Modern Screen (Dec 1954 - Dec 1955)

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of director of the beautiful Paris Opera. "We love your films," he explained to her at their first meeting, "but the critics who make up our judging body always choose the 'art' form of movie when it comes to awarding the prizes." Esther looked around at a number of stars standing nearby and directed the Frenchman's attention to them. "Yes," she murmured, "but I can never understand why it is that the stars the critics invite to Cannes are rarely those from the art films they profess to like, but instead those generally seen in the lighter kind of pictures." Monsieur Le Bret was looking. A dozen feet away stood Doris Day. Near her was Van Johnson, talking to Grace Kelly. And also in the room was the curvacious Lollobridgida. Monsieur Le Bret took them all in and turned back to Esther to say something in French that she hoped was, "I see what you mean." But when he spoke again in English, it was merely to say, "Ah-h-h!" which could mean anything, of course. When she got back to the United States she met a fan, the father of several youngsters, who gave her a new slant on the kind of movies she made. "He called them 'Drive-In Movies,' " she says, "and while I was still trying to figure out if I should feel insulted he elaborated on what he meant and made me feel pleased as punch. He said that about the only place he and his wife could go for entertainment was a drive-in, and, not being able to afford a baby sitter, most of the time they had to take the children along. 'You may not realize it, Miss Williams,' he said, 'but half the children in this country are being raised on movies, and to be able to find entertainment that is always fresh and young in its appeal, rather than a quick and sometimes frightening course in the kind of abnormal beings people can sometimes become, is a lifesaver for us. No matter how well some of these psychocinemas are done, the kids hate them. They hate them so much they won't even sleep through them!' " Anyone who talks children is talking Esther's language, of course. She thinks that whether Ben and she have always been aware of it or not, their lives have revolved around their youngsters, and will do so more than ever from now on. When people ask her why she recently modified her contract with MGM so that she can have six months a year to herself, she replies, "Benjie, Kimmie and Susan," the names of her three children. She means, of course, that by achieving semiindependence for herself as an artist she and Ben can direct their activities toward building up a business for themselves and their children against a day when there will be no salary, "Unless we can pay one to ourselves." The times in her life which mean the most to her, Esther has learned, are not j necessarily related to her position in the show world. She remembers a moment which became very vivid for her, about ' a week after her return from Europe. Jack Palance, the screen villain, tried his first Shakespearean role, as Cassius in Julius Caesar for the American Shakespeare Festival. Palance was conscientious at rehearsals, and followed all the director's orders — except that he refused to be photographed stabbing Caesar. "I went into Shakespeare," he explained, "to get away from being photographed as a killer." Leonard Lyons in The New York Post IT was evening and she was alone in the living room with the children. She was at her typewriter making like a writer. Little Susan, nearly two, was lecturing sixyear-old Benjie and five-year-old Kimmie. Benjie didn't know Susan was talking to him because he was watching tv. Kimmie didn't know it because he was busy approaching Esther with a loop of nylon thread he wanted pulled, as she could tell out of the corner of her eye, because the other end of it was attached to a loose j tooth in his mouth. The telephone was ringing and Esther knew it must be Ben ) calling with word that he would be a little late for dinner. And in the back of her mind she was already deciding to feed the kids early and eat with Ben later on. their tv trays in front of their set. "What more could a woman want than to be so completely and intimately involved with the business of living as I was at that second?" she asked later. The fun of recapturing their full family life is probably the reason why Ben and Esther were seen at very few parties and premieres after their return from abroad. And even more, for the first time in her career, Esther has been turning down pictures proposed to her by the studio. Her reasons, officially, have had to do with the parts offered, and their unsuitability to her, she claimed. But she admitted that i it was nice to spend more time at home. -t There are a few surprise benefits arising from the extra time she spends with her children, Esther is discovering. For one thing she is getting some good tips from | Benjie and Susan on how to handle her husband. "Psychology that works with Benjie is apt to work on Ben," Esther reports. "And the tricks that I notice Susan working on her father I can use — sometimes!" Their children will accompany Esther and Ben when they invade Europe next | summer with their giant swimming show. Not only that, but the home they will use as headquarters in London, while fulfilling engagements in Paris, Berlin, Rome and other cities yet to be chosen, was selected by Benjie. He told his folks when they sailed for England, leaving him in Hollywood, that he would like to live in a house with a balcony on which red flowers grew in boxes. It may seem silly, but Esther and Ben spent days looking for such a place, and they found one, not far from the Mayfair sec ; tion, in the city. Ben took a picture of it. | And when Benjie saw the photo and cried out, "That's the place I meant!" Esther and Ben knew they were repaid for all the time and effort they had spent. A writer once asked Esther if she didn't owe most of her happiness to her career. Her answer came promptly. "My career brought me a great immediate happiness. But my enduring happiness I owe to my marriage and to my motherhood." fc'ND Last Chance to Vote For the third and final time Modern Screen gives you~ a chance to vote for your favorites in Hollywood's most famous Popularity Contest — the Modern Screen Silver Cup Awards! Only you can select the top stars and new stars of 1955 — so if you haven't already sent a ballot in, hurry and do it now I Fill out the coupon below, answering all the questions carefully and completely, and mail it to us. Tell your friends this is their last chance to vote, too. The February issue of Modern Screen, on sale early in January, 1956, will announce the names of the winners. I VOTE FOR /1Y FAVORITE FEMALE STAR OF ISIS I VOTE FOR. MY FAVORITE MALE STAR OF 1955 MY OTHER FAVORITES FOR 1955 ARE: 1. 1. MALE FEMALE 2. 2. MALE FEMALE 3. 3. MALE FEMALE 4. 4. MALE FEMALE 5. 5. FOR THE TOP MALE NEW STARS OF 1955, 1 NOMINATE: FEMALE MALE FEMALE MY THREE FAVORITE STORIES IN THIS ISSUE WERE: 1 THE STORY I LEAST ENJOYED WAS NAME ADDRESS. AGE OCCUPATION MAIL TO: SILVER CUP BALLOT BOX MODERN SCREEN BOX 125 MURRAY HILL STATION NEW YORK 16, N. Y.