Spencer Tracy_ A Biography - James C. Curtis [130]
Cousin Jane, early on, could sense there was something amiss: “I remember very vividly going to the set with Carroll, meeting Loretta Young, having her send me back to the Riviera Country Club in her town car with her autographed picture. Later, she came and brought me a prayer book, which I think I still have.” The story broke wide open with Louella Parsons’ column of September 14: “Her dining tete-a-tete with Spencer Tracy, going to the movies with him, and forgetting all her other admirers has made Hollywood wonder about Loretta Young. The reason for this Tracy interest is given as a plan Miss Young and Mr. Tracy have to star in a stage play together this coming season. Mrs. Tracy insists that Spencer’s interest in Loretta has nothing to do with her separation from the actor. She and Spencer agreed to part long before he became interested in Loretta.”
Emotionally immature, her hormones at odds with her strict Catholic upbringing, Loretta Young was used to sending mixed signals to the opposite sex, aggressive with men but never quite knowing what to do about the fire once it had been lit. She told a fan magazine she had to feel a “romantic interest” in a leading man in order to give a sincere performance. “I’ve been in love at least 50 times,” she said blithely, frankly admitting she used the word “love” much too lightly. “Spencer heard of that one quote,” she later said, “and remarked that he hoped he wasn’t just Number Fifty-One in the long line.”
They kept a low profile at first, spending a lot of time with the Jo Swerlings and frequenting little restaurants like the Thistle Inn on San Vincente, where they were unlikely to be seen. “I remember Carroll really shadowing me, shadowing us all, when we went to the set,” Jane said, “and when there was a break he’d say, ‘Let’s go have a milk shake.’ The four of us. Loretta Young said, ‘Are you going to pay, or is Carl [meaning Carroll] going to pay?’ And [Spencer] said, ‘Carl’s going to pay.’ She constantly called him ‘Carl’ and I was a little put off by that. I know afterwards, as I grew older, that Mother and Aunt Carrie had lengthy discussions about it and what they were going to do, and Aunt Carrie would cry a lot.” The couple grew bolder, and Loretta wound up spending most Sundays watching Spence on the polo field. One day Johnny came with him and she found him charming. When Johnny turned away, she saw how Spence would stamp the ground twice with his foot to get his attention. “I have never known a man with as much gentleness,” she said.
Predictably, the relationship ate at him, as did all his infidelities. The mortal sin of adultery had brought him the burden of a deaf child, a responsibility he was ill-equipped to carry on his own, one he could manage only with the help and support of his wife. It was as if God had placed upon him something that could only be endured within the sacrament of marriage, a strengthening rather than a weakening of the bond between them. But as a sexual being, one for whom the potential for sin was ever-present, he also subscribed to the notion that denial equals permission, that Louise’s tacit approval was part and parcel of the distance she placed between them. Madge Evans admitted to having been involved with him at one point, presumably during their time out of town together in Dread. Bette Davis, though newly married, took note of the spark between them. Joan Bennett was seemingly available, but broke her hip before things could get very far. (He told Loretta how astonished he had been to see Joan’s leg sticking out from under the covers of her hospital bed and observing that there was polish on her toenails.) He talked about other actresses,