Modern Screen (Dec 1938 - Nov 1939 (assorted issues))

MODERN SCREEN Cary grinned and for the first time looked matey and friendly and lost that on-the-defensive, formal look. "You know," he said, "that apartment got to be taken for a sort of night club, I think. A bunch of kids would get in a taxi uptown and tell the driver, 'Oh, it's down on Barrow Street somewhere. We'll tell you when we get there. What's the name of the place?' That's what one would ask the other. We really thought of putting up a sign and having a small cover charge. Gosh, did we have fun! Nobody ever got any sleep. The phone rang all day and all night. I guess only extreme youth could have stood the pace we went. And C. J. married and settled down? Well, maybe he's to be envied." EDGING cautiously back to my theme, I answered that this former acquaintance of Grant's dizzier days was, in a sense, to be envied, for I knew that he had caught the knack of playing a truth game with his wife and it had worked beautifully. They were known the country round as a gay and congenial pair. Did Mr. Grant think that a guy should and could, with success, be absolutely truthful with a gal? "Oh, here we go again, boys!" he said, but with a smile. "Well, I'll tell you . . . I think people make too much fuss about being on the level and straight-from-theshoulder and all that. I mean, as soon as love enters the picture, so many are apt to take themselves sternly by the ear and say, 'Now, this here is serious ! This is love!' And they lean over backwards about confessing all past romantic experiences and expect the other party to do the same, instead of acting as one would with a good friend — being kind of casual and easy and not burdening the friend with heavy confidences to weigh down his loyalty and liking and not seeking too deeply into the friend's confidence. "I think that sincerity and loyalty — and love, too — prove themselves in time. And — since you ask me — I don't think that a man can be brutally frank with a woman. Not to most women, anyway. I don't hold with spinning up a tissue of lies to whisper into a shell-like ear, but I do feel that a little sugar-coating is not only nice, but necessary. Heck, I shouldn't want a girl to be too grimly frank with me. Why shouldn't I respect her feelings — her vanity, if you like? — to an equal degree? I shouldn't want a girl to be too loving with me. As I say, I like the light touch. To be swaddled in attention would make me feel like a mummy. To have the . outward manifestations of love served up to me three times a day at meals would drive me nuts. I'd want to know that the basic business was there, all right, but I'd run a mile if it crowded me. And I shouldn't want to be expected to put on the balcony scene from 'Romeo' constantly myself, either." Perhaps, for these reasons, Cary bides his time. For these reasons, plus the usual Hollywood hazards : (a) a _ first marriage, which began with a publicitybedecked honeymoon and ended in a publicity-spattered divorce; (b) the battle any Hollywood marriage must put on with the gossip mongers which must make it difficult for even the most devoted couples to keep their perspective; (c) the women, who, in spite of the most exemplary behavior on Cary's part, would throw themselves at his head unless Phyllis kept him under lock and key; and (d) the men who, in spite of the most exemplary behavior on Phyllis' part, would be drawn by her golden beauty unless Cary put her in a safe and kept her there. "I would want to be sure, the next time," he said. "And right now — well, we can't be sure for numerous personal considerations. We've each got a great deal of family business to settle. We've had grand times together, are still having grand times, and will probably continue to do so. She's a marvelous companion. When, as, and if we do take that step, it will be without any of the fuss or the fixings. This is okay with Phyl. I'm not of a nature to say — now, on April the Umph, at three o'clock in the afternoon, I will get myself married. AND all the blither and bother and your friends getting drunk and crawling into the church on their hands and knees — ugh ! No wonder so many marriages get off on the wrong foot. And now, madam, that's the last word I'm going to say about love, marriage, women, and divorce. It's not a bit of good, your trying any interviewer's tricks on me. I'm an old hand at this game." Just to show that my heart is in the right place, I switched the subject abruptly and asked him if he'd had a nice time on the journey to England and during his stay in New York. He was stopping in Bert Taylor's apartment — the same Bert Taylor who is brother to the Countess di Frasso, party-thrower extraordinary. Under the Taylor wing, Miss Brooks' dates with Mr. Grant had been chaperoned and much cafe society had been graced by the handsome pair. This, he said, he found quite boring. The shows, now — he had enjoyed some of them immensely. But he was really homesick for Hollywood. "You have no sneaking urges to do a play on the stage, before real people?" I asked. "No. I wasn't on the stage long enough, you know, for the virus to enter my blood. ______ LUX My UNDIES. HOW AWFUL TO RISK UNOIE ODOR-.IT RUINS AN) girl's POPULARiry