I got my first job when I was 16 or 17 at the Fox Movie Theatre in Hanford, California. I hand-painted the big movie posters to advertise each new film.

In those days they didn’t have posters for movies because there were no printing presses large enough to print the big posters. So in the back room of the theatre, I had an office set up with a big drawing board. I painted the posters for all the movies.

I did Donald Duck standing by the chimney. That artwork was featured in the Hollywood industry magazine called Movie Theatre News.

I did one of WC Fields and Mae West. They were about 6 feet wide and 4 feet tall. I painted them, cut them out and stood them up.

We had a movie about a jailbreak, so I decorated the box office like a jail cell and put bars around it. I did lettering. I was a talented sign writer but I never saved any of the posters.

One time an elderly man from Oakland told me that he used to paint all the posters for the theatre there. He did them in oils and watercolor. He asked the new owner of the Fox Theatre if he wanted them. He painted portraits of Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe and others. Now they’re all framed and hanging on the wall. It made me wish that I had saved some of my old posters.


“JOAN CRAWFORD IS A PAIN IN THE NECK.”
(AND HOW WE BECAME FRIENDS)

(Note: Actress Joan Crawford was born in San Antonio, Texas, in 1904. Over a Hollywood career that spanned five decades, she made 106 movies. She died in 1977.)

My first impression was that Joan was a pain in the neck. There was no compatibility. It was my job to keep her happy.

When we got to Hawaii, Joan called me once raising hell about her suite. She was in the Imperial suite, so we switched her to the Presidential suite. No sooner than she got there, she called down and started complaining about that one, too. She called me three or four times complaining about things.

This is when we became really close friends. We were at a big Luau and I said: “let’s go down to the beach.”

Ten of us went to get out swimsuits on and headed down to the beach. On the way we passed a little theatre in the Hawaiian Village. There was a sign out in front advertising a popular Broadway play called “Two for the See-Saw.” I parted the curtains and there was a floor lamp with bare bulb, an old bed with a chenille bedspread and an old wooden dresser.

I said “Joan, come here a minute please.”

I pulled back the curtain. I said “Do you see that? If hear one more doggone complaint about your room, this is where you will spend the rest of your day.”

From that moment on, we became friends.


In 1953, I was in charge of the consumer products division at Kaiser. One of our main products was aluminum foil. Our advertising agency came up with the idea of a nation-wide cookout competition for men only. My rep at the agency and I traveled around to all the big food companies such as Kellogg and Heinz, and we sold them participation in this promotion.

Ford Worthing, a .good friend of mine and a PR guy, contacted Joan and asked her to come along. I met her at the Fairmont Hotel (San Francisco) for the first time. We didn’t pay her for this work.

To kick-off the contest we placed a full-page ad about this cookout for men only. Men sent in their recipes, and we judged them. Then we sent the 25 top winners and their wives went to Hawaii. Kaiser owned the Hawaiian Village, so that’s where we had it. I had 25 people on my crew. We had a press booth with typewriters and about 35 food editors.

At that time, Joan was about 15 years older than I was. I also met her daughter, Christina, when Joan was working in Hawaii. Christina was 13 or 14 years old. Their relationship seemed good.

I hosted the event in Hawaii every year for about six years. In later years we also had Lloyd Bridges, Debbie Reynolds, James Garner, and Stan Musial.



HAWAIIAN LUAU: JOAN CRAWFORD (PLUS LLOYD BRIDGES, DEBBIE REYNOLDS, JAMES GARNER AND STAN MUSIAL) JOIN GENE ROBERTSON TO PROMOTE KAISER ALUMINUM FOIL

In 1953, I was in charge of the consumer products division at Kaiser. One of our main products was aluminum foil.

Our advertising agency came up with the idea of a nation-wide cookout competition for men only. My rep at the agency and I traveled around to all the big food companies such as Kellogg and Heinz, and we sold them participation in this promotion.

Ford Worthing, a good friend of mine and a PR guy, contacted Joan and asked her to come along. I met her at the Fairmont Hotel (San Francisco) for the first time. We didn’t pay her for this work.

To kick-off the contest we placed a full-page ad about this cookout for men only. Men sent in their recipes, and we judged them. Then we sent the 25 top winners and their wives went to Hawaii. Kaiser owned the Hawaiian Village, so that’s where we had it. I had 25 people on my crew. We had a press booth with typewriters and about 35 food editors.

