Hollywood (1942)

wood did not accept this official story without questioning it: They said Roddy was unhappy, forlorn and lonesome in America and that he wanted to return to England because he preferred the menace of bombs to the loneliness he had found on our shores. But the Hollywood gossips were wrong. "I love America," Roddy told me. "Everyone's been so kind to me, and I've had a chance I would never have received in England. Definitely, I want to come back to America. Just as definitely I want to make this trip to England. Even if Twentieth Century-Fox were not planning to make Oliver Twist there, I would look forward to the day when I could go back." Why? Because Roddy wants to see the country of his heart again. He is a small boy facing two ways, loving America, but remembering England with the affection of one who was born and raised there and can't bear to think of it despoiled by a tyrant. He wants to see each treasure he saw when he was there before, and he hopes that the things he loves most will remain untouched by the ruthlessness of the Nazis. "The most important reason is to see friends whom I have not seen for almost two years," he explained. "Directors Al Parker and David MacDonald; cameramen Jim Harvey and Mutz Greenbaum; Bill Robertson, whose father's a producer; Peter Falmanc, a friend my own age; my granny; a teacher friend, and Alice. She's very important." Alice, it turned out, is the forty-year-old housekeeper who took care of the children and the McDowall home in England. "I used to plague Alice terribly," Roddy confesses. But he adored her nevertheless. It was Alice who took him on fascinating shopping tours; who read to him and Virginia during the long, fearsome hours of the air raids, her soft voice making them forget the crash of the bombs. But though Roddy wants to see England and his old friends again, why is Mrs. McDowall considering this trip, when only a year and a half ago they came to America to escape the dangers of London under fire? "Roddy and I didn't want to leave England. We weren't afraid," She explained. "It was Roddy's Dad's idea. "But I think people exaggerate the dangers of air raids. Personally, I think there is only one chance in a million of being hit. I've seen reliable statistics which prove that more people were killed in the United States in automobile accidents than were killed during the same period of time in air raids in London." "How do you feel about air raids?" I asked Roddy. "Oh, they're a bit of a nuisance," he said. "But you're more scared before they happen than when you're in them. When they come, there's nothing you can do about it, so you calm down." Roddy McDowall, small boy though he is, is as brave and courageous as all the people of England have been under fire. He will be on his way home one day very soon, unless war conditions make it utterly impossible, and will see once more those celebrated "white cliffs of Dover." His is the spirit of a whole people who refuse to be licked. ■ CHOOSE THEY "GO" WITH EVERYTHING Of all "finishing touches" to any costume, pearls are the most versatile. And radiant, lustrous Dixtaii Pi;arl* necklaces are certainly the most flattering. Just note the women who wear them! See the matching pearl-set sterling silver earrings and pins, at better jewelers. Star of 'FOOTUGWr SEftENAOE" TQto Canton-fox Oeltah <Pearls* WORLDS FlNesr REPRODUCT/0/V5* Created by L. Heller and Son, Inc., Fifth Avenue, New York 55