Modern Screen (Jan-Nov 1956)

fHEN A USBAND EAVES ■ One hot afternoon last fall, John Derek left his wife and family. On the spur of the moment he tossed some necessary belongings into a couple of suitcases and tore out of the driveway of his Encino ranch home. Trouble between the Dereks had been brewing for months. The possibility of leaving his home had often occurred to John. But suddenly the difference between thinking about it, and taking the actual step, struck him. Where would he go? Moving in with the married couples he knew was out of the question. Most of his single friends were out of town. Besides, their places were too small. Clubs, such as in the east, are non-existent in California. And who would cook his meals, take care of his laundry, his telephone calls? The hundreds of little details Pari had looked after? When he reached Ventura Boulevard, John turned toward the studio. Driving toward Hollywood, he noticed a motel on the right side of the street. He pulled up in front, and registered for the night. The rest of the day passed by slowly, painfully. He didn't want to see anyone. He missed his children. Where and how was he to settle down? The next day John rented an apartment. Used to plenty of space around him, he couldn't take the confinement of a couple of rooms in town for long. Less than a month later he found a house in the Hollywood hills. This wasn t the end of the problem. Just the beginning. John had never taken any interest in running a house, or even finding out how it was done. The first time he fixed a steak, he burned it on both sides. Washing the dishes was a chore he had learned to dislike in the army. He simply let them pile up in the sink till they were all used up, then ate out. His clothes fared little better. Never a particularly neat person, he considered it easier to drop them where he took them off, rather than put them away. When he ran out of shirts, he bought new ones. This went on till the day his business manager drove up with some papers for John to sign. One look at the mess made him call half a dozen employment agencies. Nowadays a maid comes in once a week — which means John's house is clean on Wednesdays, then gets progressively dirtier till she comes again. Shopping for food proved bothersome, too. With neither the inclination nor the patience to cook, John usually came home with cookies and milk. In recent months John's living expenses have gone up all out of proportion to even his sizeable income. His own expenditures were higher than anticipated. To that had to be added the monthly payments awarded to Pati. But hardest of all was the separation from his children, Russ, 5%, and Sean, 21/*>. For their sakes John and Pati had agreed to stay at least on cordial terms. John sees them often, phones them every day for an hour. Naturally, John has considered the possibility of Pati's remarrying. In a way, he is all for it. He won't have to conti e the huge amount of alimony to which he has agreed. On the other hand, the thought that his children might call anyone but him "Daddy" makes him clench his fists in anger. "I won't stand for it!" As for himself — no matter how much in love he is, or will be, till Pati finds another husband he excludes marriage from his thoughts. "I can't afford it," he sighs. The world is not rosy for John Derek. he talked, Shirley was fascinated. What fascinated Steve about Shirley she can't imagine unless it was a feat she performed of cramming a beer glass into her generous mouth (She later cowed Jerry Lewis with the same stunt which even that flap-mouthed comedian can't do). Anyway, Steve took her home. Shirley dates about everything important that's happened to her from that night. "Steve gave me a completely new slant on show business," explains Shirley. "He made me realize what a really big world it was. Until then I'd thought dancing was everything. But when Steve talked my head buzzed with tv, movies, stage plays. I guess you'd say Steve gave me big-time ambition." Something else, too — love — the real thing at last. Going steady with Steve Parker built up Shirley's confidence. In February she quit Me And Juliet cold to gamble for a better job in The Pajama Game which George Abbott was lining up for Broadway. 1000 girls had the same idea, then seventy-two, then twelve and finally six. Shirley was one of the six, with a song and dance bit of her own and — the big item — understudy for star Carol Haney. But at first she didn't think about that. "From the start that Haney gal looked like the type who'd go on with a broken neck," Shirley reveals. "But I crammed up on her part. Lucky I did." Because just before the third night on Broadway indestructible Haney ripped loose the ligaments in her ankle. The same night Shirley's subway broke down and she arrived barely a minute ahead of curtain time. Bob Fosse, Carol's partner, was clutching his hair with one hand and Haney's costumes with the other. He practically shoved Shirley out on the stage. She just had time to yell to her roommate (in the same show) to call Steve and get him over there fast. "He arrived in a T-shirt, stood in the wings and cheered me through," says Shirley gratefully. After her performance Steve had a pile of scribbled notes on her faults two-feet high. They went back to Shirley's apartment and worked all night. Next evening she was sharp as a tack. Shirley stayed up on her toes another way: She scattered front-center tickets to all agents, producers, Hollywood representatives and the Mister Bigs of show business that Steve knew, figuring she'd shine in the spot a week at the most and she'd better make hay. But it was a month before Carol Haney recovered. "At $7.20 a seat I spent more that month than I made," recalls Shirley ruefully. "But it was a good idea. I was so unimportant that I couldn't get an agent to handle me. The hot ones She had plenty of offers after that. But the hot ones came from customers who paid their way in. Hal Wallis, the Hollywood producer, saw Shirley first. He gave her a skimpy screen test in New York and signed her on a contract to come to Hollywood and stick around when the show closed. But Shirley's luck was running and the next man who looked had more definite ideas. "Doc" Erickson, Alfred Hitchcock's assistant, happened in Pajama Game the only other time Shirley stepped out of the chorus to pinch-hit for Carol Haney — one lone night two months later when Carol caught a virus. That night Erickson called Hitchcock at a dinner party in Hollywood. "I've got your girl for Tike Trouble With Harry," he announced. "What's her name?" asked Hitch. "Carol Haney," Erickson said. Only later did the change-of-cast insert in the program fall out to wise Mr. Erickson to his mistake. He hotfooted it