Hollywood (Jan - Oct 1934)

i A«fcJ^^^*wB' says "Any Girl Can Do What I've Done // A SENSATIONALLY sweeping statement. "Any girl can do what I have done . . ." It was Jeanette MacDonald speaking. Jeanette just returned from the most triumphant European tour any Hollywood star has ever made. Still glowing from the rhapsodies of the press, the homage of a host of people, the heady wine of that intangible thing called "success." "Look at me. What am I? An average American girl if ever there was one! There has been nothing spectacular about my life. I've never won a beauty prize nor been singled out by Lady Luck for special attention. Leading ladies never fell ill at opportune moments so that I could step into their shoes. No, I've just worked along ... I tell you, anybody can do what I've done!" It's worth investigating — the extraordinary case of this girl who snatched honors from Garbo in Paris. "But she had so much to start with," you say. "She must have had!" Must she? Let's see . . . She began with the shrewdness and wit handed down from a Scotch grandfather, a tremendous zest for living, an overpowering ambition — and that's about all. The youngsters around the neighborhood where she lived in Philadelphia called her "Spindle Legs." A sprawly kid with red hair and green eyes and a white little face. Always singing. • She has made her own way, this young Titian with a titan-like energy. She "broke ground" that day she forced an entrance into Ned Weyburn's studio. "I want a job in your chorus, please." "Really?" said Weyburn wearily. "So many girls do." He looked at her legs. The same legs that were to rival Dietrich's. He thought them mighty skinny. Jeanette was shocked. After all the exercise she'd given those PIea.se turn to pngre nfty-five Jeanette MacDonald reveals how any girl can win ame — Preston Duncan Jeanette MacDonald., an average American girl, became the toast of two continents "*****, by ALYCE CURTIS