Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1947)

The Lie ( Continued, from page 46) the balance of stomach room could be devoted to more alluring food. It had been working fine. Until this moment, that is, when before he’d had time to get rid of it, the crumpled bread had dropped into view. The nurse’s voice was taking on a more ominous emphasis: “Who is responsible for this—” she pointed a long finger at the crusts. No one spoke — not even Bob. “I’m giving you one more chance to step out of line. Come now — speak up and step out — ” The words were a clarion call which many years later, Bob would be able to liken to “The Voice of Gabriel.” At seven, however, they struck pure, wordless terror to his heart. He couldn’t have opened his dry little mouth if someone had promised to drop a shiny new dollar inside. “A-l-l-l-rigdit, I’ll come get you!” She was advancing down the line now, her finger extended like a dagger. He closed his lids tight, his breath stopped and his skinny body tensed to meet its doom . . . “You bad — sneaky — little boy!” A hand whooshed through the air — clutched — and there was another whoosh as a youngster went flying out of line. Not Bob— but the red-headed kid in front of him. “Not speaking up is even worse than lying!” “Yesm — ” The redhead stood patiently, under the pelting words, showing no surprise, his freckles only slightly more prominent than usual. Somehow, he was always falling into crime — it seemed useless to deny this one. Bob’s mouth, too, stayed tight-closed. There still seemed no way to force it open when that afternoon, the youngsters went trouping out into the clear mountain air to play health games in the snow. In the evening there was a special ceremony— Red in the middle of the ring of teachers and kids, making public apology for those sneaked-out crusts. And instead of his helping of custard pie, gulping down an extra, full-day’s ration of bread. That night, Bob could hear Red, breathing soundly, a couple of cots away. In some inexplainable way, however, he himself was too miserable to sleep. He had a kind of sore throat — not a regular one, but a sort of lump that seemed to want to spread out and choke him . . . Thirteen-year-old Bob Moseley kicked the dust along the road from Bakersfield Public School No. 2, and whistled absent-mindedly. Tanned, and with a thatch of sun-bleached hair, he was feeling — if he had been thinking about it — like a young man who’d never even heard of a health resort for underweight children. Happened, however, he was thinking of the couple of hours stretch until choretime. A couple of hours so-far uncharted, and offering some very fine possibilities. There was, fr’instance, the possibility of taking kid brother Harold for a walk through the fields and showing him how to scare up rabbits. Or, of getting together with his pal Bill and a couple of other kids for hide and seek. Bill, it turned out, was waiting for him. “Got somethin’ to show you,” he said, stalking off with a mysterious air toward the barn. Not until he stood over a nest behind the feed-box, would he speak further. The nest had a half-dozen eggs. “Look — all rotten. Good and stinkin’ rotten. 01.’ settin’ hen walked off and left em. Bob, for the moment, was too envious to speak. Actually, the hoard being Bill’s, it was his place to do the speaking, anyhow. “Let’s throw ’em,” saH H ••.from Sweet to Hot! (iM THESE 3 SWELL RCA VICTOR ALBUMS) "SONG OF THE ISLANDS and other Hawaiian Favorites," by Ray Kinney and his Coral Islanders with the Mullen Sisters. Eight recordings, in authentic Hawaiian style. Ask for RCA Victor Album P-176, $3.15 Song of the Islands Lovely Hula Hands Sweet Leilani Little Brown Gal My Isle of Golden Dreams Hawaiian Paradise Blue Hawaii Aloha Oe MU5U/VI "NEW 52nd ST. JAZZ," by Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Hawkins and their Orchestras ... 15 top musicians from New York's famous 52nd St.: 52nd Street Theme Night in Tunisia Say If Isn't So Spotlite O I' Man Rebop Anthropology Low Flame Allen's Alley NATURALLY... ON RCA VICTOR RECORDS! "FATS WALLER FAVORITES" includes some of Fats' most famous recordings ... an album you'll play for years! I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby Honeysuckle Rose The Joint Is Jumpin' Your Feet's Too Big Two Sleepy People Ain't Misbehavin' The Minor Drag Hold Tight Ask for RCA Victor Album P-I5I, $3.15 SOUP Ask for RCA Victor Album HJ-9, $3.75 Prices are suggested list prices, exclusive of taxes. HEAR BOB MERRILL on the RCA Victor Program. Sundays, 2 p.m., EDT, over NBC Network. Two "exclusives" — Victor's billion-record skill . . . plus RCA's electronic wizardry . . . make music sound so natural on RCA Victor Records! Hear them on a Victrola radio-phonograph. Victrola — Trade Mark Registered United States Patent Office. Radio Corporation of America. the sta fisy*0 MAKe mrs aka oh rca Victor records r HIS MASTER’S VOICE* P