Modern Screen (Jan-Dec 1960)

picture. And you see — it says right here that you are the greatest child discovery in twenty-five years. I'm very, very proud of you." When she returned to school, her secret was no secret any loneer. Word had spread like wild-fire about her performance in Tiger Bay, but what amazed the faculty and her school-mates was her ability to keep silent about it — and how totally unaffected she was by her success and her wide spreading fame. Because within weeks her fame was spreading — far and wide. Tiger Bay was submitted as an entry in the Berlin Film Festival and she copped The Golden Bear Award for the best performance of the year. Disney saw the picture — and knew that his long long search for an actress to star in Pollyanna was at its end. He discussed the possibility of placing her under a long term contract to him with John Mills. "THIS IS WHAT HAYLEY WANTS," said Mills, "and I won't stand in her way — but her education comes first. "We're doing our utmost to keep Hayley just the way she is. We want to be proud of her in every way, not just for whatever she accomplishes in her career." Disney understood. A compromise was made. Hayley would do one picture for him every year while she is still a schoolgirl — and he would try to arrange the schedule to fit in with her summer vacation. The rest of the time she would remain in England. But could some arrangement be made for Pollyanna — which would of necessity run into the school term? Mills contacted Father John, who immediately replied: "We realize that Hayley is one of the exceptions of this life and we are prepared to welcome her back here whenever she can get to us." So Hayley and Mary Mills went to Hollywood, together with ten-year-old Jonathan. John remained in England for a movie. Juliet went off on her own to Broadway for the New York production of Five Finger Exercise. The family was separated — but only in a physical sense. Each day Hayley wrote her father — and her sister. Particularly her sister. And there was so much to write of the wonders of California: "Oh my dear!" she'd exclaim. "It's simply marvelous. The hamburgers — and the roast beef which is an inch thick and not at all like the roast beef at home which is so thin." ("Oh, my dear" is an expression Hayley has picked up and sprinkles in all her correspondence.) She'd write of the new friends she had made, and of the odd studio school — which was classes in a trailer, and of the marvelous clothes she had seen and bought. "And, oh, my dear," she'd write, "have you heard Elvis Presley's latest recording? It is smashing." For at thirteen, Hayley fell smashingly in love with Elvis Presley. Boys as boys were unimportant to her. She felt herself much too young for such nonsense. But Elvis was different. Between scenes, she'd rush to her dressing room and play his latest recordings. Her conversations were sprinkled with "Elvis this," and "Elvis that." Her bitterest disappointment was that he was in Europe, and there was no chance for her to meet him and get his autograph. Laurence Olivier ("Uncle Larry") would 74 take her to lunch — but as much as she adored "Uncle Larry," he couldn't compare with Elvis. He was her very own first love. Life was quiet that first summer in Hollywood. Outside of the Disney studios, she was virtually unknown. She was taken to Disneyland, and had a perfectly marvelous time. The only stares that greeted the "party" were aimed at her guide — a man by the name of Walt Disney. HER ONLY PROBLEM was that she was shooting up like a reed, and there was a race against time to finish the oicture before she "outgrew" the role. Within a year she had shot up to 5'3" — a good inch tal'er than Juliet. "Oh, my dear!" she would write, "if I keep growing any taller, I shall be taken for your older sister." When Pollyanna was completed the entire family with the exception of Juliet were re-united in Tobago where John was making Svriss Family Robinson. Tobago was like a vacation — even if there was school. In Tobago Hayley and Jonathan went to a negro school and the only other white pupil was the brother of Janet Munro who worked with John. But doing their lessons in so many different places like this was more fun than work. If Hayley had been sensational in Tiger Bay. her "Pollyanna" was phenomenal. Wrote one critic: "Young Miss Mills' contribution to its (Pollyanna's) unexpected delights is fresh and funny and beguiling and utterly unspoiled. Mawkish, gooey sentimentality has no place in her performance. It is mercifully free also of the "cute brat" mannerisms which have marred the work of so many screen juveniles in the past including some who have become boxoffice sensations. We predict Hayley will become the greatest box-office sensation of them all." With the release of Pollyanna came recognition — and problems. It was great fun to be asked