Fun Finds: Screen Album, Nov-Jan, 1960-61

After Christmas browsing at an antique mall allowed me to find this publication once for sale at $4.00, but reduced to $2.00, making it a no-brainer. (Of course this is still steep in comparison to the original cover price of $0.35! ha ha!) What I really liked about this particular magazine was that a) there are virtually no ads - it's practically all content, b) the stories are either contained to one page or else continue next to one another (unlike so many mags in which a feature on page 8 suddenly asks you to turn to page 59, etc...) and c) the photos have the distinction of being accompanied in nearly all cases with a rendition of the star's autograph! Thus, we get to see what that person's signature presumably looked like at the time. And now, on with the fun, with comments as I see fit. If you're a fan of this era of Hollywood, you're bound to find a favorite star profiled in this extensive collection!

Who could have guessed then that Debbie's daughter, little Carrie Fisher, would grow up to become an iconic star in her own right?

This article describes the very thing that the magazine itself does on its own cover!

Kerr's marriage to Peter Viertel lasted up until her death in 2007, making it about a forty-seven year union, quite a feat for a movie star like herself.

Hudson's latest movie mentioned here ("Day of the Gun") was eventually titled The Last Sunset prior to release. (And I do know at least one thing that made Rock "run!")

The alleged date between Stephen Boyd and Hope Lange mentioned here seems to ignore that fact that she was wed at the time to Don Murray (who she eventually left for Glenn Ford.) Ben-Hur's Boyd died of a heart attack at only age forty-five.

Bergman never had any more children after her three with Roberto Rossellini (having had one daughter prior to that with her first husband.)

This will be confusing because the story attached to the picture on this page actually goes with the photo on the following page! And this page's photo has its accompanying story on the other page. James Darren and his second wife (Evy Norlund, Miss Denmark of 1958) were wed in 1960 and are still together today, fifty-seven years later!

John Saxon would have to wait until 1967 for his first marriage and only child. He's now on his third wife.

Miss Lana Turner did proceed to marry handsome rancher Fred May in 1960, but it only lasted until 1962. At this time, daughter Cheryl Crane was in El Retiro School for Girls (a reform school-psychiatric treatment center.) Turner's marriage provided an apparent stable home for her to be released to in 1961 despite the union not lasting for long beyond that.

Hepburn and Ferrer would divorce in 1968. She wed again the year after, had another son, and then divorced for the last time in 1982. She did later spend nine years with actor-turned-companion to the stars Robert Wolders.

Elvis, of course, did not wed until 1967 when he took Priscilla Presley as his bride.

The Monroe-Miller-Signoret-Montand situation was quite a quagmire for a while, though Signoret and Montand were able to withstand the infidelity and stay wed until her death in 1985.

Williams and Chandler did not wed. At the time of his unfortunate death in 1961, not that long after this periodical was published, Chandler was involved with Barbara Shelley, who'd worked with him in the TV-movie A Story of David (referred to in this article as "David the Outlaw.") Williams' second TV special, Esther Williams at Cypress Gardens, was a ratings SMASH. She later referred to Chandler in her autobiography as a cross-dresser, something that his peers strongly deny and which she apparently fabricated in order to add some juice to her book.

LOTS of rather sassy Q&A here from Tuesday Weld.

The saucy headline of this one actually points to Jones' uncharacteristic role of a prostitute in Elmer Gantry, a part that ultimately won her an Oscar. She and Cassidy divorced in 1974 and he died in a fire two years later. She wed Marty Ingalls the year after that and was with him (including some highs and lows) until his own 2015 demise.

The happiness between Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh demonstrated here wasn't to last for much longer. He left her for his youthful costar in Taras Bulba (1962), Christine Kaufmann. His upcoming movie "The Sixth Man" was renamed The Outsider. He never made "The Lady L," which was to team him with Gina Lollobrigida. She and director George Cukor had a conflict and it was shelved, later emerging as Lady L with Sophia Loren and Paul Newman (who, rumor has it, didn't like each other much at all during filming.)

I never see photos of Joyce Bulifant from this point in her life, much less with then-husband James MacArthur, so this is a neat one for me. They divorced in 1967. An interesting trivia tidbit: 1960 was the year MacArthur debuted on Broadway in "Invitation to a March" with the estimable cast of Celeste Holm, Eileen Heckart, Madeleine Sherwood and - as his ingenue costar - Jane Fonda! 

Rick Nelson, whose tangled love life was further complicated by sometimes oppressive parental involvement, married in 1963 to a pregnant bride. Their marriage, despite producing four kids in all, was always stormy and the complications from it endured even after his fatal plane crash in 1985 when he was but forty-five.

This article merely predicts that Debbie Reynolds was about to marry Harry Karl when his divorce became final November 1st. She did, in fact, wed him on the 25th of that month and their union lasted until 1974. Unfortunately, his gambling debt and bad money management habits all but cleaned her out!

