Stardust (The Starlight Trilogy #3)

by Alexandra Richland

  Marcia nodded. “You definitely do. My favorite movie is Golden Gloves. You and Aidan Evans have such great chemistry. No wonder you’ve been married for so long.”

  Beth’s smile widened. “I’ll make sure to tell him that. He’ll be flattered to know people still enjoy his earlier work.”

  “Mr. Evans is a terrific actor and the original rebel. He truly paved the way for Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, Robert Redford…This list is endless.”

  Beth laughed. “Aidan has always been a rule breaker. That’s for sure.”

  Marcia removed a pen and notebook from her purse. “Do you mind if I get your autograph?”

  “Not at all.”

  While Sam waited patiently, Beth wrote a personalized note to Marcia and signed it. Legally, since April 1955, she was known as Elizabeth Evans to friends and family. Professionally, she still went by Elizabeth Sutton. Marie Bates would always be a part of her, too, though she dropped the name long ago.

  Beth handed over her autograph. With a parting wave, Marcia continued down the street.

  A doting twinkle danced in Sam’s eyes. “That was very nice of you. Not many people are so gracious to their fans.”

  Beth shrugged. “If not for them, I wouldn’t be in the position I’m in today. I never forget that.”

  Once she was settled in the backseat, Sam shut the door and sat behind the wheel. As usual, traffic was dreadful, but Beth wasn’t in a rush.

  With the fall season officially settling into Manhattan, and Halloween approaching, residences and storefronts were decorated accordingly. Even after all this time, she adored New York—the energy, the culture, but most of all, the places in the city that held her favorite memories.

  They passed the Marriott Hotel, which had been built after the Astor Theater was demolished in 1982, twenty-nine years after it premiered Sparkling Meadow, the film in which she played an innocent, young farm girl. Hollywood didn’t make many motion pictures like that anymore. Nowadays, grittier films dominated the box office. It was a trend that began in the 1960s—a decade, in her personal experience, that had seen the greatest change.

  The 1960s started with The Beatles singing songs with innocent titles like, “I Want To Hold Your Hand”. By the latter part of the decade, sex, drugs, and edgier rock and roll reigned supreme. Artists were creating music beyond what anyone had experimented with previously, resulting in some of the most exciting songs in history. The end of the space race in July 1969 also forever changed people’s perceptions of what was possible. Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon proved that mankind’s potential wasn’t limited to the sky, but the infinite space beyond.

  Clarke Gable died in 1960, and Marilyn Monroe in 1962, taking with them much of the glamour of past eras. The assassinations of President John Kennedy in 1963, followed by the Martin Luther King Junior and Robert Kennedy in 1968 further challenged the American dream. The Vietnam War divided Americans politically, and the hippy movement escalated, celebrated by countercultural events like Woodstock in 1969.

  Hollywood changed as well, following the shift in culture. After the shocking and horrific Tate-LaBianca murders in 1969, celebrities no longer felt safe. Although Beth and Aidan hadn’t lived in Los Angeles in years, they felt the effects when they traveled there for business. When they resided in L.A., most celebrities lived in houses lined along the street with their front doors easily accessible from the sidewalk, and they rarely worried about an invasion of privacy. Celebrity homes bus and trolley tours existed then, too, but the organizers and tourists were always respectful. Unfortunately, the entertainment industry was no longer a close-knit community in L.A. Celebrities lived in mansions surrounded by high hedges, stone walls, or wooden fences, guarded by security teams, hiding from photographers, and sadly, their fans. The newer, rabid style of journalism out there today also contributed to the need for seclusion. Since the fall of the studio system, it became popular to expose the darkest secrets of celebrities. As a result, the press’s tactics grew more aggressive.

  Beth and Aidan lived low-key lifestyles void of gossip-worthy stories, despite their popularity and success, but many others suffered greatly from these so-called exposés. It began with Confidential Magazine in the 1950s and worsened during the hunt for photographs of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Now there were dozens of tabloids competing for the most revealing stories and pictures.

