Modern Screen (Jan-Dec 1960)

SPENCER TRACY: states9 rights The young man looked furtively up and down the street, hurried along until he came to a building with the flag of the State of California, then scurried through the open door. Inside, he drew a breath of relief and muttered. "I'd sure hate to have him see me here." He got out a bunch of papers and took his place in the long line. As he waited, he thought over the incredible events of the evening before. He'd gotten a phone call from his idol Spencer Tracy! The boy's aunt was an old friend of Mr. Tracy's but he was much too proud to "use" anyone, much too proud to trade on family pull to meet anyone. It even hurt his pride to be standing here, in the Unemployment Compensation line, but his last film — his only film, to be truthful, though he'd had a small but good role — had ended months ago and he hadn't been able to find anything else since. He'd been seriously thinking about quitting; he could hardly call himself an actor after one job. If he didn't get something by the time his Unemployment checks ran out, he'd admit defeat and go back home. . . . And now to think that Mr. Tracy had phoned him, had told him he'd "shown a great deal of promise in your last film" (what a kind way to put it! ) and said he had to be downtown the next day on some "very important business" and suggested lunch. The restaurant, the boy knew, was very near the Unemployment Office. So he'd have to be very careful not to let Mr. Tracy see him. His business completed, he turned from the window and hurried away. He thought for a moment that he heard someone calling after him. calling his first name. But it was probably another unemployed actor, and he had no time for that today. . . . The boy entered the restaurant, safely unseen as far as he could tell, and sat down to wait. Quite some time later Spencer Tracy arrived and said, "Sorry to keep you waiting. Son. I got held up at the Unemployment Office." '* — the where?" "Got held up signing for my next check at the Unemployment Office." Spencer Tracy repeated. "Matter of fact. I thought I saw you there too. You know it's quite a meeting place! Young man looked like you but he rushed on out, so I guess it wasn't." He added with a twinkle in his eye, "If you haven't already signed up for it. you really should. We pay taxes for it. you know. It's our right and our privilege. I believe that every actor should preserve his franchise — never can be sure there won't be a long siege of bad times." And with that, the two actors sat down to order lunch. Spencer Tracy stars in Inherit The Wind, for United Artists. Producer George England became a friend. But, with his marital status still in doubt with his actress wife Cloris Leachman, May chose not to be the one to break up a marriage and leave Cloris as unhappy as she was. George England still speaks highly of May. "She deserves so much. I wish her happiness in her search for it." Then, Sammy came on the scene. He seemed to understand the great strain she was under. And he offered to help her. For a while, May relegated all her insecurities and fears to the decisions Sammy seemed to have for each problem. Sammy's reputation scarcely recommended him for the role of father-confessor or decision maker. His whisperedabout romance with Kim Novak had put r heavy pressure on him to stay clear of : Kim. Sammy protested that theirs was ic only a friendship, but rumor had the late Harry Cohn, the head of Columbia Pictures at that time, just about ready to kill Sammy should be persist in courting the studio's $20,000,000 investment. Shortly after that rumor came out, Sammy married dancer Loray Scott. It was reported that their courtship lasted a I lengthy six davs. Divorce quickly followed for Sammy, as Kim hiked herself off to Europe and dated V such international charmers as the late Aly Khan and Count Mario Bandini. Sammy was good for May, in the beginning. With the perpetual energy of a hurricane, he left her little room for 1 brooding, by keeping her as busy as possible. After a while, however, she began 'tto sense his personal magnetism was be^ ginning to creep under her skin. With each step they took, her feelings , changed. She had taken his compassion and understanding and turned it into something that was beginning to frighten her. She had begun to fall in love. They tried to fight the feeling that was overpowering them with each passing moment. And May tried desperately tc keep her heart from the world's gaze. She even tried to break with Sammy She was about to tell him that they coulc no longer see each other, even though ii would hurt her to have him gone frorr her life. But May could not end then friendship. Dangerous though it was tc both of them, it had lasted too long anc meant too much to die easily. Then in London, Sammy startled the world with his announcement that, aftei May's divorce became final September 28 he and May would marry and raise a larg( family. He admitted that the marriag( might affect their careers. "But I'm read} to take the risk," May said staunchly. "I my career is so flimsily put together, : Sammy insisted, "that my marriage ma; ruin it, then my career isn't worth much. 1 Less than forty-eight hours after, th first ugly insults began. Pickets threatens to boycott Sammy's show, demonstrator carried signs vilely attacking May. May has no Harry Cohn, as Kim Novai did, to save her career. She does not hav the millions of fans to rise to her defense But she is going through this difficul time with courage, supported and strength ened by the love of the man she love: She is "aware that this marriage is crisis in my life." And she knows thf Sammy "needs loving as much as I d( Lots of it, and lots of children." As for trouble, well, she expects it. "' my film career will suffer in the States, will make films on the continent." We hope it won't have to come to thi We hope May's career is not destroyed be cause of her romance. EN May stars in 20th-Fox's Murder. In< and Sammy in Warners' Ocean's 11.