Modern Screen (Dec 1949 - Nov 1950)

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Three absorbencies— Regular, Super, Junior. Average month's supply fits in purse. Tampax Incorporated, Palmer, Mass. Accepted for Advertising by the Journal of the American Medical Association (Continued from page 41) behaved the way everyone does with her first beau. She was afraid to show her true self for fear he wouldn't like it; afraid to respond emotionally for fear he'd think she was a bad girl. She'd kiss him goodnight after a date, and a couple of evenings later you'd find her at some hideaway with a different escort, acting like the honeymoon would start tomorrow. This was her way of releasing emotional tension. The man she really loved she wouldn't let come too close. Anyway, she overplayed her hand. She was too light, too gay, too flippant. Underneath she was suffering from such a great lack of assurance that it was frightening. She had a haunting fear of her own shortcomings built up in a mind that was brimming over with imagination and with painful memories of the past. She couldn't relax; she could only appear cool and distant. Naturally, the man was puzzled. * No matter how much he tried he couldn't convince himself that Ava cared. She'd done such a good job of keeping their romance a secret he could hardly believe it himself. So one day, after three years of doubting, he married someone else. "If I'd have acted differently," Ava told me, "I might have been the girl." "You mean you wanted to marry him?" I asked. "I mean I made the biggest mistake of my life. And I acted like a fool." "You just acted human," I said, and Ava laughed harshly. She wouldn't let herself off that easily. If there's any blame around, Ava's the girl who wants to take it. Even so I didn't get it. No one drops Ava like a hot potato. That's really foolish. "How come?" I said. "Why did he take off like that?" "I don't really know," said Ava. "I guess that when things reach an emotional breaking point one little incident can destroy it all. One afternoon, a friend of mine and I decided to visit him, and tried to phone him. The line was busy, so my friend, who likes off-beat schemes, told the operator it was an emergency call, a matter of life or death. Of course, it would happen just when he was talking over a big business deal. Imagine how he felt when a voice broke in saying, 'Honey, we're bringing over some ice cream. What will you have — chocolate or vanilla?' "Sounds funny now, doesn't it, but it wasn't then. We went over, and that was the last time I saw him." Okay, you might say, so Ava's heart was broken a little, but he's just another guy, another incident. In Ava's life there are plenty of men, and she can be choosey; she can act the way she wants. You think so? poor little rich girl . . . Let me tell you about the day Ava asked me to introduce her to a neighbor of mine. "He's nice," Ava said. "Can you arrange a date?" "Sure," said I, reaching for the phone. Well, I got this boy on the phone and I said to him, "Look, darling, I'm going to do you a big, fat favor. I'm going to fix it so you can date Ava Gardner." I listened to what he had to say. Then I hung up. "Well?" asked Ava. "Well, I never!" said I. "He said no, twice." "It doesn't surprise me," said Ava. "But what was his reason?" "Money," I said. "He says you have too much money. He knew a girl once who had too much money. She was the princess of all snobs and she was his last princess." "Oh," said Ava. There wasn't much else she could say. What does a girl have to do? Give up her career so someone can buy her a lemonade? There wasn't much else to say, but there was plenty she could think; there was plenty of material for any complex she wanted to build. Maybe if people let her alone it would be different; she'd be able to work out her own problems in her own time. But people, especially gossips, don't leave Ava alone. Remember back a little to all the fuss that was created when Ava showed up "with" Frank Sinatra in Texas? Big romance, everybody said. Maybe. Ava never told me she loved Frank. She did tell me they'd always be the closest of buddies. Believe it or not that can happen in show business. And that's the main reason Ava suddenly went down to Houston without telling anyone. She'd had a call from Sinatra. The guy was terribly unhappy. More than that, he HOW TIME FLIES! ■ When Jane Wyman was assigned to Honeymoon for Three she scratched her head and said, "Boy, that's a thought!" Ever since she and Ronald Reagan were married they've been so busy in pictures they haven't had time for their own honeymoon. Now, according to Jane, they're going to wait until their baby is born in January so that all three can take it together! — October, 1940, Modern Screen. was in trouble. Sinatra's a walking time . bomb and when he's upset he can very easily blow up. This time he was under <■ a doctor's care. Ava snapped him out of it You can get pretty snippy here and say, J why didn't Nancy snap him out of it? Well, he'd tried rushing back to Nancy J before, and it didn't work. The bolstering he needed right then, Ava gave him. A lot of trash has been written about that episode. Sinatra was supposed to have I fired some shots in a hotel room after he I and Ava had had an argument. Ava was supposed to have called the police, but I know Ava never called "cop" on anyone. The truth is Frank did fire two shots up in the air out of a window. When Ava [ came rushing in he was sitting in a chair all broken up over the gag. Ava didn't ! think it was so funny. I'm a married gal and I don't particu 1 larly approve of the running around that [ goes on, but Frank was separated and Ava was free. Funny about Frank. He doesn't | seem to be afraid of anything, but he is. I Ava's afraid of a lot. People like this have i a way of getting together, even though i putting their problems in the same basket j never works out. The unusual thing about Ava is: she's I honest. People don't expect that. They F think actresses are phony and when they ] '