The Salina Journal from Salina, Kansas • Page 11

After Merle's new life is like fiction By NEW YORK "Once you've worked, you've always got it stuck in your craw," says glamourous Merle Oberon, the 62-year- old actress who's simultaneously making.a major comeback and divorcing husband No, 3, Bruno Pagliai, a Mexican multimillionaire. Couture-prone Merle is propelling herself out of the best dressed-beautiful people syndrome and into the celluloid spotlight with a million movie, "Interval," in which she stars with a handsome 37-year-old Dutch actor, Robert Wolders, a protege of Noel Coward. It's the story of a beautiful woman who falls in love with a man 20 years her junior. Somehow real life and the fictional story got blurred with Merle and Robert who, While filming in the Mayan ruins in Yucatan, decided to marry when the Pagliai divorce is final. Curly-haired Wolders, a virile cover- boy type with piercing eyes, has been quoted as saying he thinks of Merle as being 25.

Merle's comments on this and other marriages to producer Alexander Korda, film technician Lucien Ballard and, of course, Pagliai: "I don't like to live alone. I like to be looked after by a man. I'm very feminine that way. And I'm always drawn to the qualities of kindness, tenderness and intelligence." Previous liaisons all ended in divorce. Merle and Robert, however, plan to live happily ever after in her Malibu Beach home which is being redesigned and redecorated.

Although Merle didn't ask Pagliai for a financial settlement, he gave her their $2.5 million luxury estate in Acapulco which overlooks the bay from a choice 6-acre lot. The day before President Lyndon Johnson died he sent his baggage along for an extended stay there. "Choice ruby" "It's a choice ruby," says Merle about the famous Shangri-la where other close friends like the Ronald Reagans and Mrs. Armand Deutsch, whose husband is heir to the Sears', Roebuck chain, often hide away when life becomes oppressive. "Bruno knows that if someone wanted to kill me and not hang -they'd put me into the city for 2 weeks.

I'd just quietly die!" More seriously she comments on the magnanimous, gift from her about-to-be-ex: "You know divorce doesn't mean you stop loving the other person and vice versa." Tears nearly flow but don't. The question of the hour is, of course, why .3, Luis the California designer, Oberon's onstage- oi'fstage wardrobe. Here, Merle is Merle and leading man with her future husband, actor Robert Wolders. who co-stars with her in the new movie, "Interval." Merle and Pagliai split. Ker fame as a leading socialite is a'significant achievement for girl called Estelle O'Brien who once was a waitress in London.

About the beginning of the end with Pagliai: "Everything I did made news and that, you see, wasn't really allowed. That's No. 1. Besides Pagliai was as busy as all high-powered, highly creative, goal-oriented husbands. There was little time for us to be together.

At breakfast I'd ask if he thought I should star in a picture or decorate a house. He'd pick the latter, of course. It would keep me busy for a while. Then the same question would pop up again when boredom set in with a vengeance." Apparently that did it. Enter Hollywood lawyer Greg Bautzer.

While in a state of prolonged, painful, pre- divorce ennui the "Interval" script was sent to Merle with a "must-read" note. She liked it very much but had already rejected 50 scripts because: "I'd rather be a forgotten actress than become a freak film." Friends, cognizant of her mounting restlessness, urged her to think it over. "I considered myself passe someone the world had passed by," she says unindulgently. "Then, suddenly, it seemed like the thing to do." Five Italian industrialists put money into the film. Merle matched their funds.

California designer Luis Estevez a long-time personal friend of Merle's created the clothes for her picture. Everyone, including a profferred steady encouragement. Finally, 1.49 each is all you pay for professional color portraits of your child. Select either large 5x7'; or set of 4 wallet size, from several poses. 2 children photographed each child All portraits delivered to you at our store Age limit: 12 years And we never charge for handling or delivery.

Pixy is available only through JCPenney. Shop Catalog JCPenney Salina, Kansas Open Sunday 1-5 P.M. Pixy Photographer will bt In our store Monday and Tuoiday, July 23 and 24th from 9:30 A.M. 12:00 from 1:00 P.M. 5:00 P.M.

IN OUR INFANTS DEPARTMENT. at the end of the filming, it was screened for Joseph E. Levine, who has since offered Merle the part of Mrs. Gandhi in an upcoming movie about Gandhi's life. "He said it could take off like 'Love says Merle.

"He took it at once. If one person most of all Levine had rejected the film, I'd have folded up." Stormy weather When Merle and Pagliai were married in 1957, they adopted 2 children a son, now 15, and a daughter, 14. All isn't smooth these days: "We have fights about the business of cleanliness," says Merle, who showers or bathes 3 times a day and is known for flawless grooming. "I argue that slovenly dress is an outer sign of an undisciplined mind. As humans we have the choice to be ugly, amoral or fat.

