Hollywood (1942)

Woricing Her Way Through College Bv KAY PROCTOR ■ Linda Darnell is working her way through college. She enrolled in regular classes at UCLA (The University of California at Los Angeles) and her entire tuition and sundry expenses will be paid from the money she earns on the payroll of 20th Century-Fox. That adds up to the same end, doesn't it? Going back to school is no publicity stunt on Linda's part. By it she hopes to find an important something she wants and feels she does not now have — balance and a cultural foundation for the future. Frankly, I was a little surprised when Linda told me she was going back to school. In the first place, it is a glamorous and exciting life she leads — a beautiful movie star under contract to a big studio; kow-towed to by older men and eagerly courted by younger men; made love to by the screen's handsomest heroes and flattered by the public wherever she goes. Almost any co-ed in the land would give her eye teeth for one-tenth of what Linda already has. In the second place, her 18th birthday in October brought legal release from many of the restrictions under which she has been chafing, and I figured she would shy from further rules and regulations like a pony from a sidewinder. Then she explained why she went back to school, and suddenly it all made sense. Linda had had i Linda Darnell isn't blinded by Hollywood's Stardust. It's back to school for her. Linda's in 20th's Rise and Shine but half a year of schooling at Sunset High School in Dallas, Texas, when she made that first exciting trip to Hollywood after a furore of screen tests and daydreams come true. The beautiful bubble burst after 6 weeks and back she went to Dallas and high school, a 14-year-old youngster whose whole world suddenly had gone boom! Back to English, history, biology, math and Spanish. ''I went to classes all right," Linda confessed, "but I'm afraid I didn't do too much thinking about the date of the Restoration or the nervous system of a frog. Most of the time I was figuring on how I could get back to Hollywood — and stay!" Chronologically, of course, the rest is history — how the studio sent for her within the year, gave her the lead in Hotel for Women followed by co-stardom with Ty Power in Daytime Wife and a succession of pictures, all in the A bracket. Rather to her surprise, Linda discovered that her schooling must go right on, movie star or no movie star. The California law states that all minors must attend school through a full high school course, and to that ends all studios maintain schoolrooms and teachers right on the lot. In the case of minors working in pictures, the law goes one step further; they must have welfare workers to serve as constant guardians every moment they are at the studio until they are 18 years of age. "The guardians see to it that we have our meals at the proper times, that we aren't under the lights too long, that there is no profane language used around us and things like that," Linda explained. Linda pursued her studies as diligently as necessary and last spring received her certificate of graduation from high school. So that she would miss none of the graduation trimmings, she was invited to join the graduating class of a Los Angeles hi^h school, University High, and like the other girls, wore a simple white formal. Legally she had fulfilled her schooling contract with the sovereign state of California. What decided her to £'o to college? The gay parties? Sorority life, perhaps? I fully expected to get the old answer about wanting to "live the normal life of a normal girl" — as if that were possible for any girl in Linda's shoes. Linda fooled me. She pointed to a hunk of rock on her dressing table. "It's a fossillized shell," she explained. "I found it when we were on location for Brigham Yov.ng. My teacher explained something of its origin and I became interested in rock formations and geology. And that started me thinking. When you see a rock millions of years old, you suddenly realize how unimportant you are in the scheme of things. That's what happened to me. And then I realized that I didn't even have much of a philosophy of life. You need a sound philosophy for balance, particularly in Hollywood where a lot of things seem pretty unbalanced. To get that philosophy I knew I needed more schooling." Because it has become a pet hobby, Linda plans to continue her study of geology. She also is going to register for courses in psychology because she believes it will help her understand her roles better, help her in her relations with her coworkers, and be of great value later in life when she is married. In addition, she plans courses in French, art and music appreciation and economics. "I know those studies may not have an immediate bearing on my work, and my career probably could get along nicely without them," she said. "However, a movie career doesn't last forever, and I will need those studies to be a wellrounded, well-informed person, equipped to take ray proper place in life a few years from now. I think they will help give me the perspective on things which I lack." Although she will be enrolled in regular classes, fitting them as best she can to her picture schedule, Linda does not plan on trying to graduate from UCLA. Neither does she intend to enter into any extracurricular activities of her fellow students. "I know I am running the risk of sounding smug," she said in a worried little way, "but I'm going to school for a serious purpose and I intend to stick to that purpose." In view of her well-formulated and considered plans, only one thing puzzled me, I told Linda. Why hadn't she entered college for the fall term instead of postponing it until the midterm at January? Linda's eyes twinkled naughtily. "Shh!" she said. "As you know, I had to have the welfare worker with me all the time until my birthday on October 16th. I wanted the thrill of making one picture after that without a guardian to boss me around!" ■