Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1954)

Don't Rush Me! ( Continued from page 53) to get married, that for me, the late twenties would be a better age for matrimony. Not that I feel that all the fun stops once I say “I do,” that I’ll be bound to home and family in a way that’ll restrict any pleasure from there on in. But statistics, particularly in Hollywood, have proven that a marriage has more chance for success if at least the man is a little more advanced in years. Moreover, there are a number of projects I want to accomplish before I settle down. Like completing my eighth figure skating test, the highest non-competitive honor an amateur can receive. Practicing for these tests takes time, lots of time. When I’m not in a picture, I usually get up at five in the morning, so I can be at the skating rink by 7 : 30. Whenever I can get away — and sometimes when I shouldn’t — I head for the Arrowhead Mountains to practice at Blue Jay, one of the best rinks in California. In the past, I’ve often been criticized for my enthusiasm for skating. I’ve been called immature and inconsiderate because I seem to put it ahead of my career. I can’t deny that skating has become a mania with me. But I know I’ll change once I make the grade — the final test. Why? The answer is not easy to put into words. Probably it’s the same drive that makes men climb mountains, drive faster, fly higher. For generations, men have tried to conquer Mount Everest. We have been told that from a scientific point of view little can be accomplished by doing it. Yet many have lost their lives in the process because they wanted to prove it could be done — prove it not only to the world, but more important, to themselves. Skating is my Mount Everest. It isn’t as dangerous as mountain climbing, but to me just as exciting and gratifying. I’ve got to get to the top in my class. Then I can relax. Another obsession, if you can describe it as such, is my plan to build a house, my own home, before I settle down. Not in the city, but in the Arrowhead Mountains. Again you may wonder what that has to do with marriage. Possibly very little if I weren’t in the movies. Since I am — very much — let me explain. I like Hollywood and am grateful for what it has done for me — career-wise. I’m a lot less fond of the social side, the insincerity, the artificiality I have found in many instances — and which several times already have threatened to destroy my own perspective. Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not trying to say that everyone in the film industry is insincere. Far from it. Only that someone like myself — young and comparatively new in the business — can easily succumb to many of the temptations of vanity and empty compliments. Before I got into the movies, I was used to being frank with people and expected them to be the same way with me. That’s why I grew so fond of girls like Marilyn Erskine and Debbie Reynolds, who could take and give criticism no matter what the reaction would be. With both I know at all times where I stand. If they don’t like a suit I wear or consider the flaming-red color of my car too loud, they tell me so in no uncertain terms. They neither make up to me nor expect me to pay them phony compliments. But, I regret to say, Marilyn and Debbie are exceptions in a town that is built largely on the ego of the people who live in it. There may be a reason, a good reason, for it. I was told that when an actor is too severely criticized, he might lose faith in himself. If that happens, not only his ego but his performance will suffer, and before he knows what happened he may be through. Although I personally feel that “Battle Cry” is the first really good part I’ve ever had, most of the pictures I made before were not of the same calibre, and my performances mediocre, at best, I never walked away from a preview of any of my pictures where people haven’t exclaimed how wonderful I was! I used to sneer at such an attitude, but not long ago I suddenly caught myself making the same type of compliment. That’s when I knew that unless I changed in a hurry, I might lose my self-respect. Or take a look at the fuss that’s made about an actor during an ordinary working week: the parties, the limousines waiting to take him to and from lunch, the interviews, the clamoring for autographs and posing for pictures. I know it’s part of the business and that when people don’t care any longer, an actor is through. But at the same time, unless he has a strong counter-balance, an equilibrium of some sort that keeps him down to earth, he’s through too. Maybe not as an actor, but certainly as a human being. In the past, whenever I felt that I was coming dangerously close to falling into step, to paying false compliments and believing everything that was said about me, I simply got into my car and went for a long drive by myself. And when I got away from the city, driving along the ocean or inland through fields of alfalfa or rows of orange trees, once again I would see the world through the eyes of Art Gelien and leave Tab Hunter behind in Hollywood. I have taken many such trips since I came to Hollywood. Up to now, it has been easy for me to just take off whenever I felt the necessity for it. But once I’m married, I won’t be able to pack up on the spur of a moment when I have to get away. That’s why I feel a home away from Hollywood is not only important but an absolute necessity for me. My future wife and I could live there when I’m not working and come to town just when I’m in a picture. . . . But a house takes more than plans (which have been ready for months down to the last little detail). It takes time to build — I want to do it myself — and last but equally necessary, it takes money. The latter, unfortunately, is another very important reason why I’m a long way from matrimony. When I work, I earn a good salary, at least compared to what I made in the Coast Guard, as a gas station attendant and at the many other odd-jobs I had from time to time. But by Hollywood standards, I am far from being even halfway up the ladder. Moreover, I don’t work regularly. During the past twelve months I was in front of the cameras approximately fifteen weeks and, of course, didn’t earn a cent the rest of the time. From what I make, more than half goes in the form of taxes, my agent’s commission and Guild fees. From the rest, in addition to supporting myself and paying off some old debts, including my car, I am helping my mother who has sacrificed so much for me for so long. I know that every son has an obligation to his mother — but mine is much more than the usual. Since I was born, Mother not only had to carry the full burden of raising me, but even when she might have made it easier on herself by letting me help she refused to do so to give me more opportunities to enjoy my early teens. For instance, when I was old enough Good condition, ready to wear. Washable, colorful cottons! Price includes all 12 dresses! Sizes 1-6X $3.45 Sizes 7-14 $3.95 FREE GIFT WITH EVERY ORDER! RUSH ORDER NOW! Send $1 deposit now! Pay postntan balance plus C.O.D. and postage. MONEY BACK GUARANTEE You must be 100% satisfied with merchandise or return within 10 days for refund. BUY from BEST for LOWEST PRICES and HIGHEST QUALITY. TestMIrdTrIousT 15 HESTER ST., DEPT. WT-12 NEW YORK 2, N. Y. $1 DEPOSIT Age Size Price MUST ACCOMPANY ORDER! NAME ADDRESS CITY STATE o No order accepted without $1 deposit.