Modern Screen (Jan-Dec 1960)

Bill shook his head. "Don't be hurt, please don't," she said. "It's not love we've got, anyway. It's just like we're part of the pattern and feel we should conform to the pattern — the people our ages who think they've got to get married and settle down before they get too old and lose out altogether, or before other people, their friends, their families, start talking, saying 'What's wrong with them? Don't they believe in love, institutions — anything?' " Bill shook his head again. "This is it, then?" he asked. " — Just like that? . . . We're through? ... Is that what you're trying to say with all those fancy words of yours?" "I guess so, Billy," Marilyn Novak said. "It's better to know before than after, isn't ; it?" She tried to take his hand. He pulled it away. "I'm sorry, Billy," she said. . . . Susan didn't want any help It was October in Hollywood — October of that same year, 1952 — when Susan's doctor phoned Dick Quine and asked him to rush to her house. "She's a very sick girl," the doctor, an old man, an old friend of the family, said when Dick arrived. "Seven years since the accident, it's knocked a lot out of her . . . It's tired her . . . She could fight. But she won't. She hasn't let any of us help her for more than two years now . . . Her picture flopped. That was a blow. The play tours were too much strain. Even the radio work . . . And the pain never left her . . . She's tired . . . And she doesn't want any help . . . She hasn't much longer, Richard." "Can I see her?" Dick asked. "I don't think so, not now," the doctor said. "I just wanted you to know, to be here. I knew you'd want to." They both sat. The doctor strove to talk about other things. "It's been a long time, Richard," he said. " — How have you been doing?" "All right, I guess," said Dick. "Re-married, I hear," said the doctor. Dick nodded. "Children?" "One . . . another on the way, we think." "Been acting much — working?" "Acting, no, not at all any more — I gave that up," said Dick. "I'm a dialogue director now, over at Columbia." "I see," said the old man. Both he and Dick turned now as a nurse walked into the room. "Doctor — " she said, urgently. The old man rose. He said nothing to Dick as he walked out of the room. . . . Dick was sitting with the boy, Timothy, the boy he and Susan had adopted years ago — the boy he had not seen these past four years, when the doctor returned. It had been more than an hour now since the old man had left the room. He looked weary, pale, older, much older. "Susan is gone," he said, looking at Dick. "She was tired . . . She didn't want any help, not from any of us. . . ." Dick looked over at the boy. His eyes filled with tears. "Tim," he said, "would you like to come home with me?" "Yes," said the boy. They got up. And, together, they left. . . . The nervous director and the scared starlet Dick Quine first met Marilyn Novak on a March morning in 1954. Marilyn Novak was Kim Novak now. She had been spotted by a Columbia Pictures talent scout while modeling at a refrigerator salesmen's convention a few months earlier, had been introduced to Columbia bossman Harry Cohn, had been given Cohn's nod, and then the works — a screen test, a new first name, a new hairdo, a short-term contract, and a pep-talk on how her break would come if she studied hard, cooperated, waited. Now, this day, her break had come. A young actress scheduled to play the role of Lona McClane in a B-picture called Pushover, had fallen sick the night before production got under way. There was no time to wait for her to recover — not under the speed-and-save Cohn system. And so, that next morning, after a night of conferences, Kim was called to the studio and told to report to work. Immediately. Script scheduling called for her to be in the first scene. Shooting was to begin at 9:00 a.m. At 9: 15, Dick Quine, the picture's director, called out for Miss Novak, the only missing player. "Not here," somebody called back. "Where is she?" "In her dressing room — bawling," he was told. "You'd better go have a talk with her. . . ." Kim, who had indeed been bawling, bawled even more when she saw Dick. "I know," she said, "I'm spoiling everything for everybody. But I can't go out there." "I'm scared stiff, for one thing . . . I'm so scared," she said. She pointed to the script on her dressing table. "And I'll never be able to remember my lines." "Lines?" Dick asked. "You only have six or seven to remember for today." "But I won't remember them," Kim said. "I know it." She brought up a Kleenex she was holding and wiped away some of her tears. "Please," she said then. "I've been sitting here waiting for someone to walk in and tell me the joke's over . . . You tell me that, Mr. Quine — you just tell me that. And I'll understand. And I'll go home . . . Just tell me that." 150 FOR YOU! Fill in the form below (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) as soon as you've read all the stories in this issue. Then mail !t to us right away Promptness counts. Three $10 winners will be chosen from each of the following areas — on a basis of the date and time on your postmark: Eastern states; Southern states: Midwestern states; Rocky Mountain and Pacific states; Canada. And even if you don't earn $10, you'll be glad you sent this ballot in— because you're helping us pick the stories you'll really love. MAIL TO: MODERN SCREEN POLL, BOX 2291, GRAND CENTRAL STATION, N. Y. 17, N. Y. Please circle the box to the left of the one phrase which best answers each question: 1. I LIKE DORIS DAY: 0 more than almost any star 0 a lot 0 fairly well 0 very little 0 not at all 00 am not very familiar with her 1 READ: QG all of her story 00 part 00 none IT HELD MY INTEREST: 0 super-completely 00 completely 00 fairly well 00 very little 00 not at all 2. I LIKE ELVIS PRESLEY: 0 more than almost any star 00 a lot 00 fairly well 00 very little 00 not at all 00 am not very familiar with him 1 READ: 00 all of his story 00 part 00 none IT HELD MY INTEREST: UJ super-completely UJ completely 00 fairly well 00 very little 00 not at all 3. I LIKE JUDI MEREDITH: UJ more than almost any star UJ a lot UJ fairly well UJ very little UJ not at all UJ am not very familiar with her 1 READ: 0 all of her story UJ part UJ none IT HELD MY INTEREST: 0 super-completely UJ completely 00 fairly well UJ very little 00 not at all 4. I LIKE KIM NOVAK: UJ more than almost any star UJ a lot UJ fairly well UJ very little UJ not at all UJ am not very familiar with her 1 READ: UJ all of her story UJ part UJ none IT HELD MY INTEREST: 0 super-completely UJ completely UJ fairly well UJ very little UJ not at all 5. I LIKE JOHNNY NASH: 0 more than almost any star 0 a lot 0 fairly well 0 very little 0 not at all 0 am not very familiar with him 1 READ: 0 all of their story 0 part 0 none IT HEL0 MY INTEREST: 0 super-completely 0 completely 0 fairly well 0 very little 0 not at all 6. I LIKED DIANA BARRYM0RE: 0 more than almost any star 0 a lot 0 fairly well 0 very little 0 not at all 0 am not very familiar with her 1 READ: 0 all of her story 0 part 0 none IT HELD MY INTEREST: 0 super-completely 0 completely 0 fairly well 0 very little 0 not at all 7. I LIKE ANNETTE FUNICELL0: 0 more than almost any star 0 a lot 0 fairly well 0 very little 0 not at all 0 am not very familiar with her 1 READ: 0 all of her story 0 part 0 none IT HELD MY INTEREST: 0 super-completely 0 completely 0 fairly well 0 very little 0 not at all 8. I LIKE FRANKIE AVAL0N: 0 more than almost any star 0 a lot 0 fairly well 0 very little 0 not at all 0 am not very familiar with him 1 READ: 0 all of his story 0 part 0 none IT HELD MY INTEREST: 0 super-completely 0 completely 0 fairly well 0 very little 0 not at all