Exclusively Yours

A “Grace”-ful Future: Although both Her Grace, Princess de Monaco and Prince Rainier had hoped their first child would be an heir to the throne, I have a sneaking suspicion that Grace is secretly glad that “he” turned out to be a “she”—because when Princess Caroline grows up and marries her Dream Prince, she’ll wear the same beautiful bridal gown that Grace wore for her civil and religious ceremonies. Immediately after the nuptials, Grace presented the Helen Rose creation, M-G-M’s $4,000 wedding gift to their departing “High Society” star, to the Philadelphia Museum, with the understanding that if she ever had a daughter it could be borrowed back for her wedding day.

Incidentally, it is not within the realms of impossibility that Princess Caroline might well be a future royal candidate for the hand of Bonnie Prince Charlie—which would make his Aunt Princess Margaret very happy. It is hardly a state secret that “Meg” is fascinated by the people in the entertainment world. A few summers ago, I sat next to her Royal Highness at the Café de Paris, where Noel Coward was the star attraction. And I couldn’t help but notice that the Princess kept surreptitiously looking over in our direction. The next night, at a Palace ball, she reported breathlessly to Doug Fairbanks, Jr. “I went out to the Café de Paris last night to see Noel, and guess who was at the next table? Rex Harrison!”

End of a Chapter: When two people have once loved each other enough to want to get married, and they fall out of love and want a divorce, it is a heartbreaking experience, especially if it ends in any bitterness or hatred. But what is even sadder is, when there is no emotion left. I’m thinking now of Ginger Rogers and Jacques Bergerac and the impersonal way their marriage disintegrated. Ginger, painfully aware of the failure of her three previous marriages, had tried desperately to make her fourth one a success. But when she realized that she was fighting the same losing battle with Jacques Bergerac as she had with Jack Briggs, Lew Ayres and Edward Culpepper, she packed all her bags and flew East, leaving Jacques to his bachelor freedom in her beautiful home.

When the story broke in the papers, Jacques was having coffee with some friends. He read the Page 1 “exclusive,” embellished with a large photo of Ginger and himself, taken during their days of connubial bliss, and his only comment was, “It’s a good picture of me, isn’t it?”

Joan of Heart: I once wrote an article about Joan Crawford in which I said, “She even boils an egg with passion,” and I meant it. In all the years I have known Joan, I have never known her to do anything in moderation. She loves or hates. She rides the clouds or she hits bottom. She is the over-indulgent mother or the strict disciplinarian. She is the adoring wife who changed her name three times and always remained Miss Joan Crawford, married to her one true love—her career. And then a little over two years ago her fourth husband, Alfred J. Steele, came along and now, to everyone’s surprise including her own, this glamour queen, whose relentless concentration on a career has obsessed her for more than three decades, has announced that she won’t make another picture for a year, while she devotes herself to her role of “housewife!”

From now on, our Joan will be permanently based in New York. As soon as she and Alfred move into their new Fifth Avenue apartment the twins and Christopher will be enrolled in private schools in the East. Nineteen-year-old Christina is a drama student at Carnegie Tech, but I strongly suspect her young blonde beauty will lead her to the altar faster than it will to a stage career. If she’s smart she will learn the secret it took her mother so long to discover—that no career can ever be as rewarding as a happy marriage.

MmmmmmMonroe: The definition of an old-fashioned parent is supposed to be a mother who knows she is going to have a baby before a columnist does. If this is true, it will be the first time on record that Marilyn Monroe will ever be called an “old-fashioned” girl! Marilyn refuses to confide this top secret to any member of the press, but neither has she confided in her two closest friends, Paula and Lee Strasberg, so I am inclined to discount the report as someone’s misplaced sense of rumor. If this news flash were true, Marilyn would surely be so ecstatic that she wouldn’t hide this happy news from Lee, who stood up for her at her wedding to Arthur Miller, and from Paula, who has been her dramatic coach and confidante ever since they worked together on “Bus Stop” and “The Prince and The Showgirl.” Mind you, I’m saying that the stork rumors aren’t true as we go to press, but could be by the time you read this.

Movie-ing Along: Isn’t it an interesting commentary that Audrey Hepburn, who has had, perhaps, the most meteoric career of any young Hollywood star, has only made one film (“Sabrina”) in Hollywood? “Roman Holiday” and “War and Peace” were filmed in Rome; “Funny Face” and “Love In The Afternoon” in Paris, and her next vehicle, “The Nun’s Story,” will be made in the Belgian Congo. Imagine seeing the world and getting paid for it too! . . . If I were asked to pick out a promising actor, I’d name Rick Jason. . . . When Henry Fonda was playing on the New York stage in “Mr. Roberts,” and a leading radio commentator asked him for an interview, he retorted: “Why should I help you make a living?” But now that he’s made his first independent film, “Twelve Angry Men,” (incidentally, a fine one), and has a big financial stake in it, he’s eagerly receptive to appearing on every radio and TV show that will help plug the picture. . . .

It was Joe E. Lewis who made the classic remark, “I don’t care what anyone else says about ‘My Fair Lady,’ I liked it!” Similarly, I don’t care what his detractors say about Frank Sinatra, I like him! I have never found him. unapproachable or rude, and he has the rare virtue of complete honesty. If he doesn’t like you, he doesn’t pat you on the back to find a place to stab you! . . . This has certainly been Rex Harrison’s lucky year. First, the hit of his life, “My Fair Lady” and now the love of his life, Kay Kendall.

—BY RADIE HARRIS

 

It is a quote. PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE AUGUST 1957