Fantasy on the Black Island

Fifty miles off the north coast of Sicily, the dying volcano of Stromboli juts 3,000 feet out of the tepid Tyrrhenian. Italians call its five square miles l'isola nera (the black island), remember that in ancient days its crater was known as the gateway to purgatory.

On Stromboli last week a blonde woman, whose proud, luminous face is known to millions, paced the ashen slopes. Cinemactress Ingrid Bergman, 34, dressed in a sweater, slacks and rope-soled shoes, was trying to work out a personal problem.

Ingrid Bergman, wife of Dr. Peter Lindstrom, neurosurgeon, has a ten-year-old daughter and a pleasant Hollywood home. She has also had a smashingly successful career. But her last two movies (Arch of Triumph, Joan of Arc) did not measure up to her own standards of art. "I am willing to break my neck," she told a reporter, "to do something new." After she had seen the Italian-made prizewinning movies, Open City and Paisan, she wrote Director Roberto Rossellini: "If you ever need an actress with a Swedish accent, just call on me."

Red Rose & Pink Stucco. Four months ago, Rossellini arrived in Hollywood and called on the Lindstroms. Husband Peter, who took a liking to the visitor, urged Ingrid to accept Rossellini's invitation to make a picture on Stromboli. Roberto, a balding, middle-aged (43) man with an estranged wife and a five-year-old son, joyfully hurried home. In preparation for the arrival of his famous star, it was reported, he took a course of reducing baths.

In March, when Ingrid arrived in Rome, she moved into a hotel suite adjoining Rossellini's. On the way to Stromboli they visited Capri. In the ruins of a Greek temple at Paestum, Roberto plucked her a red rose from the ancient briars. In Stromboli, after settling down in a four-room, pink stucco bungalow with Roberto's sister and Ingrid's secretary, the director and his star tramped the black island hand in hand.

Beauty & Clarification. Gossip columnists from Paris to Los Angeles chattered excitedly. Would Ingrid get a divorce? A newsman who asked her point-blank if it was love quoted her as saying: "We have wanted to keep it quiet . . ."

Last week, in the midst of all the hubbub, Dr. Peter Lindstrom landed at Rome's Ciampino airport. He met his wife and Rossellini in Messina's shabby-best Hotel Reale, and the three talked far into the night. Next day, "for the protection of my family," Ingrid issued a statement: "I have met my husband here and have discussed and clarified our situation . . ." No one thought that the statement clarified anything, but she and Rossellini went back to l'isola nera to finish their picture. Dr. Lindstrom, back in Rome, made a statement of his own just before he took a plane for the U.S. "There will be no divorce . . ." He added wearily: "Italy is a beautiful country, but it is too full of fantasies."

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