Alice Faye: A Life Beyond the Silver Screen

Chapter 7: Queen of the Lot

If they are to be believed, stories released from the set of Tail Spin by the Fox publicity department reflect a distracted Alice. One stated she found it difficult to throw herself wholeheartedly into her fight scene with Constance Bennett, instead pulling her punches and worrying excessively about any injury she might cause. Another reported that Tony Martin always sent her roses on the days when she sang before the cameras, yet for her only number in Tail Spin, “Are You in the Mood for Mischief,” they failed to appear. “Alice Faye was visibly nervous and upset . . . until further investigation revealed the messenger was delayed by a road accident,” the release said. Finally Harry Brand’s department reported that she had a cold and was confined to bed. Typically for Alice, it developed into flu, and the studio announced that it planned to send her on a vacation on a farm for complete rest. The latter announcement actually proved true. The end of 1938 saw Alice entraining for Detroit where she hoped to catch up with her touring husband in time to celebrate the new year with him. Then she proceeded to a farm in Owensville, Ohio, for a week’s rest at the home of Mr. and Mrs. George Bistrain, the parents of one of her California friends, Mrs. Ben O’Kent. On January 7, 1939, Alice made headlines when she and two women friends stopped for cocktails at a hotel bar in Cincinnati to kill time before embarking on the return journey to Los Angeles. Their waiter 118 Queen of the Lot CHAPTER 7 apologetically announced that he was not allowed to serve unescorted ladies. “Well, then get me an escort,” the exasperated Alice apparently said. The waiter produced one of the hotel’s auditors, who obligingly assumed the role of host. “She signed the check—but I paid it,” he said. Stymied by the awkwardness of having a complete stranger foisted off on her to appease convention, Alice apparently “talked shop,” refused to introduce her companions, and gave no autographs other than her signature on the check. Tony Martin’s reaction to the ensuing headlines—”Alice Faye Orders a Drink and an Escort,” and “Wanted: a Boy Friend”—can only be imagined. The incident highlighted the ongoing problems that Tony and Alice faced as they pursued their separate careers in separate locations, problems that only seemed to increase as time passed. Alice now realized that Zanuck stacked the deck against Tony at the studio and that his only hope for success approaching hers was radio and nightclub work. One article quoted her, stating that “Alice says it won’t do Tony much good to return to Hollywood because the studio doesn’t seem to want to give him a break, putting him in B pictures all the time.” The same article also said, “Talk around town has Alice and Tony breaking up, but Alice shied away from comment on domestic conditions at the Martin manse. Her official spokesmen at the studio say, without much conviction, they think there’s nothing to the rumors.” Tony couldn’t get a break in Hollywood, and Alice’s contract with Fox meant that she couldn’t get away from Hollywood for more than brief periods. For the foreseeable future, the best the couple could do was make a life for themselves between Tony’s tours and just endure the separations . “That was another wedge driven between us,” Tony said. “She wanted a husband at home, naturally. And I was across the country. I was just a voice on the phone.” Alice frequently discussed the possibility of retiring in another five years in interviews, at the same time firmly squelching any speculation about their plans for a family. In the meantime, Tony began to suspect that some of Alice’s friends who hadn’t wanted her to marry him in the first place began gossiping about him. He also felt that the men QUEEN OF THE LOT 119 who had always admired Alice were taking advantage of his absence to ingratiate themselves to her at his expense. The Martin marriage continued to rock along in this way into 1939. Upon her return from Ohio, Alice reported to the studio for her next film, Rose of Washington Square, in which she costarred with Tyrone Power for the third and last time. Since his days as a Warner...