New Britain herald., 1927-01-26
HOLLYWOOD GIRLy ;;:!;:;; ;:!:; $: $; | JOHNSON
READ THIS FIRST:

Ing to Hollywood 10 Dreak Into pictures.
 The only drawback to her ambi- tion is that, owing to her extrav- agance, she has not money to finance such an adventure. al- though she makes plenty of money 1t has a way of slipping through her fingers.
 Finally, one summer just before school opens, she makes up her mind that somehow or other she must go to Hollywooa. She asks her father to lend her the money. But both he and his old-maid sis ter, who Is Boobies Aunt Gertrude, tell her they'd never think of let ting her go to such a place. Their idea of perfectly dreadful thing for a woman to be is a movie ac- tress.
 Then Robbie asks Andrew Jer- rold, who's in love with her. for the loan of the money. But Andy refuses to give her money that will carry her out of his life. He wants her to settle down and marry him.
 On a Sunday morning Aunt Ger trude comes home from church with the news that certain Mrs. Burrage has been ordered to California for the winter, by her doctors, and that she needs a governess for her little daughter. Jean. She adds that Mrs. Burrage has spoken about asking Robbie to take the position, and later Robbie goes to see Mrs. Bur rage who asks her to do it. Robbie, when she hears that Mrs. Burrage is going to Hollywood, is delighted and accepts. Just the thought that she can perhaps visit the studios and be an extra" thrills her.
 Andy Jerrold Is blue abof 1t when she breaks the news to him, and she tells him she hopes that as soon as she is gone, he will find some other girl and fall in love with her. She means 1t, too. Her feeling for Andy is one of warm friendship and nothing more. NOW GO ON WITH THE STORY CHAPTER V
 By the end of that first week the l Ransom family was used to the idea of Boobies going away. | MT. Ransom stopped talking against 1t after little Mrs. Burrage | dropped in at the Locust street house one evening. She was such a nice gentle woman, and she looked so pathetic when she talked about her little daughter. Jean. that he began to feel that Robbie would be safe and happy with her.
 He was the kind of old fashioned man who thought we'll of the "cling- ing vine" type of women, and there was no doubt that Mrs. Burrage knew just how to cling. She spoke of Thy husband" as if he were a | dered little when she spoke of going away from home so long. l Tears came into her soft eyes, too. "As long as you feel that you'll be happier away from home, Bob- bie," he said to his wilfu1 daughter, when Mrs. Burrage was gone, you couldn't be In better hands than in Mrs. Burrage's. feel sure"
 Robbie smiled to herself. A bad little secret smile. She didn't in- tend to be in anyone's hands out in Hollywood. She had things all planned for herself.
 On the days when she was not taking care of little Jean. she was going to make her rounds of the studios. offering herself as an ex- tra girl, or hurrying from one cast ing office to another looking for work. And by the end of the winter, when Mrs. Burrage is ready to go home and won't need me any more," she decided. 'I'll stay on in Holly | wood" Even Aunt Gertrude began to see the bright side of things. She had happened to pick up a magazine article that told of the home-life of the screen stars, and 1t began to dawn on her that perhaps Holly | wood was no worse than other cities of the world, after all.
 But I hope, all the same, that you won't go ahead with that silly notion of yours to get into the movies" she told Robbie one after noon, as the two of them sat mak- ing violet sachet bags for Boobies trunk. T hope you've put that wild idea out of your head, once and | for all.'
 Robbie set her soft lips and said nothing. But even while her aunt ] was speaking, visions of Holly [ wood and all that it meant to her, danced through her head. Klieg lights blazing in the center of a great shadowy picture studio. Grease paint. Famous faces cov- cred with pinkish- yellow grease paint. Beaded eyelashes and white- hennaed hair. A wide white sunny street known to the world as Holly wood boulevard. Blue skies, palm trees. Freedom!
 The nine-letter word stood for all these things Tn Boobies excited brain. Hollywood! At the very thought of it, she became breath less with excitement. It was her first thought in the morning when she wakened -. and her last one when she closed her eyes at night. She was like a five-year- r-old child looking forward to Christmas in- stead of grown woman, and a school teacher, at that!
 Andy Jerrold alone remained de- pressed and stunned by the news that his girl was going away from him for six or seven months. Per haps for always.
 On the last Sunday night in Au- gust he came over to the Locust street house at supper time.
 He came not in one of his sec ond-hand cars. but in his own old blue roadster-a car that he said . got better the older it became.
 It stoDped in front of the hOuse ,