'Be A Trailer' Irene Dunne's Husband Says

 Some time ago Dr. Francis Griffin, Irene Dunne's husband, met Roy F. Priest, Ivy Baker Priest's husband, at a party. Priest asked Dr. Griffin how he was able to remain married to a successful career woman.

 "You have to be more or less of a trailer," said the doctor.

 "You're right," said Roy Priest. That's me. A trailer."

 Although the incident happened some years ago, Dr. Griffin still believes that if a marriage between a man and a career woman is to be a success, some one has to give in a little. In his case he gave up his own career as a successful New York dentist and retired in order to be with his wife in Hollywood.

 In the first interview he has given during the 31 years he has been married to Miss Dunne, Dr. Griffin said his wife's career paled his into insignificance.

 He added, 'And I've been insignificant ever since.'

 Actually, the doctor was being overly modest. After his retirement in 1938 he decided there was more to life than playing golf and he began to dabble in real estate and stocks and bonds.

 He has a suite of offices in Beverly Hills where he conducts his business affairs. He is on the board of directors of many banks and is a partner with other members of his family on the Griffin Equipment Co. manufacturers of diesel engines for heavy construction, and The Griffin Wellpoint Co., which makes equipment for draining water from subway constructions.

 Over the years Miss Dunne has remained active. Although she temporarily gave up her career to serve as an alternate United States representative to the United Nations General Assembly, she still appears on television occasionally. As a prominent Catholic and member of the Republican party she is active in politics as well as charities.

 "I'm behind her all the time in everything she does," Dr. Griffin said. "She co-operates with me as well and we both work together. Although we have our own careers out side the home, when we're home we hold close together."

 "We have a lovely home and home life. She has all the glamour in the family. I'm just an ordinary, struggling kind of successful business man."

 Back in 1924 when Dr. Griffin first met Miss Dunne at a party in New York the marriage never occured to either of them.

 "I was a practicing dentist with an office in the Lincoln Building opposite Grand Central Station," Dr. Griffin recalled.

 "After we decided to get married I was kind of opposed to Miss Dunne continuing her stage career. Also I didn't like the moral tone of show business.

 "Although she was a star I was never impressed with her talent. Then Ziegfeld signed her for 'Show Boat' and it looked like she was due for big things. Next came Hollywood and 'Cimarron.'  She was catapulted to the top.

 "Then I didn't feel I could ask her to drop her career. If she didn't have talent, I would have. I really didn't think marriage and the stage were compatible but we loved each other and we were both determined to make our marriage work."

 I order not to be excluded from his wife's professional life Dr. Griffin took over handling of all her affairs. When she went to Hollywood for movies he flew back and forth. Finally he began to spend more and more time on her affairs. In 1938 [sic] they moved to Hollywood.

 There were problems at first. In those days it was considered box-office death for a star to be married. The Griffins kept their marriage a secret as long as possible. When the news leaked out the Hollywood columnists kept hinting at breakup.

 "What they were actually hoping to do was break us up," Dr. Griffin said. "But in all our married life we never thought of separation. We thorougly understand each other and were a team when it came to handling a problem."

 "We figured we'd be in Hollywood only two years," Dr. Griffin said. "But I soon realized that Hollywood was going to be our home in the future. I either stayed out there to be with my wife or we wouldn't have much of a marriage."

 After a few months in Hollywood Dr. Griffin found Miss Dunne's business required more experience than he had so he turned management of her career over to an agent and took up golf. Within the year he was looking for a small business to invest in.

 "I never lost my identity - only some of my ego," the doctor said. "I stayed out of the limelight - but I was always able to take care of myself and my family." The Griffins have a daughter, Mary Frances, 22, who was married recently.

 What is Dr. Griffin's recipe for a successful marriage to a successful woman?

 "For one thing we've always been together," he said. "When she had to go on location for a film I arranged my schedule so I could go with her. When I had to go out of town she arranged her schedule so she could be with me."

 "We co-operate in everything. When it became a question of whose career was the most important we decided that both of us would work toward getting her to the top."

 "A successful marriage is a partnership with both partners working toward a common goal. I think a man married to a career woman in show business has to be convinced that his wife's talent is too strong to be dimmed or put out. Then, he can be just as proud of her success as she is and, inside he can take a bow himself for whatever help he's been. That is gratification enough."

(The Daily Boston Globe, April 27, 1958)