Cinema: A Star Is Born

(6 of 6)

In the Milky Way. And how about Deborah? It is hard to tell about Deborah. During her first few days in the U.S., before the cosmic rays had peppered her very deeply or the great steel rollers had swept over her, she was an excited, self-confident, ambitious girl, not snobbish, or arty, very ready with humor and irony, keenly determined not to be standardized, or forced into dull or silly roles. But by now she has probably realized more clearly that very few things are really up to her. She can simply use her beauty and her talent as honestly as possible under the circumstances. But the circumstances are wholly in the keeping of other people. Metro is giving her her prodigious chance; Metro pays her salary; she is "on the team." "All I can do," she says, "is put my faith in my employers."

Whatever comes of it, she has managed to charm the town, and this includes her employers. Her warmth, her grace and her willingness to accept anyone and anything at face value fascinates Hollywood. So does her husband, who, as a war ace and a son of a knight,* is by no means dismissible as Mr. Deborah Kerr. And they in turn are fascinated. In England, they had been in a land of privation. In their small house in Pacific Palisades, there is a Bendix washing machine, a Westinghouse refrigerator and a gas pipe in the fireplace which makes kindling unnecessary. Says Deborah: "We lean out a window and squeeze a lemon in our drinks. If that isn't the height of debauchery, I don't know what is."

In time Miss Kerr may "adjust" even to Hollywood's spectacular social life. She and her husband had scarcely been in town a week when they were asked over to Nunnally Johnson's. Under the impression that this was to be an informal little cocktail spread, they innocently walked in on time (they have not yet learned how to be late). The first bit of Hollywood home life to meet their eye was four men in white coats carrying, to her station behind the roast beef, a half-naked mermaid. Says Deborah: "We were terrified."