Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1938)

CiwfCWiXha CtG£^< Deanna didn't escape every physical failing of the teens. She was taught to dress her hair in a more becoming manner (note contrast, far left, in Deanna as she is today and as she was before stardom); she learned that exercise and clothes are important in smoothng out immature bulges and bumps. Deanna avoids the comic performances that >rdinarily go with the awkward age — on either | he young or the old side. She does it by the jvay she acts, the way she thinks, the way she ias her fun, the way she picks her friends, trains iier mind, develops her talents and the way she ouilds her body. She does it by the clothes she vears, even the modest make-up she uses. And it is all hinged, as Deanna says, on comnon sense, a commodity as free as the air. Any young girl with reasonable attractiveness and ntelligence can be just as poised and person'ible. Deanna is sure of that. "Of course," qualified Deanna, "being in the .novies and working with older and talented people make me especially lucky. My best friends are my directors, Norman Taurog, jlenry Koster and Edward Ludwig. But there ire older and talented people everywhere, aren't here? If you just make friends with them." But most young people, I pointed out, are shy ind embarrassed around older people. They are ;elf-conscious. ! "That's where my singing has helped me," aid Deanna. "It has given you poise?" I asked. Her answer was not what I expected. "It has given me something to talk about," Deanna said. "Shyness comes from nothing to say. When l^ou're with older people and you can't talk to hem about anything interesting, naturally ^ou're embarrassed. But if you study anything vorth-while — whether it's music, painting or )ooks — anything, you'll always have something o say that will interest people." DEANNA has studied singing since she was eleven. She still studies it every day with her teacher, Andres de Segurola. But singing isn't all. She reads everything she can lay her hands on. This past year, in spite of the terrific amount of time her pictures have taken, she read "Gone With the Wind" twice, "White Banners," "Northwest Passage" and a dozen other contemporary books, besides her favorite reading, Shakespeare's plays and sonnets. That seemed a little adult for a fifteen-year-old girl to enjoy, so I asked her if she really liked it. "Yes," Deanna said honestly, "I do. Mr. Pasternak [her producer] gave me a set for Christmas. It contained a lot about Shakespeare's life and times. I read that part first. Then, after I knew what he was like, I wanted to read everything he wrote. There are two ways," said Deanna, "to learn anything. An interesting way — and a boring way. I like the interesting way." She told me about her recent trip to Washington. Like every other schoolgirl who ever visits the national capital, Deanna took in the standard sights — the White House, Capitol, Supreme Court, Lincoln's Memorial and so forth. But she didn't just breeze through. She investigated the interesting side lights of every place. She told me how the Bureau of Investigation worked. She described, in colorful words, how she stood beside the sorting machine and watched the hunt for a murderer narrow down to his fingerprints. "Just think," breathed Deanna, "I was right there when they really caught him!" If Deanna sounds a little old, a little serious and intent for her age, it is because she grew up around older people. Her sister, Mrs. Heckman, is considerably older than Deanna, and has always been her closest friend. Much of Deanna's little girlhood was spent in her sister's house. But, with her unusually keen perception of the dangers of her trying age, Deanna consciously avoids being too much in the company of grownups. She is anxious to avoid being a "little old lady." Recently she entertained with a party, inviting a crowd of kids her age to her home. They were her old public schoolmates and a number of youngsters — all her age — who have worked in her pictures — Helen Parrish, Jackie Moran — ■ and her particular girl friend, Adelaide Craig. They danced, and as a concession to grownupness Deanna had them all come in formal clothes. But when they got down to real fun they acted their age. They peeled the Big Apple to Deanna's collection of swing records! UEANNA has three evening gowns, or "formals," as her generation calls them. None is very decollete or daring. None is made of clinging satins or striking colored prints. She sticks to white — piques and crisp white organza — with square plain necks and as few frills as possible. In all her clothes, Deanna has conscientiously studied how to avoid the common mistakes of the in-between age — too many frills, or too severe, sophisticated lines. She has always had a basic taste for tailored, simple clothes. Her favorite knockabout costumes now are slacks and culottes. But when she first came to Universal there were a good (Continued on page 76) 15