Radio television mirror (July-Dec 1951)

MY HUSBAND, BUD (Continued from page 33) your idea over to this or that station, if I were you, they use spots like that." One way or another, he'll do something about it, something practical. You never ask Bud Collyer for bread and get a stone, and that's for sure. When Bud and I first met we were working together on the Road of Life serial, on which he was the announcer and I played the lead. We'd worked together for some years, as a matter of fact, before we had anything more than a professional relationship. I thought of Bud merely as an awfully nice man, but no more. Time passed. One morning I came into the studio with a problem that was, visibly, upsetting me. Shortly before noon, Bud came over to me and asked if I would have lunch with him. This was the first invitation from him and I accepted, but not without making a mental reservation. Everyone in the place took their troubles to Bud — he used to be a lawyer — and for some silly reason, I didn't want to be one of them. As I was putting on my hat and my lipstick (with more than customary care — I wonder why?) I was telling myself: If Bud Collyer thinks I'm going to cry on his shoulder, tell him my troubles, he's sadly mistaken . . . It was one of the funniest first dates a girl ever had. Bud is as gay a guy as ever lived, but this day he just sat there, pushing his food around his plate, saying very little, looking so grave that I thought, What's the matter with that boy? True to my resolve I hadn't told him my troubles, hadn't cried on his shoulder, not a whimper. What ailed him? Then, on the way back to the studio, Mr. Sobersides Collyer said soberly: "Well, that was fun — let's do it again next Monday." "Well, all right," I said, a little dubiously, trying not to laugh in his face. I was thinking: "Fun? What was fun about it?" Perhaps we were beginning to fall in love that day, on that first date . . . who knows? Who ever knows the hour, the moment? We did it again next Monday. And the Monday after that. And then one night we were having dinner at the Richelieu and right in the middle of taking a bite, Bud leaned across the table and said to me, "I love you." I said "I know that." And so we were married and have lived happily ever after. There are three children, Patricia, thirteen, Cynthia, eleven, Michael, nine, all three little Collyers (Bud's by a former marriage). And Michael such a spitting image of Bud! The children are the love of Bud's life. Some men have hobbies — golf, tennis, breeding dogs, or horses. The children are Bud's hobby — his own children and everyone else's. My mother says she has never known a father like him. "A man that's that much of a father." His love of his children is best proved by his interest in them and in everything that concerns them. As the children develop interests and talents (Pat takes to the piano like a duck to water; Cynthia has a free hand with drawing, and Michael with his magic shows!) Bud is right in there with them, stimulating, encouraging. On Sundays, Bud gets up at about 8:30 and after an enormous breakfast (his biggest meal is breakfast, and I do mean big! ) he goes to Sunday school with the children and stays for church. Then they come home and we have a big Sunday dinner. After dinner, Bud takes a nap. Sometimes the kids and I do likewise. Then we get up and Bud plays soft-ball with the kids. Or croquet. Or ping-pong. Our front hall looks like one of the betterstocked sporting goods stores. The things with which Bud crowds his life, without seeming to crowd at all — the way he manages to "beat the clock" — is, to me, a minor miracle, a kind of one-man victory over time and space. As NBC audiences know, he emcees the Mondaythrough-Friday half-hour radio show, Break the Bank. And is host, with Bert Parks, on the television version each Wednesday night at ten. Five times a week he does the Guiding Light show on radio. Likewise five times a week, he announces on Right To Happiness. Every other Friday night he's on Say It With Acting, with Maggie McNellis. And on Saturday night, he does the CBS-TV Beat The Clock show. I've worked in radio for a long time, and I love to work. Bud likes for me to work, too, because when I do my disposition is, he says, "Divine." It probably is. Work just makes me alive ... I do shows like True Story, Rogues' Gallery, and Living 1951, and, an Oliver Twist in skirts, I want more! But much as I love work, and intend to work whenever possible, I couldn't take Bud's schedule. But Bud takes it. He takes it in stride, with good humor and with zest. Bud has a never-failing thoughtfulness — always that phone call so that you're never left to wonder, to doubt . . . This, to me, is one of the most romantic things. Because it shows me that I am in his thoughts, all the time. And the trip to Europe we took last summer, to Paris, to London. Bud needed a rest desperately, should have chosen a place just to sleep, but because he didn't feel it would be fair to me, we went to Europe. Just the two of us. Our realest honeymoon . . . And the flower-sending — so much flowersending that I've had to put a stop to it. As I recently said of our fairy-tale castle (which is up for sale,) "This is for people who cut coupons, not for people living on earned income. Let's sell and buy another, and smaller place, here in Greenwich." And Bud agreed. If I could find one fault with Bud, one flaw, it would add realism, wouldn't it, to this hymn of praise? Well, gosh, picture me trying, chewing the pencil, scratching my head . . . The top of his dresser irritates me, why that? Because it's a real litter. And there is the shower — this could be a sore point. When Bud gets home, he takes his shower first thing. I swear it takes him two hours! Also, when Bud is at home, he doesn't want to be bored by time; none of this dinner-at-eight, be here, be there routine. It makes it difficult to run a household, but this is no fault — dear Lord, the guy is entitled to it, because this is somebody who's too good to be true. hair too dry? BE PROUD OF YOUR HAIR WITH /O^^2^ '■"•iiZg£j& SHAMPOO E*ULSIF,E0 LA NOL|N ***;. dollar value giant size... 69* Finest creme shampoo you have ever used... or money back. Why pay a dollar? Guaranteed by Helene Curtis-foremost name in hair beauty. large size tube 494 Dangers of Colon Troubles FREE BOOK— Explains Related Chronic Ailments 0>. cstf*^ ^Ssoif*** ^tm^. Avoid (Dangers lof Delay Learn about Colon troubles, Stomach conditions, Piles and other rectal conditions. Causes, effects and treatment, 164-page book sent FREE. McCleary Clinic and Hospital, 1223 Elms Blvd., Excelsior Springs, Mo. 87