7. My Youth With Jean Simmons

Sunday mornings we usually watch CBS Sunday Morning News. A lovely  hour and a half of news, things funny, (love Bill Giest and Nancy Giles, Sorry, Nancy, if I didn't spell it right) and sometimes it's very poignant.  This last Sunday I was saddened to hear that Jean Simmons had passed away.  She was 80 and died from lung cancer.  Probably from cigarettes (don't get me started).She hadn't come to mind for a very long time and in a flash I was back standing on Second Street in Pomona, CA in the mid 1950's. I was a starry eyed, movie star following junior higher.

I baby sat a lot in those days.  It gave me MY OWN money.  With no strings attached to it, I could save for a new sweater or another pair of those T-strap flats!  My feet are very wide so they didn't look as good on me as everyone else, but I wore them anyway.  And my coveted pair of white bucks, with that pounce bag of white powder to cover scuff marks...sigh out loud.  But with the odd half dollar, I could also buy my copy of Photoplay magazine when it hit the stands.

source for picture

I would spend hours cutting and pasting the chosen ones pictures, everything just so.  I'll bet there aren't ten girls in the US today who cut and paste with the zeal and complete joy that I did then.  I still have it.  It is somewhere in the storage shed.  This spring maybe I'll get out there and find it.  I don't suppose it is one of the things my kids will appreciate when I go to my Celestial Fandango, but it was really important to me then.

After I had read the magazine from cover to cover, I would decide who was "scrapbook worthy."  How could I resist Jean, those big brown eyes and fabulous figure.  Then, of course, there was Doris Day, truly everyone's sweet heart.  She is a bit of a recluse these days.  Her only deliberate contact with the outside world is to call her favorite disk jockey in Montery, Ca (she lives in Carmel Valley, CA) on her birthday.  She shares with him how she is and talks about her passionate work saving abused animals.  Grace Kelly was another hot item.  I hope she was as happy as she seemed with her life in Monaco, she certainly left behind a
wonderful career.

Hmm, now to add "Guys and Dolls" and, of course, "Elmer Gantry" to my que on Netflix., also I must remember to add those 100 calorie bags of Kettle Corn to my "when I go to town list."  Maybe it will rain this weekend so Jean and I can spend some quality time together and reminisce  about old times.