回复：【长篇阅读】公子的传记

With this role, she got her first Oscar nomination and when she lost to Luise Rainer (The Good Earth), she said it was the only time such a failure hurt: “I really poured my blood into it.”
Barbara let few things get her down, which was another attraction she had for Taylor. Though always doing something to rid herself of her nervous energy, she appeared relaxed and composed on the surface.
She could balance Bob’s personality, laughing at his disappointments, urging him on, yet putting him in his place when he displayed any sign of being impressed by his increasing rise to stardom.
She had never worn jewelry, except for a fourteen-carat diamond that Fay had given her during their marriage. Bob did not like anything ostentatious but he loved to give her simple expensive pins and rings, so that for the first in her life,she wore jewelry and loved it.
Barbara also began wearing clothes that were more feminine and became quite a collectorof frilly negligees which Bob loved. She let her hair grow and wore high heels rather than the drab walking shoes she liked previously.

Taylor was impressed with Barbara’s determination and will-power. He compared her to Ruth, who had built her life on weakness, dependence and bigotry.
Barbara was now Bob’s confidante, and his relationship with her was upsetting Ruth, but she knew she had one very important person on her side—L. B. Mayer. MGM would not allow Bob to marry, but she did not realize that Barabara's influence over her son had become a substitute for her own sheltering and dominance.
“The Queen” was guiding Taylor in the way of love, humor, sex and human nature. Taylor’s classic understatement to the press was that “Miss Stanwyck is not the sort of woman I would have met in Nebraska.”
As usual, the reporters had a circus with another Taylor quote, and to this one they added, “That’s for sure!” Barbara Stanwyck taught Robert Taylor everything she knew . . .
Though actresses both here and abroad were asking to be cast opposite the “It Boy,” MGM was in a quandary as to what to do with him next. They worried about the type of publicity he was getting. His being called “beautiful,” “dainty,” “cute,”and a “sissy” could only lead to one conclusion—he was not a man. The press had convinced the male public that Taylor was “queer,” and his heavily powdered complexion on the screen only confirmed their beliefs.
Mayer did not know how long the moviegoers would accept this “virgin idol” nonsense, though its effect was making his studio millions of dollars. He had a plan, but not now. Camille was victory and would tranquilize his fans for the time being.

MGM’s greatest worry of the day was Jean Harlow. Mayer knew she was seriously ill and he feared it might show up on the screen. When he signed her for Personal Property, a giddy comedy, he also assigned Taylor as her leading man –for box-office insurance.
When the movie was released the studio sent Jean and Bob to Washington to attend President Roosevelt’s Birthday Ball for the March of Dimes.
Though they both had a touch of the flu, they managed twenty-two appearances in one day. They had lunch at the White House with Mrs. Roosevelt, who said the President didn’t mind taking second billing to Taylor during the star’s visit to Washington.
“In fact,”she said, “he admitted romantic appeal is more persuasive than statesmanship.He likes the movies and is a big fan. He told me they do the world just as muchgood as any politician in the long run.”

On the night of the President’s Ball, Jean and Bob were told they had to attend still another function in Baltimore.J. Edgar Hoover accompanied them in a bullet-proof limousine escorted by roaring motorcycles proudly handled by state troopers.
On one personal appearance, Taylor was making his way to the stage when a woman ripped his tie off, tearing it into bits, distributing it to her friends.
It was an exhausting whirlwind trip.
When they returned to Hollywood,Jean Harlow made what was to be her last movie, Saratoga Trunk, with Clark Gable. She died just before the picture was completed.
Bob said Jean looked like the shadow of death in Washington,but he had no idea the end would come so soon. “I don’t know why everyone made such a monster of Jean Harlow. She was a kind and amusing child.”
Personal Property was not a good movie, but the Harlow-Taylor billing made it a hit. Mayer’s fear about Taylor’simage was beginning to grow. Several fan letters were brought to his attentionand he knew he would have to execute his plan very soon:

To whom it may concern at MGM:
Why not give the Bob Taylor fans a break? Now, for instance, in that scene in Personal Property, where the thrilling heart throb of millions of American Women sat serenely in the bath tub! Just think of how much nicer it would have been if Bob would have been taking a shower with that handsome head thrust out of the top of the curtains and his shapely (I hope) legs peeking at us from underneath?
I held my breath hoping he would show his legs at sometime or other, but he did not. I would like to know just why we are deprived of seeing those two very important features. Maybe it is for the best, though, as they might not be so perfect as he, and I will never admire a man with bowed legs.
I lost interest in Warren Williams after seeing him running around in a pair of shorts and maybe it would be that way with Bob! I will continue to see all the Taylor pictures hoping some day to see him in trunks!
Another letter came from a gentleman who said he was one of the “sufferers fromTaylor-itis”:
Dear Robert Taylor:
Who controls your publicity? Why so much emphasis on romance? Every picture we see of you shows Barbara Stanwyck. The rest show you in the company of prominent people—Hollywood and otherwise. We know they are trying to build you up into the great “luvver,” but it is tiresome to see nothing but Bob and Barbara hitting the high-spots. Why don’t they get married?
In other words, we are getting tired of this Bob and girl hooey. Loosen up! Let a few pictures at least show Robert Taylor as he is, not Taylor, the ladies’ man,Prove to us you are a real guy and that there is something in your life besides dames. We know there is, so why not let us know about it?

Mayer told his staff to keep Taylor’s fan mail from him for the time being. “He wants two things—a solid manly role and to marry Stanwyck, but he can’t have either right now. Arrange a meeting with Twentieth Century immediately!”
He arranged for Taylor to co-star with Barbara Stanwyck in This Is My Affair, a sensational title considering the circumstances. The public was anxious to see the two unmarried lovers having “an affair” on the screen, but they were disappointed. It was far from a romantic movie, rather the story about a government undercover agent(Taylor) who tries to crush a wave of bank robberies in the Middle West during Theodore Roosevelt’s Presidency.
One critic wrote, “It is impossible to disguise Mr. Taylor, even though he assumes a hero’s stature and his a ‘reservation’ in Arlington Cemetery. Mr. Taylor is still Mr. Taylor.
“He did, however, make love to Miss Stanwyc persuasively.”
Like mosquitoes on a hot summer night, the buggy reporters bit into their “Crown Prince of Charm” constantly:
“Mr.Taylor, do you think you are beautiful?”
“Really,”he said, gritting his teeth, “do you expect a man to answer a question like that?”
“What would you prefer to be then, Mr. Taylor?”
“Just Robert Taylor, a guy with a job in the movies!”
“Mr.Taylor, what about . . . ”
“Ask me anything except about Miss Stanwyck and about the hair on my chest!”
“C’mon,Bob, are you beautiful?”
“Can’t you understand I object to people making remarks like that? It’s sarcastic. If you said I was a lousy actor, I’d feel better.”
“Mr.Taylor, why is it you never take a vacation?”
“Hell,why should I? I like my work.”

Ruth read the interview and told her son it was no sin to be beautiful so why not admit to it? But he calmly explained to her that those reporters were trying to pick a fight, to get him mad enough to say things he’d be sorry for. “Besides, a manis considered handsome, not beautiful. . . .”
Ruth mentioned Valentino and how he had used his good looks. Everyone adored his because he acted as if he were proud of his face.
“I’m no Valentino!” But she disagreed saying that he, Robert Taylor, was better looking and it was about time he began to realize it. Then she asked him why he didn’t hold a press conference about the Barbara Stanwyck nonsense.
“I’ not allowed to hold press of conferences, Mother.”
“Then ask that nice Mr. Mayer to meet with the reporters with you and let him do all the talking. He’ll tell them once and for all you are not going to marry anyone right now.”
“That nice Mr. Mayer would give me a good swift kick in the ass if I asked him to do such a thing . . .”

Ruth scolded him about using vulgar language in a God-fearing house, and asked what had happened to his excellent vocabulary. “Hind-end would have been more appropriate!”
Taylor did go to Mayer, however. It would be impossible for him to take much more abuse from the press. Would MGM please try to eliminate any publicity that made him a laughingstock?
“We’ll do our best, Bob. Now you know damn well I wouldn't do anything to hurt you. Why, I've spent thousands of dollars to make you a star. I won’t let you down now. Be patient.”
“Yes, sir. . . I’ll try. . . .”
“I think you’ll do better than that, am I right?”
“Yes,sir!”
Headlines—Oklahoma City, August, 1937
BOB TAYLOR’S KISS NO THERILLTO HER
Robert Taylor sleeps with his mouth open and snores! Ruth Robinson, a reporter on orders from her city editor, kissed the actor on a flight to Kansas City—“This hurts me worse than it does you,” she told Taylor. He yelped, dodged and tried to escape when Miss Robinson leaped into his lap.
She also kissed him as he slept. That, however, was before his mouth dropped open andbegan to snore! (Ruth Robinson, Oklahoma City News, August 19, 1937.)

