Screenland (May-Oct 1940)

..Jf June, who was an acrobatic dancer before entering pictures, enjoys her gym sessions. In this workout, June takes advantage of Loomis' strong grip. All the muscles of the body are benefitted by this and a good stretch never hurt anyone. approach was the only one you'd understand," he said. It was an awful let-down. For a minute I could only stand there staring at him. "You — you — you're fired!" I cried. Dear Diary: . Here I am again. And you can't imagine what that MAN has done now. He quit! And Uncle Milburn and Elsa made me practically go down on my knees to him the morning of the party to get him to come. But after all it would only be a matter of a few hours until I'd be through with him for good. So I gritted my teeth and told him I didn't mean it when I fired him. But I'd have the last triumph. At midnight he would discover how Cinderella felt. My costume was so lovely. I was going as Dolly Madison. But then everybody looked marvelous even though most of the women came as Betsy Ross and most of the men as Abraham Lincoln, including Alan and Bruce. It was the funniest thing to see their faces when they saw each other. Elsa took one look at them and shrieked. "I'd hate to see anyone come in here dressed as John Wilkes Booth !" she giggled. It was funny how Alan acted, as if he thought I meant every word I'said when I asked him to come back this morning. He was being so confident and sure of himself that I took great delight in turning down one dance with him after the other. Of course he kept cutting in all the time. But I couldn't help that, could I? Then at a quarter to twelve I couldn't hold in my triumph any longer. "Tomorrow morning you can start watching the want ads for a new job," I told him. "I'd like to follow you, darling, but I i don't," he said grinning. "Look," I said, and I was delighted at how grim I made my voice sound. "I was By keeping a perfect balance, with Loomis' help, June hopes to arch back far enough to touch her heels. This takes daily practice as muscles must be strong and elastic. saving this for twelve o'clock but I'll tell you now. The only reason I ever needed you was to keep the soup company alive until I was old enough to sell it. You've been very superior laughing at my ideals, but maybe you'll take me seriously when you find I'm going to give every cent I get from the sale to the Cause." He didn't believe me at first but when I pointed out the man who had come to buy the company he didn't look quite so confident. For a moment I felt almost sorry for him, seeing how chagrined he looked at the way I'd duped him. Then he laughed and suggested we have a drink. Everything went black after that drink. I came to in a strange room with the sunlight streaming through the window. I'd never seen the place before and had no idea where I was. Then I heard the key turning in the door and there was Alan. "I hope you like the place," he said. "I couldn't think of a better one after slipping you that Mickey Finn." I was petrified when he told me we were all alone there and that it was a former summer hotel that had been closed. He knew about it because he'd worked there as manager once. "I had to slip you the Mickey," Alan told me. "You were going to sell the company and give the money away." "And what concern is it of yours whether I sell it or not?" I demanded. "I'm going to marry you," he said cheerfully. "You wouldn't want to come to me penniless, would you?" "If it takes me the rest of my life I'll pay you back for this !" I cried. "You're a changeable little creature," he said shaking his head. "This morning you're tearing my head off and last night you were killing me with affection. But of course you wouldn't remember. I mean the interval between dusk and dawn. I found you a lot more congenial when you were unconscious." "What do you mean?" I demanded. "You don't expect me to kiss and tell," he said indignantly. "I'm no cad." Suddenly he dropped his kidding manner and leaned toward me. "Penny, why can't we stop sniping at each other?" he said softly. "You know why I brought you here? Because I love you and I'm not going to let you do anything foolish." I pretended to be taken in by what he was saying. But of course I wasn't. How could I believe anything he said after the way he'd treated me? Still, I could pretend to. I got up as if I was going to him and then suddenly I darted to the door and snatched the key and locked it from the outside. Then I made for home. But if I thought I was going to find any .peace there I was very much mistaken. There were Grisha and Feodor and Eric in a regular fist fight. I couldn't believe my own ears when I heard what they were saying. Grisha had been taking half their wages every week threatening to have them fired if they didn't give him the money and he was spending it all on a girl. And he wasn't even a Russian. In fact, he was born in Brooklyn. I could just stand there gasping, with all my ideals crashing around me ! Darling Diary : This is just to say goodbye. I won't be writing in you any more. You see it's just that I know I won't have the time because being Alan's wife will be so exciting and thrilling I don't want to waste a minute of it even to tell about it. And besides an ultra-American wife such as I am going to be is going to have her hands full just being American. You know at first I couldn't believe Alan really meant it when he said he loved me. "You probable want to marry me for my money," I said. "Sure I do," he agreed cheerfully. "But it's nice you're good looking too, Cutie-pants." Darling Diary, I just adore him. Fell in love with him the first moment I saw him 75