I'm sure every girl's in love- in love with love- most of her young life. From the day she finds that first home-made Valentine on her desk in the third grade to that wonderful, flashing moment when she comes face-to-face with the man she knows she's going to marry, she's in love with an idea. And I'm no different because, though that wonderful, flashing moment hasn't come to me yet, my heart knows that somewhere the man for me will materialize into a warm human being whom I can love and respect and have fun with.
The first and most important quality I'm looking for in a man is honesty. I despise little white lies, the petty, small deceits some men think is part of the game of boy-meets-girl. That first little white lie is the last as far as I'm concerned. The man who tries to make me believe it is off my list forever. Honesty, integrity and earnestness of purpose in life are vitally important to me, too, in my consideration of men. And a sense of humor- because who wants to go around with anyone who's got the weight of the world on his shoulders? Of course I want to have fun; sometimes it's a great disappointment to have to say no to an invitation I want most awfully to accept. But I'm sure every man I date realizes that actually my time is not really very much my own. The work I do demands just about every bit of concentration and energy I have so I'm most grateful when my dates understand this.
I knew all these requirements must seem like a pretty large order but, from the very beginning, my mother taught me to make my own decisions. She never forbade me to go out with any particular fellow whom she, in her greater wisdom, perhaps didn't approve of entirely. Nor did she ever set a time when I was to come home after my dates. She left everything strictly up to me and I never abused the privileges she gave me.
Just the other day I reread a diary I'd kept in high school- and imagine my amazement when I discovered I'd had a crush on a different boy just about every week! At the time, though, I was always so serious about thesee affairs of the heart that they seemed to last forever. Each one was of course going to turn out exactly like the romantic story I happened to be reading in a magazine. It didn't matter to me that I was so shy I couldn't get up enough courage to say more than two words to the boy. Somehow, someway, each particular crush was going to be the love of the ages. I became interested in boys when I was in the Sixth Grade! They didn't know about it but, believe me, I did. They were always boys who'd had some misfortune like for instance, the boy who was so awkward the other kids made fun of him. Then there was the boy whose father had died suddenly. My heart ached for him, too, but I was so diffident I could no more than gaze at him and wish I could think of something comforting to say to him.
I was eleven years old when I had my first date- and the boy was eleven, too. His mother and my mother were friends so when he announced loudly and to everybody that he was in love with me, I didn't get much help at home when I told my family how violently I hated him. He'd sit in class making moon-eyes at me and I almost died of embarrassment. But Mother just said wasn't it nice to have such an ardent admirer.
Finally he asked me to go to a Saturday afternoon movie at the Wiltern Theatre and I began to think I was quite a woman of the world. He tried to hold my hand and later we went across the street to a drive-in for dinner. But we were so early that nothing was ready, not even any ice cream. There was some lemon-pie, though, so we settled for that. I didn't mind-much-and only felf very grown-up and sophisticated. The elevator of the apartment house where I lived was the scene of my first kiss. My crush of the moment and I had just been to a rehearsal at John Burroughs Junior High School of a play I'd written and he and I happened to be alone. He kissed me and asked me to wait for him so we could be married when we were of age. I replied very, very seriously that I thought we were a little too young. It was a delicious, wonderful moment and you just can't imagine how beautifully sad I felt about this crisis in my life.
The star football player, the best dancer, the handsomest, the fellow with the gay, amusing line all attracted me in turn. But, looking back, I can't honestly say I had fun on our dates. Perhaps the trouble was that I'd look forward so eagerly to every one. I'd prepare my clothes with the greatest care. I'd dream of the wonderful time I was going to have. Then when the evening actually came, the whole thing would go kind of flat; it never was as thrilling and glamorous as I'd expected it to be.
Soon after I started in Los Angeles High School I began taking dramatic lessons. I'd made up my mind to be an actress long before- but I didn't want anyone in my crowd to know about it. I figured they wouldn't think of me as one of them any more if they knew what I was trying to do. I'd be sort of different, removed from them like, for instance, a girl in our class who took singing lessons and another who took dancing and a third who studied French with an outside teacher. All these girls would get up and do their specialites at parties and the rest of the kids looked at them as creatures from another world. So on Wednesdays and Fridays I'd make some sort of excuse- a dentist appointment, shopping with my mother- so I could get away. And that, incidentally, is the reason I've never seen a football game in my life because Friday afternoon was always the big day at school.
At dramatic school I fibbed about my age. I couldn't bear to have the other students look down on me because I was such a kid. I'll never know whether or not they believed me but I was very pleased because they treated me as if I were eighteen instead of sixteen. My contract with Universal-International was signed on my real eighteenth birthday and right then the change that had been gradually taking shape of my life was thrown into sharp focus. It was really a case of separating the boys from the men. You see, in dramatic school I got to know a different type of boy than I knew in high school. And now, in the studio, I meet really grown-up men who were accomplishing fine things in their chosen profession. I didn't have many dates that first year of my contract. I was so anxious to justify everyone's faith in me that I was much too busy the best of every opportunity that was offered me. You see, if you're not on the beam every minute of every working day, you're sunk. Somebody else is coming right behind you to take your place.
