Modern Screen (Dec 1934 - Nov 1935)

MODERN SCREEN Texas Giiinan. The kick used to get so much laughter and applause that it became part of the act. I didn't get paid for it (the act, I mean) but it was fun. In spite of the nine years' difference between us, I think I'm closer to Ruby than any of the others are. That's because when Ruby began to go on tour, Mother went with her and because I was the baby she took me, too. The rest of the family was left home with Dad and a housekeeper. But I was practically raised on the road. I had the benefit of Mother's training and Ruby's experience in show business. Ruby seldom went out after the show. When she did, Mother went along until she was eighteen. But usually Ruby would come back to the hotel and the three of us would have a swell time playing poker. Ruby taught me how when I was a little tot and we'd play for hours. And she taught me each step as she'd invent it. You know, that outside of the fundamentals, Ruby makes up her own routines. When Ruby was back in New York and we moved to Jackson Heights, she had Dad build a long board down in the cellar for us to practice tapping on. She'd have the whole family lined up at one time and when there wasn't room for us ail, it didn't matter, we'd go right on dancing on the cement. We're a family with dancing feet, all right. Neither Mother nor Dad knows where we got them — I mean where Ruby got them. We seemed to have picked them up from her, but no one in our family before was ever in show business. Anyway we'd all rather dance than eat. We all hated school. Mother used to shake her head sadly, but she says she learned not to force us to do anything. After giving Gertrude piano lessons and Helen the violin, neither of them ever touches an instrument. But they're still dancing. As a result of Ruby's training, Gertrude and Bill went out in an act and then Gertrude went out with Helen. Now Bill has married and settled down to business, but Gertrude and Helen are always in Ruby's and Al's pictures. Whenever Al is making a new one, they're sure to ask, "Do you think there'll be a place for us?" And he'll always answer , "Well, I guess we can squeeze you in somewhere." In Ruby's pictures they have to be careful. Only recently when some rushes of one were being run off the director yelled, "What's Ruby doing coming out of that door?" IT turned out to be Gertrude and they had to make the scene over and put Gertrude and Helen in 'phone booths — they look so much like Ruby. People say I do, too. I'm glad if I do for I'd rather look like her than anybody else in the world. Anna dances too, only she's been ill and so Ruby's been letting her handle her fan mail. I know you wanted me to tell you about Ruby, but I can't mention her without bringing in the rest of the family. Ruby's been one grand sister to us and a grand daughter to Mother and Dad. Even before she was married, she used to turn over her whole salary to mother and she still does. Next to Al, we come first with her and she's been showering us with gifts since she began to make money. We don't dare admire a thing in a store window while Ruby's with us, because if she's anywhere within hearing distance we're sure to have it the next day. And Al Jolson is just the same. He set Bill up in business in Wall Street several years ago and he's always doing nice things . for us, but besides that, he takes a personal interest in each one of us — asks us all about our boy friends and what we're doing. He's just like one of us and Mother's crazy about him. Ruby and Al have the loveliest home in Scarsdale. I think if I had one like it, I'd want to be in it all the time, but maybe I wouldn't want to give up my career if I were as famous as Ruby. For all of her fame and her mixing with the stars, she's still as shy as she was when she first began to dance — in fact, we're all shy and I don't believe any of us has ever danced or sung for company at home. We get actual stage fright except when we're on a stage or are practicing by ourselves. And right here I ought to tell you that Ruby is a hard task mistress when it comes to dancing. No matter how good other people may say we are, Ruby always says, "Don't think you're perfect. You've got a lot to learn." I guess none of us is spoiled because Ruby isn't and she'd have no use for us if we were. In fact, she takes good care to see that we don't get spoiled. She likes to arrange my hair but you see how plain I wear it and Ruby says it suits me best that way. She won't let me use any make-up either — not even powder. "Keep the way you are now — wholesome," she tells me. "There are enough painted dolls in Hollywood." SHE'S always been right, so I guess she's right in this, too. She's made me finish school because even though she didn't have much education and got along all right, she insisted that I must have it because it gives me a good background. I've just graduated from the Professional School in Los Angeles. I liked it because I never had to do homework. I've sung over the American Broadcasting System and I hope to be a "hot" blues singer one of these days. I'm still studying voice and I like it almost better than dancing. I guess that's because dancing comes so naturally to me. In the fall I'm going to Hollywood and start a picture career if I can. I've appeared in "Harold Teen." They chose me because they said I looked like a schoolgirl. It's nice to have all the comforts that we enjoy now, but we weren't ever as poor as the sob sisters like to have you believe. They've written that we were in desperate circumstances before Ruby was famous, but that isn't so. Mother and Dad came from Nova Scotia when Ruby was a kid. Dad was a sausage maker there and earned good money. When he got to New York, the method of making sausage was different from that used at home so poor Dad was out of luck. Someone offered him a job driving an ice wagon. Dad took it. He made a good living— enough to bring six children up comfortably. We lived on the East Side because none of the apartment houses on the West Side wanted a family with children, especially when all of us were always tap dancing. You can't blame the landlords for not wanting their ceilings caving in on them. On the East Side, though, they weren't so particular. It's a far cry from those days, but none of us has changed very much. Ruby, who has had more opportunity to change, has perhaps changed least of us all. She's still as sweet as she always was and just as natural. Now she and Al want to smooth the path for me, but I told them I want to succeed the way she did without anyone's help. If I do succeed, though, it will be thanks to Ruby anyhow because she taught me everything she learned herself, through training and experience. She's wonderful. I wish everyone could have a sister like her. The Doctor said "MOIST-THROAT" METHOD WOULD STOP QUICKLY a6h w°re ••Mott»^'s^rritolV.o_ her oUt Nl. Joh Extract of famous medicinal herb stimulates throat's moisture WHEN you cough, it's usually because your throat's moisture glands clog. Their healthy secretions change. Throat dries, sticky mucus collects. A tickling . . . then a cough! PERTUSSIN stimulates your throat's moisture. Phlegm loosens— is "raised." Relief! Pertussin is safe. Contains no drugs. Tastes good. • Doctors have used Pertussin for over thirty years because It ts always safe and sure. GLANDS HERE CLOGTHROAT DRIES— WHEN YOU CATCH COLD) THEN COUGHINGSTARTS! 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