Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1948)

Us ( Continued from page 57) never know why, I suddenly said to Miss Dru, “Order me a bottle of Budweiser.” With that I went back to the stand for an encore. An encore never got a quicker brush. Exactly as the band hit the last note, I was bouncing back toward the table. The Budweiser was there all right. But Joanne and Larry weren’t. It was an hour before I could make the Paramount but Joanne was still there. I apologized. I asked for a date. Finally she set one. IT was a big night, that first date night. I really took Broadway apart for that girl that evening. I did likewise our second and our third dates. Then Joanne asked me if I wouldn’t like to go uptown and meet her mother. Her mother said, “Well, so you’re the fellow who’s dating Joanne.” It’s funny how one simple little remark will set things going. I suppose it was Joanne’s looks that had first caught my eye, but what had made those dates so sharp was her quality of fun and companionship, her good sense, her healthy outlook on things. I said to her mother. “Dating Joanne? I’m marrying her.” Her mother looked at Joanne. I was looking at her, too. After all, a proposal of marriage is a proposal of marriage. Our Miss Dru bore up nicely, however. Mr. Haymes’s generous offer did not knock her dead. It was, in fact, six months before I finally got her to say yes. We went away for a fast three-day honeymoon. Work called me back — but after that the work began to get spotty. I didn’t worry. Between jobs, I took my beautiful bride places — like Saratoga— where I not only lost my shirt but my pants, coat and vest. I was still living like a king — but more and more it was on the cuff. That was not Joanne’s way of doing things. She wasn’t extravagant then, she isn’t now. But we didn’t quarrel. We never do quarrel. Remember that, please, when I begin to tell you about our muchpublicized “separation” a few years later. In those first few months of marriage we talked occasionally about two careers in one family. Joanne suggested she might go on with her dancing, but I said no. I didn’t know then why I refused. Later I understood, when I refused again— and when my refusal was completely knuckleheaded and wrong. Then suddenly Skip was on the way. That changed everything. It was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to me. From the very moment I knew he was arriving, I began to get wise to all the things I wanted for my son. All my childhood I had traveled on luxury liners, lived in luxury hotels in luxury places, and had been overfed and rotten spoiled. I didn’t want any of that for Skipper. I wanted to bring him up in a real home, in a forthright manner, with animals for pets, and school friends to grow up with. I was singing in a New York night club then, the Martinique, but I hustled around Dn the outside and came up with a contract to make records for Decca. After that I got a radio program, and that got us out of debt. It was about the date of our first wedding anniversary when Skipper arrived— and with him came a Hollywood offer, from Twentieth Century-Fox. I grabbed that quick and Joanne, Skipper and I came out to a little place in the San Fernando Valley. There’s a rush act in Hollywood but when you first arrive you don’t know that. You’re excited by the glitter and you think ^ SPARKLING NEW ftCA tflCTO'R / S TARRING FREDDY MARTIN and his Orchestra: I Can't Get Up the Nerve to Kiss You (vocal by Clyde Rogers and The Martin Men) and Piano Portrait (featuring Murray Arnold at the piano). Record 20-2165, 60<Z. VAUGHN MONROE and his Orchestra: You Can't Hide Your Heart Behind a Kiss and Dreams Are a Dime a Dozen. Record 20-2226, 60(2. THE THREE SUNS: I Never Knew and Unless It Can Happen with You (vocal by Artie Dunn). Record 20-2197, 60(2. Naturally... on RCA Victor Records! Two exclusives— Victor's billion-record skill, plus RCA's electronic wizardrymake music sound so natural on RCA Victor Records! Hear them on a Victrola radio-phonograph. (Victrola — T. M. Reg. U. S. Pat. Off.) Hear Robert Merrill on the rca Victor Program! Sundays, 2 p.m., EDT,NBC. Prices are suggested list prices, exclusive of taxes. Radio Corporation of America "flASH! MORE NEW -HITS -RCA Ten lilting tunes from the famous Broadway show... all brimming with melody! Al Goodman's newest album brings you the ten hit songs from "Blossom Time". . . based on Schubert's loveliest melodies! They include Song of Love, the tender Peace to My Lonely Heart (from Ave Maria) and the famous Serenade. All-star cast includes Al and his big orchestra, Earl Wrightson, Donald Dame, Mary Martha Briney, Blanka Peric, the Mullen Sisters and The Guild Choristers! Ask for RCA Victor Album P-173, $4.50. AL GOODMAN srASS ytV>fMKens Hits % j, RCA /icrbR Records