Modern Screen (Feb-Dec 1958)

When it rained, it poured! ■ There was a week and a day to make that ship leaving New York for Europe, and Gloria Swanson and her friends figured they had more than enough time for the drive cross-country from Hollywood — even a few extra days in New York for having fun and seeing a couple of shows. They were wrong. "We left in a fine California drizzle." remembers the elegant Sunset Boulevard Swanson. "A day later." Gloria continued, "the sky became darker and we were driving through a continuous, pelting rain. And even that was o-n-l-y the beginning! "The following day the rain was sleet. Our spirits were becoming a little damp. "We didn't think things could get much worse . . . until our little car got caught in a snowstorm! By now we were only two days behind schedule, on what should have been a five-day trip. With the best yet to come. "Twelve hours later, we were hitting sandstorms! We didn't dare get out of the car for fear we'd be blown away. Well, at last, we thought, things will have to be better from here on in. We were wrong. "Huddling in the car, sitting out the sandstorm, we got the news. 'We interrupt this program,' an announcer's voice broke into the music we were listening to. 'to announce a special bulletin. This area is in direct line of the tornado. All precautions are advised. President Eisenhower has declared Texas and the Southwest major disaster areas. We repeat, tornado precautions imperative!' "Europe? I could see the next fashion story — Gloria Swanson Fashions, the line that's Italian in Flavor, Scottish in thrift — and black for mourning. "So, sandstorm or no sandstorm, we started driving to try to beat the storm. It looked as if we were going to do it too! "Then suddenly — BOOM! In the same split instant, the luggage rack on top of the car broke, crashing our suitcases to the ground — and the tornado hit. Shoes, stockings, passport strewed the highway. "It was dark as night. Lightning flashed all around us, the trees were bent double, and the sound of the wind didn't seem real. I don't mind admitting I was scared. We watched a dress from one of the broken suitcases fly over the trees out of sight. "Then almost miraculously, minutes after the violent tornado opened up the skies, it was over and a calm fell across the West." The star smiled as she remembered scurrying around, picking up what was left of the luggage, stopping a few cars to gather up a blouse here — clinging to a branch — or a shoe there. "Yes, we made the boat," Gloria smiles. In fact they got to New York the night before the sailing, and that evening Gloria was premiere guest on the Mike Wallace TV show. "Knowing Mike's reputation for hitting hard in his interviews — you know, pulling the rug out from under you with those surprising questions he asks — I didn't know if I'd come out alive." But Gloria had just been through a tornado, so no mere human being could faze her — and Wallace didn't! introduced. But when they called out Mrs. Day's name, she turned and walked the other way. "I was too shy and nervous," she recalled, "and anyway it was Doris' night and what did they want me out there for, anyway?" The next ten years were packed with stardom for their daughter — ten years of good pictures, good money, good times, marred only by the operation Doris had undergone to remove what had appeared to be a malignant tumor but that, fortunately, had turned out to be nothing serious at all. And then came the day recently when Doris and her family — her Mom; Doris' husband, Marty; and fifteenyear-old Terry, her son by a former marriage— returned to Cincinnati for the premiere of one of her latest pictures. It was a bang-up day for her home town — and for her Dad, especially, who recalled: "It was the first time I would be seeing Doris in seven years and I was very excited. The night she came in I left the saloon early and rushed down, to the railroad station. There was quite a big crowd there. I knew Doris was coming in on a 66 train called The Riley and I went up to one of the porters and asked him which track it was coming in on. The porter recognized me. He'd been to my saloon a couple of times. 'Mr. Kappelhofi,' he said, 'what are you doin' here?' I told him I was Doris Day's father. You would have thought I was the king of some country the way he looked at me. 'You come right with me,' he said, taking me by the arm and leading me through the crowd. 'The train's already in,' he said. 'It was seven minutes early. But I'll show you where to go.' We walked down the long platform and when we got to one of the Pullman cars he said, 'Now it's 'round here someplace.' I started looking in the windows and all of a sudden I saw her, my girl, inside. When Doris recognized me, she came running out of the train yelling, 'That's my Dad.' " Floop, Flop and Turkey Those few days in Cincinnati were wonderful for both of Doris' folks. Her Mom had lots of fun visiting old friends and relatives, showing off her grandson, explaining to people who overheard Doris, Marty and Terry talk to one another in nickname-talk that Floop was what Marty always called Doris, Flop was what Doris always called Marty, and Turkey was what they both always called Terry. She got a big bang, too, the afternoon Marty accompanied Doris to the radio studio where she used to sing, grabbed a dummy microphone and began shouting, "Where's Alvin? Where's Alvin Hock?" Mrs. Day explained to those who didn't know that Alvin Hock had been Doris' boy friend at age twelve, that she — Mrs. Day — had told Marty about him once and that he hadn't stopped teasing Doris since. Mr. Kappelhoff had a grand time, too. The morning after Doris arrived, he had breakfast with her, her husband and her son. "And let me tell you," he said, "that Marty is a wonderful fellow. First thing he did when we met was take me aside and say, 'Can I call you Bill?' Then he said, 'You know, Bill, I was married once and divorced and I know you were, too, and that's all water under the dam as far as anyone's concerned and I'd like us to be friends.' Then we just sat and talked and it was a beautiful thing to see how well he got along with my grandson. I'd heard from Doris that Terry worships! him, that he's always having man-to-manj talks with Marty, that the boy looks up to him like he was a god. I could see it whenj I saw them together. It was nice. ... It was nice, too, that same afternoon when Doris and Marty surprised me at my sal loon. I saw this big white Chrysler pull up and I thought, 'That looks just like Marty's car.' And sure enough, he and Doris stepped out and walked into my! place and within five minutes word hadj got around the neighborhood that Doris Day was visiting her Pop at his place and1 the saloon was so crowded you could have^ thrown a block party. Doris really enjoyed herself that afternoon. She was all around the place. One minute, I remember, I was talking to her; and the next minute ] couldn't find her. When I finally askec Marty where she was, he pointed to the bar. And there she was, behind the bar, Every once in a while she'd pour one witl> a little too much foam and she'd wink at me and I'd wink back at her and it was gooC having my little girl there, real good." Then, both of Doris' folks remember there was the big party her home towrj threw for her the night before she left And, as one of the home-town boys whcj1 helped throw the party remembers, "Thi:1^ Doris. What a girl. I had a talk with hei1 about the party that afternoon and showec her the guest list we'd drawn up. She saic it was fine, that there were lots of peoplt1 on it she hadn't seen in a long time anc couldn't wait to see. But, she said, thenseemed to be just one name missing. / Lavinia Smith, she said. Long ago, sh\ said, when she first started singing, sh< played this nightclub here in Cincinnati! There was a girl who worked in th< powder room, a girl named Lavinia. 'Shd{ was so nice to me,' Doris said. 'Between shows we'd get together and she'd helj me with my clothes and we'd sit and tall and, gee, I'd really like to see her again. It took us a couple of hours to track dowi Lavinia Smith. When we finally got hei number, we gave it to Doris." "I was there when she called and in; vited her," Doris' Mom remembers. "I' was like two old girl friends from school saying hello and reminiscing about the oh, days. It showed the kind of person Dori really is," she added, smiling. And that's what we remember mos about the hours we talked to Doris' fol about the Doris only they know . . smiles, the thankful, happy smiles. . EN Doris loill do Tunnel Of Love for MGN. and Teacher's Pet for Paramount.