Screenland Plus TV-Land (Nov 1952 - Oct 1953)

on her nerves. Her smile has an unfamiliar tenseness to it, her laughter is often brittle, forced. She smokes too much. Her eyes have a ceaseless shift from one thing to another. It is something of a miracle to Ava's friends that she hasn't ever cracked up. But fundamentally Ava is a healthy girl — when her mind is at ease. Anyone would find it hard to stand up under the emotion and strain of Ava's last two years. In the long run, there is bound to be a price to pay — and Ava is paying that price today — in unsureness. Unsureness! In any acting career there is no harder price. Unsure of the roles to play — unsure of her popularity with the fans — unsure of her way of life with the man she loves. It could all spell disaster to even the healthiest person. You don't have to know Ava well to know that she is all-out physical; that she floats beautifully in the shallow waters of the superficial world of Hollywood, and sinks in the strong tides that are set in motion by anything that is of have to establish a fine front quickly to be accepted. A man who even fibs to me about his friends, his family, his possibilities, his past, or salary seems weak. A fantastic pitch for attention, and avoiding the mention of the everyday problems we all have in some form, is running away from life. Whatever's bound to fall flat some day strikes me as a poor substitute for the frank confiding you get from smarter men. What if a man is broke or miserable right now? He should admit it to a friend. If he's genuine, I'm going to root for him! But the male who scorns stooping to conquer is another story. I shiver when I meet a man who is appallingly honest from his opening remark. He's the one who could be really dangerous from the first moment on. When he decides to be emotional, his effect can be atomic. It's what a man actually has courage enough to search for in this world that sets him apart from the rest. Once he is positive what he wants to achieve, he's on his way! I'm all for a man who is. If he's still undecided, or if he's plain lazy and has no sense of responsibility, he ought to be concentrating on one kind of promising job after another. When he's' ambitious to become the greatest at what will bring him the deepest satisfaction, he's grown up enough to be ready for love as an adult. Until then he needs a lot of mother love. At least, this is how I see it. I want to be a mother to my children in the years to come, not to a husband. A girl shouldn't hesitate to be practical immediately, I've concluded. When a man isn't, I'm completely confused. If he wants to come over and watch television because he already has beaten his budget to a pulp for the week, I'll 56 the earth. The very earthiness of Nancy Sinatra is something Ava can never forget. It hit her as probably nothing has ever hit her in all her life, through all her marriages, and along the rapid journey from nonentity to the pinnacle of fame she now occupies. Woman to woman — the true story of Ava Gardner and Nancy Sinatra is never likely to be formulated. The loser still looms strong, formidable, and what is worse, deeply sympathetic. To many of their intimates, the shadow in Ava's life — and the basis of much of her precarious state of health — is still the shadow of the woman Frankie left behind. In the eyes of many, when Ava can dismiss that shadow for all time and lose herself in the substance of her newlyfound happiness with Frankie, she will be well on the road to being back as Hollywood first knew her — radiant with natural health, and unneedful of medical check-ups, pills, or that extra glass of bubbly. END get a kick out of a quiet evening — providing he's said straightforwardly that this is what he prefers. I don't have to tear around all my free time, don't want to be taken to only expensive spots because I happen to be in the movies. I don't judge men by their superficial assets. That's why I'm surprised by the new male whose apparent attractiveness has temporarily distracted me. Sometimes you've probably had this same experience I reached recently. I was ready, dressed to the teeth, the minute he arrived. Don't keep a nice man waiting is my motto — it's not nice, and he's nice to know! Idiotically, I'd assumed he'd whisk me out. From his attitude when he'd suggested we go somewhere, he could afford it. I'd had visions of dining and dancing. When he appeared he beamed. So did I. After mother had retired to her room with a good book, he mentioned a drink of water. Water seems awfully dull for a marvelous person. A polite touch of flavor would give his glass a zing, I guessed. Are you with me? Has this fate floored you, too? Two hours afterwards you're starved and you're stuck, staring with a forced sparkle at television. Then you murmur as tactfully as any woman could, "Perhaps we'd better start or every place will be so crowded we'll never get in." He gives you a darling grin and you bite your lip for being that forward. At midnight, though, he's still comfortably sprawled on the couch. Your preparations to be stunning have sagged. Your hair is hanging sadly on one side. But you're clutching your temper to the bitter end. You're only famished, besides. Of course, he isn't. He's confessed breezily that he ate a huge dinner before coming over. He snaps you out of your daze when he casually quips, "Well, I'd better get along now. I have to get up early in the morning." Speaking candidly, I detour from such a gay deceiver by replying to an invitation with, "What do you want to do?" It's practical, and a Dick Haymes and his wife, the former Nora Eddington Flynn, at the Mocambo on their last public appearance before finally deciding to go their separate ways. LET'S TALK ABOUT MEN! [CONTINUED FROM PACE 31]