TV Radio Mirror (Jan - Jun 1963)

Record Details:

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Is it ever right to take a child away from her mother-even with the mother's blessings? Patty Duke's story is perhaps the only one you'll ever read where the answer has to be YES! She looked so little— so lost. She'd just passed her eighth birthday, but it was unlikely she had "celebrated" it. (A cake with candles? In a Lower East Side tenement where bread itseH was a daily problem? ) Small for her age, and bare of bone. Only the most discerning eye could have seen that someone, somewhere, cared for this seeming waif. The neat dress spoke all too clearly the struggle against drab poverty. The clean reddish hair begged for skilled handling. And yet, thought John Ross, the small figure was a-tremble with some big desire. Those questioning eyes— now green, now blue — sought more than childhood usually knew existed. What was it Patty Duke wanted? To be loved for her own self? To be somebody, not just another mouth to feed? To fulfill a dream no one had ever had time to listen to? An actors' coach and manager, John Ross knew a bit about Patty's family background in a roundabout way — because her brother Ray had been sent to him by the Madison Street Boys' Club, a charitable group dedicated to keeping underprivileged kids off the New York City streets and out of mischief. The father had left his little brood — Patty and Ray and an older sister — and the mother was in poor health, able to work only part-time as a restaurant cashier. How does a dream grow without sunshine or nourishment? Yet young Ray had told him: "I've got a kid sister pestering me about acting lessons. Would you take her on?" So Patty dreamed of being an actress. You'd never guess it, when she opened her mouth to speak! "New Yorkese" at its most uninhibited and unintelligible. Eliza Doolittle's cockney accent was almost pure English, by comparison. Breathless, Patty awaited the magic words from Ross. And, luckily for this pint-sized Eliza. John is no stonyhearted Professor Higgins. He and his wife Ethel — a former ballerina who teaches their pupils dancing — are in show business because that's where they belong. They work with children because they really, truly like them. Looking down at the eager little face, he simply couldn't tell Patty the truth about her chances. Instead, he tested her with a lesson, then called Ethel in to ask what she thought she could do with her. As Patty "rehearsed" happily all by herself acting out the pantomimes he'd shown her, twisting her mouth to imitate the fascinating different ways he'd used his voice the Rosses discussed her problem. "There isn't much to work on," said Ethel wistfully, "but she has something. Your heart just can't help going out to her." . . . "She's such a dewy child." said [Continued on page 88) 3 E»„„ a top actress must lean, to cook-and Ike low-c fe||ow.pupil Billy McNally) con b. Trent, y.„„, ac,or and goad Mend. 5 Studying ,1m on the .oof £ » 1*^P J_ "^^ '"n! « Little Susan M.lvin agrees Patty's "Bambi" « a real dear, though omc y 27