Show 1 3 WAY WA Y BACK 0 0 o WHEN sya le 0 11 BETTE DAVIS DA VIS WAS AN USHERETTE LIFE T IFE has a strange way sometimes ot of repeating a circumstance from our previous struggles as it if to remind us that what may have once seemed a difficult trial was actually preparation for a later triumph T am thinking particularly of bette davis and the marvelous performance she gave as the waitress mildred in of human bondage bette davis was born in lowell mass in 1908 her mother had only a small alimony with which to support bette and her sister so she became ax a professional photographer after attending the mary arden school of peterboro Peter boro N H bette went to cushing cashing academy of boston there she waited on tables ta to earn her tuition to the six teen year old little girl whose dramatic ambitions made her supersensitive to her role in life her oc pupation as waitress was humiliating in contrast to the advantages enjoyed by her fellow students miserable though her school days were that occupation was to be the role of one of her greatest triumphs would bette div daws s have played such a convincing mildred if circumstances had never forced her to be a waitress at school recognition came to bette davis soon after school she had always wanted to be an actress and her mother encouraged her although her father thought she should take a business course in new york and prepare to be a stenographer she attended a dramatic school in new york instead and then obtained a job as an usherette in the cape playhouse of cape cod mass finally r 11 1 1 AMR she was given a small part and rose rapidly in the theater go ingon to hollywood where she rose to stellar heights in of human bondage for her performance in dangerous she received the motion picture award in 1935 0 i RADIO STAR RAN A concession favorites do not always eways bear marks to distinguish them from her failures bob burns who with his bazooka has become nationally known for his radio broadcasts and motion picture works for many years looked like a failure he was born in van buren ark in 1896 and was always fond of music his first bazooka was a horn made from a piece of pipe welded to a funnel because he had nothing else to play after two years in college he joined some friends in oklahoma raising peanuts bob gave that up to go back to van buren where he joined a minstrel troupe at three dollars a week he tried to geta get a theatrical job in new orleans next he tried new york with no luck and went q to little rock ark there he failed at trying to sell advertising on commission during the world war bob burns bums was in the marines was a crack rifle shot and entertained the soldiers with his bazooka after the war he started a concession on the boardwalk at atlantic city running a game of afi chance he married a girl who alo worked in another concession and together they started a dance hall but it failed failure after failure and in the midst of his troubles his son was born but then bob burns got a job in vaudeville and in a few short years he was at the top of the entertainment world with contracts for stage motion pictures and radio his bazooka in which he had such faith but which seemed such hopeless comedy to many people is with him today and known all over the country service |