Such a Sweet Little Girl With Big Brown Eyes, Such a Sure Little Girl With Delightful Drive- This Pretty, Peppy Piper.:

No one is more frankly aware of her great good luck than Piper Laurie herself. She is not superstitious. The medals she always carries with her, strung on a heavy chain, are kept for deeply sentimental reasons- there is mezuzah given by her rabbi and St. Christopher's medal, both given her on the eve of her trip to Korea, a St. Genesius medal- he is the patron saint of actors- and a Madonna of Guadalupe, which she found herself in Mexico. These are keepsakes she cherishes, but she carries no rabbit's foot, and laughingly says that if she breaks a mirror, it brings her good luck.
Her eyes widen and glow, her lips are parted, and she looks back over her twenty years, or as much of them as she can remember. There ought to be some disappointments, one little touch of bad luck, oughtn't there, just for contrast? But there isn't. Not really.
Of course she had the normal heart-breaks of any girl in her teens, the usual crush on a boy who did not know she existed, the bitter disappointment when she missed out on roles in the high school plays. And it seemed like the end of the world when her big chance came, and she muffed it- not once, but twice.
"But I was lucky that those first two tests were failures," Piper says earnestly today. "In the first place, I wasn't really ready, and in the second, if I had been signed by either of those studios, I would have missed the U-I contract- and that first role in LOUISA!"
Piper is happy at Universal for a lot of reasons: she likes the people she is associated with, she knows the value of the training an actor gets there, and the way they are put immediately into pictures, instead of sitting around waiting a chance to show what they can do, as so often happens to the young people at other studios. (Two photos on this page- on of PL in shorts, captioned-'Figuring it out- Piper's a natural for shorts. She's an outdoor girl who worships the sun.' Other photo is PL with some Mexican children, young girls- caption reads: 'Sign language south of the border- Piper with two Mexican children when she was a guest of Mexico.')
"I remember when I first heard that I had landed a contract her," Piper went on, "We were living in an apartment then, and I was sitting in an old blue rocking chair, when the phone rang. Mother answered it, and I knew when she came back into the room. I only had to look at her face! I cried, I was so happy- and so did she!"
You could hardly be luckier that that, but then, almost before she had time to adjustto her good fortune. along came the role in LOUISA. Piper by no means revealed herself as an accomplished actress, but what did come over on something that the powers that be immediately recognized, that ingredient that makes a movie personality, and with time, an actress. Because of her handling of her role in LOUISA, Piper found the road to stardom short and quick.
"Every time I have lost a role I wanted, I have been lucky," Piper commented. "I wanted terribly to play opposite Joel McCrae in a picture, but if I had gotten that role, I would not have had the role in THE PRINCE WHO WAS A THIEF- and that meant stardom!"
Piper frankly admits that she knew from the time she was about six years old, that she wanted to be a movie star. She was about that age when she saw Jane Withers in person, saw the fuss made over her. For a long time, being a star meant just that to Piper: the adulation of the fans, and beautiful clothes. She wanted to be like that, dressed beautifully and surrounded by fans clamoring for her autograph.
Just as she has never known any set-back in her career, so Piper has never really known hardship. There were times, particularly during the depression, when her parents had a struggle, but Piper and her older sister Sherrye were happy and cared for, and the period left no mark on them. Late, the Jacobs family- Piper's real name is Rosetta Jacobs- moved to Los Angeles, and deep in her heart, Piper must have felt then that much nearer to making her dream come true.
When, in high school, she tried out for parts in dramatic productions without success. Piper was not discouraged, but wisely decided to take dramatic lessons. And she proved herself something of an actress right then by convincing a well known coach, Betomi Schneider, that she was eighteen, the required age for admission to his classes. When he later found out she was only fifteen, Mr. Schneider decided to make an exception and keep her secret for her.
