Silver Screen (Jun-Oct 1940)

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State SUlOO [Continued from page 85] him alone. When a person is discovered by Hollywood, it's taken for granted that he can make the adjustment overnight. They don't stop to think that it takes a long time to overcome the teachings and influences instilled from childhood. We grow up a certain way. We are taught to believe a certain way. We have to gradually retrench with a new point of view. To a person who has never known the spotlight of attention, it's all pretty confusing for a long time." Aside from his momentary weariness, Jeff has indeed come a long ways toward fulfilling Bette's prophecy. He has developed an ingratiating humorous slant on himself. His amusing account of "Broadway Rose" is proof of this. Warner Brothers have made him a star — which isn't bad in two years' time. In fact, everything is pretty much under control, except this business of being an eligible bachelor. Jeff is really serious on the subject and yet he takes every precaution not to sound that way. "A great deal has been written about this," Jeff was saying. "Most of it I never said myself. I think the first day I signed my contract, someone asked me about my ideal girl. At that stage of the game, the only thing I was interested in was an ideal script! It's easier for me to talk about these things now. I've really never said what I actually felt before. Maybe I've grown a bit. At least, I feel that I have. "It sounds pretty silly for a guy to say that it's tough to be pursued by a lot of women. I don't mean that — please make this clear. It happens to every young actor I know. But people rib us a lot. They make suggestive remarks and ask how it feels to be a heart throb. We run into ticklish situations, too. Oh, I know it isn't a matter of life or death. But there is another side to the picture. Everyone used to moan and groan because I didn't make "hot" romantic copy. Now, through some kind fate, my career has taken on. Naturally, I've had many experiences with women and some are pretty strange. Looking at it objectively, this is the way I feel. "To start out with, I was a country kid. When I went to high school in the city I was scared to death. The girls there were so poised and sure of themselves. Very modestly I say this, but I have always been a target for aggressive girls. I was busy working after school for one thing. But I was afraid to ask any girl to go out with me. I was afraid she would turn me down. "When I first came to Hollywood I still felt the same way. I told myself that I didn't have enough to offer girls in the way of companionship. Another thing, I never actually saw girls before. I was concerned over my future. I wanted to make good and do things for my family. Now that I have been able to do that, now I can see girls. Apparently, I am no longer a country boy. "There are all sorts of problems and frustrations. Letters of every description have been sent to me asking to meet me — some of them threatening if I refused. One letter from a girl touched me so much I did follow through on it. This girl wrote that she had been in Holly wood for a year, trying to find a job. She was going home a failure. For her last night in Hollywood she asked if she might meet me, because she had admired me on the screen. "I traced her through four hotels before I located her. She was quite tall, not beautiful, but attractive, and she made it clear that she had no ulterior motives. Instead of having the feeling that I was really making someone happy, I got extremely nervous. Her awestruck worship was so apparent, I found myself tearing myself down to prove that I wasn't any different than she was. I went overboard trying to behave like an ordinary human being — which I didn't. I could have been more interesting if I had been the way she expected me to be. "There are those embarrassing moments that invariably happen at parties. Sometimes it's someone's wife who can't handle her cocktails. Not because it's me — but because I am an actor she'll clamp on to me and get very affectionate. This makes me ill at ease and I wonder what her husband must be thinking. I feel sorry for husbands who have to go to parties where actors are present. I always try to win them over because I know what they feel. Coming out of the theatre in Milwaukee, one nice chap handed me an autograph book and said: 'My wife is out of town. She wired for me to get this for her.' I looked up at him quickly and he was actually smiling. I wish they all would assume this attitude. "There's usually one girl at every party who shows up without a chaperone. When she finds you in a similar predicament, she feels it is a sacred duty to take you over. You don't know who she is, whether she is married or single. You try to be courteous and not too personal. She turns on you and tells you she never thought you'd be this dull. Then there's the girl who slips you her phone number and apologetically explains it's the first time she's ever done this, because 'she doesn't usually go out with actors.' "Just after I was in my first play, I received a letter from a married woman. She asked me to insert an ad in the local paper if I was interested in a 'pleasant friendship with Mrs. Brown.' So you see after we actors are put through this machine called fame, even though we've got to take chances — it's pretty valuable that we keep in touch with normal people living in normal communities. Otherwise, there is no time to study life as we remember it. That's when we do begin to take ourselves too seriously." "I asked for it," I said hurriedly, for fear he might start in making retractions. "And there is just one question more. Now that you know what it means to be an eligible bachelor — now that you are as popular with the ladies as you once wanted to be, just exactly how do you feel about it?" Jeff looked thoughtful for the moment. Then he began to grin again. "Did you ever hear the story about the donkey that stood between two buckets of oats and starved to death — because he couldn't make up his mind which one to choose? Well — that donkey is me!" Eligible bachelor indeed! Meet Jeffrey Lynn the philosopher.