Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1952)

younger son courageously started west. Letters that came to Gillespie told the rest of the family that Grace and Howard had both found work (though the money was hardly rolling in), that Howard had recovered his health — and that he was taking singing lessons. This last bit of information impressed nobody, until Grace returned to Gillespie to watch at the bedside of Grandpa Osterkamp, who was dying. She brought a record with her, a privately cut record of “The Lord’s Prayer” set to music, and played it for the old man. It was played again at his funeral, and the family and the Keels’ friends made the astonishing discovery. Mrs. Gennelle Abbott Barry, whose mother had been one of Howard’s substitute “mothers,” recalls, “It was weird. I never knew Howard could sing. And then there, in the funeral parlor, suddenly I heard from an amplifier above me this great, rich voice. I recognized it, even if I had never heard it before. It put a chill down my spine, but it was wonderful, too.” Hearing these deep, true notes, did the townspeople remember Howard’s unhappy father, whose urge to express himself in music had brought forth nothing but discord? Probably not; this voice told them instead that Howard himself must have become a person very different from the youngster they had seen leaving for California. Just how different, they realized when Howard paid a visit to his home town. Early one summer morning, there was a knock at Mrs. Barry’s door, and on her doorstep stood a tall, broad-shouldered smiling stranger — who was no stranger, she immediately recognized. Before she could rub the sleep out of her eyes, he was inside, shouting, “Anybody up? Who’s got some coffee?” “We drank three pots of coffee and ate six dozen doughnuts,” Mrs. Barry says. “I went to the store four times. All the neighbors came in. Nobody shut up for two hours, we had so much to say.” The shadow of his father’s failure had lifted, and confidence was beginning to cast its light on Howard’s life. Still on his wartime job as an aircraft worker, he was a long way from his final success, but now he could believe it might be possible. Perhaps as a mark of this new confidence in his own future, he had taken a wife, and Gillespie met the bride, a tall, red-haired, spectacularly beautiful show girl named Rosemary Randall, who had been in “Earl Carroll’s Vanities.” Those who knew Howard later, as a newcomer to the Broadway theatre, remember that he and the first Mrs. Keel made a gorgeous-looking couple. Personally, too, they seemed compatible. Not at all the show girl of fiction, Rosemary proved to be a quiet, cheerful-natured “home girl,” who loved to sew and expertly made most of her own clothes. Raised in a tradition of neighborliness, Howard quickly made friends with his new ( Continued on page 96) NOEL NEWS IS GOOD NEWS . . . when it's about the stars and how they spend Christmas morning. Take a peek at Santa Claus in HOLLYWOOD In December Photoplay on sale November 7 RITA HAYWORTH MARIO LANZA BETTY GRABLE tfameta off-guard candids of your favorite movie stars All the selective skill of our ace cameramen went into the making of these startling candids. •jC Handsome, glossy, fullsize 4x5 quality prints. Look over the list. New poses and names are constantly added. Keep your collection up to date. LANA TURNER HOWARD KEEL Fill out and mail coupon today. Send cash or money order. 12 pictures for $1; 6 for 50c. WORLD WIDE, Dept. PH-4 63 Central Avenue, Ossining, N. Y. I enclose $ for candid pictures of my favorite stars and have circled the numbers of the ones you are to send me by return mail. NAME STREET CITY ZONE STATE Star Candids 1 . Lana Turner 2. Betty Grable 3. 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Tony Martin 90. Cary Grant 9 1 . John Derek 92. Guy Madison 93. Ricardo Montalban 94. Mario Lanza 95. Joan Evans 97. Kirk Douglas 98. Gail Russell 101. Keefe Brasselle 1 02. Dick Contino 1 03. Scott Brady 1 04. Bill Lawrence 1 05. Vic Damone 106. Shelley Winters 1 07. Richard Todd 108. Vera-Ellen 109. Dean Martin 1 1 0. Jerry Lewis 111. Howard Keel 1 1 2. Susan Hayward 1 1 3. Barbara Stanwyck 1 1 4. Hedy Lamarr 1 1 5. Betty Hutton 1 1 6. Coleen Gray 1 1 7. Terry Moore 1 1 8. Ruth Roman 1 1 9. Patricia Neal. 1 20. Arlene Dahl 121. Tony Curtis 1 27. Piper Laurie 128. Debbie Reynolds 1 29. Penny Edwards 1 30. Carleton Carpenter 131. Jerome Courtland 1 32. Polly Bergen 133. Marshall Thompson 1 34. Gene Nelson 1 35. Jeff Chandler 1 36. Rock Hudson 1 37. Stewart Granger 138. John Barrymore, Jr. 1 39. Debra Paget 140. Dale Robertson 141. Marilyn Monroe 1 42. Leslie Caron 1 43. Pier Angeli 1 44 Mitzi Gaynor 145. Marlon Brando Cowboy Specials 25. Dale Evans 33. Gene Autry 34. Roy Rogers 35. Sunset Carson 36. Monte Hale 37. Hopalong Cassidy 38. Bill Elliott 39. Johnny Mack Brown 40. Al “Lash" LaRue 41 Jimmy Wakely P 95