Movie Classic (Mar-Aug 1936)

The Girl Bob Taylor Can't Forget [Continued from page 81] stay single for years after he starts practising. He wouldn't have the nerve to ask a girl to starve with him while he suffered his early struggles. But 1 wouldn't have had that handicap, if everything had worked out as planned. I would have stepped into a ready-made practice. And, with that prospect ahead of me, I don't see what would have kept me from marrying." Music, he had intimated, had led indirectly to his meeting the girl he had wanted to marry. How did that happen? "Well, it led me to California, for one thing," he explained. "I went to Doane College at Doane, Nebraska, first — and if I hadn't been interested in the 'cello there by a great prof — and if he hadn't transferred to Pomona College at the end of my Freshman year, I might never have come to California. I followed him out to Pomona, you see. If I hadn't, I never would have met the girl — never seen Hollywood, either." He was taking a pre-med course, still planning to become a doctor, like his father — until the spring of his Senior year. That was when his college romance reached its zenith. But even that did not alter his ambition. He saw no reason why they could not be secretly married — no reason why he could not continue to study medicine. What happened was that the stage bug took a large bite out of him. He developed a high fever for the footlights. Such a fever that he won the role of Capt. Stanhope in a campus production of Journey's End. An M-G-M talent scout saw him, arranged a screen test. Out of the test came a contract — to start upon his graduation in June, with a session in the M-G-M training school. Two months later, his father died, leaving only a small estate. To twenty-oneyear-old Arlington Brugh, his movie venture under the name of Robert Taylor was no longer just a pleasant experiment; it wyas a means of earning a living. It was a job — the only one in sight. He didn't stand much chance of finding anything better. The depression wasn't over yet. And, to the world at large, he was just another college graduate, without any special training of any kind. So he went to work — at the business of becoming an actor. At a salary of thirtyfive dollars a week. "When I was in college, and getting seven-fifty a week from home, and had no prospects of any income for years — I had marrying ideas," he pointed out, ironically. "The folly of youth, maybe." Now that he was out of college, and had responsibilities, he couldn't afford even to think of marriage. Not on thirty-five dollars a week. When film companies start student actors at small salaries, they unconsciously persuade the boys to remain "eligible bachelors"— first out of necessity, then out of sheer habit. At least, that was what happened to Robert Taylor. Besides, he had lost the one girl he had wanted to marry — and he was in no mood to search for a substitute. Oh. there was one girl to whom he was briefly attracted, on the rebound. A young beginner, like himself. A dancer. Then she went off to New York — to stay for two years. Time and distance did their destructive business. When she finally re 82 For months Hollywood was a-jitter about the reported engagement of Robert Taylor and Irene Hervey. Now they are no longer seen together and Dame Rumor has bestowed on each of them another romance turned, he felt nothing but a vast, emotionless calm. They could find nothing to talk about. Then he played his first important part — the title role of Society Doctor. Overnight, the fan mail started rolling in, warning the studio that here was a coming star. He made Broadzvay Melody of 1936 — and the letters became a white deluge. About the same time, the press-agents and the columnists reported that Robert Taylor and Irene Hervey, young M-G-M actress, were romancing. THE reports continued for months. Then, suddenly, they "broke up." Just as suddenly, Irene started going with someone else — belying any rumors that she needed sympathy. Bob's name began to be linked with several prominent feminine names. All of which leads to the suspicion, perhaps unjustified, that the Robert TaylorIrene Hervey "romance" was inspired by advisers. It would surround the new romantic hero with a harmless aura of the young lover ; it would save him from a barrage of rumors, which might be annoying to him, his sponsors and his fans. Anyway, with the end of the TaylorHervey alignment, Bob and Janet Gaynor were rumored "interested" in each other. ( They happened to be making Small Town Girl together.) Then he was seen with Virginia Bruce at the Academy dinner. (On the strength of that one appearance together, one columnist jumped the gun and announced that they were engaged.) Now, as we race to press, he is escorting Barbara Stanwyck to premieres, parties and public dining spots. At the starry premiere of The Great PIUXTED IX V.S.A. Ziegfeld, the only time that the horde of sidewalk spectators got out of hand was when Robert Taylor (who was not in the picture) entered the theatre. To the Hollywood fans, Bob still was a highly eligible bachelor. Perhaps they had heard, and believed, the opinion of Barbara's friends that, though parted from him, she still loves Frank Fay— who is making a big name for himself again, this time in radio. Bob told me that he thought the world of Barbara Stanwyck. Beyond that, he would not commit himself. At the moment, he is co-starring with Loretta Young in Private Number (the new version of Constance Bennett's onetime hit, Common Clay). There won't be any new romance rumors in that direction, with Loretta making no secret of her interest in Director Eddie Sutherland. As soon as he finishes, Bob is scheduled to be with Joan Crawford, the brand-new Mrs. Franchot Tone, in The Gorgeous Hussy. He isn't going to have the time to devote to any serious off-screen romancing, for a while. Also, just between you and me, he will have little inclination for any serious offscreen romancing — until he meets the girl who can erase the memory of the girl he can't forget. . . . Don't Miss .... THE TRUE LIFE STORY OF ROBERT TAYLOR by His Mother The most revealing storjr about this sensational new star which has ever been written will begin in September MOVIE CLASSIC. Don't miss the first installment. KAI'.I.F. BROS. CO., PRINTERS