Modern Screen (Dec 1937 - Nov 1938)

MODERN SCREEN MYRNA'S MAID TELLS ON MISS LOY {Continued from page 30) she was going out and she asked me to put some poHsh on her nails. "I never did," I said, "but I can try." It was ruby polish, and that's the worst kind, even if you're an expert manicurist. Well, what with my being so rattled, and my hands shaking like I had the palsy, I got more polish over her fingers than I did on her nails. I sat there so miserable I didn't know where to look, and she kept saying, "That's fine, Theresa. Just clean up this bit. Now that little dab in there — " Well, I knew I'd made a hash of it and that she was just being nice. I started putting things away, thinking, "You certainly cooked your goose to a crisp that time, my girl." Miss Loy was at the door. Then suddenly she turned around. "Theresa," she said, "I like you very much and I'm very well pleased with your work. Would you like to stay?" Well! I just stood there with my jaws dropped and couldn't think of a thing to say. Imagine her doing it right then, just because she saw how badly I felt. She smiled and said, "Then that's settled. Good night, Theresa." And when she was gone, I did a little rhumba all by myself, right in the middle of the bedroom floor. In all the time I've been with her, I've never seen Miss Loy angry except once in a great while, and that's when somebody tried to put something over on her. You have to know her very well to know when she's angry. She doesn't go popping off like a string of firecrackers. She just seems to get more quiet. Then, if she can. she goes and has it out with whoever's upset her, and that's the end of it. Miss Loy loves to have jolly people around her. She gets bored with a lot of society talk — I mean the stiff kind. We have more fun on location. She likes to have pillow fights with the girls — there's Shirley, her stand-in, and Eleanor, who does her hair, and Margaret from the wardrobe department. They borrow her shirts and sweaters and shower-caps and go running back and forth, just like girls in a boarding school. THEN I'll go in to wake her in the morning, and I'll grab a shawl from the piano and twist it round my shoulders, and stick a rose in my mouth. (Mr. Hornblow always sends her roses.) I clown around, pretending I'm a Spanish dancer or something crazy, till she laughs herself sick. There was one time, though, when she had us in hysterics. She was trying to peck. Miss Loy's no fancy pecker, but she looked so cute and funny with her head jerking up and down like a baby doll, that we laughed till our sides ached. But she kept right on, solemn as a judge. "I'm dishing it out," she said, "and you can take it." Miss Loy loves to tease. She found out I was crazy about William Powell. Maybe it's kind of silly, but I guess we all have our favorite movie actors. Anyway, the first day she worked with him, I was all eyes and mouth. She was sitting there talking to him, when all of a sudden she called me over and introduced me. I almost fainted. But as if that wasn't enough, she got that little twinkle in her eye, and 1 knew she was up to something. "Bill," she said, "you're Theresa's favorite movie actor." Well, I wanted to crawl into a hole and hide. She saw I was fussed, so she patted my hand and said, "Sorry, Theresa. I didn't mean to embarrass you." Well, I mumbled something about not wanting Mr. Powell to think I was fresh. "Theresa," he said, "no actor thinks you're fresh when you pay him a compliment. He thinks you're smart." Wasn't that cute of him? He's like that. When my baby was born and I named him Willard, Miss Loy wanted to know was it after Mr. Powell. I said, in a way it was and in a way it wasn't. So now, when she wants to tease me, she calls the baby Inaway. At first she couldn't come to the hospital, because she was working, but she sent ice cream and a beautiful cake. Then, as soon as she had a day off, she called up and said she was coming over. Well, the sweetest thing happened. ^ The baby was half asleep. Miss Loy picked him up and he opened his eyes and just lay there looking at her for a minute. Then she held out her finger and he grabbed it tight, and next minute he was smiling up at her. I was so pleased, because it was the first time he'd ever smiled at anyone. She's just crazy about children. She'll come home all excited. "Oh, Theresa, I saw the cutest baby today. He was just as homely as he could be, but oh, so sweet." She has a way with them too. If they're 7 USE ACTING CAUS fOR BECAUSE ^^j^GYl foods X'^t conAi " ^e Oext'O*^' Boby u rich in P"'\"aY t h candy " ^e Oext'O*^' Boby u rich in P"'\"ay for energy^J.^ your condy. ■YOU CO o«c.«°.