At that time, Joan was about 15 years older than I was. I also met her daughter, Christina, when Joan was working in Hawaii. Christina was 13 or 14 years old. Their relationship seemed good.

I hosted the event in Hawaii every year for about six years. In later years we also had Lloyd Bridges, Debbie Reynolds, James Garner, and Stan Musial.

JOAN AND GENE MAKE A CLEAN GETAWAY
FROM A CROWD OF FLASHBULB-POPPING PAPARAZZI


I never saw her drunk. She carried a flask of vodka. She would have a drink, but she was never drunk. She liked Smirnoff vodka, and would turn back anything else anybody would serve.

There was a VP at Pepsi Cola named John Bates, and he really liked Joan. He followed us all around to protect her, but she didn’t really care for him. She married the president of Pepsi Cola.

Once, we had a reservation for a group of about 80 people. Steve Allen was appearing at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco. Our whole group had a block of seats there. Outside thee were two limousines.

When the show was over, Joan Crawford said “I can’t stand any of this.”

I said “Let’s go.”

The president of Pepsi Cola, Joan and I tiptoed out and we got into one of these limos. Then one of our copywriters, a girl named Janie, got into the other limo.

A few minutes later, we heard these sirens blaring down Market Street. Police cars were everywhere. The police were escorting the wrong car. They didn’t know that Joan had gotten into the first car. We headed off to a bar by ourselves.



“I NEVER SLEPT WITH JOAN CRAWFORD, (BUT I KNOW WHO DID).”

There was chemistry but it wasn’t romantic. We didn’t share little secrets. Our relationship was purely professional. I never slept with Joan Crawford, but I’ll tell you who did though!

The security Chief at the Hawaiian Village!

They had a little thing going. He was a big Hawaiian guy, good looking and they hit it off.

I had access to her suite and I saw him coming in once, and I saw him leaving later. My job was to be sure that she was entertained and happy. We had to have her smiling all the time and happy posing for pictures, which she did.

Joan Crawford was a very strong woman, but I don’t know how she went as far as she did, but I’m sure she had her ways.

We stayed in touch until she died.


JOAN COMES-ON TO GENE, BUT IS REBUFFED

Joan came on to me once. She was warm and friendly. I was flattered, but I didn’t do anything about it. I was on the dance floor at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. If I had not been married, I might have been attracted to her. I was scrupulous about that. My conscience is clear.

I had two very good reasons. One was that I loved my wife and I would not cheat on her. The second reason was that I would have to like to bring Betty over there. But then we would have to bring 80 wives over. We couldn’t afford that, so I told Betty that was just the way it was.

The last time I saw Joan was probably on the way home from Hawaii. We were in Hawaii for whole week, then we all flew back home together. The last time I saw her was when we got off the airplane. She went on to NY; I got off in San Francisco.

I never lost contact with her. She died.


WHAT ABOUT THOSE 17 LETTERS JOAN WROTE
TO YOU BETWEEN 1960 AND 1974?

I would never part with the letters Joan snt to me. I consider her a good enough friend that I would not exploit her and sell her letters. I suspect they’re probably worth a lot of money. When I die you (Gene refers to his daughter, Penny) can have them. What you do with them is up to you.

I had this good friend, Ford Worthing. He was our PR guy. He sent the flowers and bourbon to Joan, but I was the one who got the thanks.

Joan made 106 movies.



TAKE A HINT, HELOISE:
HOW GENE ROBERTSON KICKED HELOISE’S A _ _

Note: The original Heloise was born Fort Worth, Texas in 1919. In 1962, she started a household advice column called “Hints from Heloise,” By 1964 it was appearing 593 newspapers. Heloise died in 1977. Her tombstone read, "Heloise, Every Housewife’s Friend."
I knew Heloise from “Hints from Heloise.” She had the greatest racket in the world. She had a household hints column, but she never gave any hints. She just printed what other people sent in and got paid for it.

We were in Hawaii and she came up to my suite and said: “I have a tremendous idea for you.”

I said that by company policy I can’t accept your idea without signing a release. She said I don’t have to give you a damned release. Then she got really abusive.

I told her: “If you say one more abusive word to me, I’m going to kick your ass”.

I literally pushed her out the door. She was drunk and abusive.