Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1951)

from beauty contest fame to a top-notch modeling career! Miami's Queen of i Beauty says: "No girl is really beautiful unless she’s exquisitely dainty ! That’s why I love to powder myself with Lander’s flower-fresh talcs after every shower. You’ll love them !” P Available at your favorite five and ten and other stores THE LANDER CO. • FIFTH AVE. • NEW YORK 84 pulled back the gold and white drapes and pointed at as bleak a telephone pole as I have ever seen. “I get twenty-five dollars a month off the rent because of that pole,” she said proudly. “I haggled with the landlady.” This was indeed a new Elizabeth. I have never known her to count the cost of anything. She has been working in pictures for nine years, and is now making $1,500 a week. But what with being on layoff (and she was also on layoff during her honeymoon) the bank balance presumably is getting low. She asked for no alimony when she divorced Nicky. When I asked her why she said, “I don’t feel I deserve a bonus for getting a divorce.” She said, ‘‘I had a nervous breakdown brought on by tension during ‘Love Is Better Than Ever.’ And I had to spend thousands of dollars on doctors’ bills to be able to finish the picture. I even had to have a nurse with me on the set. And now,” she added gloomily, “it probably never will be released because of Larry Parks. He’s my co-star, as you know.” “But you can’t be broke,” I insisted. “What about that block of stock in the Waldorf Astoria your father-in-law gave you. You’ve still got that, haven’t you?” Elizabeth said she hadn’t thought about it, she guessed she still had it. DURING our conversation Elizabeth paddied to the bedroom three times to answer the phone, whispered something I couldn’t hear (undoubtedly “She’s still here”) and paddled back. I say “paddled” because she was barefooted. Something I’ve been lecturing her about for years. The minute she gets inside a house, theatre, restaurant, off come her shoes. Elizabeth shares her five-room bachelor apartment with an attractive young girl named Peggy Rutledge. Peggy acts as her companion and secretary. The two girls seem to agree on everything except Elizabeth’s passion for lavender — Peggy’s trying to talk her out of having her bedroom done in lavender. Each girl has her own bedroom, one on each side of the living-room, which makes for privacy. They share a bathroom. A maid named Irene comes in every other day to wash dishes, make beds, and clean. There were no dirty dishes in the sink — Irene had just left. “We cook our own breakfasts,” said Elizabeth proudly. Peggy makes the coffee in a dime-store coffee pot. And Elizabeth makes the toast on a brand new toaster— sometimes if it’s a late breakfast and she isn’t planning to go out to lunch she splurges with bacon and eggs. Judging by the bareness of the cabinets in the kitchen and the general emptiness of the refrigerator (the spotlight was held by a jar of peanut butter braced by a couple of bottles of a soft drink) the girls never eat at home — except for breakfast. One of these days, Elizabeth assured me, she expects to do a spot of entertaining — something she has never done in her life, except for a few kid parties. She fancies buffet dinners for six or eight. But right now she goes out to dinner every night. And the lucky man, of course, is Stanley Donen. Liz started going steady with Stanley when he was directing her in “Love Is Better Than Ever.” When she was sick and in the hospital during the production, Stanley was the only one allowed to visit her. Which irked her mother considerably. When I asked Elizabeth if she was in love with Stanley she said, “No, I am not in love. We enjoy each other’s company very much.” A very cold statement for the mighty warm hand-holding I have seen. Elizabeth adores previews almost as much as she does ice cream sodas. She and Stanley attend most of the previews and premieres of the town. They like to dance, and they like to go riding along the ocean with the top down in Elizabeth’s Cadillac. Stanley certainly is the man of the hour. Elizabeth’s girl friends, with the exception of Barbara Thompson, are nonprofessional. Now that she’s a bachelor girl, with no strings tied, she has discovered the fun of lunching leisurely with her pals. She is thinking about taking up tennis and golf this summer. But right now she’s only thinking about it. Her favorite exercise is swimming, which she has been doing at Palm Springs. She is devoted to her sun tan. Elizabeth, I noticed, is a very untidy teenager. Her belongings are strewn around the room. The built-in wardrobe showed dresses sometimes on the hangers, and sometimes the hangers on the dresses. In the bottom of the wardrobe was a confusion of shoes. A drawer filled with pastel shade sweaters was half open. “I know,” said Elizabeth sadly, “you’re going to say I’m not neat. And I’m not. But honestly I’m getting much better.” And why should she be! She’s always had people picking up for her at home and the studio. Too many people. Naturally she’s untidy. Give her three months of being a bachelor girl. You’ll see a change. Elizabeth’s sewing is like her cooking. Only in cases of necessity. “I can sew up a hem if it’s absolutely necessary.” But not if she can find a safety pin, I bet. Elizabeth has never cared much for books and there are no books in her apartment. Several magazines were on the coffee table with one of them turned down on an article titled, “Are Frenchmen Better Lovers than Americans?” When I “Now There’ll Be a Tomorrow for John and Me” Yes, thanks to the help of radio’s “My True Story,” countless people have found the key to happiness. This is because “My True Story” dramatizes, in vivid form, real-life problems of real people — right out of the files of True Story Magazine. Here are people who might be you, your friends, or your neighbors. You’ll find the answers to problems of love, hope, fear, jealousy and many others. TUNE IN “MY TRUE STORY” American Broadcasting Stations.