Screenland (Nov 1940-Apr 1941)

to act like Marlene Dietrich or even Garbo. And then I'd figure that it was my natural self, such as I am, that attracted my date in the beginning, so why take a chance on changing into something he might not like as well? Well, anyway, lots of first things were happening, three years ago, like I said I played in "Broadway Melody of 193b and that was the first real step forward in my Career. Not to mention that it was then that I first met Robert Taylor! n Then I made "Love Finds Andy Hardy and I reallv believe that's my favorite of my pictures. Mickey and I had lots of fun together while we were making that, same as we had fun making "Strike Up the Band"— we'd tear down to the beach week-ends and "do" the amusement piers, and we'd come home loaded to the gills with Kewpie dolls and Popeyes. Mickeyis an expert shot with the rifle and I'm a dead-eye aim with baseballs, so we'd be prettv even-Stephen on prizes. We had our "crowd" by this time, too — Mickey, of course, Jackie Cooper, Bonita Granville, Bob Stack, Rita Quigley, Helen Parrish, Ann Rutherford, Leonard Suess, most of them were in our gang then and are now — and in the evenings we'd get together at my house or one of the other kid's houses and we'd play records, dance, "feed" on hot chocolate, chili and beans, wienies, brownies, pop-corn, cokes, our favorite items of "light" refreshment! We had jolly times, we still do — it was mostly all fun and nothing very serious. We'd" all sort of date each other, I'd go out with Mickey, with Jackie, later with Bob Stack ; the other girls would go_ out with them, too; there were very few jealousies— we were pretty deadly in earnest about our work — of course, I often thought I was in love— but I used to worship people from afar more than those who were dunking their doughnuts in my hot chocolate. I'd have crushes on people who thought I was a little girl — my doctor, for instance, I was insane about him — he's fifty, I think! And every time I'd have a crush, I'd think, this is real love! But in saner moments I know I have never really been in love, I always recover too quickly. Columnists and gossip are always trying to make out that I'm serious, about Bob Stack, for instance, or Dan Dailey, or this one or that. But I'm not, I never have been and I don't intend to be, for quite some time to come ! Now-, let's see — dear me, I hope I'm getting what serious biographers call "chronology" into this manuscript! Well, after I was 'fifteen, first things happened to me so sort of fast and. furious, I get addled. Anyway, two very important first things come in here, I know — I played Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz" and that was a dream I'd dreamed ever since Daddy read the "Oz" stories to me, back-stage, when I was just a kid. And just before I stopped being Judv and became Dorothy, I built— my own home! It's sprawling and it's white and it's surrounded by trees and flowers and a tennis court and, this_ year, we put in a swimming pool which is the rendezvous, every Sunday afternoon, for the crowd. My* bedroom is all done in chartreuse and" brown and the walls are lined with my favorite books. I have my own dressing room and bath, too. Well, when I made "Wizard of Oz" not onlv did I actually live in the Emerald City, not only did I pinch myself black and" blue every day to make sure I was awake, not dreaming, but also Dorothy won me my first Academy Award for a performance by a Juvenile Actress! And Mickev presented me with the golden statue. Mickey and the statue looked like they were swimming, because of the tears in my eyes. Next I think of "Babes in Arms" and, especially, of the preview which was at With this smartly styled coat-dress which she wears in "One Night in the Tropics,' lovely Nancy Kelly dons a beige felt pompadour turban, edged with mink in halo fashion, and she carries a large muff of matching mink. Grauman's Chinese and which was the first premiere of one of my pictures that I ever attended. Again with Mickey, naturally. And that was the night I was invited to put my foot-prints and hand-prints in the forecourt of the theater. Mickey's were already there and, of course, Clark Gable's, Harold Lloyd's, Shirley Temple's, oh, all the big stars' ! I wanted to look glamorous that night, as I had never wanted to before, or since. Well, I bite mv fingernails and I felt sick because I couldn't have long, glittering ones like Joan Crawford's. So the manicurist fixed me up with artificial ones. After I placed my hands in the wet cement I went into the theater and after awhile I thought a creeping paralysis had set in, beginning with my fingers! They felt all numb and heavy. I was in a cold sweat until we left the theater and then I realized some of the cement had got under my nails and hardened on the false ones! I went to a party afterwards feeling like Dracula's daughter, with talons ! The next day I had to have them chopped off! That was my first and last attempt at being glamorous. After "Babes in Arms" the studio sent Mickey