Franchot Tone's Advice to His Bride

In a 1942 article in Hollywood magazine, Franchot gave advice to his wife, Jean Wallace, whom he called "eager, alert, intelligent, and suggestible." Here are husbandly words of wisdom from "Old Doc Tone":

Mathematically I'm old enough to be Jean's father. But by good fortune it turned out that someone else was, making it legal for me to marry her. Being an old graybeard has its advantages, not the least of which is that youngsters listen respectfully to old folks' advice.

If Jean is wise (who wants wisdom in an eighteen-year-old?), she will heed the warning of Old Doc Tone and adopt the standard Hollywood attitude about her career. If I were wise I'd do the same myself, but you can't teach an old hound new tricks, so I suppose I'm beyond redemption.

Jean is going into pictures with her eyes open. Despite her actuarial youth, she has been around long enough to understand some of the values of show business, as what Earl Carroll girl doesn't? She's no baby, regardless of the clever remarks the columnists made when we were married. 

Being an American, I recognize that a mere husband has only a still, small voice in household affairs. But with what authority I can muster I am going to advise Mrs. Tone about getting a fixed habitat and making it the center of her existence. In Hollywood it's fashionable to have a new address every year. This is the bunk. My family, which is as solid as Plymouth Rock, has lived in the same house for fifty years and altered it only when such new-fangled devices as air-conditioning popped up to make family life more comfortable.

I am going to suggest that as soon as we move out of the house we rented from Hedy Lamarr, my bride find some staid and substantial manor house that we can live in comfortably forever. My idea now is to settle down in a genuinely permanent abode that will be known to the grandsons of today's college boys as "The Tone place," a landmark around the countryside and a symbol of solidity and stability. 

Franchot ends with a final bit of advice to Jean:

Stay sweet as you are. 

Source: Underhill, Duncan. "Franchot Tone's Advice to His Bride." Hollywood. Jan-Dec 1942. 30, 37.