Evening star., 1943-10-24
Alice Quibbled,
But Home Life
Was Worth 1t
Ry the Associated Press

Ry the Associated Press.
HOLLYWOOD.
Alice Faye won her argument with
her studio in typical feminine fash
ion: she compromised and the studio
gave her what she wanted. What
the studio got was an agreement for
Alice TO work in one picture a year
with her option on whether She
would do a second. This is exactly
what Alice wanted to give them,
though she threatened to quit pic
lures entirely when executives
wanted to hold out for more Faye
footage,
Alice's most engaging quality. after
you've taken i'll the peaches-and-
cream complexion and gorgeous
streamlines, Is her frankneSS. She
admits it was just a threat She
had TO do it, she says, because it was
her only way TO make the studio
realize she wanted more time to
play the priyate-life role Of wife to
Phil Harris, band leader and come
dian, and mother to one baby, Alice
Faye Harris, aged Is months. and
another. expected in the spring of
next year.
I wanted to know, as you probably
do, too, whether she would prefer
life at home with her babies to her
chores before the camera. Her an
swer was typically frank:
The Tough Grind.
Heavens. no, on the baby'S day
with me, when the nurse is of. l go
limp and my knees tremble, I'm so
nervous with her. She's SO energetic
L get completely worn out, so that I
can hardly crawl upstairs with her
when bedtime comes. Now that
have so little household help. I have
undertaken TO keep Phils and my
part OF the second floor tidy. Just
when I've finished cleaning all those
hOOr-length mirrors in our rooms. IN
comes baby, COOS and pats them full
OF smudges again"
On the other hand, she was gen.
timely miserable when SO much of
her time was taken up with pic
ture making that she scarcely saw
her baby for weeks at time. or her
husband either, as he works on
night club schedule.
The reason Alice only wants one
picture a year is that her films, be-
ing musicals, take so long to make.
Six to eight months is not unusual.
Her latest, The Gangs All Here"
with Jack Oakie and Carmen
Miranda, filed seven busy months
while an average film takes eight to
ten weeks.
Alice has been all through this
particular problem before; at the
time of her breakup with Tony
Martin. she expressed the opinion
that tOo-long separations ruined
that marriage. and she intends to
see to it that this won't happen
again.
Giving up her screen career would
be unthinkable to'her. she says, be-
cause she has worked so long and
so hard to get where she is, that its
become a part of her. She believes
that stimulus of work and contacts
with others in work is the way to
keep the flavor in life. and the per-
Sonalty at its best. She has a good
singing voice, it's true, but she wants
none of that bird in a gilded cage
stuff in her life.
A minor cause of rebellion was the
poor stories she was being given.
Alice wants to play humorous, like
Jean Arthur and Irene Dunno some
times Go. She has no hallucinations
about being a dramatic actress, nor
has she any stage ambitions. She
judges herself to be entirely a movie
personality. She's afraid of an
audience, though during the time
she sang with Rudy Vallee's orches-
ira she never had stage fright, be-
cause she had the orchestra with
her.
Lady in a Band.
Working with her husband on his
own radio show is her idea of the
perfect combination of work and
marriage, and she hopes it will come
true for them some day soon. She
(See FAYE, Page C-1OD