During her sixteenth year, Piper made two movie tests, one for Fox, one for Warner's. Both were bad, and Piper was half sick with disappointment. She knows now that she was not ready- she was both plump and unprepared. She thought her heart was broken, but Piper was never a quitter, and she kept right on working. When she had her third chance, she was ready. The U-I test was a success.
When her mother brought her the good news, it would have been hard to tell which was happier, Mrs. Jacobs, or the little redhead in the blue chair!
When Piper was graduated from high school a few months later, her seven-year contract went into effect and she was put almost immmediately into LOUISA. Rosetta Jacobs, now Piper Laurie and said to live on a diet of flowers, was on her way! The publicity about the flowers was just a bit hard to take, at first, but Piper cooperated to the best, of her ability, and found one day that she could laught about it.
She was learning a lot. She had already learned that there was quite a lot more to being a movie star than posing in beautiful clothes and signing autographs. Most important, she had learned that the people she was meeting in the commissary and working with, were not against her but for her, and all the more when they found she could take a little kidding, go along with a gag.
Piper has natural red hair, but definitely does not have a red-headed temperment. She was shy, but not lacking in poise. She had been working for this opportunity almost all of her life, and best of all, she had her family wholeheartedly behind her. "The luckiest thing that ever happened to me was being born to my mother and father. They have always encouraged me, and I know they would stand behind me, whatever decision I might make. It is not important to them that I should be a movie star, but only that I should be happy. When they learned what i wanted, they were all for it, but if for any reason, I decided to give it up, they would still be right behind me. It is wonderful to have that confidence and encouragement.
"I am glad, too, that they have no part in show business. It is good for me to go home to a family that has other interests. Their lives are completely different from the lives of the people in the business, more like the lives of the people who go to the movies than those who make them. I think it gives me perspective to get completely away from this business when I go home. If I get any funny notions, the show up quickly at home, and it does not take my family long to bring me down to earth!"
"I am lucky, too," Piper went on, "to have a sister so near my own age- Sherrye is two and a half years older and we have always been close. I always love to tell her any good news, she is so truly happy for me."
There were a few years when the sisters grew apart, but then Piper caught up, she was in her teens and even taller than her sister. Sherrye trained for a nurse, is married to a doctor. Because they live such different lives, there is not a slightest element of jealousy, and Sherrye is proud of her sister.
Perhaps no one has gotten more out of travel than Piper. Her first trip to Korea was a great thrill, and because she saw how much it meant to the GI's she is determined to go back this Christmas to entertain them again. Dick Morris, who wrote and acted in the script they used last year is writing another, and Piper is determined nothing shall prevent her going. Some day, she hopes to be able to visit the countries she has touched on lightly, or glimpsed from a plane, and she has high hopes of some day making a picture in Europe. Most of all, she would like to be able to take her mother and father with her on a trip just for fun. For Piper, the greatest thrill comes from doing nice things for others, and it is typical of her to want to share everything with those she loves.
But if trips abroad have been exciting, so have the p.a. tours, which have shown Piper more of her own country than she would otherwise have seen in a lifetime. "It is possible I might have traveled," she explained, "but in ordinary travel, a person would never be able to meet the people I meet as an actress. These tours are of course to boost Hollywood and sell pictures, but they do a great deal for those of us who make them, too. You get to meet- and to know- all kinds of people, from the governors of the states to the youngest fan. You meet the people in the news, and you meet the youngsters still in school. You get to talk to them, to make friends. And sometimes, if you are lucky, you get a chance to do something for someone-"
Eyes shining, Piper went on to tell about a young girl who came to the hotel room whre Piper was trying to get some rest after a busy day. In a little while, she would have to go out again, but nevertheless, she insisted on seeing the girl. The latter, overcome with emotion, broke down and cried as she thrust a small box at Piper. Opening the box, Piper found a ceramic cow with cactus growing out of it, and blinked back tears of her own, knowing the girl could not afford even this little gift.
