Screenland (May 1943-Oct 1944)

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Money back if you're not delighted. JUEL CO., 1930 Irving Park Rd., Dept. A-602, Chicago, III. Hair Face Lips Chin Arms Legs floppy m I had ugly hair . . . was unloved . . . discouraged. Tried many different products . . . even razors. Nothing was satisfactory. Then I developed a simple, painless, inexpensive method. It worked. I have helped thousands win beauty, love, happiness. My FREE book, "How to Overcome the Superfluous Hair Problem", explains the method and proves actual success. Mailed in plain envelope. Also trial offer. No obligation. Write Mme. Annette Lanzette, P. O. Box 40 M), Merchandise Mart, Dept. M-22, Chicago. 84 OFF steak — one weighing about a pound and a half and nice and thick — potatoes, a slab of pie, and coffee, and I'm happy. Of course, I'm speaking of the pre-point days." The romance of Tess and Bill is one that seems to have come right out of a story book. They are the only married couple in Hollywood who were childhood sweethearts. Bill and Tess are the same age — 37. He was born in January and she in October, so he draws an edge of a few months. He met her first when she was three weeks old. Their families had always been close friends. "Of course, I was a little young myself to remember what I thought of Tess the first time I saw her," Bill said. Tess and Bill, like all kids, fought all of the time when they were youngsters. He pulled her braids and thoroughly convinced her that he was an annoying brat. "The one thing I remember about Bill as a boy was that he was always dressed in white," Tess said. "As a friend of ours once remarked, he looked like a perpetual Communion suit. Almost every Sunday, he and his mother and father would come to Jersey to visit my folks and me. On the way over, Bill would climb over fences and up lamp posts, so that by the time he arrived his suit was in tatters and dirty." "But I was pretty," Bill laughed. "I was a lovely kid in a revolting sense of the word." When they were twelve, all was sweetness and light. The new interest in each other came about because Bill suddenly decided he'd be an actor. He fascinated Tess with his Charlie Chaplin imitations and with his athletic prowess. And when he became a choir boy and even sang in the Knights of Columbus shows, he was just too wonderful. By the time he and Tess had reached the ripe old age of seventeen, romance had really blossomed. And football did it ! The minute Bill began to play football, Tess forgot all about her other beaus. He became the superior male, unchallenged by anyone. "Every Sunday," Tess went on, "my family and Bill's would ride in our sevenpassenger Nash out to see Bill play football, rain or shine. He would never wear a helmet — that was the ham in him. And he was always getting hurt. The strangest part of it all was that he'd always manage to get hurt right on the 50-yard line — never near the end zones. More of his ham. I would get very frightened and when he saw how sympathetic I was, he'd miraculously get up and go on playing. Oh, I thought he was wonderful !" Tess smiled and added, "Incidentally, he is still the biggest baby — always wanting sympathy." Shortly after the heroic days of football, Bill and Tess broke up. The break came when he up and left a good job to go to work in a lumber camp in Connecticut. "Bill was always leaving good jobs," Tess said. "I came from a family who were established. My Dad held the same job for 35 years. And I couldn't see why Bill had to be so flighty. Well, he stayed at the job only three weeks and then he came back." When they were twenty-two, they decided to elope. "I never proposed to her," Bill said. "We'd been engaged so we just decided to get married. We happened to tie the knot at the height of the depression. Tess' folks wanted to give her a church wedding, but we didn't want them to spend the money, so we eloped. And then it all began." For a while, Bill held a good job as a manager of a grocery store. But the grocery business suddenly went pfft. He then tried his hand as a singing waiter and finally did some "master-of-ceremoning" at various night clubs. Then came the time when there were no more jobs — and no SCREENLAND money. Bill and Tess entered the bleak period — with no holds barred. Typical of this period was the day when Tess went down to the Goodwill and paid a quarter for a dress. She never told Bill where she got it until later. "I don't mind telling these things about us," Tess said, "because we've lived an honest life and we're not ashamed of our past. I remember the day so well when I knew we would have to apply for relief. I wouldn't let Bill go down to the relief station and stand in line. You see, we were living in my home town and I didn't Want him to have the humiliation of having my friends see my husband standing in line for relief. So I went down and applied. We did try to keep from accepting any of the charity grocery baskets the relief headquarters gave out. Bill always fought against this. But we had Lorraine then, and so one day I came home with a basket of groceries. When Bill saw me come in with the food, he didn't say a word. He just had tears in his eyes. I'll never, never forget him as he looked at that moment. "The strangest part of all this bad period in our lives, though, was that we never lost hope. Bill would get down, but he'd never lose his confidence. He and I both knew that some day, somehow, we'd get to Hollywood and he would be a success." Strangely enough, going on relief brought about a break. It enabled Bill to apply for work on the Federal Theater Project. His performance in a Federal production of "It Can't Happen Here" attracted the attention of Cheryl Crawford, New York producer, who cast him in her show, "Four Cents A Word." But the play never opened. After this, Bill did six plays. All flopped. Then came a period of summer stock during which time Bill's stature as an actor grew. In November of that year, Bill read for the part of Krupp, the policeman, in Saroyan's "Time Of Your Life." He won out over 50 contestants. Tess went with him when the show was on tour. Lorraine stayed with Bill's parents and then with Tess' mother and father. After Bill finished the run of the show and had done another season of stock and some radio, Tess began to look ahead. If Bill was to be in the position to accept only the play that would do him good — if he could turn down parts that would not have carried on the advantage given him in "Time Of Your Life" — then she would have to help. To take care of that day in the future and to help tide them over, she applied for a job in a factory, without Bill's knowing it. Bill was furious for a long time. He kept saying, "Here I am doing nothing, and my wife is working." It especially annoyed him that she had to get up at five to be at work by seven. Her salary of $22 a week — $27 at times when she worked overtime — kept them going. Not long after Tess started work, M-G-M called Bill and asked him to come, to Hollywood to play in "Woman of the Year." The studio had caught his performance in "Time Of Your Life" and had been impressed by him. He went to Hollywood alone, thinking he would only stay about three weeks. Later, Roach offered him a three-picture deal. Then he sent for Tess, telling her she needed a rest. "I wanted to sign with M-G-M," Bill said, "so when I got the offer from Roach, I went to a casting head at M-G-M and told him what had been offered me, hoping he would say, 'No, we want you here.' Instead, he said it was a great chance and I should take Roach's offer. I did." While he was at Roach's, Paramount asked him to test for the role of the mug in "The Glass Key." After that, he was put into "Wake Island" — then the contract. Bill Bendix was in. The long pull was over !