Screenland Plus TV-Land (Jul 1959 - May 1960)

iW world filled with marvelous opportunities for learning, for friendships and for happiness" Three girls, coming out of a beauty shop, laughed and hattered. One opened her purse and handed the other a ! niece of chewing gum. An old man and woman huddled close together at a bus top. The old man patted the old woman's hand, and Doris Jay swallowed hard. Everyone had someone, but nobody . . . I iobody at all . . . paid any attention to her. She thought of buying a new hat but decided against it. A hat couldn't replace a companion. I "The first day was bad," she remembers, "and the second vorse, and by the end of three days, I was wallowing in oneliness. Being alone in a big crowd is worse than being it done in a small one, because in the big crowd you see more neople who know other people." If Doris were naturally a moody person, given to negative r hinking, she might have moped and actually sickened during j he New York engagement. But any person who has seen her parkle from the screen knows that Miss Day isn't one to : uccumb to depression. No siree! U About three o'clock on the afternoon of her third day in own, she clamped a bright, red beret on her bright hair. She ifted her firm, little chin, slipped into her coat, and marched >ut of her hotel room as though she were going to war. She IjWas-. She had just declared war on boredom. L "I thought over my situation," she explains, "and suddenly •ealized that I was wasting a marvelous opportunity. New fork is a fascinating city. Millions of tourists have saved heir vacation time and money just to visit it. It's full of , historic and cultural attractions, and I was determined to see : hem all." Thus resolved, she joined a guided tour, grabbed a fist tull of informative brochures, and began the rounds. L "I saw Chinatown and Radio City and the Battery," she ..imiles, "but the real possibilities of what I was doing didn't ^ink in until we got to Fraunces' Tavern." When she first crossed the threshhold of the mellow, old hostelry she didn't sense that she was on the edge of discovery. The drone of the guide's voice swept over her, leaving scarcely an impression. But gradually, as she stood in the room where Washington had shared a supper with his officers, where he had told his men good-bye, she became aware of his presence. "Studying history is like stepping into a bigger world," Doris thinks. "You get to share in a wealth of events that are funny, dramatic, tragic, or romantic, depending on the history you study." SOAKING up the atmosphere of Fraunces' Tavern, Doris could see stern-faced General Washington, so unaccustomed to a show of emotion, giving way to affection in his farewell handshakes. The men, themselves, came to life . . . tired, hard-bitten soldiers eager to see their families but reluctant to sever their fraternity of arms. "Of course," Doris enlarges, "I had known about Washington all my life . . . about throwing the dollar across the Potomac and cutting down the cherry tree . . . but standing in Fraunces' Tavern I felt that I was really getting acquainted with the man." It was an exhilarating realization. Why, there was no end to the number of friends she could meet during her solitary stay in New York. "So," Doris continues, "I visited all the interesting places I could crowd into my schedule. I went to art galleries, to museums, to look at monuments. I became well acquainted with all sorts of prominent New Yorkers, Aaron Burr, Nathan Hale, Alexander Hamilton and Washington Irving." One of the most exciting persons she met was a woman, a royal princess, no less. "One day, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art," she relates, continued on page 57 jig a kick out of kid's game as is Doris. BOTH Doris and Rock dissolre into laughter as their game of pattycake comes to an end.