Screenland (May-Oct 1941)

Other husbands weren't "nighty" like Pres. The almost incredible thing about Mrs. Preston Foster is that she simply didn't give a hoot about what the other wives thought. She didn't mind going on with her school teaching while he figured out his life. "I'd been out of a job for six months and I'd flopped there at Atlantic City. I was confused, and desperate. Gertrude kept saying, over and over, 'But I'm not worrying, darling !' She thought I should wait until fall, when the new shows tried out, before accepting failure as a would-be actor." In the last week of that summer Pres was down to his last fifty dollars. So he kissed Gertrude good-bye with a tenderness which almost broke her heart. He packed his best clothes and drove to Weehawken, on the Jersey side. Parking his car there, he took the ferry across to New York. It was a Monday morning and it was his last stab. "I hurried to the theater where the) were casting 'New Moon.' They advised me to return at three that afternoon. I did, and when I began to read a part they wouldn't let me finish it because I was so rotten!" Next day, miraculously, he got his break. A bit actor had dropped out of a murder drama and Pres was eligible. "The role was that of a deaf-and-dumb Chinaman and the only thing demanded was that a man be over six feet tall !" Pres "opened on Broadway" a week later. After five weeks he went on the road for five months with the troupe, becoming the general understudy. It was his longdelayed chance to study the fundamentals of acting and he mastered three dialects — Cockney, Chinese, and Italian — in the hope a principal actor would have a lapse. He was never that lucky. But the stage manager approved of his sincerity and recommended him for a supporting role in Henry Hull's play, "Congratulations." Pres didn't have many lines, but he was so grateful for them he got a Broadwa}r run through until spring. Every week-end he was anywhere within reach of Moorestown he took a bus home to Gertrude. She was the happiest school teacher that ever was. For he was doing what he wanted and that made her happy. He didn't get another part at the end of the season, but he got a job as an assistant stage manager for a fall production. So without any hesitation she agreed to selling their home and moving their furniture to a three-room apartment in Sunnyside, Long Island. By the end of the season he was a full-fledged stage manager. Then he tried vaudeville again, singing successfully with Fritzi Scheff. A half-adozen small Broadway roles followed. And Gertrude, no longer sure of her own income, economized with a smile always on her lips. There was another six months' stretch when he couldn't get a single job in the theater. So he did bits and then plain extra roles at a Long Island movie studio. He was never close enough to the cameras to be discovered. When he did maneuver a screen test he was told to grow a beard. Hollywood sent word he wouldn't do. But Gertrude could see how, slow as it was, he was climbing. It took three years for him to get his significant lead on Broadway. He portrayed a comedy roughneck. The morning after "Two Seconds" opened three Hollywood studios, including the one for whom he'd done extra work in New York, bid for him. He couldn't risk bringing his wife with him because he was only guaranteed one picture. But he was a hit in it, so then she joined him on the Coast. You rarely hear of her in Hollywood society because she remains as real a person as she was. Instinctively she knew that she loved a man who would justify himself. The bad times were never bad in her eyes. She had him. She was never bossy, never nagging, for she had no fear. Nothing was unbearable, except their brief separations when he was battling his way up the ladder. I think it would have been easy for them to have ordered a model made for the new home they'd planned. Gertrude made the model, down to the least measurement. So now each time they open a door they get a fresh thrill. The charm of their house, a dream come true, comes close to overwhelming them. "Oh, shut up, Gertrude," Pres mutters. "You know it all goes to illustrate what a lot of luck will do!" "Perhaps," she says softly. "Or does it illustrate that nothing can compare with falling in love with a swell fellow?" Of course, what would they really have without a child ? They both adored a certain year-old baby girl the minute they saw her. Since adopting their Stephanie, heiress to their success and hearts, nothing seems lacking. Preston Foster calls the cbove his "Rumpus Room," and it is not hard to understand why. It holds a conglomeration of everything needed for fun and relaxation. A great place to seek after a hard grind at the studio. Pres tells us about his past — says he's lucky. Little Jack Horner sat in a corner eating his Christmas pie. He found a package of Dentyne on his plate too, (Dentyne — the warmly delicious chewing gum that helps keep teeth bright). "What's this?" said little Jack. And since no one answered, he went on: "Hm-m, nice looking package — flat — convenient to carry — easy to open." He opened it. "Looky, six sticks — that's generous." Then he tasted. "Say — what a flavor — blended just right — not hot — not sweet — but mighty good and refreshing. That flavor lasts, too, not just a few minutes but as long as you'd want it." Just then in popped his dentist. "Good boy, Jack," said the dentist, "chewing Dentyne is a pleasant, practical way to help keep your teeth clean and sparkling." And little Jack smiled with satisfaction. (Moral: You too will smile with satisfaction when you taste Dentyne's luscious goodness and see how it helps keep your teeth bright.) 6 INDIVIDUALLY WRAPPED STICKS IN EVERY PACKAGE HELPS KEEP TEETH WHITE SCREENLAND