  Politics merged with the entertainment industry in recent decades as well. The Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Liberation Movement, and the election of former Starlight Studios contract star, Ronald Reagan, as President of the United States in 1981 were some examples. But the ultimate illustration of this merger was former President John Kennedy.

  It didn’t matter what type of man President Kennedy really was, only what he displayed to the public. Additionally, people sensed a change on the horizon in the early 1960s and felt apprehensive about it. They needed a leader to whom they could turn for reassurance, and they believed the affluent Senator from Massachusetts with polished good looks was the ideal man for the job.

  President Kennedy’s untimely death marked an end of a magical era, whose slow demise began with the fall of the fantasy, illusory world of Mr. Mertz’s studio system years earlier. After his assassination, President Kennedy achieved popularity of mammoth proportions, much like that of celebrities who passed away before their time. The question of what could have been was the mystery that fueled this exaltation. Because of the unknown—what great things President Kennedy might have accomplished for the country had he lived—the American people admired him more than they probably should.

  Elia Kazan wrote the following after President Kennedy’s assassination:

  One look at Jack told me he was an actor, too. He understood our way of life, shared our values, our morality. He was one of us. He even possessed the poise that an actor needs to carry a play, as well as that old leading man quality, dash.

  Like those fellows who walk into Sardi’s and make every head turn, he enjoyed the adulation showered on him. He enjoyed being who he was. And now he is dead. A miserable, jealous little extra killed our leading man.

  The Bay of Pigs? Forgotten.

  Khrushchev and Vienna? So what?

  Not since President Roosevelt’s death had there been such a catastrophic blow to the show people.

  President Kennedy’s assassination changed the country drastically and left people feeling hopeless and adrift. It wasn’t just the death of a handsome, charming person who possessed leading man qualities with which Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon could never compete that affected the American people so much, but the loss of all he represented.

  The American public related to President Kennedy. Yet at the same time, they thought he was above them. It was the ideal balance for a leader to possess, similar to what people admired about their favorite movie stars.

  From her years in the entertainment industry, Beth had learned that the formula for success depended on performers’ abilities to display both perfection and vulnerability to their audience. These qualities gave people hope. Politicians—any public figure, for that matter—were no exception.

  In some ways, Beth missed the days when movie stars were enigmas who provided the public an escape from everyday life. She didn’t prefer studio contracts and Luther Mertz’s reign, but she did prefer the type of films they made compared to now. Anyone could watch the less desirable aspects of real life on the nightly news. The cinema was supposed to be full of fantasy and fun. Yes, Starlight Studios had made many excellent, dramatic motion pictures as well, but a line was drawn to ensure the storylines weren’t too graphic.

  Magic and intrigue were missing in public figures and films today. Now society wanted scandals and exposed truths. Why would people want to take away the one piece of innocence they could always rely upon in trying times, those that brought them so much joy and awe in their youth—the idyllic paradises shown in motion pictures? Why did they now want violence, c
orruption, and deceit in films when it existed so prevalently in real life?

  Then again, perhaps the perfect public images created by the Starlight Studios system contributed to actors like Marilyn Monroe succumbing to the perils of alcohol and substance abuse. Many performers upheld their façades when all they wanted was to reveal their true selves and have people love them for who they really were.

  Beth was fortunate. Under contract, she was able to remain true to herself because it coincided with Mr. Mertz’s plan for her as his star. If she had been made to adhere to an image that was unlike her real personality, maybe she would’ve met the same fate as many of her colleagues. Maybe then she’d have a different opinion on the matter entirely. Either way, they could not go back. As a society, they had seen too many truths—they knew too much—and the pubic still craved more.

  And now Beth was days away from the release of her autobiography, about to provide intimate—albeit limited—details of her personal and professional lives to strangers. The irony was not lost on her.

  While Beth and Aidan continued to live in New York City, they kept in touch with their friends from Hollywood. Directors Preston Adams and Alistair Graves retired after long, successful careers and were still living in L.A. Elia Kazan lived in Manhattan with his third wife, Frances, whom he married in 1982. Molly Kazan died unexpectedly at the age of fifty-six from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1968, and Barbara, his second wife, passed away from breast cancer in 1980. Mr. Kazan retired from directing in the late 1970s and now spent his days writing. He also considered penning his autobiography. Beth offered encouragement on the subject, given her own positive experience.

