Modern Screen (Jan-Nov 1952)

as an ex-teen-ager, she realizes that this hullabaloo isn't worth all the trouble. The neighborhood kids now look to her for advice on clothes and makeup. As the fashion oracle of Evergreen Street, she is a great help to them. They all borrow her clothes despite the fact that some of them (to Debbie's amazement) are growing larger than she is. One girl, barely in her teens, was thrilled by Debbie's offer to lend her a particularly .devastating formal. Although she ate nothing all day in order to keep slim for the dress, Maxene and Debbie had to lay her out flat on Debbie's bed in order to close the zipper. Another neighborhood girl, discouraged .because of her complexion, came to Debbie for help one evening and Debbie gave her a full treatment, a la MGM. One of the reasons Debbie acts her age is the fact that she has not gone Hollywood. Most actresses her age begin having flings about town with older men, and drape themselves in furs. Debbie sticks to dating boys two years older than she, realizing that she has more interests in common with people her own age, even though she can hold" her own in an older crowd. Debbie's parents understandably have been concerned over the possibility that their daughter might go berserk with success, and Maxene Reynolds consulted her own mother one day late last spring. "Maybe I'm too close to Debbie to know," she said. "You tell me, frankly, if she has changed with all this Hollywood business. "She certainly has," said Debbie's grandmother. "She takes much better care of her clothes. And her diction is better. But I can't say the same for the way she keeps her room." Fortified by this assurance, Mrs. Reynolds took the plunge and suggested to Debbie that perhaps she might want to move into an apartment by herself. Maxene felt it was a plunge because she knows enough about Hollywood to know that when local girls make good and move out of their own homes, they are often on the road to losing their sense of values. Debbie, though, was amazed at her mother's suggestion. "Why should I move?" she demanded. "I don't want to live in one of those elegrant places. I want to stay right here where I can kick off my shoes if I feel like it." Actually, Debbie has a distinct aversion to living alone. Ray Reynolds converted the double garage in the rear of their little property into a small guest house, thinking that Debbie might like it for quiet and study. But Debbie wouldn't budge from her accustomed domicile. She just plain likes being with her family, and has stayed away only on those occasional nights when she works late at the studio and is dog tired. Then she shuns the 20-mile trip back to Burbank and stays with Miss Horn, her ex-teacher easy money They soy that April showers bring May flowers, so it seems that now's the +ime for it to rain pennies from heaven for you. And we just happen to have 100 in the form of a crisp new one-dollar bill. All you have to do is to read all the stories in this May issue and fill out the questionnaire below — carefully. Then send it to us with all haste. We're giving away (for free) 100 one-dollar bills to the first 100 people we hear from. So why not get started — right now! QUESTIONNAIRE: Which stories and features did you enjoy most in this issue? WRITE THE NUMBERS I, 2, and 3 AT THE LEFT of your first, second, and third choices. Then let us know what stars you'd like to read about in future issues. □ The Inside Story □ Louella Parsons' Good News □ -Mike Connolly's Hollywood Report □ "Someone To Watch Over Me" (Judy Garland) □ Happy Anniversary! (Doris Day) □ Ava Fights Back (Ava Gardner) □ Her Life's Companion? (Liz Taylor) □ I was at Liz's Wedding □ How Casual Can He Get? (Bing Crosby) □ You're Wrong About Jane Russell! □ Behind Ingrid Bergman's Closed Doors □ A House For A Horse (Virginia Mayo-Mike O'Shea)^ □ I Didn't Need A Miracle (Liz Scott) □ The Inside Story Behind Clark Gable's Feuds □ A Simple Case of Love (Susan Hayward-Jess Barker) □ "Now I Can Talk" (Tony Curtis) □ Crazy Like A Fox (Martin & Lewis) □ Debbie Reynolds Acts Her Age □ Hey, Good Lookin'! (Joyce Holden) □ Take My Word For It (Jan Sterling) □ Modern Screen Fashions Which of the stories did you like least? What 3 MALE stars would you like to read about in future issues? List them I, 2, 3, in order of preference What 3 FEMALE stars would you like to read about in future issues? What MALE star do you like least? What FEMALE star do you like least? What 3 television stars (MALE or FEMALE) would you like to read about in future issues? List them I, 2, 3. My name is My address is City Zone State I am ..... yrs. old ADDRESS TO: POLL DEPT., MODERN SCREEN. BOX 125. MURRAY HILL STATION. NEW YORK 16. N. Y. who lives in nearby Westwood. Sometimes when she is working on a picture Debbie sees little of her parents. "Well! Look who's here!" says Maxene when Debbie blows in after a few days^ absence. "Let's see if you've changed any." Debbie works hard, as does any actress starting her way up the ladder, and even when she does come home, she wakens after her father has left the house for work, and sometimes goes a whole week without seeing him. ,"I look in on you in the mornings sometimes," says Ray Reynolds a little wistfully, "just to make sure you're still alive." She forgoes her piano lessons to concentrate on the singing and dancing needed for movies, and gets so busy she forgets to eat She manages to keep up her activities as honorary mayor of Burbank, and writes to as many servicemen in. Korea as time will allow. Despite her home ties, she wanted desperately to go to North Africa to entertain troops and cried when the doctor wouldn't let her. For Debbie, there is never enough time, and often, she remarks, pensively, "I wish I were back at J. C. Penney's," (she sold blouses there on former summer vacations). "Life was so simple then." The "simple life" appeals to Debbie so strongly that she knocked the brass hats off the heads of Warner executives when she was at that studio. Laid off salary temporarily, she found her piggy bank was almost empty, and Christmas was just around the corner. So she went to work at Newberry's, a novelty store of the five-and-dime variety. The studio called at home one day; she was out. "Well, where is she?" they wanted to know. "She's working," said Maxene Reynolds simply. "Working! But she's under contract to us. Where is she working?" _ * "The hardware counter at Newberry's, Maxene said, and the lid blew off. Debbie was taken to task for such unheard of action, and she listened to the lecture, in silence, uncomprehending. If it was Christmas and she needed money, and if Warners wasn't paying her anything, .she couldn't see any reason why she shouldn t toddle off and work wherever she pleased. Hollywood just doesn't impress Debbie, and neither does the flattery that is offered by strangers. The kids on Evergreen Street don't bother. They know that if they were to say to Debbie, "Gee, you were great! , she'd look at them as though they'd gone off their rocker. Because Debbie truly doesn't think she's great. On the other hand, if a friend says, "You know, you were sort of good in that scene," Debbie beams because she can believe it. Sort of good, maybe, but great— never. She is living two lives right now, her own and that of her work, and she is unaware that Hollywood is rubbing off on her the only way it could rub off on Debbie Reynolds. She has acquired poise and good grooming and considerable glamor, but through it all she continues to have the appeal of the purity of youth. Debbie doesn't look forward to being sophisticated. There's only one milestone she wonders about. She has made fivedollar bets with everyone that she wont marry before she reaches 23. The five-dollar bets add up to a small fortune, but Debbie isn't worried about it because she's so positive she'll still be single. Besides, if she is married, her husband will be duty bound to dig in his jeans to pay off. But that'll be a pleasure for the man who hooks Debbie! END (See Debbie's next MGM picture, Singin' In The Rain— Ed.)