Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1960)

This and That: You wonderful Photoplay readers really showed your good taste in voting for Rock Hudson as your favorite actor and Doris Day as your favorite actress, along with the delightful “Pillow Talk,” produced by young Ross Hunter, as your favorite movie of the year. And I certainly agree with your choice of Troy Donahue and Millie Perkins as your Gold Medal newcomers of the year. . . . May Britt and Gardner McKay seldom see each other at their mutual studio, Twentieth. But at Malibu Beach, where each has a home, that mile-long telephone wire between them, is the hottest thing in town. . . . Those daring young men on the flying trapeze are David and Ricky Nelson who have worked up quite a clever aerial act. Their performance at the Western Livestock Show had even the bulls spellbound. And the boys, who are friends as well as brothers, have bought adjoining hilltop lots where they plan to build their future homes, side by side. . . . Saw the Boh Hopes. Not only is Mrs. Hope lovely to look at, but you should see their kids. . . . The Barry Coes are still on “Cloud 9”. . . . The Efrem Zinihalists were off and then on, recently. Our prediction is that a marriage this rocky, cannot endure. No one seems to know how it will turn out. Street Scene: Alexis Smith stood at the cashier’s counter in a Beverly Hills market with two women customers directly behind her. “I wish that woman would hurry,” one woman said to the other, with a nod toward Alexis. “This is ‘Peter Gunn’ night and I’ve simply got to get dinner over in time to see him. He’s my favorite.” Alexis smiled to herself for, of course, he’s her favorite, too. Her favorite husband Craig Stevens, that is. Street Scene, Act Two: She stood by the drugstore newsstand in Hollywood glancing at the magazine covers ablaze with young movie stars. Two teenagers, standing by, were eagerly thumbing through their recently purchased Photoplay. “My mother says none of these beauties today can touch Garbo,” said one to the other. “She must have been something.” With a quick start, the woman in the slouch hat hurriedly moved away. For, you see, she was Garbo, still beautiful, still mysterious and, well, still Garbo — that’s for sure. Feeling better. Bob has a family parly at the Stork Club. Fun On The Run: My friend, producer-director Mervyn LeRoy, had me in stitches on the “Wake Me When It’s Over” set with stories of Ernie Kovacs, Dick Shawn and Don Knotts of the Steve Allen show. “This is a funny movie,” Mervyn explained, “so I cast real comics in the roles. But never did I expect anything like this!” And did I imagine it, or was Ernie s cigar giving out with heart-shaped smoke rings, what with all those beautiful Oriental girls roaming the set? And why were half the male workers on the Twentieth lot loitering about? Feudin’ And Fussin’: That blowup among the Crosby Boys wasn’t entirely unexpected. Gary hasn't been happy for a long time and won’t be until a lot of things are cleared up between him and his dad, Bing. In case Gary doesn't rejoin the act, the other three boys, Lindsay, Phil, and Dennis, are auditioning girl vocalists to appear with them at London’s Palladium. The boys always were so close, I can’t imagine them parting permanently. ( Continued ) Nothing fazes Ernie Kovacs, but Richard Quine and Kim Novak have started spatting. The glow’s lasting for Barry Coe. 13