Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1947)

could. Finally they had things down to a schedule. During the daytime they worked whenever necessary — Frank on shots for their picture, singing on the Brooklyn Bridge; Peter on radio broadcasts. When they weren’t working, they went shopping. Peter bought his mother two handmade leather bags, and his father a cashmere sweater. Frank bought Nancy a broadtail coat, and his daughter Nancy Jr., a priceless treasure, 100 sticks of bubble gum! (Which was tested one evening by fifteen of Frank’s friends in the ornate setting of his suite at the Waldorf!) Nights, the schedule continued. Usually the same gang gathered for dinner at Toots Shor’s: Frank, Peter, Marilyn Maxwell, Jimmy Durante, Phil Silvers, Joan Roberts, Dolores Gray, Johnny Downs, John Dali, Andy Russell, Quentin Reynolds, Florence Pritchett. After dinner, they went to a play. Then came El Morocco or the Stork Club. And after that, they invariably went to the Copacabana night club for the 2:30 a. m. show — featuring Peter Lind Hayes. They never stopped marveling at the pretty chorus girls or shouting their amusement over Hayes’s jokes. Let us hastily explain here that out in Hollywood, Peter and Frankie labor from dawn to dusk before cameras, and get to bed with the chickens. New York only happens to them a few times a year, and they make the most of it. IV OT THAT Frank’s New York is the av11 erage star’s New York, though. In one week, for instance, he was in three other cities — Detroit; Washington, D. C., for lunch with Postmaster General Robert Hannegan and for dinner with Joe Noonan of the Internal Revenue; Chicago, on business. Whenever he was free in New York he ran down to do a few hours’ work at his music publishing firm, “Barton Music Corporation.” This firm was born in order to bring to light some of the excellent songs sent to Frank by hopeful songwriters. If the songs seem good, Frank sees that they are plugged by big orchestras and radio programs — and hence such songs as “Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night in the Week,” “Full Moon and Empty Arms,” and “Day by Day” have become famous. Afternoons he posed for the celebrated sculptor Jo Davidson, who has completed a bust of Frank for the Museum of Modem Art — his singing on the Brooklyn Bridge took place only from seven until eleven in the morning, when the sun was just right. “After eleven,” Frank explains with a grin, “it casts shadows under your eyes — and believe me, I had shadows under ’em already.” Frank never wears any make-up, except for a faint dusting of it in a Technicolor movie. So, as he stood on the footbridge above the Brooklyn Bridge, he was easily recognizable to the carloads of fans who drove back and forth steadily beneath him, screaming, “Hello, Frankie!” In New York, two groups of his fans have taxis waiting always beside the door of the Waldorf; when Frank comes out — at any hour of the day or night — they give the word and their two taxis take after the one he’s in. Often, since they know he eats every meal at Toots Shor’s restaurant, they are there waiting for him when he arrives. “Hi, Frankie — we beat you over!” they announce as he goes inside. The “Five Fog Sisters” did better than taxi-chasing, though. These five fifteenyear-olds telephoned Frank and Peter from Chicago that they would be in New York that evening — by air. Peter had answered the phone, and he Turn to Page 99 for Photoplay Fashions in Color 66c/ Cff/7 step ad dome Sd'// afscoyer /?ecu ~ dm&s/ 102 OUT OF 122 WIVES AND MOTHERS REPORT NO CHAFING WITH FREE-STRIDE MODESS! Housewives over the country recently made a discovery that’ll be comforting news to every girl who chafes . . . Women who had suffered chafe with their regular napkin tested a new, improved napkin, Free-Stride Modess. Object: to see if it gave freedom from chafe. Verdict: 102 out of 122 reported no chafing with Free-Stride Modess. The secret of the chafe-free comfort so many women found in Free-Stride Modess lies in the clever fashioning of the napkin edges. Free-Stride Modess has extra cotton on its edges — extra softness — right where the cause of chafe begins. The extra cotton also acts to direct and retain moisture inside the napkin, keeping the edges dry and smooth longer. And dry, smooth edges don’t chafe! So safe, too! Free-Stride Modess napkin has a triple safety shield to keep you confident, carefree. On sale everywhere now. Product of Personal Products Corporation. U/a/M. urrtft comforf/ Try fde new Tree-s/rtfe, /Hoc/essf