Modern Screen (Jul-Dec 1945)

"He's only a boy, but I think he'll make a fine singer some day." Being parents, that did our hearts good, but it stopped there. I know it never entered my head that he might sing for a living, and if Grace had any ideas, she kept them from me. Engineering was what I thought he might go in for, because he was pretty handy with our cars. He kept pestering me to let him drive, and I gave in long before I should. contest coppin' . . . By the time we moved to Marshfield, his voice had changed, and he seemed to have lost interest in singing. Then one night his mother was playing an Irish song and Stan moved over to the piano. We were sitting around, not paying much attention, when suddenly out rolled this rich tenor. I'm frank to say that I was dumbfounded. The paper dropped out of my hands and my jaw dropped open. In the midst of his singing, Stan started to laugh. "Look at Dad," he said. Well, Grace got the head of the choir to hear him, and the upshot was that she offered to give him lessons if he'd join the choir. Which he did. But it wasn't till after he started at Carroll College that the thing really hit. Wisconsin announced a statewide singing contest, and his teacher suggested that he try out. The state was divided into twenty-six districts. Stan won in his district, and the winners went to Milwaukee to compete. We didn't really believe he had a chance. We felt that most of the voices would be better trained than his. At any rate, that's what we kept telling each other — to keep from being disappointed, I suppose, while in our hearts we hoped against hope. The night Stan sang we asked some friends in to listen with us. I paced the floor and, when his turn came, I didn't know how he sang, so help me. They all said it was good, but what would you expect them to say — ? It was a week before the verdict came in. I was in my office when the paper was delivered, and there was Stan's picture smack on the front page. I called my wife, then tore out and bought all the papers I could find. Meantime Stan had gone back to Carroll and sent a wire from there. So I called him up. He was pretty nonchalant about it, which didn't surprise me. I can't recall Stan's ever getting excited except on a hunting or fishing trip. Well, that day I did it up brown. Seeing his picture in the papers, knowing he'd won so handily over the others, gave me the biggest thrill of my life. Plenty of fine things have happened since, but to me they've been almost anticlimax. Even if he pulled down an Oscar, it wouldn't bowl me over. Then came the Atwater-Kent contest, when he pulled one of his typical tricks. He was playing football at Carroll. I told him he'd better quit and take care of his voice. But no, he had to play football. With the result that, three days before the contest, he played in a blizzard, caught a fine cold and still had a cold when he sang. At that he placed second. And knowing he had such a spirit meant more to us than the prize. He'd come home Christmas and summers, and we'd go up to see him in the college plays where he had the lead for three years. Now you're not going to catch me calling him a fine actor. I heard some people say he was good, and I was perfectly willing to take their word for it. All I know is, whenever they called rehearsal, he was out playing ball and they couldn't drag him away till the game was finished. Once he came to town as star soloist with the Glee Club. That was almost as big an event in our lives as his winning of the to make you look young, fresh — Romantic as a Bride! There's something new in face powder! A shade that dramatizes almost any skin it touches! Created by means of an entirely new color-principle, "Bridal Pink" is intensely flattering to (1) blondes (2) brunettes with fair skin (3) those with brown hair and medium skin (4) those with auburn hair and a pale complexion. "Bridal Pink" does lovely, exciting things for your hair, eyes, skin! Try this youthful, romantic new powder-shade! Now at all Good Cosmetic Counters Try "Bridal Pink"— the new shade that's so daringly romantic! See how it lights up your face with new life, warmth! The medium-size box of Lady Esther Face Powder is sold at the best stores for 554. Also handy pocket-book sizes for 104 and 254 HM POWDER