You can read more about "The Fabe" here.

Delightful a singer as she may have been (and as iconic a film as Where the Boys Are became), I am not all that fond of Connie Francis' acting. And who the hell decided that three of her four acting films should have the word "boy" in the title? The other two: Follow the Boys and Where the Boys Meet the Girls.

Regardless of her pending divorce, a measure of happiness was not too far around the corner for Suzy Parker. In 1963 she wed actor Bradford Dillman and they were together for forty years until her death in 2003.

Cary Grant and Betsy Drake were only able to cut it until 1962, though at almost thirteen years it was his lengthiest union. He wed Dyan Cannon in 1965 and had his first and only child soon after.

This was a sort of fun section, predicting future stardom for several folks. They certainly were correct in the case of Peter Sellers and to a somewhat lesser degree Nancy Kwan who was, due to the era, limited in the roles offered.

Salome Jens was a busy character actress but never became - to my knowledge anyway - a household name. Peter Falk had the 1970s hit show Columbo skyrocket him to fame, though he also made an impact in several movies.

Capucine certainly had a fertile period in films during the 1960s, but eventually lost steam. Frankie Vaughan (misspelled Vaughn in the magazine) remained popular in England, but was never able to achieve significant fame in America. (See next pic for the other gal.)

Kim (not Kimm) Charney left show business entirely by 1963 and ultimately did become a surgeon. Sharon Hugueny only enjoyed a sputtering career after the mid-1960s, further damaged by a severe mid-'70s car accident. Sadly, she died at only age fifty-two of cancer in 1996. Margie Regan's brief TV career was over by early 1962.

Dolores Michaels didn't get to spend much time with nearly-divorced Don Murray. By 1962 he was on to his second wife and they had three children together. They're together still now (and he is eighty-eight!) Michaels wed author Bernard Wolfe in 1961, though they split in 1969.

No matter what this article suggests, Efrem Zimbalist and his wife Steffi stuck it out and remained wed from 1956 until her death in 2007. He passed away in 2014 at age ninety-five.

Troy Donahue was twenty-four at this time. In 1964 he wed Suzanne Pleshette, in a move that was fairly disastrous for them both, and he proceeded to marry three more times until 1981.

Annette's big "secret" was that she was about to turn eighteen.

They got it right this time. Tony Franciosa and Shelley Winters divorced in 1960. This was her last marriage until a bizarre deathbed union to her lover of nineteen years in 2006, presided over by Sally Kirkland, of all people! She was an eighty-five year-old bride for a couple of hours.

Jean Simmons wed director Richard Brooks in 1960 and they were married twenty years. Stewart Granger had a five year marriage in the mid-'60s that was his last.

It would be interesting to know more of this reported film adaptation of "The Captive," for which I can see no record. Novak's unrelated movie of this time was the soap opera-like Strangers When We Meet, with Kirk Douglas.

Brigitte Bardot's marriage came to a close in 1962 and she proceeded to a string of other partners and husbands.

It's interesting that John Wayne found the movies of the time (1960-ish) as "dirty" and "garbage" and unsuited to the family. God only knows what he would have thought of what followed later!

I have to confess I found the reason that The Newmans asked for Nell's pictures not to be published in this photo layout not only surprising, but surprisingly admirable.

Later on, Nell Newman acted in two movies that starred her mother and were directed by her father.

Though Gregory Peck never did direct a film, he did produce several, including the classic To Kill a Mockingbird in 1962.

Yvette Mimieux enjoyed a hearty career in the 1960s and early-'70s. When I first created this blog, I had to marvel at how many times her name came up in films I was paying tribute to even though she'd never really been a particular favorite of mine.

Perhaps if you're a real die-hard, you'll want to print this off and try your hand. Probably won't be easy thanks to the 1960 time frame. And, yes, I'll include the answers at the end.

Kisses or not, Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner would be all through by 1962 after five years of marriage. They did, however, reunite and remarry in 1972 for nine more years until her premature death from drowning, an event that never ceases to create suspicion and speculation.

I fully expected to see that All in a Night's Work was a working title, so imagine my surprise when I saw that it was an actual screwball comedy film costarring Shirley MacLaine! Talk about obscure... Cliff Robertson is in it, too.

Interesting that Back Street was intended to be filmed in Europe because I could swear that all of Susan Hayward's scenes were shot Stateside and a double was used for her over there in establishing shots. She didn't land Efrem Zimbalist or Rock Hudson for the movie, but got John Gavin who I (and sometimes think I alone) adore.

This article provides a fascinating glimpse into the marriage of Carolyn Jones and Aaron Spelling. I take it Candy never had any issues adjusting to staggering wealth! LOL I never knew that Ms. Jones suffered a nervous breakdown. You can read more about the hooty Ice Palace here. (And you can bet yer ass that Richard Burton never pretended that water was vodka in his life...!)

