Musical Pairs

Viewing the permanent marriage crisis in Hollywood, the late Robert Benchley took the position that, like cinematography itself, the whole thing is an illusion; there really are no more divorces among film stars than among dentists, only more publicity. But, faced with never-ending divorce bulletins from Hollywood, puritans are certain that actors, unlike decent people, have the morals of hamsters. Cynics feel that actors--like hamsters--have the same unsteady morals as decent people, differ merely in having too much time, money and inclination. Psychologists set forth that anyone who becomes an actor in the first place must be a narcissist, yearning for ever-new romantic mirrors to provide adoration. Whatever the truth, from Hollywood last week the sound of distant sundering was louder than usual.

P: Red-haired Lucille Ball, 48, who had once said of her 19-year-long marriage that she "never expected it to last six weeks," divorced Desi Arnaz, 43, calling the last few years a "nightmare" during which Desi became hysterically enraged at the slightest provocation--when water pipes burst in their Beverly Hills mansion or when he could not find a jacket he wanted to wear. The split: for Lucy, their two children, half of their $20 million Desilu TV interests, the leaky mansion, two station wagons, a cemetery plot at Forest Lawn. For Desi: the other half of the $20 million, a golf cart, a membership in a Palm Springs country club, a truck, several horses.

P: Lank Model Suzy Parker, 27, a redhead whose peculiar talent is to make bones look even more appealing than flesh, finally conceded that, after almost five years with Paris Reporter Pierre de la Salle (one child), it was all over. Some months ago, Suzy had given an interesting description of her marriage: "An American girl is against everything a Frenchman stands for. I've been told I can't cook, I can't sew, and I'm not fit to be a wife. If I speak French to him, he speaks English. If I speak English, he says I make no effort to speak French. It's O.K.; I'm playing along with the game, and when the right moment comes I'll let him have it right between the eyes."

P: Terrible-tempered Bette Davis, 52, charged her fourth husband, dour Actor Gary Merrill, 44, with extreme cruelty, asked for alimony, will have a new co-star when she takes The World of Carl Sandburg to Broadway in September.

P: At an acrimonious custody hearing, Anna Kashfi turned on her ex-husband, Marlon Brando, and sneered. "You slob."

P: TV Actor Efrem .Zimbalist Jr., star of 77 Sunset Strip, left home and, the knowing say, will seek a divorce. The trouble: his wife, Stephanie Spalding, likes horses and he doesn't. Also, he likes Starlet Kipp Hamilton and she, naturally, doesn't.

P: "Attractively ravaged, exhausted-looking'' Broadway and Hollywood Producer Leland (South Pacific) Hayward, 57, showed how he earned the description given him by a friend. A few hours after he was divorced by his third wife, Nancy ("Slim") Hayward, in Las Vegas, he married Pamela Churchill, 40, ex-wife of Sir Winston's fustian son, Randolph. Pamela, daughter of Baron Digby, had been reported friendly since her divorce from Randolph with a Rothschild, a Fiat executive and a U.S. TV oracle. Says a (female) friend: "She is a quiet, appealing temptress with a soft, lovely voice, who plays up enchantingly to men. She just can't help being a siren."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.