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you do deliberately. I know myself so well that I soon caught myself doing this, and reflected, “Why you, stop this selfpity, you bastard. You're doing this just to play games with yourself.” And then I was completely and utterly cured. But for a little while, I think my pride was hurt by the whole thing--Sylvia's too. Everybody talked about this great wonderful romance between the young publisher and the ravishing young star. There were articles in all the motion picture magazines. We were glamorized. And to have it end so quickly was embarrassing to both of us.
Did she feel that her career was most important?
Well, what really started the downward slant-- We were married in Phoenix, Arizona. I flew to Phoenix from New York, and she flew from Hollywood. That was our usual “50-50" arrangement. We were married by a supreme court judge named Phelps. He was in the middle of a murder case. We hadn't made any arrangements. This is the way our whole romance seemed to go. So I had to go down to the courthouse to dig up somebody to marry us. And I asked who was the head of the court there, and they told me his name, and I said, “Do you think he'd have time to do a little marriage ceremony?" They said, “Oh, he's in the middle of a murder case; you'll have to get somebody else.” I said, “That's too bad. Maybe he'll recommend somebody.” I said, “My name in Bennett Cerf and I'm marrying a girl named Sylvia Sidney.”
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