Screenland (Nov 1949-Oct 1950)

unathletic. that was Gloria Not that I think it matters whether a girl is or isn't, but I do think it's wise for her to try if her husband is. Dancing was the only thing remotely resembling exercise that Gloria used to like, but John likes all sorts of sports so Gloria decided to bestir herself. She had never learned to swim; now she's learning and likes it. She took golf lessons for a while; now she's trying tennis and is terrifically enthusiastic about it She used to loathe fishing, but John likes to fish. So Gloria, who six years ago wouldn't get any closer to a fishing boat than one she .saw in a newsreel, now finds fun in getting into old blue jeans, a loud cotton shirt and beat-up sneakers and going deep sea fishing with John. Gwen O'Connor, who has known Gloria for seven years, agrees with me that Gloria has changed, matured, settled down, but adds, "She's still a little gir? at heart, though. "We love to do silly things — like going on rides at the beach amusement park and playing bingo Going shopping with her is a mad experience." Gwen .says. "She'll say she's going 'just over to that counter to buy a pair of nylons.' and an hour later, after searching frantically through four floors of a store you'll find her loaded down with bundles Then all the way home she'll fret and worry about whether she bought the right sizes in the things she has purchased for the children. They always turn out to be correct, but she fusses every time until they are tried on. nette, smallish (5 jeet 2) Rena is the perfect wife for tall (6 jeet 2) good-looking, easy-going, time-is-of-no-iraportance Bill Lundigan. Rena was never one to sit in the background smiling sweetly, indeed no; she never fails to speak her piece, and it's a sensible piece. But the master of the house is Bill Lundigan. and she wants it known. He can have center stage whenever he de.sires. Of course, she isn't going to let him get away with murder, however, like the time when Bill was telling me about the first time he met Rena, twelve years ago when he first came to Hollywood on a Universal contract. She was a kid then, loaded down with schoolbooks. and she u.sed to stop by Schwab's drugstore with other kids for ice cream sodas after school. Bill used to drop in to strut a bit, Schwab's bemg sort of a village drugstore for the movie people. "Rena." said Bill, "had a crush on me." "I did not," Rena interrupted. "I thought you were a conceited character." "Well, this comes as news to me," said Bill, pretending to be deeply hurt. "Here I've been telling everyone for the last four years that you had a crush on me." "On the contrary," continued Rena, "I hated actors. I didn't drool over them like the other girls in my class. I just 68 "Gloria seems to me to be the perfect example of a real vaudeville trouper There's something about people with a background of the old five-a-day; they seem to live in a world of their own. They're gayer, more adaptable, than people who didn't have the experience of constantly moving from town to town, maybe because they learned to make the best of everything. They stick together and won't let go of friendships. "Gloria worries about everybody's problems. Sometimes I tell her she's foolish to get herself so upset for others arid besides it's none of her business. 'I know, but it's such a shame and I feel so sorry for them,' she'll answer, and go right on worrying," Gwen reports. As long as I've known Gloria she has always seemed to be worrying about her family. She has a great family loyalty and makes the problems of any of them her responsibility. She's also always worrying about her weight, always determining to go on a diet. She surprised us though. She did go on one recently and lost six pounds. She wouldn't have stuck to it six years ago! When I first knew Gloria, one of our mutual friends described her as "giddy." I wouldn't go that far, but I would say she was frivolous then and sometimes inconsiderate: 1 don't have much patience with a girl who's an hour late for a date without a good excuse — and Gloria sometimes was guilty of that, back then. But how that De Haven has changed! All I can add is — the changes are all for the good! said, 'Really, how dull.' " As soon as Darryl Zanuck's powerful film on racial discrimination, "Pinky," in which Bill is co-starred with Jeanne Grain, is released this Fall, the studio scuttlebutt is that Bill Lundigan is going to be a top-flight boxoffice personality. John Ford, Elia Kazan and Darryl Zanuck may not see eye to eye on everything, but on that they see eye to eye. Zanuck, who isn't caught off base often, has already signed Bill on a long term contract. It's a cinch that from now on most of that studio's juicy roles will be tossed in his direction. It took him twelve years to arrive in this enviable spot. But he isn't bitter, not Bill He just says, "Think of all the capable actors who don't make it even after twelve years." Here's a refresher course on Bill: He was born in Syracuse, New York, of parents who had Ireland in their blood and Killarney in their souls. Bill is a chip right off of that old Blarney Stone. He attended high school in Syracuse, and majored in law at Syracuse University. But radio was law's undoing. His father, who was in the shoe business, had a store in the building that housed WFBL, a CBS affiliate, and from the time Bill was big enough to pedal a bike, he had been hanging around the radio station. At ten, he was playing Rhonda Fleming with her boy friend, John Hilton, on "Great Lover" set. roles in kid shows. At sixteen, he was producing three shows of his own — a minstrel, a dramatic and a musical broadcast. One of his emcees was Gordon MacRae, then all of eleven years old When Bill finished his university studies he decided that the law could wait while he served a stretch in radio He signed up as an announcer, and within two years was production manager of the station. On a hunch one day he took a train to New York, wangled a screen test from Universal, and a short time later was sent to the Coast under contract to them. That was in 1937. Bill spent two years at Universal, then went to Warners, where he was for two more years until he hied himself to MGM for another two-year stretch. Because of his good nature, his kindness and consideration, not to mention his good looks ( there were quite a jew secret crushes), he was always the favorite of the publicity departments. But the role never came his way. Somehow the Gables, the Flynns, and the Tracys always snagged it. In 1943. he enlisted in the Marmes, took his training at Quantico, Virginia, and served with the First Marine Division in the Pacific, taking part in operations at Peleliu and Okinawa. He was honorably discharged in November, 1945. It was while he was in Washington, taking his training at Quantico, Virginia, nearby, that he was oflicially introduced to Rena Morgan, the little girl with the schoolbooks who sipped sodas at Schwab's. He says Rena wasn't impressed and she says Bill wasn't impressed. But later she ran into him at El Morocco in New York. He looked mighty hand.some in the Marine uniform. Rena said to herself: now this is all right. They romanced for two weeks. Bill was shipped out, and two weeks after he returned from the wars they were married. That was in August, 1945. Bill took his bride to a Hollywood apartment. "It's only temporary." he assured her. "In a couple of months we'll get a house." "Lundigan has no sense of time," Rena told me. "That apartment was temporary for three and a half years." "It was a nice apartment," Bill said Patience Pays Off Continued from page 45