Screenland (May 1943-Oct 1944)

for a date !' Instead they'd always ask my older sister Sally. "Sally always gets the boys," Gloria Jean said. "They think I'm just a baby." "Never mind, Gloria Jean," I comforted. "It won't be long before you'll be old enough to have boys admire you. Remember you're a movie star. You're a very pretty girl. Wait and see what happens when you get to be 16 or 17." "If I tell you a secret, will you promise never to tell ?" she had asked suddenly. "I'm really fourteen not thirteen. I'm supposed to be younger in pictures. I have to wear little-girl dresses and flat heels," she sighed. "One day I was celebrating my birthday. Mother and Father said they had a real big surprise for me. That I was actually two years older than I really was known to be. I had never known my real age until then. Overnight I was sixteen ! "The studio had a role for me of an eleven-year-old child." Gloria Jean was exuberant in the telling. "Ray Jones called me in for publicity pictures. 'Gloria Jean,' he said, 'are you sure you're not older than fourteen?' I told him the dilemma I was in. He said, 'We'll fix that for you. Go home and get a bathing suit. I'll make some pictures of you.' "I dashed home and borrowed Sally's best-looking bathing suit. You should have seen those pictures ! Then and there the studio announced my real age. Life became wonderful overnight "As for Sally — she's mooning all over the place for Fred. Sally's had more boy friends than any girl I know. She's dreadfully popular. Then she met Fred. She really went out of this world. Sally's the cashier of Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Fred managed the Pantages up the Boulevard. They were going to be married New Year's. But he was sent to Texas for Officer Candidate School. Now he's settled for a while. I guess they'll be married soon now." Gloria was starry-eyed, revelling in sister Sally's plans. "I'm too young for marriage," she said. "Until now I've kept getting crushes. Some seemed serious at the time. But I've always felt that one day I would meet the right boy. I haven't worried — because I knew he'd come along. Jimmy has. Of course his having two broken legs at the very time of our meeting, and being laid up, and neither of us with cars, and gas rationing, has been a terrible problem for us. But I'm sure now, that he's the one. "Before Jimmy, there was one other boy who sort of fascinated me on the lot. Turhan Bey. He's twenty or more. I think the reason I like older men is because they're quieter and not so noisy as the jitterbug crowd. They are more gallant and thoughtful. They have nicer manners. "I got the make-up man to introduce us in the commissary. I made it look like we were just passing Turhan's table. It was all quite impromptu. He asked to call. " 'I'd love to have you come over and visit me on the set this afternoon,' I replied. "But the most dreadful thing happened. I was never so mortified. Turhan came to my set and asked for me. And what do you think they said to him? 'Why, Gloria Jean is in school. Her teacher doesn't permit visitors when she's doing her lessons.' "I almost died. Imagine my embarrassment. He hed thought me a young lady — and they had to go and tell him that I'm in school with my teacher. "The next day I saw Turhan in the commissary. I said, 'Why didn't you come over on the set? I waited tea for you.' He said, 'I tried. But they said you were in school studying your lessons. We'll make another date when you finish your education ! "I said, 'I'm seventeen. So that won't be very long!' "You can see what a handicap I am under. Besides I'm so short, five-feet-two. "However," Gloria Jean smiled triumphantly, " 'For All We Know' proves I'm no child. Everyone will know I'm grownup then. I play a nineteen-year-old girl. Charles Boyer, the producer, tested 60 girls for the role of the blind girl in this sequence. When my name was suggested, everyone said, 'But Gloria Jean's such a child!' I made the test and was chosen. I couldn't believe it. In the picture Alan Curtis shoots my father so he can steal me — to make love to me. We have a terrifically dramatic scene where I am fighting his kisses. That's when my rib was broken." "I can get all of Sally's leftover boy friends," Gloria Jean smiled. "I can sound like Sally on the telephone. They'll call, 'Hello, Sally, how are you?' I let them rave on for a half hour before I let them know that Sally isn't at home. "Suddenly being one year younger than Sally, instead of three, brought Sally and me closer. She had so much advice to give me on handling boy friends. "We've always been so confidential, I feel I can tell you anything," Gloria Jean said to me. "Well, almost anything." "You can," I confirmed. "Because I never told — when you told me you were 14 instead of 13 !" Gloria Jean reached over and squeezed my hand gratefully. "Now I'll admit to you that I've had several crushes on older men," she said. "I had a terrible crush on Charles Boyer when I was 14. When we finished the picture, he presented me with a lovely bracelet. Mr. Duvivier gave me a bottle of Chantilly perfume. "I dreamed about Alan Curtis one night," she went on. "I know he is 31, but he looks so young. I try to be very grown-up when we are together. After all, we've made love scenes. But he still treats me as a little kid." Mrs. Schoonover, coming in just in time to hear her famous daughter's last remark, said, "Gloria Jean, did you tell May about the sailor-boy in Boston?" "Oh yes," Gloria Jean remembered. "Mother and I went to Boston for a premiere. The hotel switchboard operator said there was a sailor who'd been waiting in the lobby to see me. He had just arrived in Boston harbor from forty miles out at sea — in a submarine. He had bet twenty fellows a dollar each he'd get to see Gloria Jean. I gave him an initialed handkerchief and an autographed picture. He said he'd put it up in his sub." "Since I've grown up my fan mail has doubled," Gloria Jean said, going over to the phonograph. "And please don't think I'm boasting, but I am pleased." Mr. Schoonover had an interesting story to relate. The studio reported a forlorn youth of 19, who hung around the front gate. "I want to see Gloria Jean," he persisted. He was unshaven and hungry and his clothes were ragged. He had hitchhiked from Ohio, just to see Gloria Jean. Mrs. Schoonover met him. She gave him money for food. She told him to be at the gate at six P. M. when Gloria Jean would stop as they drove out. "Would you like my picture?" Gloria Jean asked him. "Oh no," he replied. "I have hundreds of you already." He pulled out a dozen or more with faded clippings of Gloria Jean, from inside his shirt. "When I first met Jimmy," Gloria Jean said, in after-thought, "he seemed impressed with me too. He was just on the verge of asking for a date, when a girl came up and almost ruined everything. She said, 'Gloria Jean, your teacher is looking for you everywhere.' Jimmy ignored her. He turned to me with such understanding. "It may be old-fashioned," she concluded, "but a boy I am serious about will have to pass Mother's approval. A girl can't risk her heart. I'm just waiting to see what Mother thinks of Jimmy !" Glamorous HAIR Makes You look ovetiex Mary Beth Hughes, lovely 20th Century-Fox star in "Ox Bow Incident", uses G LOVER'S. HOLLYWOOD teaches you to look lovelier with GLOVER'S famous MEDICINAL treatment, with massage, for Dandruff, Itchy Scalp and excessive Falling Hair. You'll feel the exhilarating . effect, instantly/ Ask for GLOVER'S at any Drug Store. Send today for this Complete Trial Application, of GLOVER'S famous Mange Medicine and the new GLO-VER Beauty Soap Shampoo, in hermetically* sealed bottles. Test the Glover's Medicinal Treatment, yourself ! Complete instructions and booklet, "'The Scientific Care of Scalp and Hair," included FREE ! 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