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Show .ihl Poking at BOLLYWOOBl A S ONE of the first, possibly the first, young couple to return from active service on the fighting fronts, Hollywood's Director Leslie Fenton and his actress wife, Ann Dvorak, are providing a pattern for thousands of other couples who will shortly be returning to pick up the threads of their personal and professional profes-sional lives which they dropped when they heard the call to duty. Fenton and his wife departed for England early in 1939. He served as commander of a British PT boat patrolling the English channel and waters off the coast of Scotland, fx J . ! f. 11"' yf i -' - n Is . " f- " I ii.itoiiM-ifraiiiir"" " al Ann Dvorak and Leslie Fenton. was wounded in the now historic commando raid on the port of St. Nazaire. He holds the distinguished service cross, presented to him by King George personally at Buckingham Buck-ingham palace. When Fenton departed for England Eng-land he was directing at M-G-M. He had just finished production on "Arouse and Beware," starring Wallace Wal-lace Beery. His wife was playing in a Warner's picture. She could not accompany ac-company him, but followed on the next boat. She made arrangements for relatives to take over the running run-ning and management of their prosperous pros-perous 40-acre San Fernando valley walnut ranch, which they purchased shortly after their marriage in 1931. On arriving in England she enlisted in the M. T. C, Britain's mechanized transport corps, and drove an ambulance ambu-lance under bomb fire during the Nazi blitz. Good Job Well Done When Fenton was invalided out of the service and ordered home, Ann, her patriotic duty in that phase of the war effort ended, accompanied him as nurse. Producer Lester Cowan was about to filmthe Broadway stage success """V, "Tomorrow the World," with Fred- ric March and Betty Field. A story Fenton understood and warmed to. Fenton signed to direct this production. produc-tion. Ann, her home in order and her garden growing, signed with Republic Repub-lic and is currently doing a starring role in "Flame of the Barbary Coast. Full Appreciation "It's almost like the war's over, coming back here," they say, "after living in England, and we don't mean this as any criticism, merely abservation. The war is so close in England. For a long time it was right overhead and at your front door. No one knew what would happen hap-pen next." When Fenton first came to the screen from the legitimate stage, he played the neurotic young soldier who went berserk in "What Price Glory." From this he gravitated Into sinister roles through the gangster gang-ster era, which began with "Public "Pub-lic Enemy No. 1," with James Cag-ney; Cag-ney; "The Hatchet Man," with Edward Ed-ward G. Robinson, and similar underworld films. He was given a part in "The Strange Case of Molly Louvain," opposite op-posite Ann Dvorak, whom he'd never met. They fell in love, and in 1931 they were married. Change of Character He and Ann went to Europe on their honeymoon. There he played romantic roles for a year in European Euro-pean productions in London and Berlin. Ber-lin. When Fenton returned from this trip he decided to forsake acting and try directing. Ann meanwhile went back to Warner's and resumed her contract. Fenton retired to the obscurity of a shorts director at M-G-M and after a two-year apprenticeship was given a contract to direct features. "Stronger Than Desire," with Walter Wal-ter Pidgeon, and "The Golden Fleecing," Fleec-ing," with Lew Ayres, were among the productions he made. He'll continue directing and Ann will continue acting. "If any of the pictures we make cheer up the troops or provide entertainment enter-tainment for the people actually in the war effort we feel we're doing something." A Promise Is to Be Kept C. B. Dc Mille's next, which is "Rurales," started 30 years ago. In 1915, Pancho Villa, who loved Mexi-:o, Mexi-:o, and wanted us to do likewise, '.ried to get C. B. to tell the story in the screen. He offered to meet Z. B. at the border and remain his personal bodyguard. C. B. to name lis own salary. "Thanks for the promise of safety," wrote C. B. "Dead I can do you no good: alive I can make you a good picture.'' Sut Villa lost out. |
