Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-04-20
Daily Short Story
Youth Isn't All
BY HOLLIS sTARNEs

BY HOLLIS STARNES
Doggy MEAD MILLER wa
Il brought up on the slogan
Youth Is Al" IN her earlies
memory il was a sad slogan
Grandma and Grandpa Mead use,
\ TO sigh as they said:
"Youth Is all, anyhow In show
business"
When they were young the,
played Romeo and Juliet. Antony
and Cleopatra. Now they ap
peared IN character bits, as maid,
and buffers.
Both the MeadS and the Millers
were stage families. Peggy:
mother had a brief fling at fame
before she married and began e
raise a family. 1t was the same
with Peg. After her first starring
show on Broadway she wed Tony
Miller. BY the time her three
daughters and her son were out OF
the nursery, her youth was gone.
LETTERS GROW BRIEF
Meantime Tony had struck out
for Hollywood, but the wire PEG
waited two years for-"Come and
bring the kids"-never arrived
Instead. his letters grew brief and
far between. He mentioned new
interests" Peg used to keep writ.
ing for the money to keep the chill
dren.
When Tony asked for a divorce
she wasn't unprepared. New in
terests" sounded ominous from
the first. She settled for small
alimony. Somehow. she resolved
fiercely, she would manage &c
bring up the kids.
Youth was all, in show bust.
ness! In few years, if she could
hold out. one by one she'd have
four fine prospects for Broadway
Surely out of a quartet there'd be
a couple of stars!
This dream sustained Peggy
Miller through years of drudgery
She cooked, washed, cleaned;
trained her children in speech
poise. posture. All of them in
herited striking good looks, plenty
of temperament. and Tony's ready
charm.
NO SIGN OF BROADWAY
But one spring morning, when
nature was rejoicing in a new
burst Of bud and blossom, Peggy
faced the frustrating fact that her
family tree seemed sterile. The
children" were now from Is to
"a. Not one showed a sign of
Broadway burgeoning.
No one knew the ups and downs
OF show business better than
Peggy. Still, there always was
and would be. in the entertain
ment world, a break for youth.
Her brood had outer equipment,
but in her mothers heart she
knew they lacked the sterner
stuff needed for a highly COM
retitive profession.
They were egotistical, shiftless,
1ft. They wanted to start at the
'p. expected Broadway to drop
attracts in their laps without
cen going after them.
AS Peggy cleaned up her tiny
litchen, she heard the usual Gre
seendo of young voices from the
oinette. 1t was nearly noon, but
they still argued over the break
fast table.
The world, the war, the weather
-. the dumb nuts that ran show
business! They'd 60 on like that
until she served the next meal.
Then she'd have to beg, plead,
cajole for hours TO get them
dressed and downtown to see what
stirred on the Broadway Rialto.
RELIC OF STARDoM
Peggy Mead Miller was now
As. She knew without looking
into the mirror that she'd lost her
looks and her figure. But sud-
denly her spirit rose up in revolt
against her lifelong slogan.
as youth really ALE" she
asked herself. ais there nothing
In life for middle or old age?"
She went to her room and began
to dress for the street, A decision
was coming to her swiftly, after
years of slow motion. In half an
hour she slipped out the back door
of the fat, bearing the worn old
suitcase which still bore the bat
tered labels: PEGGY MEAD CO.
--THEATER." 1t was her one
relic of stardom.
She boarded a bus for the Broad
way district, checked her bag in
a Times Square locker, and started
a systematic job hunt up and down
the Forties.
1t was years since she had seen
the Street, as the children called
the theater district, in daylight,
and she was stunned by the
changes, the unfamiliar faces. But
she kept on going. Age was in
revolt!
She had steeled herself not to
mind the manners of outer office
people. She wanted a job, not
flattery. If they had no work, the
straighter they said so the better.
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