TV Radio Mirror (Jan - Jun 1956)

Hour of Glory (Continued from page 55) For Nanette is an actress who began her professional career at the age of three and through the years has been developing a unique comedy style — along with singing and dancing and considerable theatrical know-how. Here was a girl who had already learned to throw away a comedy line as though she had just made it up on the spot (which she must often do now, when Sid departs from the script and Nan has to improvise madly to match his fast ad libs). A girl who can cry in a way to make viewers fracture themselves with laughter — and who can break into a hot jazzy number or a torchy ballad with equal fervor and effectiveness. It took only a few days of rehearsal, for that first broadcast together, to convince Sid that he had found an actress who responded to his every TV mood. Nan went on the first show to receive instant audience appreciation — and the next, and the next. Securing a release from her commitment with Mr. Liebman, she signed with Sid. And Nanette Fabray began her second season with Caesar last fall. Nanette must be ready for anything new in the way of lines or business dreamed up on the spur of the moment. While cameras are close up and mikes hover to catch every word, Sid will come up with spontaneous bits of hilarious business and lines that have just occurred to him, and Nanette will match him, bit for bit and line for line. Yet somehow she seems to know the exact second when he is ready to settle down again to the script as they rehearsed it. And all this "live." "Nan has some kind of sixth sense that tells her what I'm thinking, almost before I know it myself," Sid says. And Nan says: "Sid's funniest lines are the ones he springs without warning." Between them is a telepathic something, a sympathy of ideas, which makes each sensitive to the other's mood of the moment. "Terrific teamwork," someone explained it. Nanette was born Ruby Bernadette Nanette Therese Fabares (pronounced Fabah-ray) in San Diego, California. Her father was French. The family's last name was so often mispronounced that Nan finally changed its spelling to make it easier for everyone. Her mother was Irish — and a "frustrated actress" who had found marriage and three children a career in themselves, but who kept looking for signs of theatrical talent in her growing family. In little Nan, she found a child who could recite a nursery rhyme with the aplomb of a Shakespearean trouper, who could sing with pitch and poise and could hardly keep her feet from dancing. She sent her to dancing school, where her own beliefs were justified when Nan won the school's "kiddie contest." Armed with this distinction, Nan became a professional entertainer before she was four, appearing locally in Los Angeles and later touring in a vaudeville unit with Ben Turpin, beloved comedian of silent films. She put in quite a hitch as one of the succession of golden-haired darlings in "Our Gang" comedies. Today, her hair has grown more darkly auburn. But the hazel-brown eyes looked out from under brows which had a way of arching a little quizzically at the world even then, as if seeing some of its comedy under the ordinary routine of living, and her mouth was as full and pretty as it is now. "Baby Nan," as they called her, was quite a peiv sonality — for a toddler who had not yet achieved the stature of being even a kindergarten miss. "But things happen to baby-faced little actresses," she explains. "Like front teeth ENJOY BETTER FIT and truly youthful smartness, save money too! Shop by mail from new Hayes Half-Size Style Catalog. Hayes styles are different because they are Proportion-ized for YOU. Sizes: 12 'A » to 26 Vi, at money-saving low prices. Bright red piping and a red flower accent this beautifully styled domino-printed Cotton Broadcloth Frock— only $3.98. Other dresses $2.98 to $16.98. Coats $12.98 up. Shoes and hose. Also suits, sportswear, robes, slips, corsets, underwear —all Proportion-ized to fit your Half-Size figure. Mail the coupon now for your copy of the new Hayes Style Catalog. IT'S FREE. SIZES 12'/j TO 26'/* DEPT. 401 — INDIANAPOLIS 47 INDIANA j Please rush FREE Hayes Catalog of Half-Size Styles, S" priced low and Proportion-ized for perfect fit. (401) Name j Address I : Post Office State MAKE BIG MONEY helping us take orders for magazine subscriptions. Write today for FREE information: MACFADDEN PUBLICATIONS, 205 E. 42 St., New York 17, N. Y. LORDS PRAYER K.GOLD PLATED A beautiful item of jewelry that your friends will admire. Lord's Prayer artfully engraved on lovely Gold Pin that you will always wear with great pride and devotion. YOU GET FREE BIBLE With every order You Get World's tiniest complete BIBLE— you'll carry it wherever you go— it will amaze your friends. ORDER NOW Only $1 each Pin & FREE BIBLE (tax incl.). Give a set to a loved one or friend —they will bless you! 3 sets only $2.75. MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE! WORLD WIDE, 1 OSSINING, New York Chi-Ches-Ters turn "problem'' days into party days. No need to miss good times because of functional menstrual distress— when you can get such wonderful quick and lasting relief from pain, cramps, nervous tension and headache with Chi-Ches-Ters. There's nothing like them-in doctors' tests 9 out of 10 women got wonderful relief beyond expectations. Try this fast-acting prescription-like formula. Your money back if not satisfied. Purse Pak 50#. Economy Sizes $1.15 and $2.25. At your drug store, or we will fill direct orders. FREE — Illustrated booklet of intimate facts every woman should know. Mailed in plain wrapper. Write today! Chichester Chemical Company, Dept. 2-S, Philadelphia 46, Pa. 83 ■■I