Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1948)

when movies bring tears, avoid make-up smears ... THE BOX WITH THE BOW ON TOP Copyright 1947, The International Silver Co. , Holmes & Edwards Division, 1 Meriden, Conn. Sold in Canada by: The T. Eaton Co. , ltd. , °Reg U. S. Pat. Off. 122 ■ blond maple «.W j MODEL chest can be used sWv° scheroes. into a variety oE m &esc iovely twin As a sentiment^ extra space Tor cedar hope ch cious possessions. gT"irj Chests. Milton. Pa you must go to every party that’s given. You tell yourself that you must be seen here and there. The races call you. Palm Springs calls you. Home becomes a place where you phone the cook and say you won’t be back for dinner. Joanne and I did Hollywood like that — double. I made “Four Jills and a Jeep,” “Irish Eyes Are Smiling” and “Diamond Horseshoe.” I was on the radio, too, and I swung through it all with the greatest of ease. Then one day I really saw myself on screen. After that I went around and listened to a couple of recordings of my airshow. They were very tired — and I was a mighty tired looking character on screen. That was the first moment I realized Hollywood wasn’t “a game.” Radio wasn’t “a game.” Both were a profession, and both could be an art. You could give every last thing you had — and keep on growing. Or you could slide through — and be through, and bitter and broke, in a good short while. I said to Joanne, “I fear your husband is going to settle down to work.” Joanne said, “That’s good, because my husband is going to have another child to support in about seven and a half months from now.” This one we christened Helen but called Pidge, because from the instant of her debut on this earth, she looked exactly like a pigeon, very round and fat with her mouth always open. Folks say The Skipper — who’s really Richard — looks like me, though I think he looks like Joanne. But there’s no argument about Pidge. She does look like Joanne, which is the best way for any girl to look, if you ask me. BEING by nature an extremist, I swung way over the other way after Pidge arrived. We took a bigger, quieter ranch further out in the Valley. We went in for the simplest life. I began working harder than I ever had in my life — and getting the thrill there is in finding your work and giving it the gun. When I wasn’t on a picture, I worked — and still do — four days a week getting my radio show just as smooth as humanly possible. In the last three years I’ve been fascinated to see how a radio show can develop. My writers and I get together and exchange ideas. You try this and that, and what’s not good, you edge out. That’s true on screen, too. I’m completely bored with the tried and trite. I feel that people in my spot owe it to all the people who are in the audience’s spot to give them the best possible entertainment. If I sound like a crusader, okay, but let me be a crusader for good things. I’ve established this music publishing firm with my friend, Larry Shayne. We call it the Beverly Publishing Company and we’ve been in operation for a year. While we haven’t crashed through with a big hit, we have kept out of the red. But all the time we’ve been hunting, not for something that’s “sure-fire” because “it’s always been sure-fire,” but for something that is wonderful because it’s superior and fresh and distinctive. We’ve got a piece of music now like that, Larry and I, and there’s a funny story behind it. One day I heard a theme, played in piano concerto style. I thought it beautiful — and then promptly forgot it. Larry was in New York at that time . and the moment he got back he told me, “I got hold of a song for us by Victor Young.” I recognized it as the theme I’d caught that day. It’s called “Stella by Starlight” and Vic had written it as part of the background music for “The Uninvited.” I warn you it will be a hit. That kind of discovery is a thrill — but such discoveries take up time. A couple of years ago my work was taking up a lot of my time. I guess I lost