SHE LIKED TO PAINT.

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 71, 21 September 1939, Page 18

SHE LIKED TO PAINT.

; Sudden transitions from tne prosaic • life of everyday to the excitement and thrill of a screen career happen often in pictures. There is, for instance, the case of Bill Holden, Columbia's discovery for "Golden Boy," who came to the studio fresh from Pasadena Junior College. Jean Arthur,. Colum- , bia star, Jimmy Stewart, Wendy Barrie, Maureen O'Sullivan were among other ■ players who have been suddenly transported from being just everyday young folks to taking active parts in the colourful world of Hollywood. Of them all, however, Jean Parker had what ,may be considered the most sudden and complete translation from obscurity to quick success. One day, little more than five years ago, Jean had as her friends and associates the other boys and girls of the John Muir High School in Pasadena. Then next she was the associate of the Barrymores— Lionel, John, and Ethel—in "Rasputin." And it.all happened strangely enough because she liked-to paint. She was born Mac Green in Montana, the daughter, of Mrr-and-Mrs. Louis Green. The family moved to Pasadena when Jean was a child, and, enrolled at school there, Jean developed an intense interest in athletics and water-colour painting. Students throughou' the State were urged to participate \n a Christmas poster contest, and Jean's entry won first prize. The publicity '.that followed resulted in her being asked to pose as one of California's' "Six Most Beautiful Girls" on posters to be used in connection with the Olympic Games, held that year in Los Angeles. Jean represented swimming, and, as a seanymph, it wasn't long before her picture attracted the attention of a talent scout.