Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1951)

Linda Darnell knows what she's talking about. Recently I’ve given serious thought to this question. When you start out on an entirely new life, you can’t help thinking about the past — the mistakes that colored it, the lessons that made it full. And while you’re thinking — in your own particular kind of loneliness— all the things that once confused you seem to fall into focus. The happiest time in my life, I know now, was when I was eighteen. I had left home, was on my own. Earlier, I’d been confused and full of fear. I guess the freedom I felt was the big thing; the right, at last, to make my own decisions. I was sure I loved Peverell Marley. I was dating other men but somehow I knew Pev would be the man I eventually would marry. . . I’d been advised not to marry him. Most of my friends were convinced it was wrong because Pev was considerably older than I. Even he thought the difference in our years was too great. However, advice and sound ideas somehow fall by the wayside when love is involved. I had had a life of disappoint Iments and hurts; been forced to assume all kinds of responsibilities, yet never had sufficient experience (Cont’d on page 79) • When she was nineteen she married a man twenty years her / senior “ Girls marry older men for a feeling of protection — then find it is difficult for older men to share the interests of their wives.” Below, Linda with ex-husband Pev Marley Pev and Linda at third birthday party for adopted daughter Lola, lower right. Linda, currently in “ The Guy Who Came Bach,” retained custody of Lola should young girls murry older men? By LINDA DARNELL [I 35