Screenland Plus TV-Land (Jul 1959 - May 1960)

II I flower girl Eliza into an aristocrat, Dick Quine's great desire is to see Kim develop I into a truly fine actress. "Dick met her shortly after she first showed up in Hollywood as a model for | Thor washing machines and got her first movie job as a dress extra in Jane Russell's picture, 'The French Line'. When she was brought to Columbia studios by an agent, Quine was asked to direct Kim's first test. A frightened kid from Chicago's crowded West Side, who, as someone remarked, had 'never even read the funnies out loud,' Kim couldn't be heard, had great difficulty speaking a line and handling a tea cup at the same time. Dick, a patient and conscientious man, simplified the action for her, helped her get a starring role right off because he believed she had possibilities. The camera believed it too, fell in love with her rare combination of classical Slavic beauty and lush, sensual appeal." Quine himself has explained, "Kim — she was Marilyn Novak then — definitely had something. In that first test she was terribly bad in one scene and terribly good in another. She was desperately anxious then, a girl who telephoned me in the middle of the night throughout the picture to agonize over the next day's scenes. After a hasty coaching, she'd been costarred with Fred MacMurray in her first picture, 'Pushover'. She was so sensitive that merely having to slap Fred MacMurray took her an entire morning to get on film. She said tearfully that she just could not bring herself to hit anyone. I pleaded and begged and cajoled. 'Hit me good,' Fred begged. After she did, she ran to her dressing room weeping and refused lunch. She spent a good deal of time in tears. And she told me that night after night she sat silently in a church praying that she'd get through the next day." Kim made it all right, for less than two years later she was named the Number One box-office attraction in the nation. As she soared from obscurity to fame, always under tremendous self-discipline, long hours of study and studio pressures, it's no wonder that the superlatively beautiful actress began to show an unpretty side. It's no wonder, too, that she landed in the hospital frequently suffering from exhaustion and emotional storms. Directors became highly vocal when she began "directing" them, kept cast and crew waiting while she perfected her make-up and hair, worked with her drama coach on her lines. "We didn't get along," said director George Sidney succinctly after the non-stop state of war between him and Kim during "Jeanne Eagels". "Take that damn mirror away from her," yelled exasperated Josh Logan during the making of "Picnic". Even the suave Alfred Hitchcock felt the power of Kim's tantrums in "Vertigo". "Oh," he explained, airily, "we had our arguments. I didn't particularly care for her insistence on all the comforts of home on a movie set. A studio is a place to work." Nor did he care for the heavy eye make-up she always wore. It's reported that every morning he asked her to remove it but bit by bit it reappeared during the day. And co-stars, too, from the late Ty Power to Kirk Douglas have had their running feuds with the luscious blonde with the hauntingly sad eyes. Kirk and Kim's feud exploded on the set of their newest film, "Strangers When We Meet", directed by Quine. It was rumored that the trouble began when filming was slowed down by Kim's insistence on working on each scene for hours until she felt it was right for her and on her attempts to direct Kirk's scenes. He stomped off the set in a big fat rage several times, while she broke into hysterical tears. It was said that Kirk would prefer a tin cup and pencils to making another film with her. But Kirk gallantly refuted this, explaining, "Behind all that sexy glamour is a girl with a strong urge to be a fine actress. I like a fighter; I'm a fighter myself. Any disagreements Kim and I had were only in the interest of making the picture better. I like this kind of fighting; I like Kim. And I hope we'll make another picture togedier." Later, guests were bug-eyed at a big fancy party Kirk and his wife gave, to see Kim gaily kiss her former adversary and float by in a dreamy waltz with him. EVIDENTLY the tears and traumas attendant on the making of "Strangers When We Meet" did not cool the togetherness of actress and director, for Quine gifted Kim with a handsome white sports car and she presented him with equally handsome gold cuff-links. There are those who feel Dick Quine has reason to be worried about whether he and Kim will be able to adjust to married life. Her unpredictable behavior on the set of her last film caused one columnist to raise a warning finger: "Better be careful, Kim. Dick, the man you may marry, is getting a long look at a Kim Novak he hasn't met before, and your teary tantrums have his eyebrows up." But a friend of Quine's doesn't believe this. "Dick," he says, "understands Kim's acting problems. Professionally, he's one of the few directors who gets on well with perfectionist Kim because he knows how to handle her. 'Suggest, please suggest,' Kim begs directors, 'but never order me.' And Dick is so perceptive that he is able to bolster her lagging self.confidence. He knows, too, that an actress by her very nature, is not a normal, well-adjusted individual and he makes allowances. On and off the set Dick takes no nonsense, though, from the highly explosive Kim — he's too dedicated a director to let her get too far out of line. In this regard he's a strong character like Kim's father. And she likes that. She's been greatly enriched by his devotion. His innate awareness of acting techniques, his ability to get a performance from her, have broadened her scope. In 'Middle Of The Night' for the first time critics felt she demonstrated this and she does it again as the straying housewife in 'Strangers'. "But Dick Quine is a man and has the normal quota of jealousy. It's been rumored that this has led to quarrel between them. For instance, when Kim was in New York making 'Middle Of The Night' she dated many other men, principally Dr. Ernest Wynder. Evidently she was testing her feelings for Dick. He couldn't understand how she could date other men if she was in love with him. Naturally, he knows Kim must have publicity dates for the photographers, as in Europe last summer, but possibly he wonders just how far she must go. Recently, Quine took off for Europe to scout locations for his forthcoming film. "The Image Makers', and Kim is again rumored dating the New York field." But before he left, Kim managed to make headlines again. In New ^ ork she. Dick and some frfends were chasing police radio calls for kicks, cruising around with a police press-agent "crime-hopping" in a radio-equipped car. When they heard that three people were shot in a tavern brawl, the crime-hoppers promptly raced ambulances to the hospital and paid a call on the wounded strangers. "I love to do fun things on the spur of the moment." Kim once told a reporter. "I can't stand planning ahead." But that's only for fun things. For such serious decisions as marriage Kim is taking her time. hen she's fully convinced that with Richard Quine she'll become what she wants to be — a fulfilled woman — you may be certain she'll walk the matrimonial aisle as the most beautiful bride in town. END The Girl Who Broke My Heart" continued from page 16 from playing, and looked up at me. "Now tell me honestly, Roger, is there anything wrong with me?" I don't know what happened, but somehow the guitar slipped out of my hands. Trying to pick it up, I happened to bend down — and our lips met. quite accidently. Yet she thought it was intentional! I was so embarrassed that I bolted upright again, and continued my singing as if nothing had happened. She didn't know I was scared to death. In fact, she later told me she thought it was pretty fantastic how calm and worldly I could be. Thereafter, every night she dedicated another song to me on our radio station, until the whole campus was conscious of what was happening between us. Or at least what they thought was happening between us. My own attitude gradually changed. continued on page 02 61 i