Screenland (Nov 1949-Oct 1950)

haps I was slightly man-crazy. It also looked as though I thought nothing of my career, and was always on a search for fun. What annoyed me most about my press-agent friend, I think, was the fact that during the particular week in which he had me making the rounds of the tinseled nightspots, I was home every night, hard at work memorizing my lines for "Key To The City." So, when a fan in Indianapolis asks me when I can possibly find time to make a picture, and why I am always changing my boyfriends, can you understand on what he bases that question? When another fan asks me for some late news about Clark Gable and I reply that I flon't know any because I liaven't seen him for months on end, she gets slightly belligerent. After all, .she knows I'm not telling the truth, because she read only a week or so ago that I was seen having dinner with Mr. Gable at a Sunset Strip spot! I've noticed that when a couple in some other town decide to get a divorce, their friends say, "Isn't that too bad. And here we thought they were getting along so well." Or if a single girl dates a great deal, her friends say, "Why not.^ first — things such as love, happiness, and a home for her child. "With Billy in show business, too, this can become a dangerous situation," Barbara explained. "It has happened in far too many Hollywood homes. But we are trying with all our power to be truly married. At home we are just Mom and Daddy. I do Jody's laundry. I do most of the cooking, except when working late on a picture — then Billy prepares steak and potatoes which we both like better than anything else. At the end of the week, I have a woman in to help me clean just like millions of other housewives do. "Back home in Illinois, I was taught to do everything to the best of my ability. I'm still trying to do that. For example. North Hollywood — I suppose I should say 'The Valley' as most of the elite do — is really a small town and we live pretty much like small-towners anywhere. We try hard to be good neiglibors and it's interesting that most of our neighborhood friends are not movie people. There's an electrician, fireman, accountant, insurance salesman, orchestra drummer, and ice cream shop proprietor. Certainly, it is more fun in\'iting them over occasionally than racing around to the nightclubs. And since we got a television set recently, their kifls are in and out fairly regularly, too." Talking with this bright-faced, warmhearted girl, I was imjM-es.sed that Barbara Hale and Bill Williams represent a new generation in Hollywood. It is a younger generation concerned with home, church, community life. Its members are not madcap but serious-minded; they are not selfish and sensation-seeking, but G8 She's a very pretty, popular girl with the younger set!" But let this happen in Hollywood, and there's a mad scramble for the typewriters and the wire teletype. About the Hollywood pair who are divorcing, you hear, "Well, what can you expect? It's not fashionable to be married too long in Hollywood!" Or about the popular single actress, they say, "She's always looking for someone better who can help her along with her career. Seems to us that she ought to go back to the oldfashioned virtues and stick to one man, get married, and settle down!" Summing up this article, I'd say that most of Hollywood's personal troubles are based on the same ingredient whicli holds with people everywhere — the search for happiness. It may be temperament, career clashes, or financial problems, and film stars are no different in this respect from people from Bangor to San Diego, The unmarried girl wants to get married to the right man, and the married couples follow a universal pattern in maintaining their home-life and personal-life harmony. Now and then there are outbursts, but no more so than in any other city in the nation. generous and socially-conscious. They believe in God and their fellow men. They earn their living making movies, but otherwise they are little different from young couples in Kenosha, Wisconsin or Caribou, Maine. Barbara Hale— or Mrs. Bill Williams as she likes to be called— pledged allegiance to such ideals when she was a Baptist choir singer back in Rockford. She is still living by them. "I do think there's a new generation in Hollywood," she agrees. "Of course, as anywhere else, Hollywood has a minority who are impressed only by material things, who find pleasure only in the gadgets and gimmicks money can buy. But more and more, I think people out here are developing a deeper set of values. The War — and more recently the studio slump — served to bring out their better sides, deflate many of our pompous nobodies, and in general debunk a lot of this 'glamourous movie star' publicity. "Billy and I both find we can be 'regular guys' without wrapping ourselves in Hollywood tinsel. Quite a few of our close friends feel the same way, too. Larry Parks and Betty Garrett, Virginia Mayo, Ann Blyth, Gale Storm and Roddy McDowall, to name only a few, all have this same awareness, this same concern for their families, friends, and civic responsibilities. Some teach Sunday School or help organize youth choral groups or assist regularly on such charity projects as the Red Cross and Community Chest. The point is that the majority of today's stars are not going the pace that kills, but are developing themselves and helping others along the way. As a result, a new religious aware Luscious Corinne Calvet dancing with her husband, John Bromfieid, at Mocambo. ness and community spirit are becoming evident in Hollywood." So, Rockford's slender May Queen {^L•ho once wanted to he a nurse) and Columbia's new screen sensation {who wants to he successful hoth as a wife and star) goes the even tenor of her way. She's regular enough to borrow an egg from the neighbors or let a freckle show through her light makeup. She's keeping up her schoolgirl interest in art, specializing in illustration and portraiture. Deeply interested in child welfare work, she hopes in the future to devote more and more time to helping Hollywood's homeless and destitute children. "You know,", she mused, smiling that radiant smile which lights up a room, "Billy and I are really simple people. We stay home nights, adore being with Jody, and doing things about the house. I still sketch a little. Billy works at his various hobbies. He cemented our patio and built our fences with his bare hands. Does all our gardening, too, and there's one rosebush out back that he never fails to water and put to bed every night. "In fact, our home life is so pleasant that I'd just about quit pictures when that offer to do Mrs. Jolson came along. My contract at RKO had expired, and I was just sitting around waiting for twins to happen to me. Then, one day my agent told me they were testing and that I should try out — especially as I do closely resemble the real Mrs. Jolson. Well — I tested for one part, and that did it. I was so hapjjy on that picture that I signed a deal with Columbia, and I've just made another thrilling picture with Robert Young and Bob Hutton called 'And Baby Makes Three,' which is funny and crazy all over the place. What's next? They haven't said. Secretly, I'm still hoping for those twins!" I d Rather Have Twins' Continued from page 49