Fun Find: Motion Picture Magazine, June 1955

Well, I'm not sure how "fun" this find will be, but I opted to run with it anyway. You see, during a recent antique show outing, I picked up a couple of old rags like this for $3.00 apiece. But when I brought this one in to scan, I discovered to my horror that there were several pages missing and various cut-outs done by the original owner! The merchant who sold this had nothing on it about "As Is" or the like, though there was a stamp in the lower corner that said "Not Returnable." Hmph! Anyhoo, my favorite parts of these magazines, the gossip and social whirl tidbits of the day happen to be much of what was rendered from it! Still, I think there may be enough left of the tatters to give you something to peruse. So off we go to summer of 1955...

The inside front cover was this colorful lipstick ad. I didn't know that Toni (to me a perm company) offered lip color! Considering that this magazine was 15 cents, $1.10 wasn't exactly cheap for the tube of 3-alarm color.

I don't know where I've been, but I have no recollection of ever even hearing of this movie! Apparently it was inspired by the efforts to get Virginia Hill to testify against Bugsy Siegel and was based on a short-lived play called "Dead Pigeon." And despite the tone of this ad, it was reportedly more of a gutsy noir. (Note we're already at page fifteen! :::sigh:::)

Films in release at that time. I'm so ashamed to say that I have never watched Marty! I even enjoy Oscar-winner Ernest Borgnine much of the time, but somehow I just never got to this one... I actively disliked Daddy Long Legs, however.

More about the elusive Tight Spot!

Dandricide sounds positively poisonous! Probably would have had to check with Sheree North's gyno to know what color her hair really was...! LOL I didn't realize that Liberace's real first name was Walter as he was so often referred to as "Lee."

This is all that was left of a Sheilah Graham story on Rock Hudson's oncoming marriage to Phyllis Gates. Just about the only factual part was the phrase, "it will be his first and his last." See the prices of this lipstick? Much cheaper than the aforementioned one!

Of interest on the bulletin board is that Betty Hutton's newest wedding and latest divorce both appear here, days apart! Of more interest was the death of Miroslava Stern, of whom I'd never heard. (I learned a lot thus far from this mag!) Turns out she'd led a fascinating life prior to her suicide at 30. Adopted by Jewish parents in Czechoslovakia, she wound up in a concentration camp as a result, then later emigrated to Mexico where she became a film actress. She worked for Luis Bunuel, slept with Steve Cochran and briefly married a man who turned out to be gay. Her tumultuous life was the subject of a 1993 Mexican film called Miroslava, starring Arielle Dombasle.

Piper Laurie did not wed hotel heir David Schine. The controversial (Roy Cohn tried to force the Army into giving him a commission, for which he was not qualified) figure wed a Miss Universe winner in 1957 and proceeded to have six children. He, his wife and one of those kids died in a private plane crash in 1996.

Cover girl, sunny Doris Day.

Day had only been married to Martin Melcher for several years at this point. Sadly, he was stepping out on her by the early-1960s and upon his 1968 death, she was left with unwanted contractual obligations, debt to the IRS and an almost empty bank account, thanks to his cruddy investments and careless management.

This is all that remains in the mag of Rory Calhoun's interview with Hedda Hopper. Calhoun's storied past was offered up to the tabloid press by his agent Henry Willson in exchange for keeping Rock Hudson's sexuality under wraps. (Hudson was considered far more promising a star and, in fact, became a bigger one - and more money-generating one - than Mr. Calhoun.)

And this is all that remains of a photo essay on war hero-turned-actor Audie Murphy. Murphy was WWII's most decorated combat soldier. After a patchy start as an actor, he starred in an adaptation of his own autobiography, To Hell and Back (1955), and it was Universal's biggest box office earner up until the release of Jaws in 1975! But (what we now know as) PTSD had adverse effects on him and he had trouble maintaining his career over the long haul. When he died in a 1971 plane crash, wife Pamela had to work hard to pay off his debts.

These next three pages compare and contrast the various charms of two successful Hollywood blondes, Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly. I confess I never consider them part of the same cinematic universe even though their careers took place at the same time! I wonder now if they ever met...

If there were photos of the gals in this tome, the owner pulled them out, so I offer up this as illustration of the two stars as they appeared in 1955.

Well, I think we know that this report is not going to be 100% complete...!

Hudson did not like his assigned stage name and preferred to go by Roy in private. Little known fact: Hudson himself signed almost no autographs or photos with "Rock Hudson," since he didn't care for the name. His assistant signed hundreds of thousands of photos for him.

