Radio mirror (Nov 1936-Apr 1937)

RADIO MIRROR The Love Gladys Swarthout's Fame Couldn't Tarnish (Continued from page 21) It was not long, however, before that status was to be turned topsy-turvy and it was through a generous act of Frank's that the change was to come about. He had been signed to sing on the Firestone broadcasts and was beginning to make a name for himself with the listeners. Eager for his young wife to share in all his triumphs and opportunities, he persuaded his sponsors to engage her for the program too. When they consented, he took hours and weeks from his own work to teach her all he knew about radio technique. And one night Gladys Swarthout debuted on the air singing a duet from "Rigoletto" with her husband. Of the two of them standing there at the microphone on Sunday evenings perhaps Frank most deserved to be sought out by fame for a pinnacle among the stars. I have often thought, knowing Gladys, that she yearned for him to achieve great success much above her own ambitions. But the tricky finger of fame swung above both of them for a while, then whirled her to the heights and left her husband behind. Pretty soon when people asked people, "Who is Frank Chapman?" it was much easier to say, "He's Gladys Swarthout's husband" instead of "He's a well-known baritone." THAT was where the trouble began. And it was radio that had caused the rift. Many a celebrity marriage has ended in divorce when the wife achieved more prominence than the husband. Professional jealousy is a thing few couples can weather successfully. So. with Glady's climb to stardom, the gossips sat back to see what Frank Chapman would do. Perhaps he realized that his marriage was endangered and was willing to go to any end to save it. Perhaps he reasoned that whatever success he might gain would always be dimmed by the brilliant light of a brighter star beside him. so he might as well give up. Or perhaps his really greatest desire was to sacrifice his own interests in helping to further the career of his pretty wife. Anyway, Frank Chapman retired. I talked to them shortly after he had reached this decision. "No one," he said to me, "is willing to do as much for Gladys as I am. Agencies have too many clients. Despite a secretary, a maid, a manager, a Hollywood agent and a New York agent, Gladys still needs me as her personal adviser. And I am so concerned with her well being that nothing can afford me any greater pleasure than giving up my own career to help her all 1 can." "If I have achieved anything," Gladys went on to say, "1 owe it all to Frank. He is the most remarkably unselfish person I have ever known. He has sacrificed everything for my success and I couldn't have gotten anywhere without his assistance." Thus their protests that they were entirely happy under the new arrangement. But were they? Frank Chap'man, who had been trained to be a singer, who had spent his whole life preparing himself for his own career, had stepped aside to the position of buffer between the world and another singer who was greater than he. The months and years that he had planned to devote to his own future were now de voted to his wife's. And that is a position— a position of subjection — that since the beginning of time has been destined for the woman in a marriage, not the man. IINDER her husband's guidance Glady's ** successes tripled and quadrupled themselves. Frank was always present in every emergency to look out for her. At program rehearsals he sat in the control room. "I do not allow production men or engineers to make suggestions direct to Gladys," he explained to me, "she is too high-strung, too easily upset. Suggestions are made to me and I relay them to her." When she went on concert tours Frank travelled by her side to bear the brunt of detail and interruption that might annoy her. He arranged her programs, coached her in her preparation of them, handled all business matters. When she performed at the Metropolitan he was constantly backstage in attendance. Frequently he received her interviewers, answered her important mail, superintended the running of their lovely apartment. When Gladys was called to Hollywood Frank had planned a brief concert tour of his own, his first professional work in a long time, but he immediately cancelled it to go to the coast with her. They took over Grace Moore's house and servants and stayed eight months while Gladys made "Give Us This Night" and "Rose of the Rancho." "Frank was indispensable," she said to .me afterward, "because I knew he would bring out the best within me. You see, I lived in dread of the yes-men of Hollywood. I had heard so much about them. SWP THAT WHISTLING-) 4 GEE MA— THAT'S THE MATTEI*. WITH NOU" ■YOU'RE ALWAYS SETTIM'! ALL UPSET OVER MOTHINQ—NNl-W CANT A FELLOW NNMISTLB IF WE FEEU3 LIKE IT? THAT EVENING X X SIMPLE CAN'T PLKi \NITH THAT NOISE SOINa f ON-THOSE (3IRLS UPSTAIRS MUST BE i TAP-EANONQ AGAIN -I'M OOlNQ TO CALL VTHE SUPERJNTEMDENTAND HAN/E ,^=-^ IT STOPPED BUT, MV DEAR ITS ONLY NINE OfclOCK-XXl'RE SURELY NOTaOIMS TO COMPLAIN KOW! ISUPP03E IT WOULD SB PRETTV MEAN — BUT WONESTLV-l'M SO TIRED LATELY EVEKV ' " r— i THINS Mr DOCTOR SAVS WHEN VOU FEEL.) I qetSOM ALL-IN LIKE THAT IT'S USUALLY BE ^W/L CAUSE VQUR BLOOD IS UNDERFED. HE TOLD ) J^L,^ ME TO TAKE FLEISCHMANN'S YEAST;SAY5IT FEEDS sTME BLOOD / DONT LET UNDERFED BLOOD KEEPYDU FEELING TIRED OUT THAT tired, nervous feeling at this time of the year usually means your blood is underfed and does not carry enough of the right kind of nourishment to your muscles and nerves. Fleischmann's fresh Yeast supplies your blood with health-building vitamins and FLEISCWMANN'S FRESH YEAST CONTA/N* 4 VITAMINS IN APPITlON TO HOBMONE-UKE SUBSTANCES, WHICH /4EIP THE £OCV 6ET GREATER VALUE FPOMTHE VOOV YOU EAT, ANP tfETTT FASTER other vital food elements. It helps your blood to carry more and better nourishment to your nerve and muscle tissues. Eat 3 cakes of Fleischmann's Yeast regularly each day — one cake about 3^ hour before meals. Eat it plain, or in a little water. Start today. IT'S YOUR BLOOP THAT WFEEPS" YOUR BODY... One of the important functions of your blood stream is to carry nourishment from your food to the muscle and nerve tissues of your entire body. When you find you get overtired at the least extra effort, it is usually a sign that your blood is not supplied with enough food . What you need is something to help your blood get more nourishment from your food.