Modern Screen (Dec 1952 - Nov 1953)

his feelings for her. Doris, however, was hungry, so Marty took her to a cafe to get a late snack. It was over a bowl of chili that he realized for the first time that she was actually a woman. Now the way it is suppose to happen, again according to the men who write the books about such things, is that he should have seen her picture in the office files, or seen her sitting in someone else's office, or at a party, and he should have turned to someone and stammered excitedly, "Who's that?" Even the engagement was 'way off the accepted. There wasn't any. There was no formal discussion of marriage. There was no proposal. There was no recounting of qualities. By the great Lord Harry there wasn't even an engagement ring! It's enough to make a man like John J. Anthony sick to his stomach. It just, as -the happy pair lamely explain it, happened. No marriage can possibly be sound without the memories of how the boy carried the ring around in his watch pocket for a month before he had the nerve to show it to his intended, or how he got down on one knee, in the silliest position, and asked for the lady's hand in matrimony. All that took place with Marty and Doris is that a year or so "after they'd been chumming around together somebody said something about something that would take place "after we're married," and the subject was dropped. As for the wedding! No matter how little fuss a couple wants, the bride and groom have to go to some bother. If it is a quiet affair they might leap into a car with a few friends and drive madly off to some Gretna Green, singing and laughing like demented. A little more formal manner is for the husband-to-be to phone a few intimate friends and ask them to drop by City Hall and cry a little while the ceremony takes place. In Hollywood, or in big city social circles, a gala wedding is generally considered only proper, with tents on the lawn and caterers and detectives guarding the presents and at least 500 guests. But not Doris and Marty. There have been a number of different versions, but it is generally conceded that they were digging in Doris' garden or something and one of them asked the other how he or she would like to take a shower and go get married. They even had to pluck witnesses off the street they say. Many eminent counselors would give a couple starting out in this haphazard fashion less than the usual 60 days. Another big mistake that Doris Day and Marty Melcher made was in choosing the home in which they would live. Marty, a man with a few dollars in the bank, able to finance a swanky home for his bride, should have had a stern talk with Doris after the ceremony. He should have told her that her money and possessions were hers — and he didn't want to have anything to do with them. He should have said they'd either sell her home or burn it to the ground— and they would live in a house of his choosing, one he had bought with his own money. But it wasn't like that. Any good authority will tell you that they were just too doggone practical about the whole thing. They looked around Doris' home, Marty agreed he kind of liked the set-up, and he went to his place and got his stuff and moved in. Somebody should have warned them. The experts usually look with considerable alarm on a marriage which unites a son or daughter as well as the happy couple. This is a hazard, for, they say, there is a tendency for the new father to become jealous of the child— and for the mother to side with her own flesh and blood in the event of a dispute. There are all sorts of other dangers, including the kid resenting another disciplinarian. But the jealousy, and lack of control held by the foster parent is the main rub. The Melchers don't know about this, either. Doris is not a demanding mother, but she is something of a tyrant about certain things, and her son, Terry, is not a pampered lad by any means. He has, however, an ally. Marty. If he is obliged to perform some chore a small boy figures he Ava Norring went to Hollywood with the help of publicity about her many malapropisms. Her most celebrated remark concerned her husband who, she said, overheard her mistakes, "then went around my behind and told people." Earl Wilson can't make and still play third base on the sand lot ball team, he turns to Marty for assistance. And he gets it. Marty understands and helps out, and they both swear an oath that Doris will never find out. It's not supposed to be that way at all. But it is. As a matter of fact, Doris has been heard to complain that the guys gang up on her. Somehow the three of them get along as though they were always together and Marty really belonged. Now take the matter of business. If you ask her, Doris will tell you that Marty handles all of the financial and contract matters exactly to her satisfaction. They never have a harsh word — and he discusses everything with her quietly and calmly. If that were true, they could get the records of their conversations in the Smithsonian Institute. No theatrical relationship has ever been a bed of roses, but the relationship between an artist and her manager is something like the Dempsey-Tunney fight at least once a week. Now a manager can get away with murder with a client to whom he is not bound emotionally. The worst that can