and me to New York on a personal appearance tour. We did six shows a day so, of course, we didn't have much time to sight-see. Mom said 10 :30 was curfew and Mickey kept to that schedule, too. But we did manage to spend one evening at the Rainbow Room. We wanted to know how it felt to dance "on top of the world." That trip was the first time I really shopped in New York, too. Boy, did I sweep in and out of Fifth Avenue's finest! It was the first time I bought semi-grown-up clothes. And that was the time Fred Waring asked me to appear as a guest on his radio program. Of course I accepted,^ thinking he just wanted me to say "hello." Do you know what he did? He had his entire program dedicated to me! And his theme song for the evening was Over the Rainbow, which happens to be my favorite song. So I sang all the songs from "The Wizard of Oz" for him and a good time was had by all, most especially by me! Oh, and I must tell about my sixteenth birthdav. We had a party at my house and my brother-in-law. Robert Sherwood, brought along his La Maze orchestra. Mickey was master of ceremonies and we staged an entertainment program of our own. I sans; two numbers, and Jackie. Bonita, Ann, Helen, Buddy Pepper, all of them did turns. We had a ping-pong tournament, too, and Mister Rooney walked off with the honors ! At midnight we served a buffet supper. I wore a new, white sharkskin sports dress, with flowers appliqued on the pockets. And in my hair I wore the gardenias which Mickey sent me — oh, and in the midst of the festivities, two blue lovebirds in a blue and white cage were delivered to me. And the card attached read, "Happy Birthday to My Best Girl, Judy — Clark Gable." But I guess the most important first thing that happened in 1938 was that, for the first time, I became an aunt! Jinnie says it's really a little more important that she became A Mother than that I became an aunt. I wouldn't know about that. I only know that I always wanted to be an aunt. And that the circumstances of my aunthood befell me under circumstances which were pretty extraordinary! 'Cause / was in the hospital, too! It was right after my automobile accident. One bright morning, a few days later, my nurse told me she was going to take me "visiting." She bundled me into a wheel-chair and we headed for the "baby floor." There, for the first time, seen under glass, so to speak, I first beheld my first niece, Judy Gayle Sherwood, my name-sake as well as my niece! Born in the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital while I'd been recovering from my accident— both of us under the same roof! So now, I guess, I'm pretty much up to the Present. I made "Andy Hardy Meets Debutante" and then "Strike Up the Band." And did we have ourselves a time, Mickey and I, while we were making that. After doing our "Conga" number, talk about being in a lather ! Between scenes, Mickey'd mostly play the songs he was writing to me, and I'd make recordings for him and all. I was just like the character in the picture, where Mickey was concerned. And now I'm playing my first grownup, dramatic character part in "Little Nellie Kellv." I even die in "Nellie." And — and this is a VERY important first in my life, 7 play my first grozun-up love scene in this picture, too! I'm really blushing even as I write about it. I, who have said I was never embarrassed on the stage, in front of a mike or a camera, take it all back now. George Murphy plays my sweetheart (and my husband, I play a dual role, too!) in the picture. And he was certainly the most perfect choice, for he is so kind and tender and understanding — and humorous, too. But just the same, after we made that love scene, I didn't know what to do or where to look. I'd just kind of go away between scenes because I couldn't look at him. He kept kidding me, too, saying he felt like he was "in Tennessee with my child-bride !" And— well, my goodness, I guess that s about all ! I guess a girl hasn't much of a Life Story when she's just eighteen because, of course, she hasn't had much life! Although I do think I've had quite a Past and I know I'm old enough so that it's been fun to Remember. And I also know that, at the end of my first eighteen years, as I write "Finis, The End" to my First Life Story, I'd like to say some Thank You's, quite a lot of Thank You's — first of all to Mom and Daddy, of course, for all the things they did for me, for everything they were and are to me ; and to my sisters for their patience with me, and the fun we had; and to Mr. Mayer for believing in me; and to Mrs. Carter and Roger Eden and all the directors who have helped me and all the people who have worked with me — and to Mickey, naturally — I don't know what for. just for being Mickey. I guess — and to all the magazine and newspaper people who have been so kind to me — and to mv fans, who are my friends, and who have made me what I am today — to — well, to just about everyone and even-thing yes, to everything and everyone who have made my first eighteen years of being alive so swell, and such fun! 71