Screenland (Nov 1945-Oct 1946)

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"Art for Pleasure and Profit" — tells all about our course, service — and commercial opportunities for you in Art. Mail coupon today. FREE BOOK fives details! WASHINGTON SCHOOL OF ART, Studio I72C 1 1 15-1 5th St.. N. W., Washington (5), D. C. Send your free catalog, "Art for Pleasure and Profit," and full particulars. Name .. Age Address ; . . . . ". . . City State over me when I had to walk up a flight of steps. I always wanted to look down and nothing is worse than that when one has any fear of heights." I know Alice has overcome that because I remember watching her walk down a long flight of steps for a picture recently. I recall thinking to myself, "How graceful she looks and how much at ease she is." Today, Alice's only fear is stage fright, a fear of the first day on a new picture. She is gradually getting over this by realizing that everyone knows she will be good in the film and by believing in herself to such an extent that there can be no doubt of the outcome of her work. That, to me, has been Alice's hardest battle — the battle to overcome her lack of self-confidence. Barbara Stanwyck's fear seems a very strange one for an actress. It was a fear of giving an extemporaneous speech. It all went back to the day she was graduated from grammar school. "I was to make a speech at the exercises," Barbara told me. "I got up to talk and suddenly got the most terrific case of stage fright and self consciousness. I could only say, 'Silence is golden.' Then I sat down. The memory of that day haunted me for years. In fact, in all of my years in Hollywood, I was unable even to get up at a home dinner, a friend's house, or at a banquet and make a speech. "When I was asked to talk for the Victory Loan drives, I wanted to say, 'No, I just can't.' But I realized I couldn't refuse such requests. Others were making speeches and I knew I had a job to do too. To make it easier for me, I had my speeches all written out. I memorized them until I knew them perfectly. "I'll never forget that first speech I made. I got up, faced the large crowd, my notes in hand. Suddenly, I felt a great surge of enthusiasm, patriotism — call it what you will. The importance of the mission struck me so deeply and so intensely that I simply began to talk for the first time in my life extemporaneously. I talked for a long time without once referring to my prepared speech. When I finished, I found the notes crumpled in my hand. That incident proved to me that if you can feel deeply and sincerely about a thing, there can be no fear." To the ordinary person, it seems strange that Grace McDonald ever had fears about her dancing or that Esther Williams was ever afraid of swimming. Yet, they have gained their success by' sheer determination and in the face of a gnawing fear. Grace, whose Hollywood career was begun because of her dancing in some of Broadway's biggest shows, once felt she would never dance again. Whenever she took a step, she was deathly afraid. "I had had a severe case of rheumatic fever," Grace related. "Doctors had told me that I would be lucky if I ever walked again let alone dance. For a year, I could scarcely move my legs. Then, when I had recovered, I made up my mind to go back to my dancing. I wanted to earn money to help pay my folks back for the heavy expenses they had incurred because of my illness. Naturally, they were against my plan because I was so young you see, I was only fourteen. But I refused to admit that I would never dance again. I had to. It was the only thing I wanted to do. "When I got my first job, I remember wondering if in the middle of a dance, my legs would go back on me again. Months passed, during which I had this awful fear, the uncertainty of not knowing if it would all come back on me. My only way to fight this fear was to deny it by dancing. I am glad now that I did fight back. The fear is gone. It was only determination that saved my career." Esther Williams, who is one of the finest swimmers in the country, once was afraid to go near the water. One day she hit her head on the bottom of a pool and it was only through the quick action of a guard that she didn't drown. For weeks she kept wanting to go back in the water, but she was afraid. Finally, she decided that she couldn't go on this way. She started to swim every day, for hours at a time. Occasionally, her fear would come back and she'd begin to fight the water in a panic. But eventually, by sheer determination, she was able to overcome her fear. Loretta Young had the same fear of water but not because of any accident to herself. "When I was younger, I was at Catalina with my little brother," Loretta told me. "He went out in the ocean too far and got caught in a rip tide. I can see him yet as he struggled and went farther and farther out to sea. It was Jack Mulhall, with whom I was working in a picture at the time, who finally brought him to shore. "For years afterwards, I held on to this fear of water. I would never go swimming at all. I was so afraid that I would even gasp when a little water was splashed in my face. Then, for a scene in 'A Man's Castle,' I learned that I had to do some swimming under water. I was determined not to tell the director of my fear. I began to work on it myself. Where before I couldn't even take a shower, I began to practice dunking my head under water in my tub baths. I did this repeatedly. It wasn't easy and I wasn't sure I was over my fear when I began the picture. "Right up to the moment I was to Charles Korvin, starring in "This Love Of Ours," and Agnes Moorhead chat at party. '78 SCREENLAND