  Jack Peters and Ryan Sawyer were no longer a couple. In the late 1950s, Ryan was encouraged to marry his agent’s secretary, much like Rock Hudson’s façade, to strengthen his manly image. The engagement was arranged after a rumor about Jack and Ryan began floating around the industry. Ryan panicked and ended their relationship immediately, scared of what would happen to his career if the truth were confirmed. The secretary, Laura, divorced him after three years of marriage. Beth last heard that Ryan had purchased a ranch in North Dakota, where he now spent his days alone, tending to his horses.

  Jack left the film industry in the late 1970s after his newly diagnosed arthritis made it difficult for him to dance. His breakup with Ryan had devastated him, but fortunately, he met and fell in love with another man, Jonathan, with whom he currently shared a home in Santa Barbara.

  Beth’s former costar, William Everett, married four times and fathered two children, both of whom were not conceived with his wives. His popularity dipped in the 1960s and 1970s, but given his persistence and his penchant to take any acting gig offered to him, he always managed to stay in the limelight.

  Luck struck in 1982 when Will landed the lead in a new series, Mason, launched on a major television network. With his deeply tanned skin, polished veneers, toupee, and newly lifted face, he was now the highest paid actor on the small screen. Mason featured a wealthy Los Angeles private detective named Chase Mason, who lived a glamorous life, wore flashy gold jewelry, and managed to catch all the bad guys by the end of every hour-long episode without creasing his silk suit, scuffing his shiny dress shoes, or having one lock of hair fall out of place. Each episode ended the same way, with Detective Mason celebrating his victory amongst a bevy of scantily clad beauties at his beach house and drinking champagne.

  Beth had seen Will many times over the years. He still lived in Beverly Hills, and as usual, always had some younger busty pinup on his arm. Although the world had seen many shifts over time, some things never changed. She was glad he was doing so well.

  Wade Henley achieved moderate success following his role as Sal in Golden Gloves, but a few years later, he decided to leave the movie industry to pursue a career in real estate. He currently operated out of a beachside office in Malibu. He was the father of three boys and married to a cosmetician he met on the set of his final film.

  Beth’s childhood friend from Clarkson, Emma Russell, was still happily married to Neil. When Neil’s father passed away unexpectedly in 1956, Neil took over the family’s furniture business and expanded the company into a popular local chain. He established new headquarters in Portland, where they resided presently. Despite their initial difficulties, Emma and Neil became parents to two beautiful girls, Teresa and Heather, both of whom became teachers like their mother. Beth corresponded with Emma through monthly letters, and they saw each other once a year.

  Luther Jensen Mertz died of a heart attack in 1971 while his wife tended to their backyard garden. Mrs. Mertz found her husband sprawled out in his favorite leather chair in their living room with a glass of scotch on the table next to him and his pipe on the floor, burning a hole in their expensive Turkish rug.

  The obituaries called Mr. Mertz a movie mogul and pioneer, and that was by all means true. An impoverished Polish-Jewish immigrant, he arrived in America in the 1910s and managed to create a successful motion picture studio from nothing and make thousands of films now considered classics. Given that Beth chose to omit why she despised him in her memoir, she had no choice but to accept the public’s high opinion of him. But she would never forget the man he truly was behind closed doors: a callous, corrupt tyrant.

  Sam pulled up in front of Beth’s apartment building near the intersection of Central Park West and West Seventy-Second Street and opened her door. After bidding him farewell, she entered the building. Beth and Aidan had lived in the same apartment since the summer of 1954 and had never considered selling. Nowhere else would feel like home.

  When Beth exited the elevator on the top floor, a familiar melody greeted her in the corridor. She blushed like a young woman on her first date as she entered the apartment and hung her coat in the foyer closet. Humming along with the song Aidan wrote for her years ago, she traveled to the parlor but stopped just outside the door. He played so beautifully she didn’t want to interrupt him.

