Modern Screen (Dec 1949 - Nov 1950)

I SAW IT HAPPEN When B etty Garrett and Larry Parks were in Cleveland on a personal appearance tour, they were asked to have their pictures taken with some children at my neighbor hood playground. Betty and Larry sat in swings and called the children to them, not caring that some were poor and even dirty. I saw Larry hold a little boy on his lap and later slip some money into his hand. "Run home," he told him. His face couldn't have looked happier as he watched the little fellow run off. Mrs. L. Pikul Cleveland. Ohio This particular night we went to a party, had an argument. I looked for him at midnight, but he had disappeared. I never did find him. I was crazy about him. Another boy said 'Come on — I'll take you home'. I was crying. My life was ruined, but I let him take me to a drive-in for some hot chocolate. In those days I was so sensitive, if anyone said 'Boo' to me. I started to cry. "Next to us in the drive-in there was a long convertible Buick. 'I want you to meet Marilyn,' the boy with me shouted to the man in the car (Rhonda's real name is Marilyn Louis). "Tom Lane has a fourteen piece orchestra and he's looking for a girl singer,' he whispered to me. I was still sobbing and I guess I attracted Tom because I didn't pay any attention to him." Do I have to tell you that Rhonda landed the girl singer job? "I was never really swept off my feet by Tom. I always have to know a person well to like them. But as I told you, the excitement of getting married was too hard for me to resist. "Tom was like a big brother to me. My sister was married, my parents divorced. I needed someone to talk to. We were married seven years." The only good result, apart from the experience, was their son Kent. After the marriage Tom. for some reason Rhonda couldn't remember, gave up his orchestra and began interior decorating. "I found I was earning more money than Tom and that's bad, too. I was under contract to Fox, but to save the marriage I gave that up and sold jewelry and luggage at Coulters. Then when my figure came back after the baby, I modeled at the May Company and Magnins. Then Henry Willson said I just had to see Selznick. I was wearing a little peasant blouse and skirt, but he signed me the same day." "How did Tom like that?" I asked Rhonda. "He didn't," she replied. "I was now nearly 19 and growing up faster than Tom. He was a few years older by actual count but a boy of 21 is a baby compared to a girl of 19. "I was beginning to know what I wanted to do. Until then it was just wonderful to dance with Tom — we went to Catalina one time and won a cup for a waltz. And we had music in common. But even that wasn't enough. I wanted to do more important things." Came the war, Tom went into the service, and when he returned, he and Rhonda, like millions of other war separated couples, were strangers across the breakfast table. "I didn't run around while he was away, as some other war wives did." said Rhonda. "I used to get phone calls, but I always I said 'no.' I sta3'ed with his family during the war. If a. call came from the studio, I'd rush with Kent to my own mother, then pick him up late at night. I wanted so to do the right thing. After the war, we took a studio apartment on La Cienega Boulevard. I worked for every piece of furniture we got. There was only a couch to sleep on. and no room for Kenny. "I'm a Mormon and I started to do a lot of church work. I went to Sunday School to talk to the children about the importance of faith in God. A husband and wife. I think, should share the same religion." After the divorce Rhonda's name was bracketed with A. C. Lyles". then with John Hilton's. She almost married John, who is an actor, but then she remembered one of the causes for the bust-up with Tom — financial insecurity. Now she is going places with blond. 34-year-old, very handsome Doctor Lew Morrill. "Is it serious?" I asked, adding. "I've always wanted to marry a doctor myself." "It takes a special kind of woman to marry a doctor," replied Rhonda. "Lew's been married twice. During the first marriage he was away in the war and like me and Tom got a divorce when he returned. He says if he ever marries again, he'll choose a woman who works." This is another switch. Most successful men like the little woman to concentrate on them. "I always said I would never marry a doctor." Rhonda revealed. "But Lew must be quite experienced at being married by this time. After two failures, maybe the third will take." One thing is sure, whoever Rhonda does marry will have to be successful at something. "How about a very young girl marrying a successful middle-aged man?" I asked Rhonda. "I'm thinking of Lauren Bacall and Bogart, and June Allyson and Dick Powell, and Gene Kelly who isn't middleaged, but was considerably older than Betsy Blair — he married her when she was 17." "No. I still think she should wait. And no matter what, no one should rush into marriage. There's no such thing as love at first sight. You have to grow on each other. It takes at least six months to know a man well." Of course, that doesn't always work out, either. Jane Wyman and Ronald Reagan were engaged about a year and Jane was in her early twenties, too. She was only 18 when Myron Futterman, Ronnie's predecessor, took her for better or worse. It turned out worse for them both. I don't know how long lovely Doris Day waited to wed first hubby. Al Jordan. But it wasn't long. She was 17. Husband number two, George Weidler. brother of Virginia, was a snap decision of 1946. But fate has forced Doris to wait a year to marry Marty Melcher, until he gets his California divorce decree from Patti Andrews. Doris is now 26. Perhaps she is not too young to marry now. Nearly every star you can name was married once before she was twenty' years old— Esther Williams, Elizabeth Taylor, June Haver, Joan Blondell. Paulette Goddard. Ginger Rogers, Vivien Leigh, Ruth Roman. Gloria de Haven. Some of the hasty-hearted lasses have married again, and again. But who can really say when is the right age for anyone to marry? You can wait until you're forty, like Jimmy Stewart— and he's supremely happy. You can be married for forty years like Edward Arnold, then tell the judge it was all a mistake. But for the record I'm stringing along with Rhonda. I believe that if you can wait until after you are 21, the odds are in your favor for a happier marriage. At least your eyes are open. The End Dates ... or doldrums? So much of your romantic appeal depends on your hair. Keep it glowing— with warm, thrilling Marchand color! Follow every shampoo with a colorful Marchand Rinse. 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