needs good looks?"
By RAHNA MAUGHAN

Certainly not the human dynamo named Cassavetes, who "only" has genuine talent, enthusiasm and drive to burn

Though Mike Todd wasn't handing out jobs the day John Cassavetes walked into his office, he was giving advice.
"In order to be a success in this business," Todd cautioned the young actor, "you've got to know more than anyone else."
Well sir, Cassavetes hasn't been the same since. He cherished those kindly words and applied himself to the Herculean task. Spending about 16 hours a day learning every angle there is to know about show business, he's managed to do himself and adviser Todd proud. In the last four years, Cassavetes has accounted for about 90 television roles and four pictures: "The Night Holds Terror," "Crime In The Streets," "Edge Of The City," and "Fever Tree." Most of his work had the critics doing handsprings. Sandwiched between all this expolsive activity, he's also found time to start a new actors' workshop called Shadows, Inc.

"HOME," explains John, here with actress-wife Gena Rowlands, "is the place where a man can let down the guard on his weakness."

"You really should have called to remind him you'd be here at 12:30. John has so many things on his mind, sometimes he's inclined to be forgetful. If his wife didn't lay out clothes for him. . . ." McEndree shrugged off the rest.
One of the things Cassavetes might have had on his mind right around then could very easily have been the long-term contract he recently signed with MGM. In his first picture, "Three Guns," he'll be a sort of Western delinquent, playing Robert Taylor's hot-headed kid brother.
When the red-hot item finally catapulted into the office, an hour and a half late, McEndree and Burt Lane, Cassavetes partner in Shadows, Inc., had done a complete job of spreading the happy word which had marinated with their tour of the little theatre, and introducing the case— no one looked older than about 20— of the experimental picture Cassavetes is try-
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"I come equipped with all this energy," Cassavetes will admit with a large hint of pride. "It's the trend these days to worry about overdoing. Take it easy! Relax! Count to ten! I can't be bothered with all that nonsense. There's never been anything wrong with me that work wouldn't cure."
At 27, in thriving health, the lean, dark Cassavetes has every reason to be impatient. He thinks he knows what's wrong with entertainment in general, and if it were up to him, another day won't go by before some radical changes are made. He refuses to believe people deliberately turn on a television set, or go to the movies to see a bad show.
While we had been waiting for Cassavetes to appear in the small high-ceilinged business office painted a dull, uninspired brown, Maurice McEndree, Shadows, Inc. producer, explained Cassavetes has an amazing effect on everyone he meets. Like a twister, he picks everything up in his path and sweeps it away with him. "He has so much genuine talen, enthusiasm and drive." McEndree looked at his watch, shook his head.