Screenland (Nov 1944-Oct 1945)

The Powell Pattern I roverseas 5. Af ':jualiiy jiqi'tnien} and drug stores ... from the ovens of Stirling Bakers, New York, N. Y. Remember, overseos Cfiristmas gifts most fcs mailed by Ocfofoef IStb. Continued from page 21 "Darling, remember the day we married how dreadfully hot the lights were on stage nine.''" Another reason they can't set a date, as we write this, is that they are not quite certain when their house will be read3\ Dick was invited to a party at Ingi'id Bergman's one night and promptly fell in love with her house. He learned that Paul Granard had decorated it for her, so now he has Mr. Granard doing his house, and when Dick asks politely when it will be ready Mr. Granard merely shrugs and says, "Two months, perhaps." The house is small as Hollywood houses go, only two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a combination living room and dining room. June has never had a house in the nearly three years she has been in Hollywood. When Metro saw they had a talented new star in "Two Girls And A Sailor" they kicked in with a raise, and that of course was the signal for June to rush out and make the down payment on a big glamor house complete with swimming pool, tennis court and fish pond. That's the customary procedure. But June isn't like most young stars. There really isn't any of that show-oflf quality about her— in fact, she sometimes worries that because she isn't an exhibitionist she isn't an actress. She should fret about that. So June just continued to live in a very inexpensive threeroom walk-up out near Westwood Village, impressing no one. But naturally she is as excited as a — well, as an August bride over the new house Dick bought for her. Dick and June will honeymoon on Dick's boat. But it won't be much of a honevmoon because Dick has to be in town every Saturday to rehearse for his Sunday radio show — in which he plays a tough detective. Over an avocado stuffed with shrimp — which, it said on the menu in the RKO commissary, can stack up against Grand Central Station in noise and confusion any day of the week except Sunday — I shrieked at Dick, "When did you meet June.''" "In Rosemary Lane's dressing room in New York in 1941," Dick shouted back. "I went backstage after a performance of 'Best Foot Forward' to congratulate Rosemary. She and I had been in a lot of pictures together at Warner Brothers. Rosemary introduced me to June and Nancy Walker and several of the kids in the show. It didn't mean a thing. Later I ran into her on the Metro lot several times when I was making 'Meet The People' out there in 1943. It didn't mean a thing." And then Joan Blondell sued Dick Powell for divorce in the Summer of 1944. (Under California law the divorce wasn't final until July 15.) And for the first time in seven years Dick found himself a man-about-town, free to make dates with a pretty girl if he wanted to, free to be a wolf and join the wolf-pack if he wanted to. But Dick is a serious, quiet, home-loving sort of guy. He doesn't play the field either in girls or horses. He was never meant to be a wolf. In the change-over from benedict to bachelor Dick found that he was very lonely. So naturally he started looking around for a nice girl. "A man looks around," says Dick, "But there really aren't very many girls June and Dick particularly enjoy a chat with a couple of Uncle Sam's Navy men. SCREENLAND