Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1947)

las Fairbanks and the Reggie Gardiners were guests too. So were Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer. And weekends six or seven other stars would arrive. The Zanuck children were home on a holiday and Darrylin, who is a great swimmer, had a boy who was training for the Olympic games as a house guest so he could train in the Zanuck pool. It was very gay. One weekend there was a dance for 159 beside the pool under the stars, which shine brighter there, I think, than anywhere else in the world. I know the moon hangs closer to the earth. You really feel if you could reach just a little higher you could touch it. Peggy Ann Garner came down for that dance. So did Barbara Whiting, whom you’ll remember as Fluffy in “Junior Miss.” Breakfast at the Zanucks is served whenever you arise or return from a ride in the hills, horseback riding being a pleasanter pursuit before the sun gets too high. Luncheon, depending upon the day’s program, is served anywhere between twelve and four. And often enough it is close to midnight before you leave the dinner table. PALM SPRINGS has one main street and, by the same token, one paved street. Here gay throngs parade in open cars, on bicycles and on foot. Window shopping is fun, for the swank shops along this main way are tempting with their bright resort clothes and wonderful riding boots and belts and harness. There’s a drugstore, too, where you’re likely to discover Lana Turner or one of the season’s glamorous debs considering a bottle of sun-tan preparation or imbibing a double beaker of orange juice. There’s a movie theater on this “boulevard.” And, farther along, is Desert Inn, the genesis of Palm Springs. Like the Racquet Club, Desert Inn is a series -of small buildings but here they are set in a lush tropical gai’den. And a very exclusive inn this is too. If you plan to lunch there look to your credentials. At the dining-room door they will be sure to ask, “Will you please check in at the desk first.” The desk, if it considers you properly dignified and well-mannered, will give you a ticket to the dining room. Otherwise you will be told they are filled up. Perhaps you will meet Shirley Temple and John Agar at the Inn. You’re more likely, however, to see an industrial tycoon and his family, one of the officers of Bethlehem Steel, perhaps, or a Du Pont. An incredible change from the days fifty-odd years ago when Nellie Kaufman hung out her shingle with “Desert Inn” inscribed on it. For the story of Palm Springs is the story of this plucky woman. With her husband and two small sons, she lived in the Middle West. However, her husband was tubercular and a dry climate was essential. So she gathered together her family and all their worldly possessions and started out. Across the prairie she drove, over mountains and into the desert. And one afternoon, because night was coming, she stopped at a funny little place with an Indian name that boasted one old broken-down road and scattered Indian dwellings. The next morning when the sun came up over the mountains the air was like wine, trees grew in little clusters, wild flowers covered the valley floor and some of the encircling mountains, including Mt. Jacinto, wore crowns of snow. Deciding to stay, they built a ghack. Every day Mr. Kaufman was a little stronger. Outside their shack Nellie Kaufman hung a sign: “Coffee. Sandwiches. Home-made pie and cake.” Travelers, crossing the desert, remembering the flavor of the coffee and sandwiches and pie and cake they bought at that ( Continued on page 851 NEW! Color with COME-ON! Color with FLARE! powder and lipstick! Two parts feminine, one part fire— Fiesta, the most talked-about powder shade that ever came out of Hollywood! On your skin, it glows like an angel —yet Fiesta kindles that glint in his eye! Add Woodbury color-freshness , lasting cling, heavenly fragrance ... and say yes to Fiesta today ! „rharT'tl9 Tha' enC" rose-sp0 . . it's yours — with brO0 ''esto/ °dburyFie AVA GARDNER appearing in Metro Gold wyn Mayer’s forthcoming production "UPWARD TO THE STAR1 Woodb ury r“T„ Powde FIESTA POWDER plus FIESTA LIPSTICK both for $1.00 Large-size Woodbury Powder and matching Lipstick come boxed together — a double value! — for only $1.00. ''Purse'' size Powder 25c and lOc. In Fiesta and 8 other exciting shades, loll prices plus loxl FREE'7zyyyjj<f#t...FREE! Seeing's believing! See Fiesta's sparkle on your skin. Se for free Woodbury Powder Sampler; get Fiesta, eig other flattering shades, plus Hollywood Make-up Cha Print name, address clearly. Mail* to Box 45, Cincinn< 1 4, Ohio. (In Canada: JohnH. Wood bury. Ltd., Perth, On 3 NAME STREET CITY STATE *Paste coupon on penny postcard if you wish.