Evening star., 1944-08-01

which frequently becomes uncon-
trolable, and ID the commonest char
actcristic OF their performances doea
not mean they can act The odds
are that when time has tanned their
terrible strenuosity, th4y will sink
Into . f3ne, comfortable oblivion
where they will be much happier
and % will you.
As OF this moment, this seeker
after the truth about child actors
can name but two In the last several
seasons In whom he has implicit
faith for the future. They are
Skippy Homeier, Of the stages TO-
morrow the World" and little Mar
garet O'brien, the miniature Duse
on the payroll OF Metro -Goldwyn-
Mayer. He can recall, but not name
another, the straight4hafred little
girl with the piquant--rather than
.pretty--face who played an attrac-
tive demon In The Innocent Voy.
age"
All three seemed to have an au-
thentic talent for acting, unless our
conception Of an authentic talent
has been knocked farther out OF
line than usual.
Another, less talented, was the
fluffy Of Junior Miss" a frog
voiced fawn, name of Lenore Lone
gan. Miss Lonegan made quite a
stir among critics who were en-
chanted by her alternately colora-
tura and baritone tones. They were
convinced that she had quite q flair
for comedy and might grow into 4
kind Of domestic Beatrice Lille or
Fannie Brice. They walked right out
on the handiest limb to say so, and
kept on saying 1t until some 16 other
petite femmes showed up in road
companies with the same Infections
and the same elm charm. It sort
OF knocked them back to their old
way OF thinking that children are
wonderful mimics who can be very
fetching when they remember how
1t was the director said they were
to read q line or handle q situation.
+*<+'
Young Homeier, now in Holly
wood for the cinema version Of ITO
morrow the World" convinced
everyone who saw him that there
was more than mere mimicry, or
direction, In his performance OF the
diabolic Nazi child in that play. It
was not the original intention Of
Producer Lester Cowan to take
over Skippy along with the produc-
ton in translating 1t into celluloid.
In undertaking to cast the part
with another boy, however, he dis
covered that none had, or could
acquire, the understanding of the
juvenile demon which enabled
Skippy to make him q minor mas
terpiece.
Little Miss OBrien Is another who
leaves the unshakeable, conviction
that no other child could have
played any Of her roles. That is
particularly true Of those in Jour
ney for Margaret" and the subse-
quent Lost Angel" in the latter Of
which she was precocity itself, but
very charminely in spite of the au-
tomatic handicap OF prscocity.
They add up to mere two. but
the critics enthusiasm for them,
plus their tolerance for the sew
eral score others who are at work
today, Is adequate to indicate that
the reviewers are not the nasty
misanthropes that stage mothers
sometimes charge.
Furthermore: ,Jenifer Jones and
Anita Colby were honor guests At
ons.ofs the most pleasant celebrity
parties ofsShe beAson yesterday at
the Statler. -. Carter Barron was
host. i. Miss Norma Becker will
be crowned Queen of Bond Sales"
at the Earle Theater tonight at 8.
80. 1t took = 1,000-word telegram
for Hardie Meakin to extol the vir-
tues Of RKos product for the COM
Ing season.