I would be totally demoralized if I let myself go." Merle, whose tinted mane flows to her derriere, says her hair used to cause controversy in the Pagliai clan. "Bruno wanted me to let it grow," she says. "But his sister- in-law was very angry at the rate with which it sprouted. She had been trying for long hair for years but had far less success." About her fabled agelessness and the fact that she wears and needs no other foundation than a body stocking: "Whenever I'm near water, I swim a lot. Exercise keeps physical deterioration at arm's length." The friendship with the Johnsons was firm: "Lyndon sent a plane to Acapulco to bring me to Austin for the opening of the LBJ Library," says Merle, who stayed at the ranch.

"Mrs. Johnson has a standing invitation to visit me in Acapulco." There were other other notable though earlier alliances. When Winston Churchill was Prime Minister, Lord Beaverbrook invited him to a a i i trip at Cap A i a Nice, France. Merle was invited to make it a threesome. "It was just us 3 painting on the seashore," says Merle, who took her first art lessons from Churchill.

"We painted the same scene," she says. "Mine was terrible. His later sold at a gallery in Monaco for $25,000." Pagliai, who owns Botticellis and El Grecos, once tried to buy that particular Churchill painting for Merle as a surprise gift. The owner wouldn't sell. But it's the memory of Churchill's dialogue on that occasion that lingers on: "He told me that the happy man is the man who loves his work," she says.

"It's the one clement of life that staves off staleness. I've always remembered that." Hudson-Richards reunion The annual Hudson-Richards reunion picnic will be July 29 with a 12:30 pm basket dinner in Lindsborg's South park. Classified ads get results Engagements Englund-Mog Mr. and Mrs. Vernon R.

Englund, Lindsborg, announce the engagement of their daughter, Cathy, to Seaman Apprentice Bryce R. Mog, son of Mr. and Mrs. John C. Mog, rural Ellsworth.

Miss Englund was graduated from Lindsborg high school and the Weaver Airline school, Kansas City, Mo. She also attended Marymount college. Her husband-to-be, a graduate of Ellsworth high school and the Automated Mac i a i i center, Kansas City, is serving with the U. S. Navy in Corpus Christi, Tex.

The marriage will be solemnized Sept. 8 at Salina's First Presbyterian Church. Leonhart-McQuillan Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur L.

Leonhart, Salina, announce the approaching marriage of their daughter, Patricia Colleen, to Ronald Lee McQuillan, son of Mrs. Sylvia McQuillan, Salina RFD 2, and Joe McQuillan, also of Salina. The bride-to-be attended Central high school. Her fiance was graduated from Central High and the Salina Area Vocational-Technical school. He works at Skelly Truck Plaza.

The couple will be married at 7:30 pm Aug. 10 at the First Free Will Baptist Church. Students win honors Several Saline countians have received scholastic honors at Kansas State Teachers college. Emporia. for the spring semester.

Laurel E. Wrigley. 2119 Wesley, has been named to the president's honor roll. Leann C. Weller, Gypsum, was named to the president's honor roll and the Top 10 students.

Salinans receiving honorable mention were Kathleen Egan. 151 Fairdale; John R. Ellison. 1908 Gebhart; Richard C. Gilbert, 2303 Wesley; Rodney D.

McAdams, 752 S. 5th: Carol A. Metzger, 2026 Roach, and Terry Toland, 908 Highland. Check before pulling NEW YORK (AP) If you plan to pull a trailer, camper or boat this summer, check your owner's manual or your dealer first, says the Modine Manufacturing Company, maker of automotive cooling systems. Many cooling systems are not designed for trailer towing applications and may require a larger radiator or transmission oil cooler.

A quick check now may prevent a several hundred dollar repair bill later this summer. Sunday, July Salina JourMl Page 11 We ctn't Mil you the Eiffel Tower but we may hive the you are looking for. Cill SILER AGENCY 249 S. Santa Fc 825-1551 Decorative and Useful Gifts! TEAPOTS CUPS FINE SADLER and ELLGREAVE TEA POTS CUPS Hand Decorated and Moderately Priced 5" 120 N. Santa Fe Deal Grosser Salina's Only Exclusive i Store Downtown Greeting Cards I Downtown Participating Merchant Tips for brides Attention, brides-to-be! A few tips will help the Woman's Department of The Journal handle your wedding reports more efficiently.

Type or print information as errors are prevalent when handwriting is difficult to read; whenever possible, use regular Journal wedding form rather than writing storj yourself; give husbands' first names when listing married women and widows; use rank for all servicemen in wedding party; indicate relationships, if any, and if picture is to follow, indicate on form. Pictures will not be accepted later than one week after the ceremony. Reports ceived after that time must be abbreviated sharply and cannot be published more than 2 weeks after the marriage. Unmistakably VALUES Patterns By VAIUSS Limit quantities-Ccme early while the supplies lost. Look for Super-manager Specials in each store.

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