Photoplay (Jan - Jun 1943)

Dear Miss Davis: I am only a little girl, but maybe you will answer my letter anyway. When Daddy gives me my allowance I buy Defense Stamps with half of it and the rest I use for movies. I go to the show every day after school, except on Tuesdays when I have my piano and dancing lessons. Daddy doesn't get home from work until six o'clock. My mother died when I was born and then we lived with Grandma until she died. Miss Davis, here is my problem. I went to a movie and saw "Blossoms In The Dust." Greer Garson was the mother in it and I love her. I saw it three times, then I saw "Mrs. Miniver" five times. I am saving every penny I can get and then I am coming to Hollywood to see Miss Garson. I am not telling Daddy because I don't think he would let me go, but, Miss Davis, I simply have to see her. Don't you think it would be all right for me to go to see her? Yours lovingly, Janie. Dear Janie: I can well understand your admiration for Miss Garson, as she is one of the most beautiful and charming women I have ever met. However, I believe I have a better plan for you than coming to Hollywood. Nearly every star is note doing a great deal of war work, going on Bond tours, or traveling from camp to camp entertaining soldiers. It is entirely possible that Miss Garson ivill appear in your town or one near by. Why don't you watch the papers for news of her visit? Then you could have your father take you to see her and so spare you both the long trip to Hollywood. You forgot to put your address in your letter, but if you will send it to me I will (just for you) ask Miss Garson for a photograph and mail it to you. Sincerely yours, Bette Davis. Dear Miss Davis: I always read Photoplay-Movie Mirror and I was very interested to learn that you are acting as consultant for its readers. I have a very serious problem. My husband and I were married when I was twenty and he was twenty-five— we were both old enough to know our own minds and we were very much in love. Still, his mother didn't approve of me. She made the statement that my family were not her equals. She wouldn't even have me in her house and when my baby daughter was born she didn't send flowers, or telephone to find out how I was, or even visit our flat to see how my husband was getting along while I was in the hospital. My little girl was only three when we moved out of our home state because my husband, George, wanted to change his type of work. We had some pretty tough times, I can tell you. Lots of times we didn't know where the next meal was coming from, but somehow we managed without calling on George's mother who has plenty. I've always been a good manager and Have you ever suffered from social stage fright — the kind of torment that comes from being afraid to enter a room filled with strange people? Then you're right in the class of L^ltzuJLettc L^alpett who tells how she learned to overcome her social stage fright in the March PHOTOPLAY-MOVIE MIRROR George could always bring in an odd dollar when things got desperate. For five years we were strangers to George's people. Then one day I met George's brother on the street. I was astonished and so was he. I invited him home to have dinner with us and he said he and my mother-in-law were living only a few blocks down the street. Well, I can't say I was happy about it, but what could I do? At Thanksgiving time I invited George's brother and mother over for dinner and we sort of patched things up. Still, she has never invited me to set foot in her house. That went on for three years. This summer she begged me to let Joan, my daughter, stay with her while George and I took a little vacation. I wanted Joan to go along with us, but George thought it would be fun to have a second honeymoon and to leave Joan with her grandmother, which we did. "Well, when we came home, Joan told me that her grandmother had spent the entire time ridiculing me and telling stories about my family. My mother-in-law made fun of my clothes, of my house — well, of everything about me to my own daughter. Now, Miss Davis, I think I would be justified in breaking off all relations with George's mother. I think I should never telephone her again, and never see her, also that I should keep Joan away from her. George doesn't feel that way. He says we have to make allowances for older people and that it isn't fair to keep the only grandchild away from her grandmother. How can I stand to go on sitting for hours in the same room with a woman who is mentally jeering at me? How can I risk her turning Joan against me? My family are all dead now, so there is no way that I can show Joan that I really came from nice, if plain people. What shall I do, Miss Davis? Unhappily yours, J. Dear Mrs. J.: I sincerely agree with you when you say that you have a difficult problem. In the first place, your husband has a point when he says that we have to make allotcances for older people. Your husband is also right when he says that a grandchild is important to its grandmother. But you are right in resenting anything that comes between you and your daughter, as it is important for her to grow up to respect you. Anyone who attempts to undermine the affection and reverence of a child for its mother is. of course, in the wrong. Personally, I feel that your husband should stand by you in preference to his mother in this matter, but undoubtedly he loves his mother and feels loyalty for her. I feel that, already, you are definitely justified in breaking off all relations with your husband's mother, but if you love your husband — tchich you seem to — why not have one more try. Go and discuss tcith your mother-inlaw her attitude toward you and ask her quite frankly what does she hope to gain by turning your daughter against you? Very often the most difficult situations can In' cleared up if the people themselves sit doicn and talk about itIt seems to me this is your only hope. In doing this, you are being fair to every one involved, and no one can say you haven't done everything in your power to keep peace in the family. Yours truly. Bette Davis. The End 70 photoplay combined with movie mirrof