The New Movie Magazine (Dec 1929-May 1930)

STORIES of the STARS By Charles R. Horton of the Greenville Evening Banner school singing when I was a girl usually fell to me but, outside of that and a near relative who had a beautiful voice, there was no vocal heritage to which we can assign his voice." Mrs. Boles said that John Love's brother, Jake, now connected with the Federal Eeserve Bank in Dallas, was also a gifted singer and had a voice of unusual quality. "He always sang, though," she added in speaking of John Love's voice, "from his boyhood days through his life, and the only hobby to which he clung passionately was music." His music went with him through High School life and, according to his classmates, music seemed to be a part of his life. '11JIS voice and elegant manners, along with -* ■*• his handsomeness, made John Love one of the most popular boys in school," said Benton Morgan, Greenville lawyer, who was a member of Boles' graduating class and who was his classmate for four years, later being in the same company with him in the army. "It was a favorite saying of ours that John Love was always practicing his middle name with the ladies. And he did. He was always the center of any of our school groups. You might say that he sang his way through High School. He was a good dancer, too. Whistling was another of his accomplishments." It is prophetic that John Love Boles had one of the leading parts in the annual senior class play. "Our play for that year was called 'A Bachelor's Romance.' I don't suppose that John Love had any idea then of embarking upon a stage career," Mr. Morgan told me. Mr. Morgan tells an in John Boles' parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Boles, leading citizens of Greenville. Mr. Boles has been in the banking business for many years. teresting anecdote concerning one of Boles' early romances: " JOHN LOVE was an V excellent Southpaw pitcher; in fact, he was one of the best that our High School ever had. It all happened in Sherman. (Sherman is Greenville's greatest athletic rival). He had been expecting to see a young lady he was interested in but whom he had never met. and in about the sixth or seventh inning, when the other side was at bat, he called me, the catcher, out towards the pitcher's box for one of those mysterious conferences that pitchers and catchers often hold. " 'That's her,' he whispered to me as we put our heads together, and he jerked his head toward the bleachers where a beautiful young lady had stationed herself to watch the game. When we came to bat, John Love went over to see her and, thinking it was the girl he was looking at, made a date for the dance that night. It happened, however, that it was the wrong girl. He kept the date all right, but he managed to effect a change while at the dance and succeeded in escorting the girl of his choice to her home." John Love Boles' scholastic record is one to be proud of, high marks characterizing each subject he attempted. "He was an exceptionally fine student, always gentlemanly in conduct, and very brilliant in all his studies," L. C. Gee, superintendent of the Greenville Public Schools, said in praise of Boles' High School record. Examining the scholastic records of 1913, the year of Boles' graduation, we found that his best marks were made in the languages, with the marks in English and German being exactly the Home Town Stories This is the first of a series of intimate stories of the motion picture stars from the home town angle. In these there will be nothing of Hollywood or the false glamour that descends upon the screen famous. These stories will tell what the home towns think of their famous sons and daughters — and what they thought before screen success came. They are being written for The New Movie Magazine by newspaper men who live in the home towns, using all the facts out of reach of the Hollywood interviewers. They will tell you what the stars' friends, schoolmates and teachers thought — and what they think now. Next month — Myrna Loy and her early days in Helena, Montana. same. His punctuality record was one hundred per cent, a perfect mark, and his deportment was eighty-seven out of a possible hundred. "'DIG EAT,'" was his -*-* nickname through High School," Mr. Morgan said. "The title was earned by his proclivity toward hearty eating. He had a voracious appetite, being a healthy fellow, and the nickname always seemed particularly applicable in his case. "It was in the eighth grade in 1909 that I met John Love, when he came from the South Ward School (now renamed Travis School). He and I were the only two in the class who were given special permission to enter the literary society in the High School. The ruling was then in effect that no one could enter until they had reached the ninth grade, but we got 55