Modern Screen (Dec 1940 - Nov 1941)

A THRILL A MINUTE . . (Continued from page 36) the scene of the crash and pick up the pieces. "I wanted a long ride. So I blew my entire savings of $15 on one magnificent flight. Afterward, my only regret was that it would take me so long to save up for another ride. "Not that I would have had many chances to go up even if I'd had the money. Fliers didn't come to Indiana every day or even every year. "I had to take out my enthusiasm for flying on something, so I started building model planes. I put 'em together by the gross." In other words, he gave a thought to aviation long before he thought of acting. "I got a certain satisfaction out of making toy planes fly. And even more out of an occasional airplane ride, of which I probably had four or five all told, while I was growing up. But my idea of something really satisfying was to learn how to pilot a plane. Only flying lessons were 'way out of my reach. So far out of my reach that I sort of forgot about them after a while. BUT I didn't outgrow my interest in airplanes. Just before we came to Hollywood, Hank Fonda and I were saving expenses, sharing the same hotel room in New York. We went down to Macy's toy department to shop for toys for some kids we knew. I spotted a box full of parts for a big model airplane, and I bought that for myself." He grinned sheepishly. "Hank and I didn't have any money to spend on entertainment," he continued, " — especially after Christmas. So we stayed in our two-by-four hotel room and worked on that model airplane. I've never seen such a complicated one. It had hundreds of parts. Hundreds! And most of them were so small we needed tweezers to handle them — and magnifying glasses." He pantomimed the painful labor of joining one infinitesimal part to another. "We still didn't have it finished when Hank got this sudden offer from Hollywood. He left me to finish it. About three weeks later, I got a sudden offer from Hollywood, myself. I wired Hank. He didn't wire back congratulations. He simply wired, 'Don't forget to bring airplane. Guard with life.' Before I left New York I got five more wires from him all relating to the plane. I didn't know, whether he had been talking up the plane to pals on the Coast or just had visions of the struggle I would have, lugging this enormous, fragile thing 3,000 miles. I detected a note of scornful challenge in Fonda's wires. He didn't think I could get it to Hollywood in one piece. "I finally found a packing case big enough to hold the thing, and I put a handle on it so that I could carry it. And don't think I didn't carry it. I wouldn't let a redcap so much as lay hands on it. On the train, I kept it under my seat by day, under my berth by night. I'm sure the little old lady across the aisle suspected me of transporting a cut-up cadaver, I was so uneasy if anybody got anywhere near the box. . . . Often wonder whatever became of that plane. Fonda kept it on display for a long time,, so that he could inform sundry visitors, 'Believe it or not, Stewart piloted that plane across the United States.' " At that particular point, his interest in planes was a matter for jocular comment A &irls Ppivate lit .„ There are special times when even I want to be alone! There v the best of us have felt that J because of miss out on fun! Tried being too good Kotex sanitary napkins sta mind off your troubles. , jnTUXSl But sit one out now YES you can go to aanct . . • or percn YoeuTforge't about you! ^ because the In fact, you won't We ^ absorption And <^af<>tv-Shield m kotex p there's a ngnt sias for each days needs. T»i»t S» Te»' Bo°fc''! Dept. MM-2, Chicago, Illinois. Feel Us new softness Prove Us new safety FEBRUARY, 1941 75