Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life

9. Tinseltown

99 9 Tinseltown Maybe I envy your wife a little. You know now, I didn’t believe it when you told me you were in love with her. Usually when a man tells me he loves his wife, it ends up with, “but . . .” —Leona, The Breaking Point (1950) Patricia, decidedly stunned by the poor reviews of Bright Leaf, continued working. On June 19 she appeared with Ronald Reagan on CBS radio’s Lux Radio Theatre presentation of John Loves Mary. Patricia was granted approval to appear again on The Family Theatre—“The family that prays together stays together”—to introduce the radio play The Triumphant Exile, about Robert Louis Stevenson. The episode was taped on June 28 and aired on the Mutual Network July 12. Patricia was paid the standard AFTRA fee of $70. In the June 20 edition of the Los Angeles Times, in an article headlined “Warners Buys Original to Star Patricia Neal,” Hedda Hopper wrote: “Patricia Neal, who’s gone places at Warners since ‘Bright Leaf’ and ‘Three Secrets,’ has a special story bought for her. Titled ‘Mary’s Lam,’ it deals with a society girl who gets tied up with a gang of hoodlums and takes it on the lam. The story, an original by Howard Leete, will be produced by Everett Freeman. Jerry Wald recently told me that he thought Pat had the greatest natural talent of any girl in Hollywood. Those are strong words from anybody.” Warners apparently had second thoughts about the project, and it was never filmed with Patricia. On July 22, Patricia appeared on the popular Stars over Hollywood radio broadcast. That same day, a Warners interoffice memo announced that William Orr was holding salary conferences regarding the upcoming shooting of the Western White Face. Eleanor Parker had declined to star as the leading Facing page: Patricia Neal wearing the copy of the antique necklace Gary Cooper had made for her from Bright Leaf, 1950. From the author’s collection. Shearer฀book.indb฀฀฀99 3/16/2006฀฀฀12:15:10฀PM 100 Patricia Neal: An Unquiet Life lady, Ann Challon, and Patricia, her value to the studio lower than ever before , was suggested for the part. There was, however, a brief, possibly brilliant moment when Patricia’s studio value would have risen considerably. Patricia went to a dinner party that Gary had arranged at a Chinese restaurant to welcome Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh to Hollywood. There was a discussion of the filming of Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire. Leigh had recently portrayed the fragile Blanche on the London stage and was the hands-down favorite for the role in the film, Olivia de Havilland having declined the part. Patricia casually remarked to Leigh that when the play went on the road, “My good friend Helen Horton took over for you in Streetcar.” Leigh caustically replied, “No one takes over for me, dear. When I leave a play, it’s over.” Patricia recalled years later, “It was really a ghastly supper and on the way home I began weeping and I cried, ‘Oh, I want to be old, I want to be old.’ I needed a lot to make me grow up.”1 Shortly after that dinner, word came that Elia Kazan was considering Patricia for the role of Stella. In a telegram dated July 11 to Warners executive Steve Trilling, Harry Mayer inquired: “Kazan here. Looking at films. Very impressed Pat Neal. Please wire immediately exact height Neal in stocking feet.”2 The reply that Patricia was five feet, seven inches tall was unsatisfactory : Patricia was much taller than Leigh, and audiences wouldn’t consider it realistic if they were cast as sisters. Kim Hunter would after all be given the role she had created on Broadway, and win a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for it. Instead of what gloriously could have been, Patricia was thrown into what carelessly was: White Face, which was finally released as Raton Pass, taking its name from Thomas W. Blackburn’s novel on which it was based. Patricia was cast as Ann Challon opposite the Irish tenor Dennis Morgan. The eighty-four-minute feature had little to recommend it other than a weak film score by Max Steiner, the rugged good looks of Steve Cochran, and, in the final analysis, the astute acting of its leading lady. Initial photography began on July 19. Filmed in black and white, Raton Pass is a convoluted tale about the struggle for control of the...