happen is that she'll, take her business elsewhere, and hell be glad to see it happen. But if he's married to the girl this can t happen. The fights, therefore, have to be to the finish. Somebody has got to win. It would seem, if we are to believe the authorities, that these differences of opinions would be carried on into the home, at dinner and far into the night. But not with the Melchers. Marty knows his business, and when his wife calls during office hours with some hare-brained scheme such as artists only can come up with, he listens, then says no. If she persists, he says the things he'd like to have said in the first place — and they might possibly hang up with little regard for one another. But the minute he steps in his front door at night, he's hubby coming back from the store — and -he doesn't want to talk shop. If Doris ever has the urge to continue the discussion the most she ever does is quietly make plans to get him on the phone at the office agam in the morning. Other than that they never let the artist-manager relationship in the house. They may not realize it but by doing this they are making jerks out of the learned lads who say such a situation is not possible. One of the major contentions of the book writers is that it is not possible for a marriage to be truly happy if a woman has anything but making dinner, doing the dishes and keeping the home fires burning on her mind after they both come back from work. This is impossible in the case of Doris Day. She makes movies for a. living and the studio demands that she devote her day to acting before the cameras, and a good part of her evenings to studying up on what she is supposed to do the next day. This means that during the shooting of a movie, she sometimes has to walk about the house in deep thought, or she has to go to her room and pore over her script far into the night. The danger in this sort of a situation is that the husband might like a little attention and soon develop a snarling dislike for his wife's profession. Marty isn't even wise to that. He has the utmost respect for his wife's profession — and does everything in his power to see that she isn't disturbed. The experts say that if he wants another cup of coffee, he will more than likely snap his fingers and signal for the missus to bring it to him. Not Marty. He installed a restaurant-size coffee urn in his house and when he feels the need of a second or third cup, he goes and gets it. And if Doris' closest pal comes calling while she is upstairs, Marty smilingly tells them Doris is asleep, out of town, run away or anything else he can tliink of to spare his little lady from disturbance. He's not supposed to do it, you know. Maybe it's just that he loves the girl he's married to. Recently Doris and Marty attended an unusual seminar. It was an impromptu affair, held at the home of a friend, and the conversation got around to marriages in Hollywood. Suddenly someone noted with surprise that he had never read in any of the columns that Doris and Marty were tiffing or headed for a divorce. With people who have been wed more than a few weeks in the film capital this is a very unusual state of affairs. Generally the columnists find something to predict disaster over 'during the honeymoon. The Melchers were asked to explain. They couldn't account for it. Well, we'll do it for them. During all the time they have been together, even before they married, Doris and Marty have conducted themselves in a sane, orderly manner. Even, as some of the Hollywood folk would contend, in a stuffy manner. They seldom go to night clubs or large parties. Because of this they are seldom, seen sitting at the wrong table with a man or a woman, nor can they be accused qf paying too much attention to a handsome young stranger at a laughing and drinking spree. They love their home and their life together so much that they make it the center of their existence. All their pleasures are at their finger tips, and neither of them feels the need to go out and seek strange diversions alone. They have the same interests. They like motoring, seeing new places when they have vacations, so they are kept away from the thorny paths the average stars tread in Manhattan and Paris, places where the columnists lurk. They have a profound respect for one another. Marty honestly thinks Doris Day has the greatest ballad-singing voice of our time, and is one of the real charmers of the screen. She thinks he is the brightest man in business she has ever met— not just because of a loyalty to a husband — but because he has been successful and respected in his work. They have, in common, a deep devotion to ideals of living and religion. They try their best to live according to these ideals and help each other at it every day. And they have a united desire to see Terry grow up, go to college and become a fine man. These things, along with their love, may be the reasons they can go against most of the rules of the book and make their marriage work. In conclusion, we have one word of ad-; vice for the experts. If you are ever in Burbank, California, don't stop by the Melcher home. It will frustrate .the heck out of you. Except, of course, if you're in the mood to get a good look at a pair who broke the rules to break the record for marital happiness. . END