The Waterbury Democrat., 1938-04-27
Ourth Series THE CHILD MOVIE STARS ARE GROWING UP Jane Withers Wants to Write, Become an Adult Comedienne
Honywood's Most Popular Kid
BY PAUL HARRISON 'NEA Service Staff COrresp0ndent)

(NEA OCEVACG Ot1A NOAACSPVAhuCAD
 Hollywood-Before Jane Withers was born, her mother bought a supply of clothes for 8 baby girl, chose 8 career for her, and se- lected a name that would look well on theater marquees.
 Being as optimistic as all that, Mrs. Walter Withers naturally as- sumed that her daughter would be star. So now she is pleased, if not greatly surprised, that Jane ranks sixth of the 10 leading box office attractions of the movies, topping Astaire and Rogers, Sonia Henie, Gary Cooper and Myrna Loy.
 The above two paragraphs, un- supported by details, would be very unfair to all the Witherses. The statements, alone, might call up visions of a single-minded, driv- ingly ambitious mother and a supercilious, typically Hollywood" brat. Any such ideas would be all wrong.
 The fact is that Ruth Withers has seen her dreams materialize without doing much of anything about them. She taught Jane to dance a little and sing little, and then took her to studio. After that, things happened by them selves.
 The mothers role now is one of good-natured restraint instead of aggressive promotion. Her job is to keep her daughter natural.
 Jane is earning $500 . week, most of which, plus the returns from a recent personal appearance tour ($5,O00 a week., is going into trust funds and investments made in her name.
 Pint-Size Tr0uper
 Among the people who make pie lures and act in them, Jane is the best liked of all young players. And thbt's saying 8 good deal In a town that has a great many nice kids.
 She never spells scene without trying vainly to ad lib her way through it. This is often possible because she does not try to learn her lines verbatim before rehear- sal, but merely gets the sense out of them.
 She's an unselfish trouper. l watched her play a scene with a colored woman who had long, difficult speech and was faltermg in it. Miss Withers voluntarily turned her back to the camera, thus sacrificing 8 closeup, ana silently mouthed the woman's lines to cue her from one sentence to another.
 And Jane is conscientious. Oft the set she may be full of pranks and an agreeable precocity. But not once, during five years in Hol- lywood, has she ever held up pro- duction minute with tempera- ment or tardiness, or even illness. Now you know why movie-mak- CTS like her.
 One of the Busiest
 Mrs. Withers almost always is on the sound stage, but she does not watch the shooting and she never enters suggestion or protest. So she has plenty of time for talking:
 "Jane was 12 on the twelfth of April. The studio is finding stories for her that represent her ex- act age. After this one, Hello, HollyWood,' she'll do The Texas Kid.' then 'Salome Jane and probably one called Meet the Girls
 "She is under contract for four pictures a year, and has six weeks for personal appearances. The tour this spring went to Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Detroit. Jane loved it, and not for the $5, ,OOO a week, either. She's as thrilled as the fans are, and never would let us take her out a side door to dodge a crowd"
 The Future
 Miss Withers grew an inch and half last year, and now is 59 inches tall. She weighs 94 pounds, and thus is plumper, or at least solder, than any other star. Her parents haven't re- quired or even permitted her to diet, though.
 "She doesn't expect to be TO- mantle leading lady, anyway" Mrs. Withers continued. "Jane doesn't seem to have a bit of per- sonal vanity; never has used a