Screenland Plus TV-Land (Nov 1953 - May 1955)

her dressing room. "My car's outside. I'll get it for you," Frank had offered. "Mine's outside, too. Please do me a favor and use it instead . . ." She didn't have to ask twice. Not only Frank, but everyone on the picture agreed that she was unusually appreciative of anything that was done for her. How different from the impression created by her husband! Most of the disagreements between Stewart and Jean have been confined to their own home, and only occasionally has the public gotten a glimpse of the tension that prevails between them. Once they were seen eating at a restaurant without saying a word to each other. When asked if a quarrel was the reason for their silence, Stewart quickly explained that they preferred to concentrate on their food. The explanation was hard to accept. Stewart's "outspokenness" sometimes makes it difficult even for his closest friends to get along with him. The Michael Wildings, for instance. Stewart and Michael have been pals for nearly fifteen years. When Michael and Liz came back to the United States after they were first married, they stayed with months ago and was in a cast, had to resume dancing for a test at U-I where she's under contract. "She couldn't dance on that highly glossed floor or she might slip again on her back. It practically brought tears to my eyes as we poured gallons of water and lye to get the wax off so the floor wouldn't be slippery." Debra takes such things good naturedly. She didn't even wince when 20th called her in for hairstyle tests and then surprised her by dyeing her hair blonde. "I didn't know they were going to do it until I was seated in the chair. Something about a lighter shade cutting down my jaw line. I was there from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. "Oh," she shuddered hunching her shoulders, "I became so frightened a few days later when my hair turned green. My hair is so dark it's very hard to dye and some unexpected reaction gave it the grass color. I got up one morning, looked in the mirror, and let out a scream. Only after applying oil treatments did it simmer down to the blonde shade." Soon as she completed 20th Century Fox's "Demetrius And The Gladiators," she reverted to brunette for "Prince Valiant." "If I ever dye my hair again, I'd much prefer the red shade of Jeanne Crain's which I think is beautiful." Although Debbie's part is very dramatic in "Demetrius And The Gladiators," she and Victor Mature managed to keep things moving at a rib-tickling pace between scenes. When the cast got a little hungry in mid-morning, eyebrows raised as Deb ordered her usual breakfast of fried chicken livers and a bottle of Coke. the Grangers till they could move into a home of their own. It was during that time that friction first started. Stewart did not grow as fond of Liz as Michael would have liked. What's more, he made no secret of it. Obviously, regardless of how close they had been for years, under those circumstances a friendship between Michael and Stewart could not continue on the same terms. A nickname he earned when he still lived in Bel Air gives another indication of how Stewart impresses the people around him. They called him "The Maharaja of Bel Air," and not because of his collection of hunting trophies in his game room, next to the pool. His bearing was responsible for a title we are sure he'd prefer to forget. At this time, Jean is torn between a youthful adoration for a man she admired from the time she first met him, and a desire to assert herself as a wife and a woman. Unless Stewart changes his attitude, an eventual break-up between the two seems inevitable. Should he take to heart some of the advice given by wellwishing outsiders, his marriage may yet be saved. Only the future will tell. END One afternoon Vic smuggled her phonograph from her dressing room, and proceeded to convince her television was a more necessary form of entertainment and since he just happened to own two TV stores, promptly and astutely sold her two sets. He fondly nicknamed her mother and Debra, "Big Mamoo" and "Little Mamoo," respectively. Unlike some think, Debra is no stay-athome. She's traveled more than 20,000 miles in the past eight months on Movietown, U.S.A., personal appearances, and theatre opening junkets. In true Hollywood fashion it was when the Navy boys were honoring her at Norfolk, Va., 3,000 miles from home, that she met her new neighbor, Charles Coburn. "We'd really met before," Debra reminded. "I made my debut at 12 playing a fairy in 'The Merry Wives Of Windsor' in which Mr. Coburn starred. I had wanted to say hello to him when we first moved into the neighborhood, but it took our meeting at the Naval Base to accomplish that. "Then, he told me, he thought it was our family who had moved in, because of the orchid Cadillac. That car of ours is getting to be a trademark. I never have to give my address, everyone has already spotted the house because of the car." There's still more traveling in her future. Debra has the studio's permission to launch a night club debut in a few months. She'll have two boys in the act and will open in Las Vegas. Clubs are well aware of her singing and dancing talents as witness the Royal Hawaiian's cabling a $6,000 a week offer as soon as they learned of her supper club plans. "I'm doing it for the experience," then, she winked, "and the money. It's fabulous the prices you can get. At present, I have no need for a business manager. There's just one pocketbook in the household, and everyone shares and shares alike. One of these days we want to buy our own home, we're renting now, and let Mom and Dad take it easy. Debra Paget with Piper Laurie at charity masquerade ball. Says Debra, "I get a lot of well-meaning advice from friends. But I'm pretty set in my ways." DEBRA SPEAKS FOR HERSELF! [CONTINUED FROM PACE 41]