Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1959)

When 1 see Esther Williams, I know Jeff Chandler s not far. What chance does a happy marriage have in Hollywood? That's the question Photoplay asked last month. My own answer to it has always been an emphatic yes, but after those fifteen-minutes of tearfilled testimony that ended Pier Angeli’s four-year marriage to Vic Damone, I can’t blame too much the people who would argue with me. Pier, who won custody of their three-year-old son Perry, charged Vic was ’’insanely jealous.” .. .Tony Curtis’s imitation of Cary Grant on the set of Universal’s “Operation Petticoat,” is a screamer. A little of Tony’s old Bronx cheer mixed with Cary’s ever-so-slight cockney even fooled Betsy Drake during a long telephone conversation. Strictly Inside: Yul Brynner’s young Viennese admirer failed to visit him in Spain while Yul was replacing the late Tyrone Power in “Solomon and Sheba.” At least no one on the set glimpsed her. . . . All wrapped up in cotton wool ready to be shipped home is Elvis’ new hand-made “geetar,” purchased in the small guitar-making town near the Czech border. El writes we'll love its “caressing” tones. And I’ll bet we will. . . . Lauren Bacall is entertaining her friends in London with those Sinatra records ordered from Raf’s record bar in Beverly Hills. The Oliviers, Sir and Lady, go for the Sinatra style in a big way. . . . Kim Novak and Fredric March are kneedeep in 20th’s “Middle of the Night,” but if today’s vamp, who’s dyed her hair brown for this role, doesn’t stop those insecure fidgets, she may end up over her head. This Mr. March is some actor. . . . Those out-sized men’s sweaters Sophia Loren brought back from Europe are shooting up the eyebrows of Hollywood’s nosey set. “They hide my bosom,” Sophia explains. But Hollywood wonders if maybe — oh well, you know old nebby us. Always wondering. . . . Nothing personal, I hope, but producer-director Josh Logan wants Liz Taylor to play Edna St. Vincent Millay, who penned the line, “My candle burns at both ends.” Did you know that Miss Millay wrote some of her most famous poems when she was still a teenager? Why not give them a look-see? . . . That was a cozy compromise Rick Nelson made with his dad. Rick, who refused Ozzie’s plea to enter college this year, now has a private tutor to keep him up in his freshman studies. Just in case, you know. Friendship: At its first glimpse of Diane Varsi and Don “Red” Barry together, the town literally tripped over its tippet. But the "Red” Barry who was so unpleasantly involved in scandals is no more. A new man today through faith in his Science of Mind Religion, Red's imparted something of his life-saving philosophy to Diane. . . . Ava Gardner confided to friends in Australia, while filming “On the Beach,” that when (and if, may I add?) she weds Italian actor Walter Chiari, she wants her best friend and ex-husband, Frank Sinatra, to be with her. Frank, who dropped everything to fly to Ava’s side when an accident in Spain threatened to scar her beautiful face, is now thoughtfully squiring about Hollywood the widow of his late friend, agent Bert Allenberg, seeing to it that she is not left alone. A real son of a gun to those he has no use for, Frankie can be a friend indeed to those he likes. ... I hate to say this but the truth is John Saxon regards Sandra Dee as a sort of teenage nuisance. The deeply philosophical Mr. Saxon smiles indulgently at Miss Dee, little dreaming that day by day the wise little blonde is more and more becoming aware of the power of those fatal feminine charms. Look out, Johnny Saxon! Wiser men than you have been caught in that oh, so tender trap. New Girl in Town: When the Jean Harlow story is brought to the screen, Stella Stevens seems the girl most likely to play the role. And all because of Fate, Stella insists. . . . For instance, the first day the platinum blonde beauty began a modeling job in a swank Memphis, Tennessee shop, in walked the brother of Hollywood agent Bill Shriffin. "Mr. Shriffin telephoned his brother about me and,” Stella told me, glancing around the Twentieth Century-Fox dining room, . . and here l am.” . . . Stella had Little Theater work behind her, which, of course, helped to promote her right ( continued ) Wonder how Eleanor Parker, Carolyn Jones, Frank Capra p and Thelma Ritter kept the secret from both Frank Sinatra and Edward G. Robinson when they gave a twin party? 17