful sorry. I didn't mean to get car •d away with world affairs/' In the same breath, Lee said, "Look. 11! Isn't that dress terrific?'' 1 It was a flame-colored chiffon cocktail i wn with a fitted bodice and a volumin s skirt. "I'll buy it for you," Bill announced. i aping on the window. The store was closed but obliging sales .■_ ople responded to the gestures of two t aarly interested customers. When Lee i .ed on the dress, it fitted as if it had •en made for her. Blissfully, husband and wife left the are hand in hand, the dress package sere under Bill's arm. "Tell you what," J • said. "Every time I get carried awayr i some subject and give you trouble, I'll v you a chiffon dress. Okay?" . "Okay." agreed Lee. She is still waiting r that second "chiffon apology" with ixed emotions. It would be nice to add her wardrobe, but Bill has never since unded off. He has even held his peace about her I -glits of fancv in the kitchen. Just before Christmas, 1957 (Lee's first as Mrs. Colleran), Lee decided that Christmas Eve should be made memorable. She hit upon the idea of serving Bill an Old English holiday dinner, complete with roast goose stuffed with chestnut dressing and served with creamed onions. For dessert there should be a flaming plum pudding. Naturally, there should be iced champagne to start the dinner, accompany it, and grace the dessert. The goose was delivered early on the morning of December 24th, a moment before Lee had to leave the apartment to fulfill a T\ commitment. It was frozen. Her cookbook noted that a goose of its labelled weight would take three hours to roast. With a fond pat Lee stowed the goose in the freezing compartment of the refrigerator and tripped forth into the sunshine of a December day. Three hours before serving time, Lee withdrew the fowl from the freezer, singed him, and tried to insert the chestnut dressing. Turned out that the giblets were frozen in the stuffing department and nothing, not ice pick, game shears, or expletive would set them free. She preheated the oven and tucked the goose inside, closing the oven door with more vigor than necessary. Next, she placed the stuffing, meatloaf fashion, in a casserole and congratulated herself on having outwitted the goose. When Bill came home the table was snowy with wedding gift linen, and glistened with wedding silver. The tall red candles were lighted, the champagne was chilled, the radio was playing Christmas carols, and Lee was resplendent in a red hostess gown. The Collerans clinked glasses gaily. Catastrophe arrived with the dinner hour. When the goose was removed from the oven, Lee found that it had melted on the surface only in diree hours. The stuffing was flat and unpalatable (dressing needs the juice of a roasting bird to give it character). So diey ate creamed onions and plum pudding, and hamburgers from the delicatessen. IN the spring of 1958, Lee and Bill fled a blizzard of TV and film offers and flew to Europe for a three-month honeymoon. They fell in love with \ enice. and in gondola trips to and fro on the Grand Canal they fell in love with the song sung by the gondoliers entitled, "Volare". Carried away by the magic of Italian spring and music, and their own love, they bought a dozen recordings of "Volare" to bring back to friends. When they returned to New York, the first sound that greeted their arrival at Idlewild was the public address system's well-worn rendition of "Volare". Another Venetian purchase had a happier sequel. Without knowing that Katherine Lee Colleran was on her way, ALTHOUGH an earnest actress, Lee is al-o devoted to her husband and little baby girl. they bought a full wardrobe for an infant girl. She was born on January 27. 1959. Kate was five weeks old when Lee signed to star in "Anatomy Of Murder" and prepared to jet to Michigan for the location, taking her daughter along. Bill was in complete agreement with the project, but Lee's friends inquired in horrified tones. "You surely aren't going to take a five-week-old baby to Michigan in the dead of winter, are you?" Lee answered calmly. "There are babies being born every day. winter or summer, in Michigan and they get along fine. Kate will too." So far. Kate has made three roundtrips between New York and California, has spent two months in Michigan, a week on Cape Cod, a week on Long Island, and two months in Tennessee. She has never known a sick day and she is at home everywhere, biting anything inanimate and making friends with all things animate. Lee has left Kate in Hollywood with her nurse and Bill on only one occasion: when Lee flew to the \ enice Film Festival in the summer of 1959, and stopped en route home for a few days in Paris and London. Kate scarcely seemed to have missed her mother, aside from the fact that she had learned during Lee s absence to say "Dadadada". It is suspected that she may have had some coaching. To minimize separations, the Collerans now have headquarters on both coasts, and have been able to correlate their activities. Lee regards the double residence plan as an advantage. She says, '"If we were determined to live only in one locality, our working opportunities would be cut in half, and that goes for our income, too. Living part time on either side of the continent gives us the experience of two different climates, insight into the attitudes and enthusiasms of two different societies, and friendships with twice one's usual variety of fascinating people. However, it all comes down to this: a family can be happy anywhere as long as the essence of its way of life is love. Love present, or love at long distance forever turned toward home." END 57