Despite the nostalgic air of this article, Hudson had his share of misery as a child, including a cruel stepfather who went to several extremes to "make a man" out of the child who he felt had too many "sissy" qualities to him.

Almost newlyweds Vic Damone and Pier Angeli. Would you believe that Ms. Angeli is but 23 years old here? What a matronly time the 1950s were. She reportedly wed Damone after being informed by her family that (very!) non-Catholic James Dean wouldn't do as a husband. (And there were about a dozen other reasons that it wouldn't have worked!)

The Damones' baby did survive, a son named Perry, though he was taken by lymphoma at age 59. The couple split up in 1958 and she later died at 39 from the results of medication (usually reported as suicide, but disputed by her twin sister Marisa Pavan as a delayed reaction/allergy to a drug.)

The calm before the storm...

Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher would wed in September of 1955. By 1959, two children later, the world would be rocked by the scandal of his taking up with the widow of his best friend Mike Todd, one Elizabeth Taylor.

I'm on record as loving Olivia de Havilland, but I have to say that one of my very least favorite performances of hers came in this film, Not as a Stranger, opposite Robert Mitchum and Frank Sinatra.

Still more pages missing...! But there was this photo, at least, of Miss Debra Paget of The Ten Commandments (1956) and many other films.

I think we all recognize Marlon Brando.

Obviously, he never became a preacher, but Brando did take pleasure in making his viewpoints known. Hunky photos available here.

Note that this article was written by longtime Hollywood scribe and star biographer Bob Thomas.

I mentioned in a recent post that little Fraser Heston wound up playing baby Moses in The Ten Commandments later this year. Look how short Chuck's hair was, having made The Private War of Major Benson (1955) in-between the Egyptian filming of Commandments and the Hollywood portion.

Fraser truly didn't become an actor. Moses remains his only "role!" But he did grow up to write, produce and direct for the movies, many projects of which featured his father in them.

This is the final article I have for you.

At this point, Terry Moore had Mighty Joe Young (1949) and Come Back, Little Sheba (1952) under her belt, among many other movies, but her signature role in Peyton Place (1957) was still to come. Moore is one of the very few people in this magazine to not only still be alive, but also still working! She has several projects either in the can or in the works at age 93.

I do at least have a few leftover tidbits from the gossip sections that were missing in the front. June Allyson did fall for Alan Ladd and it temporarily disrupted her marriage to Dick Powell. Darryl F. Zanuck reportedly said that "no pirate queen" was going to play Anna in The King and I (1956.) Edward G. Robinson might have left his wife for another woman, not sure, but - whatever the reason - the divorce was costly. He was forced to sell a substantial private art collection to settle up!

Race Gentry was only able to eke out a spotty screen career from here on, ultimately reverting to his real name John Gentri. He is reportedly still with us today at age 88, having left the biz in 1966. Yvonne de Carlo wound up marrying a noted stuntman from The Ten Commandments in November of 1955. Win Min Than, the younger wife of a prominent Burmese politician, never made another film. She's alive today, living in Australia with her son. Johnnie Ray didn't end up making "Star Dust," nor did anyone else.

Looks like someone should have made a movie out of the book "The Girls in Nightmare House!" Suzan Ball was a talented girl with beautiful dark looks who, cruelly, had to face down an aggressive case of cancer which was discovered in her legs (leading to an amputation) and then her lungs. She was wed to a supportive and devoted Richard Long, but died in August of 1955 at only age 21. The (very) happy Mr. & Mrs. Fred MacMurray were married from 1954 until his death in 1991.

The inside back cover pitches a permanent wave product that will provide you with this "delightful" look...

The back cover features an ad with Leo Durocher. He was a highly successful baseball player-turned-manager and was highly supportive of including Jackie Robinson on the roster of The Brooklyn Dodgers (against a certain amount of resistance), thus breaking the MLB color barrier. On another note, that lipstick blot is NOT part of the ad...! It belongs to the original owner of this magazine who, having raped it of many pages and pics, decided to use the back of it to press her (Toni?) lipstick into place!

:::BONUS PICS:::

Audie Murphy did virtually no beefcake and few shirtless scenes, but he did play a boxer in World in My Corner (1956), seen here with Barbara Rush.

Here he shows (towering) fellow Universal contractee Rock Hudson how to properly whip out his gun.