Screenland (May-Oct 1942)

m or under salary to that radio station. 'What happened after the two years?" nquired curiously. 'God sent me Sue," he replied soberly, lie Carol is the only agent I know of o will bother with an unknown. Most them only want you after you've become name' because 10% of a beginner's sal• is peanuts — and agents don't fool with muts. They're used to caviar." 'About Sue," I prompted him. 'Oh! Well, she heard me on a program : night when I was playing a dual role . man of sixty and his son. She called at the station and asked me to come see her next day. For two years after t she plugged me and rooted for me il casting directors were ready to crawl 3 waste-baskets when they saw her ning. It's a funny thing," he went on, "durthose years I was on the radio I never even an occasional part in pictures. 0 weeks after Sue signed me I played Paramount's 'Rulers of the Sea.' The :ics were pretty nice to me, too. I got te a few bit parts after that, then the 1 in an independent called 'Goose Step.' ried out for the lead opposite Bette vis in a Silver Theatre program and personally, asked to have me with Then she asked for me again in a ond program. I had two scenes in 'Capi Caution' and Director Richard WalI started plugging for me. Then William . iklejohn, supervisor of talent and castat Paramount, said if I ever got the it part I might go places. I guess," he laughed, "he didn't realize tit he was letting himself in for when !said that to Sue because at least once peek after that she'd call on him to see ,at parts were coming up over there that jould do. Finally, after she'd got me a E part in 'Joan of Paris,' she heckled Jk into giving me a test for Raven. He I me an interview with Frank Tuttle, I© was to direct the film. After Mr. •pie talked to me he really went whole|| on that test. He tested me" for two id days" [Author's Note: I saw that | and it is one of the finest tests I've i in thirteen years of hanging around dios], "and then Paramount signed me H term contract." Somewhere along the way Alan had fried, and he has a small child. Both ,and his wife realized they had made a jtake, however, and they separated rtly after their marriage and were orced. People used to ask me," Alan said, hat I did when I wasn't working — if "ayed golf or tennis — if I went out at jhts, and_ with whom. I'd fallen head r heels in love with Sue by that time, she was married. If I couldn't go out ]h her I didn't want to go out at all I used to sit home nights and read, fe only chance I had to see her was durthe day. I used to chauffeur her around studios and wait while she called on png directors. Everyone knew she was gging me and if anyone saw me they Right I was with her on an interview, d I used to coach her other clients en they were going out for tests — kids j d had no experience. Anything to be !h her. When it finally got so we couldn't nd it any longer, Sue went to Las Vegas six weeks and got a divorce. A week r we went to Mexico and were mar looked at him curiously. "You're |tty sensitive, aren't you?" I asked ntly. Alan squirmed and looked uncomfortable, guess so," he admitted, then, suddenly: ee, Dick! A person can't live by himself Jack Benny, first star to go on air from new San Francisco Radio City studios, shown arriving for dedication, with Rochester acting as station porter. Jack didn't miss chance to give War Bonds and Stamps a big plug. all those years the way I did — no one to play around with — no one to talk to — to confide in — and not be sensitive. When you don't mingle with people you don't understand them and you imagine insults and snubs when none are intended. You get your feelings hurt over nothing. But now I have Sue and I can only be hurt by her or through her — and Susie wouldn't hurt a fly." "Tell me another thing," I persisted. "Whatever made you want to become an actor in the first place?" He pondered that a moment. "I guess in a way, acting is just a continuation of my athletic career. When you're an athlete you're performing in front of people. You get used to applause, to reading about yourself and being pointed out when you go anywhere. When that stops you miss it. And I guess there was just enough ham in me to make me do something about it." "Oh, yes," I remembered, "there's something else, too. Jack Mulhali once remarked you have more sex appeal iri your voice than most actors have in their entire bodies. Who trained it?" Alan looked uncomfortable again. "I guess I did," he confessed. "I used to notice when I was on the air a lot my throat and vocal chords got tired. It didn't seem to me it should be that way. So I started experimenting. I don't know much about the technical end of voice culture but I began imagining the roof of my mouth a sort of sounding board and I thought, if, instead of trying to force words and sounds out through my mouth, I could just make them hit that sounding board they would bounce out. It worked. So then I began reading aloud to myself for practice — watching the clock to see how long I could ready without tiring myself. It's good for diction and it gives you nuances of intonation, too, because if you don't vary your tones you even get tired of your own voice." For the last half hour he'd been fidgeting, glancing out the window, growing more and more restless. All at once he jumped up, strode to the window and peered down the street. "Let's go !" he cried, his face lighting up. "Here comes Susie. Isn't she wonderful?" 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