Taylor flipped! His rage turned into depression. He was disappointed in Mayer. Miss Robinson was only one reporter and from Oklahoma City, no less. Yet her story appeared in every major newspaper in the country.
“Things are getting a little tough when a guy can’t fall asleep on an airplane without being attacked!”
Mayerlaughed and explained that his publicity department could not control the press entirely. He reminded Bob that with or without MGM, he was still a popular Hollywood star, and if his publicity crew did not release another word about him, he would still be written up almost everyday in some newspaper.

Taylor always described Mayer as father,kind, protective and above all, understanding. “Some said he was cruel. Don’t know, but he surely knew how to handle me, and most important he knew my abilities better than I did and assigned me to the level of my talent.”
He put Taylor in Broadway Melody of 1938 (released in 1937) with Eleanor Powell, Buddy Ebsen, Judy Garland and George Murphy, and immediately followed up with Lest We Forget, a Will Rogers Memorial.
Then Mayer kept his promise. His timing was just in time.

MGM announced that Robert Taylor was through with tender roles and he was going to prove himself without “any dames around.”
They scheduled him for A Yank at Oxford, to be filmed in England.

Chapter 5
Taylor’s second trip to New York on his way to Europe was a mass of confusion.Multitudes of women, camped out with food, blankets and small valises, greeted him at Grand Central Station. As they waited for his arrival on the curbs surrounding the terminal, their vigil was knows as The Robert Taylor Picnic.
As he tried to make his way to his hotel from the station, women and children leaped on his car. One young boy got his foot caught between the spare tire and the bumper. Taylor looked around and saw the boy being dragged down the street, begging for help.
Taylor stopped the car and with the aid of the driver, they got the boy free. He wasn’t injured and after Taylor looked him over, he yelled, “You damn kids! And I thought those girls were nuts. I don’t know whether to worry about idiots like you getting hurt or worry about myself getting killed!

“It’snot worth it, fella—not just to see me . . .”
It took him over an hour to get through the lobby of his hotel and up to his suite. He had lost his tie, as usual, but this time he had no buttons on his suit, was minus his pockets and one sleeve was hanging by a thread.
A young energetic Chinese girl climbed thirty-eight flights of stairs to his room, but when she was spotted the police grabbed her by the arm to escort her out of the hotel. Taylor intervened and invited her into his room for tea.
Taylor’s being in New York caused many disturbances and he was lucky to go to the bathroom without someone peeking. In fact his fans actually did wait in the men’s room if he was anywhere nearby and before he was able to relieve himself police had to search the washrooms.

Whatever he went the taxi or limousine had to drive up on the sidewalk and park as close to the entrance as possible. One time 1,000 fans were waiting for him at Loew’s State Theatre Building, and though he had only two feet to walk to the door, he was hoisted in the air until the police rescued him. When he left he was told the crowd had doubled and he would have to leave via the fire escape. Some fans had taken off his shoes. “And if you think it’s easy going down a fire escape without any shoes on, you’re nuts!”
In the same building where he was doing a series of radio shows he was trapped on the seventeenth floor because of the crowds of people in the street. He took one look out of the window and said, “God damn, what I need is a parachute!” Instead it was decided that he walk down the seventeen floors and escape through the service entrance.
He started down the steps but found them lined with women and was obliged to sign autographs as he made his way down the seventeen flights of stairs. (“It was then I was convinced I wasn’t safe anywhere—20,000 feet in the air on a plane or seventeen flights above the street. . . .”)

Girls sat outside his hotel with sandwiches and knitting needles, but the worst event of the few days he had in New York was when he was leaving his hotel. From nowhere a mob of women appeared and came at him like abunch of cannibals!
He was helpless. They tore off his clothes and he ran back into the elevator with his shorts, undershirt and socks. How they managed to get his shoes was always a mystery to him.
The day he sailed for England he found two young girls under the bed in his stateroom. Twelve women fainted and the departure of the Berengaria was delayed for over an hour.
“PUBLIC HEART THROB SAILS TODAY”
“DOZEN GIRLS COLLAPSE AS TAYLOR SAILS”
“TWO BRONX GIRLS FOUND UNDER TAYLOR’S BRD”
“DON’T CRY GIRLS. HE’LL BE BACK!”