Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1947)

p ready for romance? start with NO.NSH liquid deodorant checks perspiration — prevents odor — longer-lasting— fewer applications non-caking — won't dry out applicator cap makes NONSPI easy to use 35^ and 60(f plus tax everywhere took it. Another thing: He kept telling me that love was right and beautiful if two people were meant for one another, so very much against my will, we petted. After three months, we broke up. He did the breaking up and I could scarcely bear it, but I kept my chin up. When the news got around, two darling boys, both football players, began to give me a rush. As soon as I began to have fun, Tommy wanted me back again. He wanted to go steady. When I said I had been through all that, he told me that I had better get rid of my other boy friends and just be his girl or he would blacken my reputation. I’m scared to death. I never did a cheap thing in my life until I met this boy, and I swear I never will again. What shall I do? Give up everyone else and go steady with this boy, or run the risk of being hated by everyone in school? Mary Lou Under no circumstances should you ever give this boy another date. He is a cheap blackmailer and any number of other unpleasant things as well. If you gave up your other friends, in cowardly acquiescence, he would drop you within a few months again. In addition to living blamelessly, which I am certain you will from now on, you should tell your girl friends quite frankly that Tommy has threatened you. Don’t admit that you made a mistake; that belongs to the past. Simply say that Tommy is causing you trouble by saying that he will tell lies to disgrace you if you don’t accept dates with him. In other words, beat him to the punch. Discredit him before he has a chance to tell his stories. If you live an exemplary life, you will be believed — no matter what Tommy says. Claudette Colbert Dear Miss Colbert: Some months ago we moved to a farm and now have a cow, horses, hogs, and some chickens. My father (really a step-father, but he is so good to me that I claim him as my own) is a Master Sergeant in the Army, stationed thirty miles away. He comes home every night, but not until ten o’clock which is too late to feed stock. The only answer to the problem was to take me out of school to care for the animals. I am fifteen years old and was in the ninth grade. Don’t get me wrong; I lovte to care for the stock, but it’s hard work, especially for a girl. Since I quit school, I have been trying to go on with my studies alone. My father thinks it is a grand idea, but every time my mother sees me with a book, she screams at me and says I am lazy. If it hadn’t been for my father, I would have run away from home long ago. Mother left school when she was in fifth grade, so she says education never did anyone any good. Miss Colbert, how can I make my mother see that an education is necessary? Paula D. There are a number of things about your case which puzzle me. In the first place, why can’t your mother attend to the chores instead of keeping you out of school to do this work? Your letter does not indicate that she is an invalid. In the second place, I assume that in your state there is a law which provides for your schooling until you are sixteen, at least, perhaps until you are eighteen. Fond as you are of your stepfather, you should ponder the possibility that he, or your mother, or both, are showing little regard for your future. Since you are ambitious and wish to continue your education, I think you should discuss your position with your school principal. Claudette Colbert Dear Miss Colbert: I am nineteen. For the past four years, I have grown up with a boy who is now twenty-two. All during the war he was around because he was classed as essential in his war job. He is a lot of fun and I have enjoyed our friendship. But I am not in love with him. Last summer he asked me to marry him. I explained I didn’t want to marry for at least three years, perhaps longer. I also told him frankly that I thought he was nice, but that I didn’t want to encourage him to think I might grow to love him. Immediately after that he began to drink heavily, and has been in all sorts of trouble. Our parents belong to the same church and clubs. They are very close. When this boy began to misbehave, his mother came over to the house to talk it over with me. She said she thought I was being unnecessarily brutal, and that since there was no one else in my life I could be nice enough to encourage her son a little bit. I had a few dates with him, then tried to fluff him off. He wrote me a note telling ije that he was going to kill himself if we weren’t married on his birthday which falls in October, 1947. I don’t think he really would, but I’d feel horrible if he did. This is making a bad situation between the families, but I don’t know what to do. Lucille W. Obviously, this boy is a spoiled baby, pampered by his mother, who thinks that all he has to do to get what he wants is to make a scene. From your letter I presume that you have graduated from high school and not gone on to college. I am also taking for granted that your family would be able to send you out of town to school. I think you should enter a school at some distance, or visit relatives this summer. Usually one should not run away from a problem, but lhet;e are some problems ivhich can be solved only by running away. Your family should not tell this boy where you are going. You shouldn’t communicate with him in any way. The chances are excellent that if you are away this summer, and enter school this fall, the boy — like a child whose attention has been distracted — will begin to devote himself to some other girl. Claudette Colbert Have you a problem which seems to have no solution? Would you like the thoughtful advice of CL, life CofU? If you would, write to her in care of Photoplay, 321 S. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills, California, and if Miss Colbert feels that your problem is of general interest, she’ll consider answering it here. Names and addresses will be held confidential for your protection. -*rrm 76