Two Girls Who Made Good in Hollywood

Hollywood — capital of entertainment, land of magic and glamour, where happiness walks hand in hand with misery: it is the resting place of many people's hopes, and the scatterer of the dreams of others!

To this strange land came two girls, holding their hats in one hand and quieting the beating of their hearts with the other. They were seeking fame on the pilgrim road of art, among thousands of seekers.

The two heroines of our story began their artistic life as strangers; one environment brought them together, and they practiced their art together. Here is "Frances Gumm," a beloved child, born into surroundings in which she learned singing before she had counted ten years; she used to sing with her two sisters until "George Jessel" appeared, changed her name, and called her "Judy Garland." Meanwhile "Edna Mae Durbin" was obscure, with no sign on the features of her face to point to what she attained later. She was born in Canada and moved with her family to "Los Angeles," where she was known as little Edna, the merry one, who loved to sing. She was singing at a party when one of the directors heard her and brought her into "Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer," which signed her for acting — and Judy likewise. Here the company thought of matching the two voices of "Garland–Durbin" in a short musical film; and the outcome was that it declined to keep "Edna Mae," who left Hollywood to sign with the Universal studios, where she became known by the name "Deanna Durbin."

No one knows what it is that makes a movie star a star; but Judy Garland's success rests for the most part on her athletic drive and her devotion to the practice of dancing and singing, and then on her boldness and daring in changing her appearance, even into the ugliest possible shape. As for "Deanna," she had one single personality on the screen and was never obliged to take another; and if she is not counted among Hollywood's beauties, that enchanting smile and that beautiful voice are enough for her.

We move on with the days, and here we are in the year 1941, when Deanna has reached twenty years of age and "Judy" nineteen. We pause here a moment to speak of the entry of love into the arena of the two young ladies' lives. "Deanna" married in this year "Vaughn Paul," and thought it would last forever... In the same year "Judy" married "David Rose," and said forever too. Deanna's marriage ended in divorce after two years, while "Judy's" marriage served three years. And here Judy began her descent: she fell ill, and attempted suicide in 1950; and when she despaired of finding work for herself in Hollywood, she opened at the "Palace Theatre" in New York, with dancing, comedy, and song.

The two stars began to part ways, after they had kept step with one another for ten years — in their successes, their children, even in divorce... Judy will begin acting anew, while Deanna insists on remaining at home to care for her husband and children; and it seems the two have felt that the time of their coming together again is at hand — something moviegoers will welcome, and which fulfills the two stars' hopes once more!