Modern Screen (Jan-Dec 1960)

Because Chuck has been on location so much and because the baby arrived when he was abroad, he and Lydia have endured many and long separations. Too. she has virtually given up her own career. Yet theirs is a happy marriage. Chuck seems calm, considerate, loving, and insists, "A successful marriage is the art of the possible; I never argue with my wife."' She admits the constant traveling and their three homes make life exciting. If she had tried to race him. careerwise. she might have wrecked their marriage. By deliberately falling behind, she won the marital race. Roselle Como "I've always wanted to be on your show," the gorgeous girl said when the studio crew wandered away and left her momentarily alone with Perry Como. "You're a fine singer," Perry said. She smiled, as she sized him up appreciatively. He was over 40, his black hair was graying, he had a wife and three kids. But he was still handsome, a power in TV, and rich. "After the show." she whispered. "Why don't you come over to my place and unwind? . . . We'll relax." If Roselle Como had known of this conversation, she wouldn't have worried — she trusted her husband. "Sorry." said Perry. "Can't . . . I've already promised Father Bob and my brother-in-law Dee to go for spaghetti . . . then we got to hurry home . . . tomorrow's Sunday . . . early mass." After the show. Perry did just what he said he'd do. The next morning he and Roselle, and Terry and David, went to church. Their eldest. Ronnie, would have gone, too; but he was away at Notre Dame. When Perry and Roselle eloped in 1933. he was a touring band vocalist who periodically went back to barbering when things got bad. When he finally made the big time in New York, he and Roselle agreed they didn't want to be a showbusiness couple living in a glamorous fishbowl. So their marriage worked because they accepted a discipline, backed by a strong religious faith. They moved to the suburbs, permitted very few show-business cronies to come to their home, avoided night clubs and premieres, and tried to lead a "normal life" — going to church, playing tennis and golf, barbecuing meals, singing in the kitchen while strumming a mandolin, sitting around and watching TV, playing with the kids in the yard. "The best things in life are your God. your home, your family. These things were mine when I was making S15 a week as a barber. They are still the only things that count for me." Shirley Parker In these days, when Togetherness is supposed to be the core of a good marriage, Shirley MacLaine has built her marriage on Apartness. In six years of marriage to Steve Parker, they have been apart most of the time. She works in Hollywood; he makes movies in Tokyo. It all started when he went to the Orient four years ago to make good on his own and thus head off being called "Mr. Shirley MacLaine." Shirley remained in Hollywood and even had then baby alone — she drove to the hospital unescorted when the time came. When Steve's away, she goes alone to the Sinatra-Martin "clan" parties, leaving herself open to malicious gossip. Yet her marriage works, and her radiant spirits indicate she's a happy wife. In a mantrapping community, where a wife doesn't trust her husband as far as she can throw a Martini glass, she often does not see her husband for months at a time. Yet she doesn't seem to worry; she doesn't seem to care what people think of her marriage. She's admitted that Steve is so different. "His views are so opposite," and "the only thing we have in common is that we both like to be alone at times." But they love each other fiercely, and they phone each other an hour at a time, two or three times a week, and they write daily. This curious relationship is being held by distance rather than closeness, and by the hope that today's sacrifice is tomorrow's happiness. Shirley tolerates the separations because they enable Steve to establish himself as a producer, and then he'll be more comfortable being a star's husband. Soon, she says, they'll be together all the time — six months in Hollywood, six months in Tokyo. Dorothy Mitchum Bob Mitchum met Dorothy Spence at 16 and married her at 27. when he was an odd -jobs man. restlessly trj'ing to find the right occupation. She has put up with him through failure and success. And surely sometimes she must have wondered if success is better for their marriage, because Bob's being a star has made it impossible for him to Live It Up unnoticed. Bob, naturally unconventional and rebellious, makes headlines with his brawls and frank talk. Bob has admittedly been in and out of jails for vagrancy as a kid; his fifty days in jail on a marijuana charge made the front pages: his involvement with booze and broads is well known. He is hardly the type of husband women yearn for openly. Yet his marriage has held fast. He and Dorothy have raised three fine kids; he is devoted to them, and he is a loving husband to Dorothy in his own fashion. She understands her husband — and isn't that what every wife should try to do? She expects from him only what she knows he can give. Her realistic approach has saved this marriage for 20 years. She has built an exciting family life around his shortcomings as well as his loving qualities — instead of trying to push for a safe, colorless husband whose main virtue is keeping out of trouble. Shirley Boone Pat Boone dated Shirley Foley ten months before he got up enough nerve to kiss her. They steady-dated two years, when suddenly Shirley's family had to move to another city. The only way they could stay together was to marry. But their families thought they were too young. Nobody had faith in two 19-year-olds marrying, especially when the boy was still going to college and had no money. But Pat and Shirley had faith in their love and common sense, so they eloped with the help of a sympathetic minister, who gave them their first gift, a Bible. Pat did the impossible by finishing college while building a sensational career, and Shirley proved she could run the little family on S40 a week as well as S40.000 a week. When fame came along, Pat resisted the usual temptation to become a playboy or a showoff. Instead, he stayed close to the "square" virtues of faithfulness, churchgoing. giving to charity, working for religious and moral causes. He and Shirley periodically repeat their marriage vows, to remind themselves that "you never get anything good out of breaking a promise to God." Their marriage has worked because they had good family backgrounds, they grew through adolescence together and matured together, they worked side by side, they struggled together, they weren't afraid of problems, they prayed together. And with Pat, Shirley knew she would take any chance. 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