Screenland (Nov 1949-Oct 1950)

! a mo§ unusual motion Dicture starring WILLIAM HOLDIIN • GLORIA SWANSON • IIRICII voii STROHIilM with Nancy Olson • Fred Clark • Lloyd Gough • Jack Webb • and Cecil B. DeMille Hedda Hopper • Buster Keaton • Anna Q. Nilsson • H. B. Warner • Franklyn Famum Produced by Charles Brackett • Directed by BILLY WILDER • Written by Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder and D. M. Marshman, Jr. • A Paramount Picture f with Mr. Goldwyn for ten-thirty the following morning. Dana got himself all spruced up and, as was his habit, he was punctually in Mr. Goldwyn's office at the appointed time. Then came a wait — a long wait. Dana fidgeted and mopped occasional beads of moisture from his brow. Suddenly, the quiet was shattered by the shrill whistles of a fire alarm. Now any fire on a movie lot is no small matter. It is strictly a three-alarm deal every time. Mr. Goldwyn ran from his office to the street scene below, followed by the intrepid Mr. Andrews. There, amidst all the confusion that accompanies any conflagration, Goldwyn motioned to the young actor to come over to his side. "What's on your mind, Dana.''" he asked, shouting in order to be heard above the noise. "I'd Uke to 'beard the hon in his den.' I'll see you later inyour office." "Never mind that," Mr. Goldwyn replied. "Beard me now. What's the matter, you worried about going to work.''" "No, not that," Dana yelled again, "I just want to get married." "Well, I'll think it over," Goldwyn said, "and I'll let you know." Another month went by with no further word on the matter. Finally Dana broached the subject again. "Oh, that — I forgot all about it — sure, go ahead," was Goldwyn's reply. "You might as well get married, you're certainly no good at getting your name in the columns." Plans were made for a lovely, big wedding. Mary's family lived in Santa Monica and wanted everything beautiful and perfect for their daughter. Nothing would be too good. Everything looked rosy — until along came Mr. Unexpected again. It was ten days before the wedding. The invitations were all addressed and ready to be mailed to some two hundred guests. Dana received a memo — an order— from the front office. "Let your hair and beard grow. You're going to be in 'The Westerner.' Shooting begins November 21st." The wedding was scheduled for November 17th, but Dana could never meet all those strangers with a ragged, ten-day growth of beard. These guests were people outside of the movies. They would never comprehend the bridegroom's beard without detailed explanation. So the list of wedding guests was cut down to a mere thirty. An amusing incident happened just following the ceremony that bears repeating. Dana had a six-year-old son by a previous wife (who had died while the boy was still a baby) . Young David had known and loved Mary for almost as long a time as had his father. He looked on her as his mother, the only one he had known. Just after the clergyman had said, "I now pronounce you man and wife," the bewhiskered groom took his beautiful blonde wife in his arms and kissed her tenderly. Little David, beaming happily, touched the hand of the Reverend. "Thank you so much, ".the boy said quite solemnly, "for what you have just done for my father and mother." Following the three-day honeymoon, and still in whiskers. Dana was back in Hollywood hustling out to his first location for "The Westerner." The director of this picture greeted Dana's appearance with some speculation. He looked around at Gary Cooper and three or four other members of the cast who had all been given the same no-shave order. He stroked his own smooth chin for a moment, then said to Dana, "There are too many beards here, shave yours off." During that first year of virtual unemployment while under contract, Dana learned more about gardening than he did about picture making. In fact, he got to be quite a gardener while waiting. And he learned a lot about waiting, too. He recalls one Sunday morning following a big Saturday night, when he received a seven o'clock phone call from the studio to appear at nine A. M. to aid in a screen test of a young actress. The boy originally scheduled to make the test with her had advised the studio that he would be unable to appear. Dana arrived promptly at nine, went to his dressing room, was made up and sat down to wait to be called. Ten o'clock came, and no word from the director. Eleven o'clock — twelve o'clock — one o'clock! Four hours he waited. Forgotten—because the other boy had shown up after all. Following his bit role in "The Westerner," Dana never again played less than second lead in any picture, even though many of those first films might not have been considered top box-office attractions. For three solid years the studio gave him the same routine with each screen assignment. "This is really a great part!" "You'll be tops now!" "It's a great opportunity!" "This is it!" And for three solid years, he stayed in the same rut of second leads in B pictures. Then, unexpectedly, came his big break when he was given a top role in "Laura" at 20th Century-Fox Studio, which by then shared his contract with Goldwyn. After that, career-wise, things took a definite upward swing. He soon appeared in Goldwyn's Academy Award winner, "The Best Years Of Our Lives." More recently he has played opposite the enchantress, Susan Hayward, in the neverto-be-forgotten "My FooHsh Heart." This year has given him a swift change of pace from a priest in "The Edge Of Doom" to his current tough guy detective role in "Where The Sidewalk Ends." There have been great changes in his married life, too. ^lary Andrews, who is an only child and had always had things done for her, knew little or nothing about homemaking. However, she was very willing and eager to learn. Before their marriage, Mary had been a promising young actress at the Pasadena Community Playhouse, where she and Dana first met. It was mutually agreed, however, that she would give up her career and be just plain Mrs. Andrews. (Please turn to page 59) 57