Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1959)

Two days later, on December 27th, Lars and Ingrid drove down to Choisel to pick up the evening paper. There in headlines was the news: Roberto Sues For Custody Of Ingrid’s Children. Ingrid turned white. She had not been served any papers, she had not been told about this by Rossellini. Under the separation agreement, she had custody of the children and their father was allowed visiting rights. That was all. And now this, with no warning! Impossible! Lars read the news story to her. Rossellini was claiming the children on “moral, religious and practical grounds.” He contended that “for a long time Miss Bergman has been living together with Lars Schmidt.” He maintained that both Miss Bergman and Mr. Schmidt “are Protestants while the children were baptized in the Catholic Church,” and he recalled that under the terms of the decision giving custody of the children to Miss Bergman they “were to be educated in the Italian language at least until they were 18 years of age.” Now that Bergman and Schmidt live more than 25 miles from Paris, he went on, “it would be really impractical as well as a sacrifice for the children to have to ride every day to and from the nearest Italian school, which is in Paris.” Rossellini stated he intends to reside permanently in Paris. He is willing, he said, to allow Ingrid Bergman to spend one month each summer with the children, and expects her to contribute one-half the expense of their upbringing. “One month,” Ingrid said, “one month.” And that’s all she said. All the way home Lars tried in vain to comfort her. But she sat next to him white and dry-eyed, gazing ahead ... at nothing. It was only when they entered the gates of their estate, when they were safe again behind their protecting walls, that she said something else. Now tears flowed down her face as she said, “It always happens at Christmas,” and again Lars knew, without her having to tell him, exactly what she was talking about . . . It always happens at Christmas ... It had been just one year ago, Christmas 1957, that Ingrid had decided to reunite with her estranged husband, Roberto, for just one day “for the sake of the children.” A little more than a month earlier she had left Robertino, Isotta and Isabella in Rome' in the care of Roberto’s younger sister, Marcella Mariani, and had flown to London. Meanwhile, Roberto himself was off somewhere for a rendezvous with the “other woman,” Sonali Das Gupta. Neither Ingrid nor Roberto had told the children about their separation, and to help ease the wrench of parting, she had left behind a mountain of toys for the youngsters. In London, she had been desperately looking for an Italian school for them, for in negotiating for their legal separation, Rossellini had" insisted they be given an Italian education. On December 23rd, she flew in from Paris and was met at Rome’s Ciampino Airport by the three children and their Aunt Marcella. As she came down the ramp, the youngsters broke away from their aunt and ran towards her, shouting “Mama, mama, mama.” She dropped her armful of packages — Robertino kicked aside a huge one with pink elephant ears peeping out the top in his rush to get to his mother — and swung the three children up in her arms. And then they all drove “home.” On Christmas eve, she took the three of them to a neighborhood party for two hours. But on Christmas day, their cele Answers to Puzzle on Page 104 I. Jack Lemmon; 2. Dick Clark; 3. Tommy Sands; 4. Bob Evans; 5. Ernie Kovacs brating was strictly a family affair. Roberto and Ingrid were the perfect father and mother — helping Robertino run his electric train and oohing and ahing when the twins proudly promenaded their new Parisian dolls. The pink elephant was a huge success, especially when it turned out that all three youngsters could sit on it at one time. There was turkey dinner with all the trimmings. A perfect day, a perfect performance. About this, at least, she and Roberto were in complete agreement, after they had heard the children’s prayers and tucked them in to bed. True, the youngsters had cried when they started to leave the room. But that was natural; they were overtired and overexcited. It was not until she was about to fly back to London with the children, just before New Year’s, that she discovered that theirs had not been the perfect performance. A few days before Christmas. Robertino’s second-grade schoolmates had told him that his parents were separating because his father “loved an Indian woman more.” The boy had told his sisters that “Mama and Papa are having trouble because of some Indian lady, but we must play that we don’t know about it.” So the children had put on a perfect act, never letting their parents know that they knew. And when she discovered the truth, how they had covered their confusion and pain with laughter and love, she thought her heart would literally break. And their “good night” tears; now they took on added meaning too. It was always the children who suffered most . . . Robertino, Isabella, Isotto . . . and long ago, Pia. . . . Ingrid looked at Lars and repeated, “It always happens at Christmas.” And then she hid her head in her hands. Lars went to the telephone: First he called a doctor to come and administer a sedative to his wife; then he phoned lawyers and newspapermen. The counter-action to Rossellini’s suit had begun. On January 21, Ingrid Bergman faced Rossellini for the first time since they had spent the day together for the sake of the children on Christmas day, 1957. Both of them appeared before Judge Rene Drouillat in a stormy ninety-minute session. Bitter and wan after the encounter, Ingrid said: “Out of spite and jealousy, Rossellini wants to get my children away from me. He won’t get them.” For his part, Rossellini said that he did not wish to deprive Ingrid of the children. He said he was not resentful but was “just a father who wants to give his children what he believes is best.” Three days later, on January 24, 1959, the telephone rang at the Schmidts’ home near Choisel. Lars in the living room and Ingrid in an upstairs bedroom picked it up at tfie same second. It was their lawyer in Paris. Judge Drouillat had just handed down his decision. He had awarded temporary and conditional custody of the children to their mother. Upstairs, the telephone gently clicked down. Downstairs, Lars listened to the legal details: Rossellini might have the children on weekends; the children must continue to attend the Lycee Italien in Paris; and so on and so forth. But now even Lars wasn’t listening. For Ingrid was by his side, and although there were tears in her eyes, she was laughing. He hung up the phone, and together they walked out into their garden. “Remind me to call the Mayor,” he said, “and tell him to change the population figure at the town hall. Up until now it’s been 275; from now on it’s 280.” Again Ingrid laughed . . . and Lars laughed with her. The End Ingrid Bergman stars in “The Inn of the Sixth Happiness” for Twentieth. AGAIN IN 1959 IT IS . . . HOLLYWOOD IN REVIEW The brilliant new 1959 PHOTOPLAY ANNUAL is ready for you now. This is the book that tells you everything about Hollywood. This glamorous yearbook sparkles with bright new pictures of all the top-flight stars. Here, too, is all the news and gossip of Hollywood . . . plus exclusive stories about the screen’s outstanding personalities of the year. This is a book you must have. Here’s a sample of what’s inside this exciting yearbook: HOLLYWOOD MADE NEWS — Stars marry . . . divorce . . . have babies. And all around the globe their doings are front page news. Here in pictures and stories is a blow-by-blow account of the exciting goings-on in the always-exciting world of the oiovies. 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HAPPILY MARRIEDS — Gay. exciting pictures and sparkling stories about those on Cloud Nine. Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman • Hope Lange and Don Murray • Doris Day and Marty Melcher • Rory Calhoun and Lita Baron • Richard Egan and Patricia Hardy • Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis • Shirley MacLaine and Steve Parker • Charlton Heston and Lydia Clark. RISING 9TARS — Refreshing pictures of 31 newcomers to the screen. See and read about them here, and then follow their exciting careers. STILL ONLY 50c WHILE THEY LAST This sensational Annual is a best-seller every year. Get your copy before they are all snatched up. Only 50c at your favorite magazine counter. Or. if more convenient, mail coupon, with 50c — TODAY. Bartholomew House, Inc. Dept. WG-459 205 E. 42 St., New York 17, N. Y. Send me postpaid a copy of PHOTOPLAY ANNUAL 1959. I enclose 50c. Name. . . . Please Print Address. . City State