Another obscure marriage I had completely forgotten about was between Dean Stockwell and Millie Perkins. Their union only lasted from 1960 to 1962. He wed again in 1981 and had two children.

Gary Clarke was already married (since 1954 and until 1964!) at the time of this article, so career issues were not the only thing going on...!

This section was just awesome, with little-known tidbits about this star or that (like Lucille Ball's hospital trip or Bette Davis' injury settlement.) Sadly, Gary Cooper's "prostate condition" was cancer and would claim him the following year.

I don't know that anyone ever laid awake at night worrying that buxom Anita Ekberg might drown, but apparently she nearly did! Arlene Francis' unfortunate incident is noted here (and the man did die, causing her untold grief.)

Can't you see Susan Sarandon in this particular picture of Bette? Neat to see a photo of Gene Tierney's second wedding (they split in 1981.)

Little did singer Bobby Darin know that when he went to work on Come September he'd meet, fall in love with, marry and have a son with Sandra Dee. They were all through by 1967, however. Did you know that Darin had a son born in 1957 that even he didn't know about? The girl who bore him gave the child up for adoption.

Nick Adams, whose marriage to Carol Nugent was often stormy, did proceed to have a second child, this time named Jeb. (Jeb Stuart Adams was an actor in his youth, starring in Flowers in the Attic, 1987.)

No one will ever convince me that animal lover Tab Hunter did anything to his dog. According to him, the whole mess was cooked up because the neighbors in question repeatedly tried to get him to come to their home and he refused, eventually with too much attitude for their liking.

This spread refers not to the actual Academy Awards, but to the people who Screen Album have chosen as their own "Oscar" winners.

The actual Oscar-winners from the time frame turned out to be Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry, Peter Ustinov of Spartacus, Elizabeth Taylor for BUtterfield 8 and Shirley Jones in Elmer Gantry. Best Picture winner: The Apartment.

Since the demise of Coach in 1997, Shelley Fabares has done little besides some voice-acting work.

Frankie Avalon married for the first and only time in 1963 and proceeded to have eight (!) children. The couple is now closing in on fifty-five years of marriage.

This two-age spread speculates on who might be Sandra Dee's secret love. (And you won't believe who they cough up as a suggestion!)

As mentioned earlier, Dee was about to find love with Bobby Darin, but this article suggests that her most likely love might be... Ross Hunter! A dyed-in-the-wool homosexual who was already involved with his longtime partner Jacques Mapes!

Um, yeah... we know there's nothing little about Michael "Little Joe" Landon!

Robert Fuller did not marry Kathleen Nolan, but in 1962 he did Patricia Lyon and was with her for two dozen years and had three children. He's been with his second wife since 2001.

I think so much of Roger Smith's fifty-year marriage to Ann-Margret that I forgot he'd ever been married previously! He and Victoria Shaw had three children before their 1965 break-up. He wed A-M in 1967 and was with her until his death in June of 2017.

Dorothy Provine is someone who still retains a pretty passionate fan base, but - God help me - I have never been able to understand what makes her special. Maybe I've just not seen the proper project that draws so many people to her. Perhaps someday I'll get it...

Edd Byrnes is someone who took on the big studio (Warner Brothers), but ultimately lost. He walked off the hit show 77 Sunset Strip and was brought back for higher pay and better storylines, but then the character lost its distinctive appeal. Then his contract forced him to pass on other projects (when he wasn't being told outright he couldn't have them, such as when John F. Kennedy vetoed him in PT 109.) By the time he bought out his contract, he was typecast in a role he hadn't even been playing the same way anymore! Another blow came later when he hosted two pilots of Wheel of Fortune. The show was picked up, but he was rejected by NBC in favor of Chuck Woolery. Byrnes is still with us today at eighty-four.

Interesting headline for this one. Perhaps it would have been better suited for Tab Hunter's article! LOL Arness was married to his wife until 1963; perhaps there was a tangled divorce settlement. He wed again in 1978 and that lasted until his 2011 death.

I don't know how devoted Rory Calhoun was to Lita Baron. When she filed for divorce in 1970 she had a list of 79 women he'd allegedly bedded during their marriage and he replied that, "Heck, she didn't even include half of them." (Then there are those fishing trips with Guy Madison...!)

Loretta Young never did make another feature film after 1953. She did, however, set aside her "religious reasons" and divorce her husband in 1969 (having already gone through a teenage annulment back in 1931.) She wed a third time late in life to the widowed designer Jean Louis, whose wife had been a longtime friend of hers. If she was wealthy then, she became even wealthier after suing over the foreign reruns of her TV series because they neglected to cut her fashion-centered opening moments as had been dictated in her contract. Here also, as promised, is the answer to the crossword puzzle shown earlier.

Sandra Dee serves as the inside-back cover girl.

And, on the back and serving as our finale, is a red-clad James Darren. Till next time!