Photoplay (Jan - Jun 1943)

Record Details:

Something wrong or inaccurate about this page? Let us Know!

Thanks for helping us continually improve the quality of the Lantern search engine for all of our users! We have millions of scanned pages, so user reports are incredibly helpful for us to identify places where we can improve and update the metadata.

Please describe the issue below, and click "Submit" to send your comments to our team! If you'd prefer, you can also send us an email to mhdl@commarts.wisc.edu with your comments.




We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.

Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.

WHY HOLLYWOOD TOLD COLLI! (ARSON: She could hear Richard Ney's voice pleading, "When will you marry me?" She could hear Hollywood's voice saying all that must be said to any woman thinking of marriage now THE eyes of thousands of women of America are on Greer Garson today. Faced with the same problems, or very similar ones, they are awaiting "Mrs. Miniver's" decision. Will she or will she not eventually marry Richard Ney, the boy who played her son in "Mrs. Miniver," a lad younger than herself, because he begs for this happiness? During that period of indecision, followed by the delay caused by the three-day wait after the license was applied for according to California law, Hollywood held its breath. It didn't want Greer Garson to marry young Ney. A bold, perhaps ruthless statement in print, we admit, but behind it goes the warm, tender solicitousness for both of them. For Richard, as well as Greer. For months, in fact from the time "Mrs. Miniver" was in production, Richard Ney had, as someone put it, "hounded, persisted and stormed Greer into a reluctant 'yes-' " Never for one minute did he cease his relentless pursuit. That Greer was older, that she was a great star and he a beginner, that she obviously didn't love him enough to accept him at once, made no difference. He was determined to have the lady as his wife. That he was unprepared to offer her financial security, even to share such burdens as she might incur, that on his return he might not be able to take up the career he had just begun — failed to daunt him. He wanted this one thing despite all hazards — Greer Garson as his wife. "I have never been able in all my life to make up my mind about a thing," , Greer says, "even to choosing a hat." So it looks as if the lady's mind will have to be made up for her. However, this problem of Greer's is important, not because love and FEBRUARY, 1943 l!l SALLV JEFFERSON marriage are always important, but because this engagement and perhaps marriage is a direct product of war. It was born in the roots of this conflict. It had nothing to do with the calm reactions of a man and woman in peaceful times. It is an example set for thousands of women who have been torn with the same problem — "Shall I marry this man before he leaves?" It is a problem Greer Garson has had to settle herself. BEFORE he left Hollywood for his preliminary training, Richard begged Greer to say yes. During his training period, he bombarded her with pleading letters. How he completed his prescribed course of training is a mystery to Hollywood, considering the constant flow of communications to the West. After obtaining his commission as ensign, young Ney lit out for Hollywood and began his pursuit in earnest. Those who have seen the two together declare Richard's devotion is not the tense, quiet, deeply buried love that renders a man reverently speechless. On the contrary, he was constantly beseeching Greer before an audience. "When are you going to marry me, dear?" he'd ask in the presence of others. "When, when, when?" He danced attendance, showered her with compliments and flattered her heart. A.nd this in a way was good for Greer whose brilliant mind and conversation, whose deep thinking and constant reading kept her rather apart from Hollywood and within a limited circle of older men and women. A brilliant woman can very often be a lonely woman and no doubt Greer Garson experienced hours of loneliness. She is a woman capable of great fun and gaiety, but her British reserve and ultraconservatism had restrained her from indulging in the good times she might have found. Richard, with his young, impulsive, reckless ways, furnished her with that vitamin of enjoyment she'd been missing. He was tall and she liked tall men. He danced divinely and she adored dancing. It was like coming out of a stuffy room into a bright, intoxicating garden. Ballets, concerts, lectures, had been her chief diversions in Hollywood, along with hours and hours of reading. In fact, each year the Ballet Russe came to town, members of the cast were entertained by Greer. World-famous musicians and writers were guests at her home. But with Ney came a new world. LJOLLYWOOD, to a man, hoped I " Greer Garson would hold out against young Ney's charm and persistence. She deserved, they felt, more hours of fun and laughter and dancing than could be given her as the wife of an absent sailor. The suspense before his departure grew to such proportions that at every small dinner party or gathering one heard the same thing, "Oh, I hope Greer doesn't make a mistake." The tension continued to mount, with this writer, believe it or not, summoned out of bed at 1:30 A.M. one morning to be told Richard and Greer had already been married. The next morning the report was denied and proved to be untrue. Hourly M-G-M gave out the latest bulletin to the hundreds who phoned in for news. Always it was, "You know as much about it as we do. We only hope it doesn't go through." And, remember, Ney is an M-G-M contract player, too. This was (Continued on page 82) 29