Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1938)

* qBINSON & C( w W»e real man until V<>u 5 BY KAY PROCTOR A MAN and a little boy stood at a counter in a five-and-ten on Hollywood Boulevard. The boy, a sturdy little fellow with a shock of light-brown hair that was tousled boy fashion, cast calculating eyes of clear blue over the merchandise in front of him. After careful deliberation, he selected a five-cent package of ammunition for his cap pistol. Then, in a polite voice, he told the clerk, "Now I would like to see some of your bigger packages." The man, who had been standing by quietly, broke in. "Wait a minute," he said, "What do you think you're doing?" "I'm going to get some more. Some of the bigger ones," the boy answered confidently. The clerk, having recognized the man, went to bring out the bigger packages of bigger caps quite as a matter of course. Why not? The PHOTOGRAPHY BY HYMAN FINK kid's father could afford it and why deny the child any little thing his heart desired. She ought to know; she'd seen it happen often enough, heavens knows. Then the man spoke again, in decisive tones. "That's what you think," he said to the boy, "and that's where you are one hundred per cent wrong. Most boys consider themselves darned lucky to get a nickel's worth of caps and so should you! Any good reason why you should have more?" No good reason forthcoming, Edward G. Robinson fished down in his pocket, gave the astonished clerk a nickel, and handed the package of caps to his son, Manny. Manny is only his nickname, taken from Emanuel, which is what his famous father once was called; his given name is Edward G. Robinson, Jr. Edward G. expounds his theories 0/ how a boy should be reared foe/cry to prepare him for tomorrow. What'i m ore, he puts them into practice HOLLYWOOD has been saying that Eddie Rob inson is so batty about that five-year-old sor of his that he's spoiling the very daylights ou of him. Well, if that's a sample of the spoiling I know a lot of kids who ought to be spoilec in the very same way. They are a great team, Robinson and Son The boy patently thinks his dad is the greates guy on earth, barring none. It shows in hi: voice, his eyes, his whole bearing whenever hi is within sight of his father. But there is noth ing mushy or sentimental about it; it is a man to-man relationship. Eddie just as patently thinks Manny is the greatest guy on earth, barring none. His dailj sun rises and sets on the boy. His whole world revolves around him. The lad has given significance to Eddie's life. But — he has some good sound theories on how a boy should be reared today to prepare him for manhood tomorrow and, what's more, he puts those theories into practice. One or two of them may be radically different from the way you were reared, or even from the way you are rearing your children; but one thing is certain: pampering, petting and indulging the lad are not among them. "A child must learn two things to be able to face life successfully," Eddie said when we talked about his theories and his plans. We were sitting in the restful drawing room of the Robinson home in Beverly Hills, with its deep pile carpeting of solid black and walls hung with magnificent paintings worth a young j fortune. (Directly over the fireplace is a commanding canvas by Corot.) Through French doors we could see Manny romping on a broad expanse of green lawn with Marlene, the little girl who lives next door. "A child must learn self-reliance, the faculty of being able to cope with things," Eddie went on. "You cannot teach him that by indulging him, smoothing his path, making things pleasant and easy in every respect. As a matter of fact, I think a parent who indulges a child really is indulging himself in selfish fun, feeding his ego. It is the lazy way to bring up a child; it calls for the least effort. "The other important trait to be developed in a child is a social conscience. If the world is to come out of the chaos it is in at the present, it can do so only by respecting the other fellow and his rights. That is what a child must learn — to get along with his fellow man. "But — and this is equally important — he must 26