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• The whispers have turned to shouts — and raucous shouts at that. And the cinema cynics who, two months ago, were called crepe hangers when they predicted that Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner would not be Mr. and Mrs. by the end of 1953, are now being hailed as prophets and wise men. After the series of volatile blowups that punctuated their marriage during the last months of 1952, Frankie and Ava would have to be miracle workers to keep from winding up in the divorce courts before Ava’s worn out her trousseau.
Even the most pessimistic — and the most highly imaginative — of the observers of this rocky romance would never have guessed that one of the wildest tiffs would involve Lana Turner, who, by the kind of coincidence only Hollywood takes for granted, is also an ex-wife of Ava’s ex-husband, Artie Shaw.
Ava and Lana, both hurt and lonely— Lana over the breakup of her romance with Fernando Lamas, and Ava over the friction in her marriage— ^had turned to each other for friendship and understanding. With Frank in Hollywood working on a TV show, Ava invited Lana home to Palm Springs. Frank, the story goes, returned to find the girls there, with Ava’s agent, Benton Cole. Accounts of the incident vary; one report was that the two girls had been “cutting him up conversationally,” so Frank simply ordered them all out.
At the time of this writing, anything is possible in this volcanic marriage. And no matter what does come to pass, it’s easy, as you examine the romance step by step, to see that ti’ouble was foredestined.
When Frankie and Ava were first married, the illusion they created of being happy honeymooners was perfect. They held hands and gazed into each other’s eyes as if they were so in love they couldn’t wait to be alone. But when they were alone, their ardor (Continued on page 70)