Photoplay (Jan - Jun 1941)

CD When a girl wants something badly, she'd give the coat off her back to get it. Bunny did — literally THE Story So Far: She'd amazed the world at 8 as the child prodigy of Hollywood; she'd sailed through ten years of success and public adulation; and she ended up at 18 with no job, an "old" child star with nowhere to go. It would have broken any other girl, but Bunny Stanwood was not the type who gave in easily. That was why she'd determined to have a life of her own and thus had sent her <l-in, Natalie Irwin, in her place to a girls' school in the East in which her family had enrolled her. She herself — unknown to her mother and father, of course— had gone East, too, to Broadway, to find herself a job. She'd had little success at that, until she'd met Johnny Morrison and Gilbert Gilroy, two young playwrights and, as plain Joan Brown, had gotten herself the leading part in their play by offering to be their "angel." But she hadn't been able to turn the trick. Her desperate wire for $5,000 to her father, sent through Natalie at school, had brought back nothing but an admonishing letter. She hated to face Johnny, for the cast of "High Olympus" was even then rehearsing in Mclntyre's unused theater in a Little Massachusetts town. But he had to know that there was no money forthcoming, even at the expense of her BY ALBERT TREYNOR own role in the play. And that was just what happened. When Bunny broke the news, she was out — her role was taken from her and her rival, Cissy Bolingsbroke, stepped into the lead. Bunny was happy, though, to play a small role in Johnny's play, especially when that meant that Johnny himself took time off from his extra job washing cars to coach her. What was better yet — the play was still to go on. A group of old-time vaudeville actors, old friends of Mac's, rallied around and produced their lifetime savings to help him out of his pinch. The only trick was that parts would have to be written into the play for them — and Johnny and Gil shook their heads in despair at the thought. It was then that Bunny took a hand. "If I were you and Gil," she said to Johnny, "I'd boil the play down to fifteen minutes and let Mac go hogwild with the rest of the show!" Johnny was soaking the mud off an automobile with a hose. He simply lot ned and, half in fun, half seriously, let Bunny have it full in the face. Then — she didn't know how it happened, nor did he — they were in each other's arms and Johnny was croonBunny rose from her seat and gave a wild glance at the microphone. She didn't dare wait — she had to do it right now ILLUSTRATION BY FRANK DOBIAS ing over her, "Cutie-Puss, you little idiot, you little darling." When she got back to the theater she was walking on air, Johnny had held her in his arms . . . would have kissed her if Gil hadn't come in right then. She hurried down to her dressing room, lighted the light. Then she stepped back abruptly. Somebody was rolled up in draperies, sleeping on Bunny's mattress. It was a girl — a golden head. Bunnystared for an instant and then let out a couple of frozen sounds. "Nat! What the — Natalie Irwin!" NOW Go On With The Story: The head of nuggetlike curls came up from the pillow and a pair of disapproving blue eyes blinked back at Bunny. "Well — if you call this being discovered by pictures — " "What do you want?" Bunny gasped. "What are you doing here? Why aren't you in school?" "I got kicked out of school." Natalie looked a little sullen about it, a little defiant. "They've wired your parents to take the brat home!" Bunny had dropped in a lump on the mattress. "But — but Nat — how could you — when everything was so beautiful''" "Beautiful?" Nat gaped around the cellar dressing room, at the cracked