Photoplay (Jan - Jun 1941)

m .rs.T handles a Difficult Case k ^ .„ awful fuso today Billy r*i««* en a*nu & 1&XBtlve; ! .ven pro^8 ea nin ff> he ju«t wouldn't take W ■"JB «"><» he was all J ^t one bite morning tx-L«* «° never have to up8.t hi. • ^£; I ve ttgalD! brlbe bla to ta.no a The action of Ex-Lax is thorough. yet gentle! No shock. No strain. No weakening after-effects. Just an easy, comfortahle bowel movement that blessed relief. Try I I next lime you need a laxative. It's good t'ii ri v.i | member of the family. 1<X and 25< breath and yelled. "Hello, I'm fine! Dad—" It was as far as she got. A scandalized gasp swept through the audience. Mr. Davenport dropped his script and wheeled in stupefaction. And three ushers ganged up on Bunny, clamped hands over her face and mouth, tied her up, stopped her cold. It all happened fast. But the guy in the control room probably was a split second faster. The studio audience almost could feel the vast wall of silence blanking them off from the rest of America. Maybe Bunny's desperate cry had got out, and maybe it hadn't. Bunny was being marched up the aisle, with Natalie discreetly following, while people gaped and gasped. She didn't try to hold back or hide her face. That would be silly. Let 'em look her over if they wanted to. In her disfiguring, trade-in coat, her hair uncombed since morning, without a vestige of make-up, she couldn't be much of a treat. What's more, she didn't look like Bunny Stanwood! NIGHT court was something new to Bunny. It seemed a stuffy place, not dramatic or even frightening. She had gathered vague ideas somewhere that policemen always got tough with their prisoners. But her cops were different. One of them was whispering to the judge and then Bunny heard her name called — or anyway, the one she was using at the moment. "Jenny Brown." She stood up and looked around uncertainly. The bailiff beckoned to her. A trifle weak-kneed, she got over to the bench and stood. The court favored her with a trifle more than his routine scrutiny. "I wonder," the judge asked at length, "if you appreciate the general public usefulness of our broadcasting systems?" Yes. sir." said Bunny. "Don't interrupt!" he frowned. "When an individual sets his personal interests contrary to the public interest, he becomes a nuisance." Bunny didn't dare answer. She just nodded. "Why did you yell into that microphone?" demanded the court. I only wanted to say hello to Paw and Maw." Bunny faced him, the soul oi frankness, of gawky innocence. Where do you live?" New Orleans," said Bunny. "I don't think you were actuated by any such dutiful inpulse," the court took issue. "I think you yelled into that mike in i i,,i the fun of it." She opened her mouth, but he checked hei I ■..! ply. "Young woman, the court sympathizes. All ol us have irrational impulses to holler out in meeting, but most of us have the control I" resist our wanton promptThose who haven't should be glad ;,. paj for their fun. . . . The fine is ten dollars. Next case, please." ALL the way back to Danville Bunny dozed in the seal corner of a clanking d oach and ignored the pessimisms of Natalie. But the instant the brakeman called out the familiar station name, she was awake and alert, eagerly thing the brisk morning air of New nd. A the girls climbed oil the owl train. ;i bundle ol newspapers came bouncing ,,ut of the baggage coach and rolled •ion platform Even before the train pulled out. Bunny was down on her hands and knees, scanning the morning headli . it was all there m screaming • is: "BUNNY BREAKS IN ON BROADCAST Little princess flashes word to father. Stanwood identifies voice of runaway daughter. Crazy attempt to relieve mother's fears succeeds. World-familiar face unrecognized by noted movie commentator. Fabled youngster arrested for mad escapade. Pays fine and flees. Stanwood's phone call from Bel Air to Radio City relayed to Judge Hibbard's court just a few seconds too late. Bunny disappears again." The melodramatic story turned the front page. There were probably columns more of it. Bunny, however, didn't bother to untie the rope. She could imagine the rest. But a two-column, pageone box caught her attention. A terse statement from Dad. Bunny's freakish communication probably had saved Mother from a mental collapse. Stanwood at least thanked his daughter for that. As for the rest — he sounded like a very angry parent indeed. No effort was being spared to track the truant down. And the search had narrowed considerably. A stage-struck girl, stubbornly refusing to give up her profession — she apparently was in New York, foolishly trying to start a new career. Bunny's hands tightened. "Nat it isn't fair! I've made my own way all my life. Why should they stop me now? Because I'm not big any more! As if that made any difference. But I'm going to be big again. Not that that part matters either. All that matters is I'm doing the things that belong to me — things that are mine by every right — don't you understand?" "No, I don't!" said Nat. "All right," said Bunny. "I guess nobody understands except me and Johnny and Mac and a few more like us." She smiled mistily. "I guess I'd better go square myself for not washing those windshields last night." SHE left Nat at the theater and went across to the parking lot to look for Johnny. He was nowhere in sight. She hunted through the washing shed, hoping she'd find him asleep in one of the But he wasn't asleep. He sat hunched in somebody's coupe, with the radio turned on low, just sitting quiet. He didn't even turn his head as Bunny came up. "Johnny ?" She was so happy, so glad to be back — all set to carry things off with female highhandedness. But something in Johnny's look quenched the joy in her eyes. He spoke to her. but his voice had a withdrawn, unwelcoming sound. "I heard the news story on the radio, around midnight!" he informed her abruptly. "Your bulletin got through to Bel A ir father knew your vo "My lather— Her throat contracted II. i hands fell limp. "He was listening in on the Tilbury Coffee Hour." Johnny stated "And so was I [got 5 our voice in a minut Johnny!" He had her ::. imping U talking about"" "Your mad career wl supposed to be!" he told hi i All rightfar as I'm mixed up in it. it's finished Let it go, will you She swallowed hard and tried to herself. Then she raised her chin with a jerk "All right then' I'm Bunny Stan.'. So what'.'" 68 For Bunny, everything depends on hotr Johnny treats her now. irom him and all her plans arc destroyed Watch for "Cutie-Puss" in yonr March PHOTOPLAY-MOVIE MlRROR. photoplay combined with Movn mhwoi