Modern Screen (Jan-Jun 1945)

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He'd been on an aircraft carrier that went down when the Japs ganged it and had lain in a hospital for long months with malaria and was just now getting back into shape. • The Ladds liked him a lot, and they figured a record like that called for a little fun. So they made reservations at Mocambo for a big evening and told the sailor to invite his girl friend and a few other couples — the party was on them. Well, the gob didn't say much, except, "Why, thanks, that'll be real nice." And Alan and Sue were a little let down. He didn't sound enthusiastic. Finally, the sailor blurted out, "Say, would you-all mind if we have that party at home? It's my birthday," he explained, "and I used to always spend that day at home." "I'll bake a cake," grinned Sue. She did, too, and the sailor's friends came up, banged the piano and filled up on birthday cake and ice cream. Of course, plenty of the fan friends Alan meets want to see what every visitor to Hollywood want to see — pictures in production. There's a wartime ban on visitors at the studios, but several lucky times Alan has managed to bamboozle the gatemen and studio cops and sneak in some GJ.'s for a quick look. And both Alan and Sue are headaches to the ushers at CBS and NBC in Hollywood. He hasn't made one radio program without trailing along fifteen or twenty Ladd legionnaires— always without tickets. "But Mrs. Ladd," the panicked ushers protest. "There are tickets for all these seats. They're all -reserved. What are we going to do?" "Oh, you can squeeze them in somehow, can't you?" Sue pleads with her most hypnotizing smile — and they usually can. I might as well state right here, whether Laddie likes it or not, that plenty of the people he meets are swooneroo girls. And that's a funny thing about Alan Ladd and his fans. Guys like him — none of them have ever razzed him, and the only time a service guy came close to it was once at a Lux Radio Theater broadcast right before Alan went into uniform. He was all inducted and due to report to Fort MacArthur that week, but he managed to get in a Lux radio performance of "China" before he left Hollywood. In the mob that night as he left, a soldier wisecracked, "Aw nuts! He's just a Hollywood glamour guy — what's all the fuss about?" But another GI put him straight right then. "Yeah?" he said. "Well, the guy's already in the Army— whaddya think of that?" And the razzing soldier said, "Oh"— and shut up. And that's been the attitude most men, soldiers and civilians, have taken toward Alan ever since. They know he's a regular guy and they know he's been on Uncle Sam's team and will probably play a few more quarters when the Army docs okay him back in. surpassing sinatra . . . But while Alan gets along great with fellows — he's also tops with the girls, from the bobby sock brigade to the girdle group. And I'll have to tell what happened the night he acted (and sang) on Frank Sinatra's show. It's a radio habit of Alan's to keep his eyes glued to his script from the minute he steps out to the mike until the red light has winked off and the show's off the air. In spite of all the experience he's had before cameras, he's still subject to mild attacks of stage fright. But there's always one time when Alan looks right out in the audience. As he walks up to the mike, he always looks out to where Sue sits and smiles at her — just as if to say, "Okay, Sweetie — here I go!" Well, when he did that on the Sinatra program, the Sinatra Squealers-and-Yippers Club went nuts! They even squealed and shrieked and sighed more for Alan than they did for Frankie! In fact, not long after that, Alan was on a big all-male star program with Harpo Marx, Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire and Kay Kyser. The great Bingo himself drew only applause. But when Alan came out and grinned into the crowd — what followed sounded like a mess of Scotch bagpipes running wild. So Bing kidded Alan all over the stage that night. "I'll never let a thing like this happen to me again," he cracked. "Next time I want a tough guy, I'll bring Eddie G. Robinson!" The crowd, I might add, was strictly female. It was a recruiting rally for the WAVES and WACS. But there's a funny thing about Alan's girl fan-friends: They have the darndest crushes on Alan, they sigh and moan and squeal and tag him their dream man — but the one they seem to pick on to tell about all this is his wife! One night after a radio broadcast, Sue left Columbia Broadcasting a little while after Alan had gone out to the car. On her way, she passed a couple of girls with autograph pads. But one of the girls was crying as if her heart would break. Sue went up. "Why, what's the matter, honey?" she asked. "Mrs. L-Ladd," sobbed the girl. "I just went up and kissed Alan — and he acted like he didn't like it a bit! O-h-h-h, a-h-h-h— W-a-a-h!" "Why, I'm sure he did," soothed Sue. "I'll go out and ask him right now." So she went out to the car and told Alan the sad state of affairs. He said it wasn't that he didn't like the kiss — but to tell the truth, it had scared him to death and maybe he'd showed it. Anyway, he went back with Sue and cheered the girl up. He said he was flattered to have a pretty girl kiss him, but after all, it was a little sudden. The bobby-sock's face lit up, and she stopped wailing pronto. Alan's always that way to young kids with a smite on him. Whenever he thinks he might be making somebody unhappy, he's right there to iron it all out. And Sue, who isn't worrying about anybody taking Alan away from her for a minute, calls him "sweet" for the kind way he treats them. One night, the Ladds came home early in the evening with a couple of sailors they'd picked up. On the way into their house they noticed a couple of girls walking up and down out front. Later, the sailors and Sue and Alan went out for an evening, and when they got back home, it was one o'clock. The girls were still there, strolling up and down, and this time the Ladds knew what was up. They were sticking around to get a look at Alan, after finding out somehow where he lived. "Poor kids," said Sue, "out there this hour of night. Let's invite them in." "Sure," Alan grinned. He walked across the lawn. "How'd you like to come in for a Pepsi and see the house?" How'd they like to! When the girls had sipped a Pepsi and seen the Ladds at home, they said their thank-you's and started to leave. "You kids can't go home this hour of night by yourselves," Alan told them. So he and Sue drove them home. More than once his private phone number has leaked out to high schools around 1