Later, when I was in Chicago on personal appearances for The Prince Who Was a Thief, I met Vic Damone, who was singing in a nightclub there. And, because of the hours of his shows, there wasn't any place else we could meet to talk to each other. Later, when he came to the Coast, we had more dates- and, believe me, they weren't in nightclubs! Just about every columnist and writer has asked me about my "romance" with Leonard Goldstein, who used to be a producer here at Universal-International but who's now with Twentieth Century-Fox. They all seem to want to put more emphasis on our friendship than it warrants. I'd do anything in my power for Leonard and I know he'd do the same for me. He's kind and sincere and we have lots of fun together. But romance? I wish people would believe me when I say it doesn't come into the picture.
I think for a girl of my age- you see I'd just had my twenty-first birthday on January 22, 1953- it's a good idea not to date any one man exclusively. I like to change around. For instance, I date David Schine and Dick Anderson and sometimes Rock Hudson, besides other men whose names aren't known to movie-goers. Of course the fact that I'm working so hard at the studio doesn't leave much free time but whenever I go out it's fun. Sometimes it's very dress-up and formal, with dinner at Romanoff', La rue or one of those nice places to eat on La Cienaga Boulevard. Some times it's just a hamburger at a drive-in and a movie.
My first date with Dick Anderson was the dress-up, formal kind- dinner and dancing at the Ambassador. But because it was the first time he'd asked me out, he couldn't have known I don't like my date to bring me flowers. I feel that after you've planned what you're going to wear, a corsage adds just the extra touch that's too much. So there I was, dressed in the lilac tulle-trimmed with literally dozens of pale pink artificial roses- over the shoulder, across the front, all around the bouffant skirt- and there was Dick with the corsage he'd brought. I simply couldn't hurt his feelings, so we tried them here and we tried them there- until he gave up at last and said I'd better put them in water so I could wear them the next day.
Like every girl I'm always thrilled to go on a really important date. So, of course the night David Schine, the young president of the Schine Hotels, took me to the Blossom Seeley-Benny Fields opening at the Cocoanut Grove was a truly glamour evening for me. I'd been working all day with a dirty face and my hair pushed up under a turban for scenes in The Golden Blade so that the contrast was terrific. Just looking around at the famous people at the other tables- I think every big name in pictures was there- was an experience I'll never forget. I'd dressed in my short black chiffon formal with a tight velvet bodice and had worn a mink stole over it but when someone asked if my long rhinestone earrings were real diamonds I felt in that company they should have been!
While rehearsals were going on for the film, Rock Hudson and I thought it would be a good idea if we'd do some work on the scenes by ourselves. So I suggested that he come over to my house for dinner. No, said Rock, not without a gilt-edge invitation from my mother. So Mother wrote one out, with gilt-edge, gilt-edge printed all around the border. Rock's a regular two-fisted, he-man eater and Mother was wise enough to be prepared with a big, hearty, extra-helping corn-beef and cabbage dinner. Incidentally, on one of our dates I came home after a delay at the studio to find Rock finishing a big plate of sandwiches Mother had made to keep him alive until mealtime. When the bell rant the night we were to rehearse, nobody was there when I opened the door. But on the porch lay a big card with a tired old piece of salami stuck between two pieces of stale rye bread. On the card was printed: "Nobody loves me, nobody'll eat me. I wish I were dead!" The second ring brought Rock and I'm glad to say he lived to eat a normal meal. Normal for three, that is. And he lived through the evening, sustained by six or seven big sandwiches, while we put in four good hours rehearsing.
It doesn't make any difference to me if the man I'm attracted to hasn't enough money to take me to expensive places. There's always plenty of good food at my house and we can go Dutch to a movie afterward. I've come a long way in a short time from the days of my high school diary when I had a crush on a different boy every week. And truly I hope I have more to offer than I did then. A shy, tongue-tied little girl adoring from afar certainly couldn't have been very interesting.
I've found some of the solid, worthwhile characteristics I admire in every man I date. But the day I meet a man who combines them all will be the day my heart will know I've met the man I want to marry.

The article is accompanied by a small black and white photo of Piper Laurie and Dick Anderson- Though Richard Anderson is one of Piper's steadiest escorts, she does the town with David Schine, Leonard Goldstein and others. She lives at home with parents.; A full page black and white photo of Piper in a low cut strapless gown; a small black and white photo of PL walking down stairs in a bouffant dress- At home, Piper loves to wear casual clothes, or if friends are expected she'll put on something frilly. She's mad for shoes, furs, high heels and jewelry, almost never wears a hat; A small black and white photo of PL in Mississippi Gambler- Ty Power and Piper were rumored to be feuding when Mississippi Gambler first started; now they're fast friends; A small black and white photo of PL- Adjusting her Persian footwear between scenes of UI's The Golden Blade, Piper has Rock Hudson for her costar.