Photoplay (Jul - Dec 1943)

if he ever went out with Peggy Ryan, he answered, in shocked tones, which automatically eliminated him from entrance in the Wolftown derby: "Gosh, no . . . she's engaged to be married." He assumes a highly paternal attitude toward Gloria Jean, who is almost a year his junior and hence in need of mature comfort. Since she is carefully chaperoned by her parents at all times, he hasn't been able to teach her to jitterbug, a fact which he regrets extremely. He feels that, at her tender age, she should have some relaxation beyond her sincere interest in her voice, which he admires beyond any other save Lily Pons'. "When that child gets hep," he says, "she'll be Hollywood's No. 1 Glamour Girl." I— I E has a steady girl, a nonprofessional named Gwen Carter. Asked if she lived near his home in Beverly Hills, he studied the situation for a moment and then answered, "About five minutes away when I walk." This reply is typical of his ingenuous ripostes. He has a way of responding to serious questions with a perfectly straight face and sidesplitting answers. Asked once if he had any bad habits that handicapped him on the screen, he replied that he sometimes talked too fast. Asked then if he was doing anything to correct the defect, he said, "Yes, talking slower." Another question had to do with the age at which he had his first date with a girl and his blushing answer was, "I was too young to remember." Again, asked about the first girl he'd ever kissed, he brought his theatrical background in with a bang. "It was in the old Howard Burlesque theater in Boston," he said. "She was a strip-teaser . . . but she was wonderful." Pressed on whether he liked small parties or large parties, he answered with the puzzled query: "Do you mean male or female?" Finally, when his interrogator wanted to know what he considered the greatest picture he'd ever seen, he replied, after some weighty reflection, "Always the last one I've seen . . . I'm a movie fan." He expects to be drafted after he reaches his eighteenth birthday, in August, and is somewhat dubious about the sort of soldier he'll make. He has no fear of the war, but does have a tremendous dread of personal failure. He frankly admits that he stands a good chance of being a flop as a hero, taking the opportunity again to deplore his slight stature. He worries a great deal over the possibility of failing to live up to the high pattern of heroism set by the men of Bataan, Corregidor and Guadalcanal and his pleasant blue eyes become troubled in the contemplation. He feels that his life hasn't exactly fitted him for the rigors of soldiering. "Still, I'm pretty tough," he says, hopefully flexing a steely bicep. Donald is extremely polite and addresses his elders with an unfailing "Sir" or "Madam" or "Miss." He leaps to hold a chair for members of the opposite sex, is quick on the draw with matches for cigarets, even carrying a lighter which he uses, when it works, although he doesn't smoke himself. He has an automobile, a modest number, but uses it sparingly now, usually reaching the studio by bus or streetcar, or astride his bicycle. He is not wholly without dramatic ambitions and even admits that someday he might like to play Shakespeare. For the present, however, he knows that his metier is comedy and hoofing and he expects to stick to that as long as Universal feels he's a money-maker in the field. The End. "To keep Love Light in his Eyes trymy*W.B.N.C." VERONICA LAKE, CO-STARRING IN "SO PROUDLY WE HAIL", A PARAMOUNT PICTURE Veronica Lake confides: + it takes a complexion he can't -To win his he%rot' ^^y w.B.N.C. That's short for... help adoring. So taKe my *Woodbury Beauty Night Cap. • Htlv care with Woodbury Cold Cream nThis 3-minute -&htl/^your eyeS and his." smoother. An ^cluS" d soiled fingers, — iT germs fro. i dus J and ^ ^ ^ .&r< acting constantly to purify ^ • u+ a+nrt with Woodbury Cold Cream. Tonight start wit ^ ^^ jars> say you're lovel1^ , and 10* sizes. P. 25, 75*; also 500, 250 **m WOODBURY COLO CRfAM it ii o i) mi in COLD CREAM