Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1958)

finding out for ourselves. Besides, the majority of the people who would have read our literary gems are far more equipped than we were — if anything they should be giving us the advice! So on our honeymoon we made up our minds that the reading public will not be inflicted with Mr. and Mrs. Wagner’s advice to the lovelorn. “Perhaps one reason why we’re so adamant on this point is because both of us have done a lot of traveling during the past few years. We’ve met our fans, we’ve talked to them, we read their wonderful letters. We’ve learned from this personal contact that when people have favorite stars they tend to emulate them, try to fashion themselves after their favorites and also accept any byline stories as gospel when they see your name attached. Our fans are too important to us to make us sacrifice our integrity by lending our names to a lot of stuff we either never see or else disapprove of. There’s another sore spot as far as stories are concerned,” Natalie continued. “We have been asked to discuss our problems in print. We’ve been approached on the basis that by reading about our problems, others will be helped. If this were only true, RJ and I would gladly bare our souls — if one person could be helped in the attempt. But how can any problems we have help others to solve theirs?” “We aren’t the typical boy and girl next door,” RJ added. “It’s about time the stories about us faced up to that fact. Besides, we’ve been asked to discuss problems we wouldn’t talk over with our most intimate friends. There are just some things reserved for the privacy of one’s home. We just aren’t the average couple and there’s no reason why, for the sake of a story, we should be portrayed that way. “By the very nature of our profession we have certain advantages, along with innumerable problems that are unique to us and other actors and actresses. Would it be of value to anyone else to discuss the fact that if Natalie has to go to Europe next month and I can’t go along, that she’ll give up her role to be with me? Is that a problem the readers face? Besides, why should they be inflicted on anybody? “I think it’s only fair to point out that being a movie star, making a good salary, having the ability to afford certain luxuries is not the end-all of living. We have our problems — what human being doesn’t? And furthermore, although it may seem to others that since we have so much, we shouldn’t be entitled to any worries, that just isn’t true. It’s always easy to look at someone else and say what have they got to worry about? But each life and each problem is relative to the one living it. I can’t say that the things Natalie and I must face and will face in the future are one bit easier to solve by virtue of the fact that we may drive a Cadillac instead of a Model T Ford.” “Before RJ and I were married,” Nat said, “I once sat in on an interview with PHOTOGRAPHERS’ CREDITS Color of Elizabeth Taylor and Mike Todd and portrait of Diane Varsi by Curt Gunther; color of Anita Ekberg and Anthony Steel, Russ Melcher; Dean Stockwell color, Don Ornitz; Dolores Hart color portrait. Paramount; color photograph of Johnny Mathis and of Molly Bee, Judy Meredith, Barbara Wilson and Ty Hungerford by Roger Marshutz; Doris DayMarty Melcher candids. Globe; Dick Clark series by Gene Cook; Natalie Wood-Bob Wagner series. Bill Avery of Black Star; Eddie and Carrie Fisher, Topix. him. The reporter came right out and told RJ that all the stories ever written about him made him sound like the boy who had everything. He then suggested that since he wanted to do a real dramatic story they should make up a few problems to make RJ sound pathetic — good reader identification, the reporter said, winking at us. I’ll never forget RJ’s reaction. He just sat there for a moment and then he said softly, ‘Make up problems! Are you kidding? Do you really believe that stuff you write about me being Joe Lucky, the boy with everything? Listen, I have problems, plenty of them, but they’re my problems and I don’t feel like burdening anyone with them. If you find it necessary to make me sound pathetic in order to have an appealing story, then why don’t we just forget it!’ “You see, too many people have the attitude that being a movie star means living each day at the end of a beautiful, multi-colored rainbow. They think that instead of bathing in the warmth of the sun we get our golden glow from pots of gold. They think we have diamonds in our sky instead of stars. This isn’t true, nor is it fair to feel that because we may have been more fortunate than others that this good fortune has lessened our ability or our sensitivity to the people and the real problems around us. With this in mind, does anyone really care whether or not I can boil water or Bob wears blue shirts? Let’s sum up this whole subject by saying we are grateful for the interest shown in us. There are many things about our life that we gladly share,” concluded Nat. “We want our fans to know how truly happy we are. We want them to know that our honeymoon was wonderful; that right now we are living in RJ’s old bachelor apartment but that as soon as we can we hope to buy a little home. We don’t care who knows that we’d like to find a home on top of a high hill and intend furnishing in Chinese modern. “We’ll be glad to shout from the rooftops that marriage is the most important thing in the world to us; that we have agreed never to be separated for more than two weeks at a time, if for that long. We want them to know that being plain Mr. and Mrs. takes precedent over anything else in our lives. They might even be interested in reading about the fact that in between RJ’s shooting on ‘The Hunters’ and my finishing up ‘Kings Go Forth,’ and our doing some TV together, we have spent a few weekends on our boat. “What more can we say except that we hope that those of you who read this story will understand that neither of us have any desires to throw an iron curtain around our lives. We haven’t sought to shut out the outside world — we have nothing to hide. We only ask for the opportunity to live our lives as simply and uncomplicated as we can. We feel that the fans, whom we respect, will find as much pleasure in the knowledge that we are happy as they would in reading 136 stories about what we eat for breakfast. Because when you come right down to it — although in many ways we may not be the boy and girl next door — we are very human; and like them when it comes to our feelings. We breathe the same air as anyone else, cottage cheese and eggs taste the same in Hollywood as they do in Iowa. When it rains in Los Angeles, we get just as wet and when we took our marriage vows they meant to us what they have meant to others since people began taking vows. They meant we love each other and that we are one forever. This is the way we feel. This is our life as we see it. We are only trying as best we know how to live each day with as much dignity and respect as possible. The End If you have a Serious Odor Problem Moke this FREE TEST! 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