Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1948)

More Than Ever . . . (Continued jrom page 46) are more deceiving here. You see the beginning of a new romance at a party, perhaps, and you think how well suited the man and woman are to each other. You see them again, at a smaller party in a close-up view, and you begin to sense that one of them wants something from the other. . . . “Hollywood women, especially, seem to be prey to men who want something — glamour, or publicity, or professional advancement. The more I see of it, the more grateful I am for the windfall I seem to have gotten.” The “windfall” is a sizable one, standing six feet four in his socks. Curlyhaired ex-Sergeant Ben Gage is one of radio’s rarities, an announcer-singer-actor whose career, interrupted by Army service but now zooming, is as thrilling to his wife as her own. You hear him announcing and singing on the Canada Dry and the Meredith Willson shows, also as the “love interest” in the Joan Davis fun-fest. “It’s nice having him in the entertainment world, so that each of us can understand what the other is talking about. But we’re glad to be in different branches of it.” MEANTIME, as the greatest insurance for this healthy arrangement, the Gages stick close to all those things they might be doing if they were actually “just a couple of happy characters who’d met in Altoona.” Call on them almost any time and you’ll find them up to their necks in wallpaper, paint, or maybe grass-seed. If they’re not “ad-libbing” a barbecue party for a few close friends, that is, or maybe swimming in their home-built pool. The site of all this energetic homemaking is a redwood English cottage perched in the Pacific Palisades, with a hot-and-cold running ocean out back and a built-in mountain view. Three years ago Esther sighted it, bought it, and told her friends, “I could be happy living here the rest of my life.” She should have added — and working on it the rest of her life, for Esther keeps adding and changing things to get the effect she wants, such as pushing out the upstairs wall — -which she actually shoved right out onto the sleeping porch — to accommodate a nursery. The nursery that was started a while ago and temporarily abandoned when her baby was stillborn at six months. “We’re going ahead and finish the room — even though we have nothing but our hopes to fill it for a while — ” The only shadow you’ve ever seen dim that inner shine passes across her face, but she doesn’t mind discussing her loss. “I don’t mind talking about it — ” she says. “So many people have asked me if the fact that I kept on working for five months had anything to do with losing my baby. In fact, the first thing I asked the doctor when I came out of the anesthesia was, ‘Tell me the truth — was it my fault?’ If he’d said ‘Yes’ I would never have forgiven myself — but he assured me it wasn’t! “I keep thinking of the thousands of women all over the country who may have heard what happened to me, and were scared to death because they have to keep working. Actually, whatever happened to my baby occurred suddenly, almost a month after I had finished my picture and was resting. Examinations had showed that everything was fine up until then. If a girl does whatever she is used to she is really better off than if she takes to bed. “I had some very bad moments during the first days at the hospital, feeling sorry for myself and being unable to accept any philosophy about the thing. Then the doctor told me about the girl in the next "Certainly, w testes best! says JOAN BENNETT See Joan Bennett in Ernest Hemingway’s "THE MACOMBER AFFAIR" Produced by Benedict Bogeaus and Casey Robinson Released through United Artists “IT WON MY VOTE IN THE TASTE-TEST!” says Joan Bennett. “I tried leading colas in paper cups and picked Royal Crown Cola best-tasting!” Try it! Say, “RC for me!” That’s the quick way to get a quick-up with Royal Crown Cola — best by taste-test! RC is the quick way to say... in COLA Best by taste-test p