TV Radio Mirror (Jul - Dec 1956)

it. There were weeks in the hospital that ran into months. There were skin grafts. And more pain. Then came the day when the legs were unveiled. "The doctors were there," Karl recalls that moment, "I was present. As the bandages were removed, there was a moment of silence — no more than that. Then: 'Not exactly cheesecake,' said the blue-eyed blonde who is my wife. 'Strudel!' she said. "Once, during our courting days in college," Karl recalls, "I was doing the Lord Byron bit — sensitive and all that — and Marge said, 'This is reality. Facts. This is the way things are.' That's the way she was, in her hospital room that morning, three years ago. And I realized anew that that's the way Marge is. Everyone in the hospital realized it, too. The surgeon absolutely adored her. The nurses, too. And even the insurance adjuster, who went about saying, 'Anything you say, Mrs. Weber, anything you want!' "As for our neighbors, they would do almost anything for Marge — just as we would for them. As a matter of fact," says Karl, "there's kind of an odd thing going on, out there in Woodcliff Lake. A social life that's rather exceptional. Ten or fifteen couples of us, all congenial. We've organized a Great Books Club. I'm a director of the Community Theater Group. We put on plays, skits, do some calypso singing and so on. Last spring, I was in charge of the annual PTA Fathers' Night at the school. All the local fathers took part. We put on a Kaufman sketch. I sang, and played guitar and the mambo drums. Others did solo turns, too. "But what we have," Karl continues, "is something that goes deeper than the activities we share. People in a suburban community don't usually communicate with each other too well — they tend to conceal, rather than reveal. But, by some happy accident, we have sort of abolished the barrier to communication. Because we have, there are no petty rivalries. We all support each other. We made a kind of resolve: Let's appreciate each other, help each other, love each other. And we do. "I take what is, I suppose," Karl admits, "an essentially tragic view of life. We're all born to die, and we can't beat it. So . . . don't waste a moment. 'Gee, honey, you were great!' Say it. Don't hold back. . . . You are born. You die. This — as Marge would say — is the way things are. But if, in the meantime, you have done a good job . . ." This brings Karl back to the new breed of actors and the many attributes they have in common. Of these, the most interesting to Karl is that "We are now living on many levels. So many are moving to the country, for example, buying or building their own homes, working with their hands, putting down roots — the kind that reach out and grow. Becoming less egocentric," Karl laughs, "and more 'the family man,' the good neighbor — a working member of a community, instead of a solitary Hamlet on stage, looking across the footlights at his fellowman. . . . "The performer, 1956 model," says Karl, "is also less of an exhibitionist than his predecessors tended to be. He isn't always 'on.' He applies the brakes to his temperament. Being somewhat more homebody than ham, he doesn't make the gossip columns very often. He is as devoted to his craft as any of his theatrical forebears . . . but he simply doesn't sacrifice the fireside — and all that it means — to the limelight and the neons." Watching Karl, listening to him, what could anyone think but: How right he is, how wise and fine . . . and how very lucky that once, in the big timber of the Mississippi Valley, he watched and listened to — and learned from — Grandfather Weber. SEE THIS MIRACLE HAPPEN TO YOU IN 20 SECONDS suddenly you seem to have grown an entirely new and flawless skin! So subtly does LANOLIN PLUS Liquid Make-Up banish those "things" in your face you don't want seen ... no one even suspects make-up. Little blemishes, dark patches, skin imperfections are covered beautifully without masking. And because only this remarkable make-up offers skin-softening, exclusiveformula LANOLIN PLUS Liquid ... it goes on more evenly, makes skin softer and smoother, helps correct dryness too. You'll look a million times better . . . when you choose one of the 6 exquisite shades of LANOLIN PLUS Liquid Make-Up that makes you a happier woman in seconds. At cosmedc counters everywhere. $1 plus tax. IANOIIN PLUS "POWDER PLUS" Pressed Powder in a Beautiful Compact Use it over LANOLIN PLUS Liquid Make-Up for a charming mat finish or touch-up. Or as a complete make-up in itself. Shades harmonize perfectly with LANOLIN PLUS Liquid Make-Up and other types of make-up. $1.25 plus tax. IT'S THE PLUS IN ^^Zpfajt, THAT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE 73