Photoplay (Jul - Dec 1940)

Jerry and Mac of Paramount's "I Want A Divorce": Joan Blondell and Dick Powell The domestic troubles of a girl like Peppy would spice up any front page. The papers went to town on this, Mac's first divorce case "Mr. Appleby, did you ever know a Miss Peppy Chickonia?" Mac asked the marine. "Yer durn tootin' I did," answered Appleby with feeling WANT A DIVORCE Copyright, 1940, by Paramount Pictures, Inc. Every married woman has to face, at some time or other, a situation like this. Jerry MacNally thought she knew just what to do about it BY ADELA ROGERS ST.IOHNS THERE probably never was a pair of sweethearts in the whole world who didn't feel that all their troubles would be over the minute they got married. Certainly young Alan and Jerry MacNally were no exception. Weren't they ecstatically in love with each other? Hadn't Mac passed his bar examinations and got a job — not much of one, it's true, but still a foothold — in the law office of the sensationally successful Erskine Brandon? Of course, for Jerry there was the tragic example of Wanda's broken marriage. But Jerry adored her scintillating older sister and could understand very well why Wanda couldn't stay married to a critical old fogey like David Holland. Her own Mac wasn't a bit like that. Jerry was only terribly sorry for little Davey Holland, being passed around like an unwanted piece of cake, from papa to mama and back again. There was Jeff's situation, too. Jeff Gilman was a dealer on a gambling ship, but he was Jerry and Mac's best friend just the same. They liked his ready frankness and sympathized with his desire to be free of his petulant wife. "Peppy" Gilman was greedy and grasping — not at all like Jerry herself. So they didn't worry much about the marital tangles around them. And, whenever Jerry did have a twinge of doubt, she always thought of her own Grandma Brokaw and Grandpa and their long happiness together on their little fruit farm. Didn't that prove how well marriage could really work out? Only — Jerry sometimes wondered if maybe she didn't have too much time on her hands. There was so little to do around the tiny apart ment and there wasn't any money to spend anywhere else during the day. How could Jerry have guessed that money — which had seemed so unimportant in the face of their love for each other — and money alone, was enough to imperil their happiness? OUT it was, as Jerry learned one fateful day, months after her marriage. She awoke, as usual, at the sound of the alarm. She crept out of bed, regarding herself in the mirror with the unhappy conviction that she never looked beautiful in the morning. Then she grinned philosophically, combed her hair, put on a neat-and-clean house dress and began the process of waking Mac. Usually there was a roughhouse and this was no exception. When he went back to sleep for the third time the coffee was already perking and she poured a glass of water down his neck drop by drop. That did it, but the damage was considerable because Jerry was pretty strong herself. They wrestled and tumbled like puppies, until suddenly he jumped free, picked her up, gave her a swift kiss and disappeared into the tiny bathroom. Jerry heaved an ecstatic sigh and put the toast on. Mac's rush to the table, the hurried breakfast which he ate with one hand while he held the paper with the other were all right on schedule. At the door she said, "Darling — I hate to mention the matter, but how's the family exchequer this morning? There's some oldfashioned theory about having to eat to live." That morning it really got serious. There were three silver coins in Mac's pocket, a dime, a quarter and a fifty-cent piece. He gave Jerry the fifty-cent piece. "Don't spend it all in one place," he said. Jerry said, "But — what'll we do when this is gone?" "I'll get some today. Brandy promised me some." "Brandon and his promises," said Jerry. "He isn't being a bit fair to you. You work so hard." "He's all right," Mac said. "He spends an awful lot of dough. The contacts he keeps up come high, but I guess they bring in business." "So he buys polo ponies and your wife can starve." Mac's face went dark with that sudden tem per that came so swiftly and mercifully so seldom. "I didn't know I'd let you starve yet." "Oh, Mac, no," she said, "only you're just as good a lawyer as he is and you do most of the real work and then he never gives you any real salary or any credit — you ought to threaten to leave him and then where would he be?" Mac laughed. "Point is, where would I be?" he said. "You're a fool to even think of such a thing. I'm lucky — " "Don't call me a fool," Jerry said. "It's one of the things I specially don't like." "I didn't," said Mac. "You did so," Jerry said furiously, near to tears, clutching the ignominious fifty-cent piece hard in her hand. "I did not," Mac shouted. Jerry opened her mouth to shout back and then began to roar with laughter. "Did — didn't — did — didn't," she sputtered at him and then Mac was laughing, too, he had kissed her, the way a lover kisses his beloved good-by, ruffling her hair and looking down into her face. Then he was gone and everything was very quiet and Jerry's day alone had begun. ALWAYS the thought of Mac pervaded the place. She picked up the paper and peered at the page he had been reading— the sports page. "Baseball," said Jerry. She went to work in the bedroom and couldn't resist smoothing tenderly the pillow where his head had rested and putting her cheek against the coat of his pajamas as she hung them up. The phone rang and it was Wanda. Jerry lit a cigarette and settled down for a long conversation. "Come over for lunch and play bridge," Wanda said. Jerry winked at the fifty-cent piece and said, "Can't afford it this week." "I'll carry you," Wanda said. "Mac wouldn't like that." "Why tell him?" "I always tell him everything." Wanda's voice sounded thin. "More fool you. Don't mind me, I've got a hangover. I was out with Mac's boss last night. I expect he's got one, too." "You shouldn't," Jerry said. "You'll ruin your complexion and it's so lovely." "It ought to be," Wanda said, and this time Jerry was sure of the bitterness. "It costs enough." 71