Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1945)

ALSO FAMOUS ROGER & GALLET PERFUME DRY PERFUME • LIP ADE • TOILET SOAP Coov'ioHt 1 945: Iniernotionol Silver Co., Holmes & Edwords Olv., Meriden.Conn.InConaooJheT.EotonCo., lid ®Reo-U-S.Pat.Off. hands when she grows up, but neither Phil nor I are worrying about that. In fact, we are not planning too far ahead for either Alice or Phyllis because we figure we should let them follow their natural tendencies and interests, guide them as far as we can, but not force them in any particular direction. “Personally, I think motherhood is the greatest, richest experience any woman can have. And I mean it when I say that I wouldn’t exchange the most glamorous career and all the money in the world for a single eyelash of Alice or Phyllis. But when you have children, home and career and can manage to balance them against each other, then the pattern of life is just about perfect.” (Continued from page 45) shortest interview on me you have ever done on a player. You could just say, ‘She was born in California twenty years ago. One night she happened to attend a small theater, where between acts the lights went up and everyone could see everyone else. Three talent scouts happened to be there. Next day, Ivan Kahn of Twentieth called our heroine for a test — and there she is!’ ” Jeanne’s sense of humor bubbles through everything she says. I thought — she is by no means a raving beauty, but there is character in her face, particularly in her deep blue eyes. Her hair is brown, thick and curly. She has a turned up nose, a little too sharp, but she is attractive with the softness that belongs to youth. It amused me a bit that she was neither “scairt” nor shy with me. So many of these kids act as if I might bite them. But Parsons neither awed nor frightened Jeanne. I liked it. “I know I really haven’t very much life of my own,” she went on. “I suppose you would say that I live vicariously — in the parts I play. If I were a little older it might worry me. I would hate to go through life too lucky, a woman who doesn’t live and learn and grow stronger through experiences. But then, I tell myself, the important years of my life are ahead.” My mind went back to the first time I had ever set eyes on Jeanne — at a dinner the Darryl Zanucks gave at their beach house. I thought, at first, that she was a friend of fourteen-year-old Darrylin, she looked so young and seemed to be having such fun with the attractive daughter of the house. Then I was introduced to Jeanne as the young actress who was making her debut in “Home In Indiana.” David SELZNICK, who was also at the Zanucks’, saw Jeanne for the first time and that famous picker of stars realized at a glance that Jeanne was not the usual run-of-the-mill type of pretty girls who are a dime a dozen in Hollywood. He mentally catalogued her as a girl who has that magic something of which stars are made. But being smart, David did no raving at the party. Next day he tried to borrow her for one of his pictures! Darryl thanked him politely and said that he, too, had plans for the little lady, who, mind you, at that time had never faced a camera. Not bad — The readjustment in Alice’s life has taken all of four years. But they have been four years dedicated to self-development. She was always one of the most human of picture stars, trying to be herself in the midst of a very artificial environment, and succeeding. Her humanity and genuineness have but increased during the time that she has been away from pictures. She will grow anew, I am sure, during the pursuance of her career, because career is just an incident in her life as a woman. Alice is the woman first — and moreover always the woman who is capable of balancing things up in her own life so that the result will come out right. The End and typical of the “breaks” that have happened to Jeanne. I am telling this because I think it proves more than any mere words of mine how photogenic she is. She looks like an actress. In a way she reminds me of photographs I have seen of Sarah Bernhardt as a very young girl. You know instinctively when you see her that she is gifted with some special talent. For this reason I believe she is one of the young acolytes who will serve at the shrine of her career even above personal happiness, love and an early marriage. There has been a lot of talk that there is strong parental objection to Paul Brook, Jeanne’s current suitor. I don’t know why there should be these objections because Paul is a very personable young man, thoroughly likable and very handsome. Fact is, he is the spittin’ image of Errol Flynn. He started as Errol’s double and is frequently mistaken for the dashing debonair Flynn. Considering the publicity Errol has had, this is not particularly pleasant for Paul who is quiet, has never been in any sort of a scrape and whose name is seldom linked with the play girls of Hollywood. I asked Jeanne point blank if she was in love with Paul and if her parents were interfering with her marriage. “Certainly not,” she said quickly. “My parents are not against Paul. It just happens that I am not deeply in love with him. I like him very much. He is grand company. A girl can’t sit at home alone all the time — and Lon is away.” At that “Lon is away” business, I picked up my ears. “You mean Lon McCallister?” “Yes,” Jeanne replied. “I mean Lon McCallister— and I might tell you that all the stories in the columns that I am in love with Paul have made Lon very unhappy. I get many letters from him. In the last one, he said, ‘Tell me the truth. Are you going to marry Paul Brook? Are you in love with him?’ ” “What did you tell him?” I pressed on — as long as she was letting her hair down. As usual, she was direct in her answer. “I told him a big ‘No.’ You see, if 1 love anyone, it’s Lon. When he is here, we are together all the time. We like the same things. We like to go to the movies. We also like to have simple little dinners at (Continued on page 72) Lovely to look at — Delightful to knowfjenntjer fjt ones in a full-page portrait in color — and an understanding story by Maxine Arnold Next Month! Fair — and Fancy Free 70