Modern Screen (Dec 1952 - Nov 1953)

of service. Then he found himself, as he says, "artistically and financially bankrupt." He was an actor without a job. He was a husband and the father of three children without money. In any man's language this is a situation, but Bill knew what he must do. He had to grow up and grow up fast. Was he to get a job, any job to make some money to support his family? What could he do? Except for one summer when he was going to school and had worked at his father's chemical plant he had never done anything but act. How was he equipped to earn a living? Yet he was "artistically and financially bankrupt." He put art first. He knew he had to put his artistic house in order or he would be unable to survive. He saw that there was a kind of renaissance in the art world. Everything was more factual. Films were nodding to the documentary. Television was able to report an event while it occurred. Bill knew he must ride with the change in his world. What he had known about acting before he went into Service was now oldfashioned. So he studied to change his entire approach to his job. And by bettering himself artistically "the financial thing," as he says, "took care of itself." He did not fly off in all directions. He knew he was an actor. To make himself a better actor would, he felt, assure financial success. At least he knew that he had to give it a go thoughtfully and soberly. But he says, "Nobody does a job with bootstraps alone. You need help along the way. I got that help. Willy Wilder, that fine director, asked for me in his pictures and contributed immeasurably to what success I have. Others helped too. For no man is an island and without the sincere help of others there can be no real success." Bill loves people. He likes to work with people as part of a unit. He is not a rugged individualist. But the funny thing about Bill is that for all his lofty feeling for art the thing that makes him really laugh is slapstick comedy. He roars at The Three Stooges and the beatings they take. And Martin and Lewis. Wow! Once, shortly after he got out of the Army when his spirits were at their lowest ebb, he went into a variety show in downtown Los Angeles. A couple of knockabout comics were on the stage. Bill laughed so much that an usher tapped him on the shoulder and asked him to pipe down. Others in the audience couldn't hear what was being said on the stage. He came out of the theatre happy and refreshed. Although Bill knows and understands classical music, he is crazy about New Orleans jazz. He has a huge record collection of this type of music, and when he was in New Orleans not too long ago he bought himself some bones. Brenda says one of the funniest sights of all time was Bill learning to rattle those bones. He would get off in a corner of the house and, his brow furrowed, concentrate on the bones as if he were studying nothing less than the Einstein theory. He rattles the bones very well indeed because he has perfect rhythm. Just watch him move and you realize his sense of rhythm. But Bill does not impose his talent for bone playing on his friends. He is no exhibitionist. When he comes into a room full of people he has no desire to be "a character." If, however, he likes the people in the room and the feeling is warm and friendly and he remembers a story he thinks will amuse, he can be the funniest guy in the world. He tells a story very well and can set his friends off into howls of laughter when be feels like it BRING OUT THE HIDDEN BEAUTY OF YOUR EYES PREFERRED BY LOVELY GIRLS THE WORLD OVER EYE SHADOW • EYEBROW PENCIL • MASCARA ® any wigwam f Pamper your feet like an Indian princess in Honeybugs' leather -moccasin wfth the washable mock beaded vamp and cuddly fur collar. Sizes 4 to 9, in war-paint colors. Perspiration and odor resistant PEDI-PURE Lining for health and daintiness ^