  She took a detour into the library and approached the fireplace mantel to admire her favorite photograph from their wedding on April sixteenth, 1955. The ceremony was a quaint gathering in Manhattan, with only their dearest friends and her parents present. Beth wore a lace gown, designed by Olivia, while Aidan wore a black tuxedo. She’d never forget his tears as she joined him at the altar and they exchanged custom-made rings and personalized vows. It was one of the greatest moments of her life.

  Another photograph showed Beth dancing with her father during the reception. Her parents still lived in Clarkson and were in optimal health. She visited them regularly and they often visited her as well.

  The photograph from Beth’s first date with Aidan was next on the mantel. She brushed her fingertips to the glass. Memories of their time at the Bethesda Fountain and the Waldorf Astoria mingled with the notes Aidan played in the parlor.

  There was also a photograph of Aidan’s mother, Catherine Evans. Encompassed by an antique gold frame and protected by glass, Catherine looked like a movie star posing for a professional portrait with her broad smile and eyes full of both tenderness and mystery. She reminded Beth so much of Aidan.

  Aidan never resolved his feud with his father. After Graham Evans’ death in 1974, his widow, Betty, sorted through his belongings and discovered this photograph of Catherine and others of Catherine and Aidan together locked in his office desk. She mailed them to Aidan right away. At that time, Aidan hadn’t seen his mother’s face in over three decades. When he received the photographs, he wept, but he also seemed at peace.

  Presently, Betty lived in Sarasota, Florida. Since his father’s death, Aidan wrote her every month, and in each correspondence, he included a check. Betty never cashed them, but he continued to send them anyway. The money was Aidan’s attempt to make up for his inability to provide her with the stepmother/stepson relationship she wanted and deserved. Although he liked Betty and had forgiven her for the affair, she was connected to a negative time in his life that he didn’t want to revisit.r />
  As Aidan ushered the song into the third verse, Beth walked to the oak hunch embedded in the wall, surrounded by books. She admired the music box Aidan gave her for her nineteenth birthday at the end of their first date in New York. There was also a collection of photographs of their children taken over the years.

  Hannah Catherine Evans was born February seventh, 1959, and Nicholas John Evans arrived on March fifteenth, 1962. Neither Hannah nor Nicholas ever showed an interest in acting as a profession. Beth and Aidan never pushed them either way, preferring them to explore all types of hobbies while growing up and follow their own paths.

  Like her father, Hannah had high cheekbones and green eyes so vibrant she was often asked if she wore contacts, while her full lips, narrow nose, and dark brown hair resembled her mother’s features. Poetry, painting, and music were her passions. She had learned piano from Aidan and had also taken up the violin and flute in her youth. Currently, she worked as a music teacher at an all-girls private school uptown.

  While Hannah was an extrovert who poured her energy into the arts, Nicholas was far more reserved and had an interest in technical knowledge and mathematics. He took guitar lessons during his Joe Strummer phase in the late 1970s but never stuck with it. Like Beth, he wasn’t musically inclined.

  During his teenage years, Nicholas exhibited a lot of his father’s rebellious tendencies, including talking back to his teachers and a penchant for fast driving. When it became clear that Nicholas could not be deterred from racing altogether, Aidan enrolled him in professional lessons to allow him to hone his skills safely and limit his daredevil driving to the racetrack.

  Thankfully, in his senior year of high school, Nicholas settled down and got serious about his studies, though he and Aidan still raced each other for fun at a track outside the city. Twenty-three years old now, he lived in an apartment near Union Square and studied architecture at New York University.

  Beth took only five months off work after each child was born. She loved her family, but being a stay-at-home mother and housewife didn’t appeal to her. It was the reason she had left Clarkson to begin with. Instead, she strived for the best of both the personal and professional worlds. Typically, when Hannah and Nicholas were younger, she and Aidan accepted jobs away from home only if they could take the children with them. When the children were in school, this meant during summer breaks. When that wasn’t possible, one of them stayed home while the other filmed on location.