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Show ''Way Back When e By JEANNE I'RKI) MAC ML'KKAY WASIIEO CARS IOU A LIVING NECESSITY is the mother of invention, in-vention, they tay; and if that Is so I think someone should emphasize em-phasize that "Courage is the father fa-ther of opportunity." So many times, when things look blackest, it seems that only by drawing on reserve re-serve strength can we keep going. Suddenly we find ourselves face to face with opportunity. Everything looked hopeless before. We were really almost ready to give up. And, then looking back, we wonder how things could have seemed as bad as they were. Fred MacMurray was born in Kankakee, 111., in 1908, and spent his boyhood in Beaver Dam, Wis. He lived a normal small town life for an American youngster. In 1925. when he was seventeen, he was awarded the annual American Le- gion medal for the student showing show-ing the most well-rounded development develop-ment in scholastic subjects and sports. His mother worked in offices of-fices to support them both, and Fred attended Carroll college in Waukesha, Wis., earning his way by playing the saxophone. A broken bro-ken hip forced his mother to quit work, and Fred left college to try to blow a living out of his saxophone. saxo-phone. They moved to Hollywood, Calif., for her health and the boy was glad to get a job washing cars in a garage, to pay her hospital bills. Before he could collect his pay, the garage went bankrupt, and Fred MacMurray faced a discouraging discour-aging period without a job. He tried to obtain work in the picture studios as a saxophone player, but had no luck. Things looked very black, indeed. Then, he was signed up with a band called the California Collegians, Collegi-ans, which worked its way to New York city and was hired for the play "Three's a Crowd." Fred had a small bit which led to a slightly better bet-ter part in "Roberta." A talent scout for Paramount saw him, brought him back to Hollywood, and he was given a contract which led to his success in pictures. POET LAUREATE OF ENGLAND WAS . POKTEK LX A SALOOX WHAT romantic occupation could you possibly predict for a boy so adventurous that no one could control him, so reckless that the aunt who took care of him after his father and mother died indentured inden-tured him to a merchant ship at the age of fourteen to curb him? That was John Masefield's start in life and today he holds the highest honors hon-ors England can give any poet Born in Ledburn, Herefordshire, England, in 1874, he sailed the seas for three years. Leaving the ship . in port at New York city, he took any odd job he could get. He worked in a bakery and in a livery I " - .FI.--J stable. He was porter in Luke O'Connor's saloon at the Columbian hotel near Jefferson Market jail Then he moved to Yonkers, at the north end of New York city, where he worked in a carpet factory, rising ris-ing to the magnificent position of "mistake finder" at 58.50 per week. It was at this time, in his early twenties, that Masefield started to write poetry and in 1897 he left for London. His first volume of verses, "Salt Water Ballads," was published pub-lished in 1902 opening with "A Consecration," Con-secration," in which he announces himself as the champion of "the dust and scum of the earth." Books of verse and novels followed, one upon the other, and John Masefield became established as one of England's Eng-land's greatest poets. So, remember John Masefield before be-fore you pass judgment on that neighbor's boy who is such a holy terror or that young scamp who works in the saloon across the railroad rail-road tracks. Some day his poetry may draw a tear to your eye, a lump to your throat WNU Service. |