Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1963)

“I think the turning point for Dick was when he did Shaw’s ‘Arms and the Man,’ ” believes Boh Towne. "He did a brilliant job.” Virginia Prince-House Allen, head of Pomona’s Drama Department, thought the same thing. “I’m considering trying to be an actor instead of a painter. ’ Dick told her. “Should I?” She thought a minute. Dick wasn t majoring in her department. "Yes, she said. “I think you should.” It was too late by then to change his college course, but from then on Dick Chamberlain knew what he was after. He told Bob Towne flatly. “I’m going to act. It’s not such a lonesome life. Besides, I Have you a recipe you would like to share with other readers? If you have, send it with your name and address to PHOTOPLAY READER RECIPES, P. O. Box 3960, Grand Central Station, New York 17, New York. We will pay $5.00 for any recipe we publish. think that I can give more and get more.” “I was amazed, really.” says Bob. "Dick was handsome, sure, talented, yes. But where was the conceit and the ego? I still don’t know.” At any rate, when Dick Chamberlain stood in cap and gown at graduation in the spring of 1956, he had only one l bought in mind — getting somewhere in Hollywood. For the first time in his lile, nothing, not even a girl, sidetracked that idea. Dick says he broke up with “Joan.” his steady of two years about that time when she got too serious. But none of his pals remembers a “Joan. ’ I I (link Dick’s 1 fudging,” says one. “But I’ll tell you a girl Dick was in love with — we all were. Her name was Nancy and she had everything: A cameo-cut face so beautiful it hurt you to look and a divine figure. A voice like an angel. She played the piano like a dream, painted beautifully, acted even better. But she gave only one of us more than a kind glance and that’s the guy she married. Dick called her, ‘The Goddess.’ ” And then, the Army Maybe it's just as well that Chambo didn't score. Only four months after he drove home from Pomona with his sheepskin, the Army nabbed him. That was a blow Dick hadn't counted on and it chopped low. “It was painful enough to leave Pomona.” he remembers. “But then to get slugged with a ‘Greetings!’” It was only the beginning of two years which in Dick Chamberlain’s book, add up to one long, frustrated waste. Symbolic of his futility was the mural he painted in the dining hall at Fort Old. where he went first for basic training. It was a mighty project — 18 feet high and 35 feet long and covered one whole wall — a wharf scene, because Ord’s beside Monterey Bay. Dick worked like a dog finishing it the final four weeks. Everyone from the C.O. on down patted him on the back. Again, Dick was in the spotlight: again, it meant nothing. “Right after I left,” he sighs, “the next C.O. ordered the whole thing painted out. No great loss, I suppose.” Perhaps, but still frustrating. Private Chamberlain left for Seattle with the 32nd Infantry heading for occupation duty in Korea. Next a transport plane dumped him at Pusan and another dumped him at a place called Camp Hovey, 30 miles in from Seoul, ll was Endsville in Bamboo Lane. “If lliere was anything around there worth seeing or doing I never discovered it.” says Dick. “ 1 he most uplifting activity was drinking beer. Even Jess exciting than the scenery or suds was Dick’s job — company clerk. “I bad to do all the paper work,” says Dick. “Morning reports, company correspondence. filing, personal cases, courtmartial records and stuff. It took me eight months before I was really on top of that job.” They rewarded him with a corporal’s stripes and finally a staff sergeant s. Dick would have settled for his PFC without the headaches. “Until 'Dr. Kildare. he says, “I had never worked so hard in my life.” The only relief he had in fourteen months was a seven-day pass to Japan on the standard "R and R” — Rest and Relaxation. All Dick had time to see was Tokyo, which is a sort of Oriental Los Angeles with kimonos and crazy neon lights. He stayed at a USO hotel, sat through Kabuki shows, peeked in at a few geisha tourist traps, fumbled through sakiyaki and tempura with chopsticks, prowled the Ginza and bought a couple of cameras. In one shop he also picked up one of those cute Japanese dolls, the live kind. She had an American name, “Toni” and spoke good English. “A lovely girl, all right.” allows Dick, “but it was hardly a romance. 1 wanted to see the inside of a Japanese home so I pestered her to take me to hers. She finally did. but 1 discovered her parents didn't think much of the idea, or of GI’s. either. All in all. I didn’t have such a terrific time in Japan — or anywhere else in the Army. I felt like I was just getting old and learning nothing. 1 wanted to get started, for God’s sake.” Dick spent his final service weeks at Fort MacArthur. right out of Los Angeles. He itched so to get going in Hollywood that before they let him loose he rattled up there after duty, in a dinky Renault he bought for lessons with Carolyn Trojanowski and Jeff Corey. Then he was free at long last, but loaded with problems. Seasons of despair “Briefly, they were, no money, no place to live, no experience and no contacts,” sums up Dick. His first attempts to get all four were pretty discouraging. For three months he lived at home, way down in Laguna Beach where his folks had moved, but Dick soon discovered that Tom Wolfe was right: You can’t go home again. His family was sympathetic with his ambition but nobody exactly cheered. How could they? He was just one of a thousand others with the same long odds against him. “I didn’t want to take dough from my folks, but I did.” says Dick. “I had to have lessons and I had to eat." He also had to pay $60 a month for a Hollywood pad in what Dick calls. “The Dismal Arms.” The years 1958-59 are not rosetinted in Dick Chamberlain’s memory. They were the seasons of despair. Dick expresses it neatly: “There’s nothing so depressing as being on the outside of show business, trying to get in.” And that’s it. OF INTEREST TO WOMEN (P.W.—July ’63) BEAUTY DEMONSTRATORS— TO $5.00 hour demonstrat ing Famous Hollywood Cosmetics, your neighborhood. For free samples, details, write Studio Girl, Dept. 30C37, Glendale California. $300 PAID FOR Your Child's Picture by advertisers. Send small photo. (All ages.) Returned. Print child’s, parent’s name, address. Spotlite, 1611-PG LaBrea, Hollywood, California. 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