We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.
Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.
WHY ARTIE SHAW WALKED OUT ON
I WONDER how he felt when he picked up a newspaper that November afternoon and saw the front page headline: "ARTIE SHAW PAYS OFF HIS BAND AND GOES TO MEXICO FOR HIS HEALTH". That was just before he pulled out in his car. The reporters said he was heading for Mexico. But maybe he wasn't. How could they say that when he wasn't sure himself? He was news. Big news. He was the kind of man for whom newspaper ink was made.
The thing was incredible — nothing like it had ever happened before. He was well on his way to earning a million dollars with that black clarinet of his yet he said to the devil with it. He had charm and personality and good looks. There were women and love waiting for him. There was one in particular. Blonde, lovely Betty Grable. She was waiting in Boston but
FEBRUARY, 1940
He had fame, riches, a romance with beautiful Betty Grable — and yet he gave all this up, for an amazing reason
By JUDY ASHLEY
Artie turned his back on love. He threw it all away. He didn't want any part of it. I wonder if he smiled that peculiar one-corner smile of his when he read that he was going away for his health. They all printed that story. But they didn't know Artie Shaw. They didn't know why Artie had kicked everything away. It wasn't because he was physically sick. If he was sick at all, it was an emotional illness. Not something a doctor could put his finger on and say this is a result of that sickness you had in Hollywood.
I know why Artie quit. If you can forget all the misleading facts which have been printed, try to remember a few characteristics of one of the most talented musicians ever to catch America's fancy. Remembering them, you, too, will be able to make sense out of a situation which has rocked the entertainment world.
To begin with, Shaw is sincere. That's a simple word but it can mean paragraphs. In Artie's case it does because it implies a complete lack of hyprocrisy and half-meanings. He has few good friends, for instance, only because he refuses to associate with people and things he doesn't like wholeheartedly. There's a second important key to Shaw's character: he is honest. Honest in every single thing he does — in his work, in his thinking, in his love. Most importantly, he is honest with himself. There, in a sentence, lies the clue (Continued on page 54)
21