Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1958)

late malts and fancy sundaes. Good thing, I’d say.” If anyone should know about changes in a star’s figure — how much and where — it’s a wardrobe woman. So that took care of the extra-weight angle. Now how about such familiar problems as an occasional feeling of queasiness? we wondered next. During the shooting of a movie, a script girl must keep constant check on each detail of a star’s appearance, to make sure that shots match, even when one scene takes several days of production time. When we asked the script girl on “Miss Casey Jones” she laughed, “I’ll never forget Doris and those lobsters! You know, she plays a woman who owns a lobster business, so she had to face up to crates of those big, fishy-smelling things — live and crawling. And in the picture she’s even supposed to have a pet lobster named Sam, who follows her around. And she picks him up!” There had been no mention of pregnancy rumors; the script girl herself hinted at the subject. “Well, I read the gossip columns, of course. So I admit I wondered how Doris would react to this scene. There was a man in the lobster business, who had supplied these things for the picture and knew how to handle them. ‘Miss Day,’ he said, ‘you pick him up like this.’ Then he hesitated and said, ‘If it’s too much for you, ma’am, maybe the studio people could rig up a fake one.’ ” Giggling herself at the recollection, the script girl continued. “Doris just burst out laughing and reached for that big, wriggling thing. ‘C’mon, Sam,’ she said. ‘Let’s get acquainted.’ The script girl shook her head admiringly and said, “She’s a real pro — a pleasure to work with. After that, it got cold and clear and we did the lobster scene on the beach. And she worked all through one chilly night, there on the shore, and just laughed about it. She has a wonderful laugb, you know, the kind that makes everybody else feel like joining in.” Slyly, the script girl added, “Now, does that sound like a girl who’s ‘in a family way’?” And then answered her own question: “I don’t think so.” Yes, we saw the answer with our own eyes, too. There, on location in Connecticut, Doris Day was playing Miss Casey Jones right to the hilt, clambering around on the cab of a locomotive. And so we drew CONCLUSION NUMBER 1: There is no baby in the Marty Melchers’ near future. That settled, we decided to look into Rumor Number 2, the stories that have been circulating around that her brother’s death has pushed Doris close to a nervous breakdown. A studio man who had worked with her on many pictures was our first target. “Yes,” he said, “Paul’s death hit Doris very hard. He was her only brother, you know, and as kids they were very close. It was the first break in her family, too — her mom and dad are both living, hale and hearty. You know, Doris isn’t the snooty type, who sashays off to her dressing room the minute the cameras stop turning. No, she’ll stay on the set, munching candy bars and yacking it up with the crew. “But this time it was different,” he confided. “She’d just sit. Her thoughts seemed to be miles away. She wouldn’t see the press. And sometimes she’d cry. We got kind of scared. We thought, maybe she’s making herself sick. Like that time back in 1954 — remember? When she was afraid she had cancer? Then it turned out that all she needed was a very minor operation, and right away, she was her old self again.” Nearby was seated a woman friend of Doris’, from Beverly Hills. We introduced ourselves and asked about the rumor. “Nonsense1” she exploded. “Of course, Paul’s death affected her very much. He was much more than just a brother to her. She often told me how, when she was little, she idolized Paul. She always wanted to be wherever he was, and do whatever he did. “She used to pester him to let her play football with his gang. And when he finally said, ‘Okay, Doke. Come on,’ that was the biggest thrill in her life. For the first time, she felt accepted. She knocked herself out, and collected any number of bruises and bloody noses, and the important thing was that Paul never tried to butt in or brush her off. He understood how much it meant to her. “And Paul was only three years older than Doris,” the woman added. “Isn’t it always an especially hard blow when death comes to someone so young?” We located a grip on the set and cornered him with the same question. “Sure Doris cried. Who wouldn't cry over the loss of a close brother? But I’ve worked with her before, and I knew that she’s a very emotional girl. When she’s happy about something, she cries. And when she’s unhappy, she cries, too. But no more than any other movie star. I think this whole thing’s been exaggerated. “About not giving any interviews? Sure, that’s true, too. But that poor kid was so completely pooped at the end of a full day’s shooting that none of us could blame her. It was all she could do to keep her energy up for the part. And she couldn’t have been nicer to her co-workers through it all.” An extra standing nearby added, “Doris had something else to see her through, too, you know. Her religious faith is very strong, very real. That is such a comfort in time of loss.” And we remembered something Doris had said not long ago and deeply as she felt Paul’s loss, it didn’t seem likely that, after her experience in 1954, Doris would ever again give way to despondency to the point of becoming ill. “I learned then,” she said, “that the only thing that made me sick was fear.” CONCLUSION NUMBER 2: Doris is a fighter. Never count her out. Photoplay says, there is no truth to those ill-health rumors. Doris is healthy and she is happy She has three things very dear to her: her family, her career and her faith. Doris found that faith the hard way, it is true. In a strange way, too. A way that, perhaps, has made it all the stronger. And curiously, it came as a result of the breakup of her second marriage to George Weidler, a Hollywood saxaphonist. Theirs was a young, romantic dream that faded fast, jinxed by separations. The last parting came when they were broke. Doris had to leave their little trailer in Hollywood to take a job in New York. George wrote her that he didn’t want to go on with the marriage. She was heartbroken. But time had a way of easing the hurt and Doris was able to pick up the pieces of her life and continue— alone. It wasn’t until a long time later, their first meeting after the divorce had become final, that a strange thing happened. Purely by chance, she met George one day in Hollywood. Over a cup of coffee, they talked like old friends. “You’ve changed,” she told him. “You seem so different.” Then he told her why. How he had found religious faith, and it had given him a new outlook on life, new hope for the future. Outwardly, her own future at the time looked glorious. “I’ve made a few success YOUNG MOTHER DELIGHTED WITH BODY SKIN AFTER PREGNANCY MOTHERS FRIEND® helped keep it firm yet elastic through the waiting months Feel your best ! Every day as your figure starts to change, massage your body skin with MOTHERS FRIEND. Smooth away that dry, tight-skin feeling. This refreshing lotion tones your skin. Helps keep it firm yet elastic during your pregnancy. And, after your baby comes, see if you’re not delighted to find your body skin just as you hoped it would be — smooth, firm . . . lovely. MOTHERS FRIEND soothes those nagging aches in back and legs, too. Do try it. It’s made only for expectant mothers . . . been used by millions. At drug stores everywhere. S.S.S. 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