Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1947)

Both are lovely on the table . . . can you tell which set costs the most? Palm Springs Spree (Continued from page 45) months the temperature rises to 125° in the shade For Palm Springs lies in a desert valley almost entirely encircled by mountains. Yet Mt. Jacinto, towering above the rest, is snow-crowned a good portion of the year. The town is approximately 120 miles from Hollywood, three hours by motor, forty-five minutes by air, in a Navion, say, such as Veronica Lake and Andre de Toth use for their Palm Springs commuting. Visit the Springs with a movie star and you’ll likely stop at the Racquet Club, owned and run by Charlie Farrell and his beautiful wife, Virginia Valli. The Farrells, whom I admire for their courage and imagination, live at the Club in the style to which they became accustomed when they were movie stars about a decade ago. When Charlie and Virginia announced they were going into the desert to start this club their friends, not believing they would really do it, said carelessly, “You're crazy! You’ll be lost without the movies.” Charlie and Virginia grinned. “You’re crazy! We’re going to bring the movies to us!” Whereupon their friends, convinced they meant it and therefore that they toere crazy, kept silent. OF course you like fresh, colorful Place Mats for your table! But don’t think that such sets must be expensive. The blue set, as illustrated above, cost $17.50 . . . the yellow cost $34.50. Yet, because they were both luxury starched with unit*, they look equally smart and inviting. You 11 like unit, the superior starch that makes cotton look and feel like linen. Use unit for all washables . . . easy directions are on every package. OF T IS A R EG I RADE MARK 3RN PRODUCT! INING COM PA t £W YORK, N. Y UNIT PERFECT LAUNDRY STARCH . MAKES COTTON LOOK AND FEE! LIKE LINEN PC.P R. CO.. .ADDS THE T&ue/C ss THE Racquet Club consists of small exclusive bungalows built in the woods and around the pool, blue as the canopy of clear desert sky overhead. It’s at the pool that luncheon is served, that gin rummy is played in the afternoon and around which the social life of the club centers. And frequently you find Paul Lukas and other stars on the tennis courts close by. Paul flies down at every opportunity to play with the great professionals who spend much between-tournament time there, or with Billy Wilder, his most interesting non-professional opponent. Last spring, when I was a house guest of the Darryl Zanucks, I lunched at the Racquet Club with Sam Goldwyn — and thought I must be back in Hollywood. Rita Hayworth and David Niven, having just come out of the pool, were lying on their tummies in the sun. A handsome couple they were too. And I can tell you there most definitely was a desert romance under way at that time, regardless of what may have happened since. Spencer Tracy was there, playing chess on the eight-foot-square chessboard comprised of lawn and flagstones, with foothigh pieces. ft was to the Racquet Club that Gene Tierney repaired last winter to recuperate from her sprained ankle. Janet Blair and her husband, Louis Busch, frequently weekend there. Paulette Goddard and Burgess Meredith run down at every opportunity, as do Evelyn Keyes and John Huston. The food at the Racquet Club is divine and a great credit to Charlie Farrell’s father who runs the kitchen. Divine and expensive. But, then, nothing in Palm Springs is inexpensive. It’s like any other resort. The daily rate is about twentyfive dollars and up. At the Doll’s House, for instance, a favorite spot of Cornel Wilde and Pat Knight in their happy days together, the curry — which I must report to be most excellent — is about $4.00 a portion. It’s the same at Pago Pago where they turn on the rain at will and, hearing it drench the roof, you think romantically of the South Seas — and life is as dreamy as the Pago Pago proprietors meant it to be. The Zanuck house, like many others, is adobe style. The swimming pool sits directly between the main house and the guest house which I occupied. The Doug 82