Little by little, she drew out the story: the girl was just sixteen, a baby-sitter, and Piper was the first movie star she had ever seen in person. She had save her money, bought her gift, and come in by bus from the little town where she lived, hardly dring to hope she would be able to get near her idol. Learning that the town was on their route for an evening appearance, Piper insisted on driving the girl home. Even that was not the end- when they left the girl at her home, her parents were out, and she wept again, knowing they would never believe her story. So, on their way to the hotel again, the group stopped, so that Piper could meet the family and prove the girl was not dreaming. If she gave this girl the thrill of a lifetime, she also gained from her sympathy and understanding. The warm feeling that comes from taking time to do something for someone else is its own reward for a sensitive girl like Piper. The dream of the little girl of six came true in full measure, when Piper realized it was not just being the center of attention, but being a person with something to give, that counted.
Success, of course, has brought other tangible things: the house she shares with her parents, and which she helped furnish, the new convertible- for a long time her mother drove her to and from the studio- and the clothes: "I feel lucky when I open my closet door and see all those beautiful clothes," Piper admits happily. And the earrings, of which she has a fine collection. Perhaps even the dogs- she has two now, one Squeaky, by breed a "papillon", which is French for butterfly, and her puppy, which is half Maltese, named Sachet. There is also a cat, given to Piper by a little girl on her last tour, which had to be left with an aunt in Toledo, but which Piper thinks of fondly.
Piper has a real talent for painting, and she expresses herself well, in writing or speaking. She has a sense of humour, but is essentially a very serious minded girl. She has a natural dignity and poise, and these qualities are very important to her, perhaps stemming in some measure from her eagerness to please her parents, and make them proud of her. She thinks of them when she buys her clothes, when she considers hair styles, when she goes out on dates. It is important to her that they should like her friends, and you know she would never do anything foolish. Some young people get a kick out of being crazy, doing wild, unpredictable things, but Piper has a measure stick that never fails her: what would mother, father think? They taught her to use the brains beneath her pretty red hair. They taught her to make her own decisions, but they gave her the standards, the sense of values, that influence those decisions.
Naturally, she takes her career seriously, recognizing that achieving stardom is not the end but the beginning. Piper had her first date at fifteen, and being a completely normal girl, likes to go out dancing, or to the movies, or to parties, but if she sometimes feels an inner twinge because she can do none of these things while working on a picture, she conceals it. And dates have really been kept at a minimum, for Piper has appeared in eight pictures, and starred in six of them, the most recent being MISSISSIPPI GAMBLER, with Tyrone Powers and Julia Adams.
She has said repeatedly that romance can wait, that she wants to be very sure, because marriage for her is for always and that she would not want ot marry until she was well established in her career and in a position where she could take time off for the honeymoon, and later time for babies. At the moment, she is heart-whole and fancy-free, although rumors persist that she may marry Leonard Goldstein, former U-I producer now with Fox who has been her mentor and friend. One thing for sure, with her parents' marriage as a shining example, Piper will never settle for less.
Although Piper is adult in her thinking to a large extent, there is also a little girl quality about her that is particularly endearing. Because dignity is so important to her and she cares deeply about the impression she makes, she was upset when a magazine used a picture of her that had been taken at a premiere on a rainy night: as her excort lifted her from car to curb, her long, full skirt fell back, and the camera caught a bit of garter above that stocking top. It hurt Piper that such a picture would be used when a moment later, the photographer could have taken her in a more dignified position. "Some girls at twenty have reached a degree of sophistication that takes off some of the bloom of youth, but Piper, without naivete or ignorance, has kept the bloom and the radiance, after two years of being in the spotlight, in the midst of the Hollywood "rat race," but untouched by it.
In this, perhaps, she is luckiest of all- that she is as sweet and unaffected, as completely unspoiled today as when she was just Rosetta Jacobs, Sherrye's little sister. She reached the heights very quickly, but if her head is in the clouds and there are stars in her eyes, her feet are on the ground, and she means it with all her heart when she says softly, "I'm a very lucky girl!"