Modern Screen (Dec 1954 - Dec 1955)

fishermen, each family with its bright red outrigger canoe pulled ashore onto a skidway of small logs. T\ uke and pilar stood and watched the *^ activity for a long time before they went into the house. Across the small bay children of four and five were sporting in the warm water, swimming like Olympic champions. And from another bank a man and his wife went to sea after urchins, spiny cactus-like creatures that cling to the coral and rocks on the bottom. The man swam ahead and his wife followed ten feet behind towing on a rope a washtub that would carry their catch. Some distance from shore the man began his dives. He would plunge to the floor of the sea and, with a wire fork on the end of a short stick, snatch several urchins from their homes, bring them to the top and toss them in the tub. When they got to shore they offered Duke and Pilar some of their prizes, explaining that the poisonous spines must be broken off, the crusty skin of the fish opened and the meat eaten alive and raw. Duke and Pilar said they just weren't hungry. Any location trip during the making of a movie is rough, but The Sea Chase jaunt to Hawaii was a honey. The locale was a cove where the jungle grew thick right to the water's edge. There was anchored a large, rusty ship, looking so likely to sink that when it first dropped anchor off the jetty at Kailua all the natives for miles around came to look at it. At six o'clock in the morning, Pilar and Mary St. John, still half asleep themselves, would come trotting down the road to the house, ringing a bell to awaken Duke. Then, while he dressed, they would prepare breakfast for him. And at a quarter to seven Duke would dash across the lava flow to a waiting car, which drove him to the jetty, where he boarded the ship for a long day of shooting at sea. The evenings were fun, though. Duke would return to the house about six o'clock. He would join Pilar and Mary and any other guests who might be there in a half hour of swimming in the warm water of the bay. Then would come an hour of walking and exploring the rocklined shores for shells or boating with a glass viewer to observe the lovely coral. At about seven-thirty, dinner, prepared by a local Portuguese woman named Laura and her daughter Rose, would be served. Another hour of chess, cribbage or gin rummy and Duke's eyes would begin to close, so Pilar and Mary would send him off to bed and then return to their own quarters for a bit of the same tonic. Sundays were generally gay. Duke and Pilar would swim several times, fish a lot and take long siestas on the wide, flat benches on the lawn. And if they had the energy they would skin-dive (Pilar became a very proficient skin-diver) and bring back all manner of strange finny creatures for Laura to cook for lunch. Sometimes, although they preferred being alone, Duke and Pilar would ask other members of the company to come over for cocktails. And one week-end, when a guest arrived from the mainland, they threw a bang-up party. From the names of the guests it might have taken place in Beverly Hills. Duke's son Pat was there and Henry Fonda and Mr. and Mrs. Ward Bond and the director, John Farrow, and Lana Turner and a half dozen others. But the entertainment was different. Just as coffee was being served after dinner, a strange procession appeared a hundred yards from the house where the lava flow ran into the sea. A group of white-garbed natives carrying torches and several shrouded shapes walked slowly to the water's edge, chanting a dirge in a strange tongue. At the water's edge they raised the torches high and cast their burdens into the sea. The guests were awed. "That," said Duke, "is a Hawaiian burial service. The lava beds are too hard to dig, so the natives bury their dead by torchlight in that manner." When it was all over, Henry Fonda approached one of the musicians. "That was a very impressive chant you were singing during the burial," he said. "What do you call it?" The Hawaiian grinned. "That was a joke we played on you," he said. "And when we chanted, we just kept repeating 'We are crazy Hawaiians.' " '"Fhe vacation or location, whichever you wish to call it, is over now and Duke and Pilar are back home in Hollywood. But there is one incident they won't soon forget. Duke fell ill. He got an infection in his ear that was extremely painful and, for a while, really serious. He is a big man, proud of his size and his ability to take anything. But this tiny bug laid him low. A doctor was called from Honolulu who ordered him immediately to a hospital in Hilo on the other side of the mountain. Pilar bundled her man into a car, covered him with blankets against the chill night air of the mountain top, and, driven by a native boy, they traveled to Hilo where Duke was given emergency treatment and put to bed at the Naniloa Hotel. He passed into a deep sleep induced by the illness, the fatigue of the drive and the medication. When he awakened in the morning the first thing he saw was Pilar curled up with a blanket on a chaise longue across the room. She hadn't slept. Duke gave her a weak grin. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "Away over here in Hawaii, three thousand miles from home!" Pilar was wan, but she managed to smile. "I'm just a cocker spaniel," she said. "And I'm crazy about you. And now I really know why I came on this trip. Go back to sleep. I'll watch over you." It was a surprise to no one that in the first week of November Duke and Pilar were married in Honolulu. District Magistrate Norman Olds performed the singlering ceremony in the garden of Territorial Senator William H. Hill. The word "obey" was omitted, perhaps to persuade Pilar that she isn't treated like a cocker spaniel! end IMPORTANT NEWS: MODERN SCREEN NEXT MONTH Your choices for 1954" s most popular stars . . . the winners of Modern Screen's Silver Cup Awards . . . will be announced in the February issue on your neivsstands NEXT MONTH! Dont miss it! liili* Discourage ^ those Blackheads ! Just don't let small blackheads de-glamorize your skin! Now— use this special greaseless treatment for clearing away these blackheads. It's recommended by leading skin specialists. It's quick. It's effective. Every night and morning, after you wash your face — gently rub snowy-cool Pond's Vanishing Cream over your face. Then— leave on a deep coat of the cream for one minute. 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