for autographs— and all that — but for reasons Hayley still can't understand, people insisted upon talking to her as if she was four years old instead of a budding young lady of fourteen. "Ooooooh you cute little thing," they'd say. "Wrinkle your ittsy bitsy little nose for us like you did in the movie." It infuriated her — and made her just a little ill, and if she wrinkled her nose it was for reasons other than anticipated. "Talking down" to Hayley is akin to talking down to Albert Einstein. And yet, she can in no way be termed precocious. Mary Mills has brought her two daughters up with rare intelligence and understanding. She feels Hayley is still "too young" to wear make-up, and "date," but there is nothing she has "kept from her." HAVING BEEN BROUGHT UP ON A FARM since babyhood, Hayley learned about the birds and the bees from the birds and the bees and the cows and the horses. When she was twelve, Mrs. Mills translated this knowledge into human terms. She didn't, however, say, "You must never do this or that or the other thing." Instead she sensibly explained the dangers of premarital sex and left it at that — with complete confidence in both her daughters' intelligence and sense of morality. "I wanted," she said, "my children to know about these things normally and naturally from me. I didn't want them to learn about sex behind a back fence, at school, or from uninformed companions. Too many mothers make that mistake." When Hayley expressed a curiosity about "cocktails," Mrs. Mills let her taste one knowing full well she'd hate it — as she did. Now — even on special occasions, Hayley is barely able to take a sip of diluted wine with the family. The problem of smoking too soon was handled in the same way. Although she has many close girlfriends both in England and now in Hollywood, Hayley's closest "friend" is, of course, her sister Juliet. The four-year age difference between them doesn't seem to matter, nor are Hayley and Juliet jealous of each other. "People ask me all the time," says Juliet, "or at least want to ask me, if I'm jealous of Hayley, because I've been acting all my life, and she became a big star within a year. "Of course. I'm not. How can I be? I love my sister. Besides Hayley is a cinema star and I'm fundamentally a stage actress — so there is no competition between us." "There never has been any really. Not because of the four-year difference in our ages — because we do not take notice of that really — but because we're different. "Hayley is pixie and I've never been pixie — and she is quite good for me. She gets angry and gets into a terrible fit and it lasts just a minute. When I get angry — I brood — unless Hayley is there to snap me out of it. And we're forever playing marvelous pranks on one another. She's more my friend — than just a sister. "We used to share the same bedroom — but now that we are both working and keeping such different hours, we have our own rooms. Except on the weekends. Then she comes into my room to spend the night — and we talk forever — about millions of things. Not too much about boys yet though. I don't want to get married for a long, long time — and Hayley hasn't discovered boys. But we talk about everything that has happened to us — and laugh and just have a marvelous time. I know we are different from most 'average' teenagers in this country because of the way we have been brought up — and our careers, and travels, but in our basic interests and habits, we're not all that different really. Except I do hope you won't have us sounding like Sandra Dee. It's not that Hayley and I don't like Sandra Dee, except that when you read about her it all comes out 'too much,' don't you think?" THIS PAST SUMMER in Hollywood when Hayley was working on her newest picture, tentatively titled Bluejeans And Petticoats (in which she plays identical twins) was one of the pleasantest for all the Mills — and there were a dozen weekends for Hayley and Juliet to get together for girl-talk. But of them all, one particularly stands out. Hayley and Juliet were in absolute hysterics over the offer Hayley received to play Lolita. An offer, incidentally that was promptly rejected . . . for many reasons, not the least of them being that Hayley had to return home to school. But in the midst of their frolicking, Hayley turned suddenly very serious. "Juliet?" she asked in all earnestness. "What do you think it would be like to be a flop?" Juliet thought for a while — but never having been a flop or in one, was stumped for an answer. "Oh, I don't know, Hayley," she answered. "I really can't say. But I should imagine that it would be frightfully depressing." "Yes. I would imagine that it would be," Hayley echoed pensively. "Oh, Juliet, you don't think I'm just a flash-in-the-pan, do you?" We should say not! end Hayley's next starrer is Bnena Vista's Petticoats And Bluejeans.