Screenland (Jul–Dec 1946)

left the show, dear Victor Moore came to her with fatherly advice and comfort. "Don't let this discourage you, my dear," he said. "I want you to promise me, promise me faithfully you'll come back. Because I predict that someday you'll be one of the biggest stars on Broadway! And there' are people around a Washington Boulevard address in Culver City, California, who prophesy that on a very near someday Marilyn Maxwell will be one of the biggest stars on the MetroGoldwyn-Mayer lot. Red Skelton, to be specific, is sure of it. He's absolutely certain that her part opposite him in "The Show-Off" is the turning-point of her career. "But of all the people who've helped me," Marilyn said emphatically, wagging her finger at me, "I want you to put my mother at the very top. Without her I wouldn't have been anything!" Anne Maxwell was born with a great talent that her English family would never permit her to develop. According to their creed a woman's place is strictly in the home. So when her baby came she named her 'Marvel Marilyn' and poured into her bringing-up all the yearning for a career that had been thwarted in her own girlhood. "Although the name Marvel has been dropped," Marilyn continued, "the fact that she gave it to me showed what she thought. She. watched for signs of talent in me from babyhood. When I danced around the house — as children will — she thought that's what I was to be. So she enrolled me in the Denishawn School of the Dance and played the piano for the pupils in exchange for my lessons. She made all my little costumes by hand for recitals and public performances. She made my gowns later when I went with the first band. She glories in every success." It's good to talk to someone who is riding the wave nearing its crest. It's good to talk to Marilyn, vital, sincere and intelligent. It's good to meet the next big star of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Love Story Continued from page 46 jammed with hard work, self-doubt, heartache. The road up had been tough, but Vivian was over the hill now, looking backward on yesterday. Before her, the view from the summit unfolded: exciting, unlimited, full of promise. Best of all was the fact that she wasn't alone on that Hollywood hilltop. Manny was right there beside her. That's where he has been since almost the first moment they met. He was the one who pep-talked her into believing she had top-caliber talent; he was the one who visited with Mrs. Blaine night after night, listening to her dreams for Vivian's future; he was the one who stood by when Viv went through the heartbreak of losing her mother. When Zanuck pronounced Vivian too fat to play svelte heroines, Manny was the one who found the doctor who reduced her. She was working for peanuts? He stepped in and fixed that, too. Nothing fazed Manny — neither snubs, nor bad breaks, nor bad pictures. He went into the offices of the biggest executives, fighting, arguing, demanding, pounding, always selling Vivian Blaine, believing in her talent so thoroughly that he forced others, almost through sheer force of his will, to recognize it, too. If Vivian was climbing the ladder, he was holding it. And, today, no one realizes that fact more keenly than Vivian Blaine, herself. It's funny how for such a long time, really, they both thought they were just good friends. When they met, there was no terrific impact, no sudden warning that Thfs Was It. Manny used to visit Vivian's mother when Vivian was out on dates. While he was there, he'd ask Mrs. Blaine's advice on his current romances. Yet from the instant he heard Vivian sing, Manny realized he had stumbled on a star. She wasn't a "name." Straight from the band stands of New York, she was a too-plump, 19-year-old kid with a $100 a week contract at 20th Century-Fox. She had been in nothing except B-minus pictures. Nevertheless, as Manny followed her from camp broadcast to camp broadcast, listened to her on Command Performances, he saw that when she began to sing, there ensued a hush. Women stopped talking, and men got dreams in their eyes. Fate is a trickster who sets the stage well, for nothing could have been more casual than Vivian's first meeting with Manny. She was doing a camp show that night, and although the troupe met at the NBC parking lot in Hollywood before heading for the camp in different cars, and everyone was introduced to everyone else, Vivian doesn't remember meeting Manny. They all rode down to San Pedro, did their stuff on the stage, while Manny — who was visiting a friend of his who was producing the show — observed from the sidelines. Vivian held the audience in the palm of her hand that night. "The mike was just right, the accompaniment beautiful," she explains. What she doesn't go on to say is that she was called back for seven encores. The camp went wild; the boys wouldn't let her go. Afterwards, the gang went over to the mess hall to eat. After that, they all went on to the Officers' Club. Two song writers who were also members of the show sat down and began to play some of their tunes and some of the old standards. It was casual, informal, and Vivian just began to sing. Immediately, as before, there was that hush. When she had finished, Manny Frank got up and walked over to her. "I met you before we all drove out here. On the parking lot," he added, as Vivian gave him *hat what's-this-a-wolf? stare. "I think you have a lot of talent. I'd like to be your agent." There was none of that "beautiful baby" routine. Vivian very primly told him that she couldn't sign with anyone unless her EYELASH DARK E N E R To keep lashes and brows bewitchingly dark and alluring . . . even after swimming, crying or perspiring, use "Dark-Eyes". This indelible darkener never runs, smarts or smudges. 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