Man, How Far-Out Can A Party Be?

When I arrived at the party, I noticed a streamlined white horse parked outside. I was sure it meant I’d see James Garner at the party, but when I spotted Tab Hunter I realized that the 56 model horse was his. “Hi,” he said, “I’m here with a blind date . . . Frankie Avalon set it up for me. She’s kinda cute, but what a funny name—Zsa Zsa.” I spotted Diane Varsi cha-cha-ing with Gary Crosby. Diane was wearing a bright red brocade sheath dress and she told me she’s bought an entire glamor wardrobe, shipping her old blue jeans and torn tee shirts o the Actors Studio in New York.

The only thing Diane couldn’t part with are her favorite tennis shoes which she claims are the greatest for dancing. Be the first in your crowd to follow this new trend. . . . Rick Nelson came over to claim the next dance with Diane and confided to me that he’s thinking of giving up singing to go into nuclear physics. He got the idea from the picture he just finished, “Ma and Pa Kettle Go to the Moon,” with Rick as Pa and Tina Louise as Ma. . . .

David Ladd was sharing a plate of imported peanut butter canapes with Tuesday Weld. David’s only twelve and Tuesday’s fifteen but he told me that he thinks he looks more like fourteen and that she looks younger than she really is. He doesn’t care if she is an “older woman,” he’s going to be doing some serious thinking about her just as soon as his father, Alan Ladd, ups his twenty-five cent weekly allowance to a more substantial sum. . . .

Pat Boone, who’s in town for a lecture he’s giving at Hollywood High on “How To Keep White Bucks Clean,” was chatting with Conway Twitty, who told me that he’s tired of the flip comments about his name. He’s thinking of changing it next month—to F. Conway Twitty. . . . Doris Day finally admitted that those famous freckles of hers aren’t for real! She puts ’em on every morning with an eyebrow pencil. I’d never have known, even though I was sitting close up to her . ..

Shirley MacLaine had been signed to play Yul Brynner’s identical twin in what’s sure to be an Academy Award contender. The studio’s big problem on the picture is: Should Yul grow hair or should Shirley get a bald cut? What do you think? . . . And speaking of topknots, you’ll positively flip when you see Kim Novak’s latest shade. She’s kept only a slender center part of lavender and the rest . . . well, you’ll just have to see it for yourself. . . .

I was on my way to join John Saxon, who simply refuses to shave the beard he grew for “The Big Fisherman,” when I tripped over Russ Tamblyn. Know what? The star of “Tom Thumb” really is five inches tall. Dennis Hopper and Dean Stockwell are feuding over who is really the king of the beatnicks. The whole town is divided into Hopperites—who wear black leather jackets and knee-length hip boots engraved with a profile of Dennis—and Stockwellites—who wear white shirts with canary yellow stripes and tattoo pictures of Dean on their wrists. They invited me to a duel at dawn in front of the Positano coffee shop. It’ll be old Marlon Brando scripts at twenty paces. . . .

Jill St. John told me she and Lance Reventlow are switching careers. She’ll race a twin-engine Scarab next weekend in the local Hollywood drag races and Lance will act. . . . Sophia Loren finally confessed that she was really born in Brooklyn and Fabian told me that he’s from Transylvania, not Pennsylvania. Frankie Avalon in town for the lead role in a new musical version of “Oedipus Rex,” whispered to me that I hadn’t fooled him one inch. He knew all along I was just April Fooling. Did you?

THE END

—by SARA HAMILTON and SYDNEY SKOLSKY

 

It is a quote. PHOTOPLAY MAGAZINE MAY 1959