Modern Screen (Feb-Dec 1959)

occupied . . . Other than these things, there's nothing else that can be done." He picked up his own glass now. "There's nothing else," he said. . . . Kay was on the telephone when Rex walked into her hotel room a little while later. She looked over at him, surprised, blew him a kiss and indicated she'd be off the line in a minute. "Darling," she said, when she'd hung up, "that, I'll have you know, was Hollywood, and calling me" "Well now, was it?" Rex said, trying hard to keep his voice steady, and taking her hand in his. "Oh yes," Kay said. "Metro-GoldwynMayer studios," she added, with a flourish. "It seems there's a super-colossal film they're readying for production— Les Girls, I think they're calling it — and they say they will simply collapse if I don't agree to do it." She laughed. "You will do it, of course," Rex said. "I will not," said Kay. "I'm here with you, and to stay this time. I've ended all my commitments. I'm all yours now, Rex — like it or not." He drew her close to him. He kissed her. "I'm glad you came back," Kay said, softly, as their faces separated. "I've got some important news, good news," Rex said. "I wanted to wait until tonight, after the show. But — " Kay didn't let him finish. "The divorce," she said, "it's coming through?" "Yes," Rex said. "And we'll be married?" Kay asked. "Yes," Rex said. "Oh darling, my darling," Kay said, grabbing him, hugging him. "When?" "In a few months," Rex said, " — four or five or six at the most. It takes time." Kay placed her head against his chest. "So long?" she whispered. "It takes time, Kay," he said again. And then he Hrew her away from him and he asked, "What did you tell them at MGM — about the picture?" "That I couldn't do it," Kay said. "And what did they say?" "They asked me to reconsider." "Do it," Rex said. "Why?" Kay asked. "It'll make the time go doubly fast for you," Rex said. "You'll be busy. You'll be working. You'll—" He stopped and took her hand again. "After we're married, Kay," he said, "you and I aren't going to be separated, ever, not for one minute. We'll work together when we work. Or we'll arrange to be with one another when only one of us is working . . . But for now I'd rather you worked alone, if you must. I'd like you to go to Hollywood and do the picture." Kay smiled. "Is that an order, sire?" she asked. "Yes," Rex said. "I have no alternative?" "No." "If I refuse will you leave me and will I remain an unhappy spinster for all the long years of my life?" Kay asked. Rex tightened his hold on her hand. "That's right," he said. "That's right. . . ." It was early evening by the time Rex left Kay's hotel. He took a cab to the theater and went straight to his dressing room. There, alone, he picked up his phone. And he placed a call to Lilli Palmer, his wife. . . . "From the beginning of shooting, it was Kay who set the happy mood on Les Girls," remembers Mitzi Gaynor. "She was so beautiful and spontaneous. She spoiled everyone by splurging on gifts. On the starting day, Gene Kelly wasn't there and he forgot to send flowers to his leading ladies— Kay, Taina Elg and myself. So when he came in the next day Kay deluged him with roses and wires saying, Good luck on YOUR picture! That was the beginning of the fun we all had together. Kay made it last until the very final day." Taina Elg remembers that "During lunch, Kay and Mitzi and I would sit together in one of our dressing rooms, munching on sandwiches and salads while Kay kept us in uproarious laughter. She knew so many funny stories. She had such a marvelous wit and joie de vivre. The only time she ever became serious, in fact, was when either Mitzi or I would mention something about our husbands. Then Kay was the typical anxious bride-to-be wanting to hear all about married life. Very often she would say, 'I wish I were in your shoes — right now.' We would remind her that she would be marrying Rex before not too long. 'Yes.' she would say and her face would light up, 'that's right, isn't it?' And then she would go back to making a joke about something or other, but you could tell that deep in her mind she was still thinking about her man, her Rex— and that her heart was just bursting to marry him. . ." The wedding took place on June 20, 1957, shortly after midnight, in New York's Universalist Church of the Divine Paternity. It was a simple and lovely affair. Kay was attended by her sister, Kim, who had married an American and was now living on Long Island. Rex's best man was his lawyer and good friend, Aaron Frosh. On the altar before them were symbols of all the earth's religions. As the service began, Kay wept a little. But when the minister said "Join right hands" and Rex stuck out his left, she smiled. "Opening night jitters," Kay said later to a friend. "But I think we're settling down now and are good for a sixty, seventyyear run. . . ." "Yes, all brides are happy," another friend of Kay's has said. "But I'd never seen a girl as happy, as ecstatic, as the new Mrs. Harrison. "Some people tired of her happiness, and began to talk about her behind her back. 'Isn't it a little boring,' they would ask, 'all this gushing about Rex, Rex, Rex . . . And carrying those two bracelets and that brooch he gave her in her purse all the time, even when she's not wearing them — I mean, isn't that all a little bit too much?' "But Kay was oblivious to any of this talk. "And she continued gushing over her husband, unashamedly. "I remember the night in Novembe" of that year, just after Rex had left the New York company of Fair Lady and just before they sailed for England. "We were at a party. "Rex was on one side of the room, talking to my husband and a few other people. "I was alone with Kay on the other side of the room. "First, I remember, I congratulated her about her fantastic success in Les Girls, which had just been released. 'I hear, I said, 'that four studios are hot after you to do another picture.' "Kay winked. 'Five studios,' she said. "And then she shook her head and said, 'But I'm saying no to everything right now. We go to England, Rex does Fair Lady there for a while, we take a short vacation and then if there's any picture work to be done we do it together.' " 'No splitting the act?' I asked. " 'Not if I've got anything to say about it,' Kay told me. 'It's too good an act. I don't know what I'd do if it folded, even • makes your lashes look as long as they really are! PERMANENT DARKENER FOR LASHES AND BROWS (for the hairs to which a "Dark-Eyes" goes on once . . . stays on until lashes and brows are replaced by new hairs every four to six WEEKS. So easy to applyl !.'D.a/k"Et.yesV,colors • • • doesn't coat. No sticky, beady look, no brittle, breaking hairs. All day, all night for weeks, lashes and brows are NATURALLY soft, dark luxuriant-wilhout mascaral "Dark-Eyes" doesn't smear, doesn't wash off! 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