Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1957)

The events that followed she owes to Bob Hope, who was touring Australia. He asked her to appear in a show he was staging, and so impressed was he that afterwards he told her, “If you ever go to Hollywood, call my agent, Louis Shurr, and tell him I recommend you.” Action was the only answer to a suggestion like that. In less than a month she was on her way to Hollywood and ten days after her arrival, with Louis Shurr’s help, she won the second feminine lead in “The Eddy Duchin Story.” Paradoxically, all Vicki’s troubles started after she landed a big-time movie contract. Her performance as Chiquita in the “Duchin Story” was more than just good for a starter, and her studio felt it could and should be choosey about picking just the right vehicle for her next picture. But fate threw a monkey-wrench into the works. While her studio was busily turning down loanout offers, their star-in-themaking found out she was going to have HOLLYWOOD’S BIGGEST COMEBACK Continued from page 44 In “Test Pilot,” for instance, Clark Gable went on a whale of a bender from one end of the countrv to the other. Upon his return home, chastened and bloodshot, did he find Myrna waiting with a shotgun? Don’t be silly. She was there with love and understanding and sympathy and— well, you get the idea. In 1951, the “perfect wife” wed her fourth husband, State Department aide Howland Sargeant, whom she met while she was a delegate to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. There were two more films, and then last year she scotched retirement rumors by plaintively querying, “Why can’t an actress join an organization like UNESCO without having the world say she has retired? I was only waiting for a smart, sophisticated comedy, and I found it in ‘The Ambassador’s Daughter.’ ” The public disagreed on the film’s quality. And there matters stood — until Myrna’s old films showed what a fine talent had been sitting around wasted. Since, especially for TV, Myrna has filmed a series tentatively titled “Her Majesty.” William Powell and Myrna Loy costarred so frequently that periodic statements were issued to keep the public from confusing their movie and their private lives. Off-camera, Bill has been happily married for seventeen years to Diana Lewis, a starlet with whom he eloped on two weeks’ acquaintance. Rarely seen in new films these past ten years, Bill has a ready explanation for Photoplay’s readers. “I realized I had to face old Father Time, so I did ‘Life With Father.’ That was a character role, and it turned out pretty well.” (It won him the New York Critics’ Prize.) “So I began to cast about for more mature roles. But movies don’t come up with many parts for an actor of my age. I’m too far along to carry romantic roles. Besides, moviegoers don’t want to see old goats like me as lovers. But I’ll come back for good roles if I can find them.” Hollywood, there’s your cue! Nationwide statistics on TV showings of the “Thin Man” films and “The Great Ziegfeld” a baby. She and husband Roger Smith couldn’t have been more delighted. They went back to Australia, partly to visit her family and partly to promote “The Eddy Duchm Story.” By the time they returned to Hollywood, Vicki couldn’t work. Months at home under doctor’s orders followed and daughter Tracey was born in June of this year. What to do is the question. Vicki says, “At this point I don’t want to leave Tracey. I’m still on salary, but I have no idea when I’ll get a call to report to work. When I’m not taking care of the baby, I’m studying with Roger. We do scenes from plays together. It’s wonderful practice. Mostly, however, I’m playing mother and loving it!” Verdict: Interest in a newcomer can fade fast under long absence from the screen. Pushing Vicki into any picture just to have her seen is certainly not the answer. But, while the right one is being found, her fans will have to be extra loyal. The End (“more stars than there are in heaven”) indicate that the Powell charm is of the ageless sort. And, as Lonesome George would say, “You can’t hardly get that kind no more.” B’ll’s good friend Ronald Colman (Hollywood’s “Three Musketeers” once were Powell, Colman and Richard Barthelmess) is another selective critter. Unless he can do something really good, he’d rather do nothing at all. Recently recovered from a lung ailment induced by pneumonia, Colman has the lead role in Warners’ current all-star spectacle “The Story of Mankind.” Unlike Clark Gable, who let out a blast last year when M-G-M began releasing its film library to TV, Colman feels the video revivals are a good thing. “As long as a film has exhausted its theatre potential,” the veteran star tells us, “I see no reason why it shouldn’t be shown. Besides, it keeps one’s name and work before the public.” Have the showing of Colman’s old films affected his relations with friends and neighbors in any way? “No — except for favorable comments now and then, and occasional comparisons with TV pictures of today.” From the always-tactful Colman, there is no elaboration on that last point. And what does he now think about movie-making in the old days? “Well, it was more fun perhaps — and less tension. But then, of course, one was younger!” A couple of femme favorites who have been selective to the vanishing point in recent years are Claudette Colbert and Irene Dunne. Claudette, who has done three unremarkable films since 1951’s dramatic “Three Came Home,” was all set for her own TV series not too long ago; but her husband, Dr. Joel Pressman, nixed the idea on health grounds — didn’t like what he’d heard about the strain from Hollywood actresses working on TV. It was also about this time that Claudette let loose a blast at the skimpiness of gowns on home screens. “I call them bathtub dresses,” she said. “The girls look exactly as if they’re sitting in a bathtub. A lot of times the camera cuts you off right here” — pointing to her chest — “so you don’t see a thing but white shoulders. And a lot of those shoulders don’t look good! I guess some girls don’t care what they look like as long as they’re showing some flesh!” Claudette has always been candor itself, but this particular bit of oratory has its humorous side: Claudette got her own movie start in a bathtub! C. B. DeMille was looking for someone to play the Em BE YOUR OWN MUSIC TEACHER Send for Free Book Telling How Easily You Can Learn Piano, Guitar, Accordion, ANY Instrument This EASY A-B-C Way XT OW IT’S EASY to learn music at hom,e. IN No tiresome “exercises.” No teacher, just START RIGHT OUT playing simple pieces. Thousands now play who never thought they could. Our pictured lessons make it easy as A-B-C to learn to play popular n\usic, hymns, classical and any other music. On easy pay plan, only a few cents a lesson. Over 900,000 students including famous TV Star Lawrence Welk. (Our 59th successful year.) MAIL COUPON FOR FREE BOOK. Find out why our method can teach you quickly, easily, inexpensively. Write for 36-page illustrated Free Book. 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