Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1940)

nUJUJUns 7 he ^mani J\lew Minimum -layl BEVERLEY CLARKE Lovely John Powers Model BLUE SWAN miniums Nobelt Waistband BLUE SWAN MILLS, INC. Empire State Bldg., N. Y. C. Send me tree booklet 56 and actual sample oi the Nobelt waistband; also name of my nearest MINIKIN dealer. NAME ADDRESS CITY Hawaiian Honeymoon (Continued from page 17) sensible little thing is probably lying in that great big tropical house right now with an ice pack on her head." Randy sat up. "Why shouldn't Ann be happy? She's married to the man she idolizes. She's the wife of the handsome, intelligent, sensitive. . . ." "Careful, don't overdo on sweets," Caroline said. "You know your tendency to mental indigestion, dear." ". . . the top male box-office star in America. Ann is twenty-three, unbelievably successful in comedy, sighed after by every male under and over fifty. If she's not happy she should go back to Russia." "She didn't come from Russia. She came from Weehawken, New Jersey." Caroline added irrelevantly, after a moment, " — and you're a fool." Randy bowed elaborately. "Believe me, dearest, I would not wound you for worlds. If I seemed harsh. . . ." Caroline interrupted, "You know David pretty well, don't you?" "I've washed his back many times," said Randy. "Before he got a bath brush, that is." "What happened between him and Laurel Crane?" "Who?" "I may look weak and feminine, but if I'm put to it I can kill you with my bare hands. Don't say who to me again. What happened between David Crawford and Laurel Crane?" "I don't know," Randy said, flatly. "You're a liar," Caroline said, as flatly. "All right," Randy said. "How does David feel about Ann?" "I don't know," Randy said. "He told me they were going to be married and I said congratulations. Or maybe I said . . . no, that's exactly what I said." "I don't blame you," Caroline said. "What else could I say?" "No, I mean if you asked me things about how Ann felt, I'd do just what you're doing. I'd lie if I had to. But . . . Ann loves him so much, Randy." And they were silent because the shadow of Laurel Crane lay between them and they could both see it. I HE house Ann Adams and David Crawford had taken for their honeymoon was a large one. This was fitting and proper, since their combined incomes were something to stagger the mere fifty-thousand-dollar-a-year man. They had been ushered into it two days before in a flurry of open secrecy, had posed for pictures on the long, palmfringed lawn which sloped down to the sea. They had posed eating guavas from the tree near the lanai, ("It's a porch to me," Ann had said, "but I'll try to remember.") and one enterprising photographer had presented Ann with a dish of poi (the dish filched from her own kitchen) and caught on celluloid her look of wonder as she tasted it. "It couldn't be," Ann had said, "that Hawaiians eat much of it?" David was luckier. He drew a pineapple to pose with, and when everybody cleared out they had devoured the pineapple with relish, and unpacked. Now, lying in the middle of the huge lounge on the lanai (porch to Ann still), Ann was remembering that unpacking. She stared at the sea and tried valiantly to crowd back down her throat the fear that kept rising there. "If only I hadn't read it," she kept thinking. "If I had just laid it on his dresser and said, 'This is something I found in your pocket. . . .' " How Well Do You KnowYourHollywood? A Spring song from Universal: Singing starlet Gloria Jean, appearing in "If I Had My Way" GRADE yourself ten points for every one you guess right. If you get sixty or less, you don't keep, up with Hollywood. If your score is eighty, you're doing quite well; and if you have a score of one hundred, you know as much as PHOTOPLAY. Check up on page 84. 1. Samuel Goldwyn, after seeing this star's screen test, told him to go home and gain weight; instead he signed with M-G-M: Henry Fonda Jimmy Stewart David Niven Robert Taylor 2. One of this shy star's favorite hobbies is playing the ukelele: Ronald Colman Greta Garbo Jane Bryan Paul Muni 3. He was once a member of the King of England's personal bodyguard: Ray Milland Errol Flynn Basil Rathbone Edward Arnold 4. Two of these directors are famous for the way they murder the English language; Michael Curtiz Frank Capra Woody Van Dyke Gregory Ratoti 5. Irene Dunne is married to: Arthur Hornblow Dr. Francis Griftin Bob Howard J. Walter Ruben 6. This studio uses the trademark of Leo the Lion on its pictures: Warner Brothers Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer RKO-Radio Columbia 7. Two of these stars have just recently secured divorces: Brenda Joyce Ann Sothern Madeleine Carroll Penny Singleton 8. This film beauty is considered the best cook in Hollywood: Priscilla Lane Marlene Dietrich Rosalind Russell Ginger Rogers 9. This actress made the song, "My Heart Belongs to Daddy," famous: Ethel Merman Mary Martin Mary Healy Gloria Jean 10. Noted for his gangster roles, thi: actor is famous for his art collection: George Raft James Cagney Humphrey Bogart Edward G. Robinson She was to blame for this misery. But when you're going through your husband's bags, preparatory to sending out his laundry, you always look in the pockets to be sure they don't get a tendollar bill to wash. She bit her lip and stared at, without seeing it, a flashing little hummingbird which darted in and out of a plumeria blossom. No matter where she turned she kept coming up | against the fact that David had asked her to marry him. That should cancel anything that had happened before. But the letter had been written after their marriage. She was ashamed to realize how well she remembered every word in the letter. Her memory wasn't ordinarily as good as that. She'd only read it once and then folded it quickly, the blood in her face suddenly as hot as though she had a fever. So you did it. You're hurting yourself more than you're hurting me. I won't say I wish you happiness because I don't. I hope you're utterly miserable and lie awake nights thinking of me as I shall lie awake thinking of you and wishing you were dead. Wishing we were both dead. . . . I HERE hadn't been a signature. Indeed, a signature would have been superfluous. Only one woman could have written it. Only one woman could step back in when it was too late and so deftly ruin everything. Until now, Ann had never gone in for comparisons of herself with other women. She was small. (Should she have been tall and very thin?) She had that sprinkling of freckles that goes with red hair. (Would it have been better, that delicate dead-white skin stretched tight across high cheekbones?) Her mouth curled up at the corners, full of the suggestion that she laughed more often than not. (Somewhere a mouth that he had kissed turned down sullenly but too desirably.) Red hair or black, which was best? Or was it more important, what was behind the eyes and in the heart and the bloodstream? Was it more important to want always to give him happiness than to want him to give it to you? Laurel Crane demanded happiness and fought bitterly when she didn't get it. Bitterly and unfairly. But can you get it that way? Does life deal it out to the people who make the most noise? Or is there a wheel somewhere, turned by a hand past happiness or pain, which stops spinning and points out: Ann Adams, one measure of happiness, sufficient, if judiciously used, for a lifetime. What had the wheel pointed at the night she met him? His smile had been the kind that seems to hurt the mouth with the effort of keepingit in place. During the months that followed he had never mentioned his former marriage. Laurel's name had not passed his lips. The night he asked her to marry him he said, "I didn't know that a woman could be so decent. I thought when women helped men there was always a great noise about it. But you've helped me through the worst time of my life and I want to go on with you always. I don't ever want to be without you again. Will you, Ann?" And now had he changed his mind? Was he regretting those words? How does one begin the conversation when one suspects a husband of being sorry he married one? As he opens (Continued on page 78) 76 PHOTOPLAY