Modern Screen (Jan-Nov 1952)

debbie acts her age (Continued from page 66) observed many of our top statesmen and attended a session of Congress. She came away with definite ideas, and is really interested in the voting privilege she will have next year. On the lighter side, Debbie has finally bought a hat Her purchase threw the entire household into a tizzie, for Debbie has always scorned any kind of headgear. She not only bought this chapeau, but she wore it, plus gloves, to. three consecutive, social functions, and Maxene Reynolds sighed happily. "You know," she said to her husband, "I think there's finally a ray of hope after all." In years gone by, Debbie regarded babies as strange creatures. Lovable, but strange all the same. If you couldn't talk with a character, or dance with a character, what kind of a character was it? Then she became an aunt, and on the day when the baby was left in her care, Debbie toted it over to Gene Kelly's house and from there to MGM, carrying it proudly, and beaming at every compliment. Debbie's attitude has changed towards her brother, too. Bill had always been the big brother, the guy who knew everything and everybody, but with the passage of time Debbie has caught up with and even passed him in maturity. Now she refers to him as 'my little brother'. Bill doesn't object to this at all. On the contrary, he admires her tremendously. ' Debbie's mother and father no longer loom as strange and mystical overlords. In the past three years she has come to know them as real people, to understand their problems and their moods. "I've even got to the point where I know how to work them for what I want," she says, with a grin. Apparently this isn't very difficult, for Ray and Maxene Reynolds have always let Debbie make her own decisions, so she has evolved into a self-reliant girl with sound judgment. In the past, boys have suffered a lot of pangs over Debbie, and only now she is beginning to realize how unfairly she treated them. "I guess I was sort of scared of fellows then," she says. "And when they'd ask me for a date I'd give them the brush-off. When I look back now, it strikes me I was pretty terrible. I don't know why they even bothered to speak to me." Or, in other words, she is no longer shy with the opposite sex. T¥7rrH0trr being aware of it, Debbie is " learning how to talk with people in all walks of life. In her position as a movie star, she's met senators, farmers, lawyers, bricklayers, and the President. Debbie has always liked people, she used to sit on her street corner for hours at a time and watch people go by. But her recent contacts have taught her a lot and given her great poise. Debbie herself says, "Without a movie career, I would have been a jerk." But growing up has much to do with that, too. Debbie showed definite signs of an oldster when she recently advised a friend not to work so hard at school. The girl in question was bending under the burden of extra-curricular activities along with her regular studies. "Stick to your schoolwork," opined Miss Reynolds. "Don't knock yourself out working for pins and letters. It isn't worth it." Two years ago this same Miss Reynolds belonged to every club in school, collected pins and letters like mad, and joined every committee that would take her — and these things were important as life and death to her. But now, from her advanced position Here are leisure-lovin' HONEYDEBS in mellow, supple leathers, with new-astomorrow styling soft-as-a-slipper comfort. (Secret's in the foamcushioned platform Glamourous gem tones. Sizes 4 to 10 B, 5'/2 to 10 AA. Exclusive PEDI-PURE Linings for health and daintiness • Germ and odor resistant • Perspiration resistant • Mildew resistant at better stores everywhere 81