Photoplay (Jan - Jun 1943)

Portrait of a Right Guy He wears glasses and is the tallest of screen stars. Name him? He's Fred MacMurray, real-life style JOSEPH HENRY STEEIE HIS knees shake violently whenever he makes a personal appearance. "I look like the leaning tower of Pisa." He loves sauerkraut. He wishes he had never made "Cocoanut Grove" and "many other pictures." He never plays bridge. He quit smoking pipes because they always gave him indigestion. His full name is Frederick Martin MacMurray. He wears size 12 shoes and is opposed to the rugged individualism philosophy of government. He is very fond of smorgasbord. He was born in St. Rose Hospital on St. Rose Day in Kankakee, Illinois. His favorite meat is old-fashioned pot roast, and his parents and schoolmates always called him Bud. His eyes are green. He likes tweeds, picnics and a quick cold shower. He has had measles and mumps and thinks dyed hair okay on women "provided it makes them more attractive, which is not always the case." He was baptized in a Presbyterian church. He has two more wisdom teeth to come out. He is righthanded and last rode in a streetcar in New York in 1934. He is loath to criticize others and considers his work merely a means to an end. 34 He gets sick at high altitudes. Fred MacMurray loves telling fairy tales to his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Susan, but he is forever garbling them until they no longer resemble the originals. His father is of Scotch descent, his mother of German, and he has never worn buckled military shoes. He is very nearsighted and has to wear glasses. He is a good speller, likes following a golf match, and is fond of mashed potatoes which he likes to mash himself. He doesn't like kippers or smoked herring. He gets seasick and airsick and thinks money not too important to achieve happiness. He smokes about a pack of cigarettes a day. He never goes to a Turkish or Swedish bath. He flunked in mathematics and never dreamed that he would one day be an actor. He is never punctual. He is a realist at heart and is proud of his cooking ability. He sleeps in the raw. He never wears jewelry, never drinks wine, and has a special sentimental nostalgia for his boyhood days around Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. He is six feet, three-and-a-half inches tall. He has never gone in for winter sports, has read very little poetry, and rides horseback only fairly. "... I can just about manage to stay on one." He has an exceptionally large appetite and his favorite room is his den which is decorated with numerous bird prints and contains his rifles. He likes fixing his own breakfast but is constantly breaking the yolks of the eggs. He is very fond of hunting and fishing. He has had his tonsils out and he and his wife never argue about politics. He is of an even disposition, rarely suffers depression and is an easy, affable conversationalist. His worst traffic offense was speeding at seventy-five miles an hour. FRED MacMURRAY is proud that he once successfully made a butterscotch pie. His knuckles won't crack and he is always whistling or humming tunes of his own invention. He seldom eats candy. He takes Vitamin A for his eyes. He dislikes wearing tails and has a devil of a time remembering dates, anniversaries and names. He thinks only women with good figures should wear slacks. His favorite cheese is American nippy, he has never been to Grant's Tomb in New York, where he lived for several years. He is not selfconscious. He (Continued on page 92) photoplay combined with movb mirror