Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1963)

DORIS DAY'S DIVORCE! They still don’t believe it in Hollywood, a town where they believe anything. As recently as a month ago, photoplay, eager to give its readers the truth behind the rumors about the Doris DayMarty Melcher marriage, went to the couple for the answers. “We’re as happy as we ever were,” they chorused. Now they are separated and the question is, “Were Doris and Marty ever really happy at all?” People around them came up with “answers” and excuses for the rift: That Marty became more of a business agent and less of a husband. That Marty and Doris were growing further and further apart because of a divergence of religious viewpoints. That Marty had, however well-intended his purposes, interfered with Doris’ strong disapproval of her son Terry’s entry into show business. (“He’s my son, my natural son. It’s difficult for me to understand why Marty seems so set against my wishes on this point.”) That Marty was deliberately egging Doris into exhausting work schedules because he “feels that at thirty-eight there are few romantic-lead years left for his wife and he wants to make it while they can.” But the loudest whisper was about a “mystery man.” The Los Angeles Dodgers have a star player on their baseball team, and for years Doris has been an avid, jumping, shouting, hotdog eating baseball fan. Last season she became dissatisfied with the box she held at the L. A. Stadium. When it was changed, she discovered herself within talking distance of the Dodger dugout. With the enthusiasm only a wild fan can generate, Doris and this great ballplayer (whose name we are not going to reveal, for reasons which will become apparent) struck up a friendship that soon led to half-hour conversations with each other before the games. Until then, the admiration went one way, Doris for her sports idol. After a while, however, flattered at the interest of America’s box-office champ, he began to show interest in Doris’ career. In return Doris gave him a record-player and records. Their relationship began to cause talk. Rumor ran around L.A. like wildfire and from the simple, innocent friendship of a fan for a ballplayer, it seemed as though a full-blown — though actually non-existent — scandal might develop. So concerned was the Dodger management after the close of the season that the ballplayer was called into the executive office and asked pointblank if anything other than friendship had developed between Doris and him. He denied everything. The management accepted his denial — as we do. He is an innocent bystander who had nothing to do with the break-up of Doris’ marriage. The gossip had hurt him unjustly and that is why we are protecting his name. Oddly enough, Doris remained disarmingly calm, even aloof, during the time the rumors were repeated. Some of her friends even say she was secretly amused by them. Such was not the case with Marty, insiders insist. “Marty was shocked almost into a trance,” says a friend of the Melchers. “Don’t misunderstand. He was not at all upset by Doris’ friendship. They both liked the ballplayer. But then Marty went to New York to produce a play with Angie Dickinson. Neither Doris nor Marty thought anything of this separation. But in New York one evening Marty was virtually floored when he overheard talk that he had left Doris for Angie and that Doris didn’t give a hoot because the marriage was over anyhow. Then Marty heard the gossip about the ballplayer. Suddenly Doris and Marty found themselves the principals in one of the worst instances of runaway rumors Hollywood has known since Liz and Eddie. He flew back to Doris, canceling a scheduled trip to Europe where he intended to negotiate for the production of six movies, none with Doris starring.” What happened when Marty returned is not clear and may never be, since neither Marty nor Doris will comment directly. But a few days later Marty walked out of the house and took an apartment near his office. One surprising aspect of the separation, however, was the news that Stephen Boyd, Doris’ co-star in Billy Rose’s “Jumbo,” was expected to bid for Doris’ heart and hand, now that her marriage split was out in the open. Boyd, however, has steadfastly maintained that it just isn’t so. Is the marriage Hollywood thought would never end really over? Those closest to Doris and Marty are divided. “In my book,” says one intimate, “the answer is that Marty and Doris are through. And I think I can tell you why. Doris, no matter what you may hear or read about her primness, is one of the most fun-loving women I’ve known. And yet for the past three or four years she hasn’t had any fun. Doris has worked hard, too hard. She hasn’t played enough. I don’t say this is Marty’s fault though I’ve heard it was. “Marty and Doris are millionaires ten times over, and she must have decided she ought to have a little fun out of life. The strange thing about girls like Doris is that once they decide that they aren’t going to get the happiness they yearn for, they throw caution to the winds.” Doris’ own statement is the most surprising of all. “I never really understood how it happened between Marty and me,” she said. “You know the kind of girl I am. I was always looking for the knight in armor, the Prince Charming, to come along and sweep me off my feet. I’d be putty in the hands of a man like that. It wasn’t that way with Marty. Now that I look back I see that I never actually fell in love with him. It was as though it happened without either of us knowing it had happened. Suddenly we were married. I loved Marty and I know he loved me. That was enough. But it’s got to be that way all the time. Not just on the day you get married and during the honeymoon. No woman wants to have her marriage go on the rocks. But what do you do when you wake up some morning and there it is, in pieces, all around you? All you can do is pray and hope that God will give you time and the intelligence to make over your life. That’s all I’m asking for.” If Doris divorces Marty she will be ending her third marriage. She will be left with the irrevocable knowledge that the third time is as much without charm as the other two. Doris Day, a woman who has brought happiness to millions of moviegoers, is today without happiness. She is alone and a little frightened that her world has fallen down around her. Yet we believe that the worst, for her, is over. For she has asked only for what she needs. Time, intelligence and the help of God. — John Douglas 4