NEW ZEALAND GIRL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23205, 26 November 1938, Page 26

NEW ZEALAND GIRL

GOVERNESS IN AMERICA LIFE IN WEALTHY HOMES CHILDREN OF FILM STARS A life filled with interest has been experienced by Miss Marjorie Tucker, who arrived in Auckland yesterday by the Mariposa, after 10 years' absence from New Zealand. Ten years ago a florist in Wanganui, Miss Tucker has since had many positions as governess in Los Angeles, and has worked for many celebrities, including Joan Bennett, Fay Wray and Samuel Jaffe, a well-known Hollywood film agent. Salaries there were very high, she said, and lately she had been receiving 125 dollars a month. Arriving in America in 1929, just after the depression, Miss Tucker found that the florists' profession was. almost at a standstill. Feeling that her only other possibility of obtaining a living was in work with children, she started a two years' course at a charity hospital in Los Angeles, preferring this to a three years' nursing course. Diversified Training

"I have never regretted this decision," Miss Tucker said. "At the charity hospital I learned how to handle children, something of diet, and care in cases of sickness, and a diversified training which I have found invaluable. I have had positions since, both as a children's nurse and as a governess, but I prefer the latter, for as a governess 1 had the opportunity to get about with the children, whereas a children's nurse has to prepare the children's meals and do their laundry, and, as the nursery quarters were always away from the rest of the house, sho does not get so much freedom. "I have always had complete charge of the children, taking them riding and golfing, and playing tennis with them. The mothers never interfere, and I have even supervised the choosing of their clothes."

Miss Tucker has worked always with wealthy people who have possessed beach houses at Malibu Beach. A car has been at . her disposal, and she has never been expected to do any house work. In the summer two hours were spent each day in the mountains, and in the winter these hours were spent in the desert. There were great differences in temperature that could be reached within two hours of Los Angeles, she said. Young. Screen Stars

Not long before she left Los Angeles, Afiss Tucker took her charges to have tea with Deanna Durbin. She thought Deanna very sweet and unspoiled, and not nearly as sophisticated as most American girls of 15. She had also had many opportunities of meeting Shirley Temple. '."Shirley Temple is even more attractive in. person, than'on the screen," she said. "She has the beautiful colouring of a hundred per cent healthy child, find has only had one cold % in her life. She is not in the least conceited, but is very self-possessed and has the manner of a child of 15. She is bored with such things as puppet shows, but is still childlike enough to be fond of dolls. "The film stars are unanimous in their refusal to let their children go cn the films take them to very few pictures, and will not allow them to collect pictures of film personalities." During her stay in America, Miss Tucker has taken three summer courses in child psychology, a study in which she has always been particularly interested. She will stay in New Zealand for three months, and while here will study New Zealand kindergarten methods, preparatory to leaving for Honolulu, where she plans to start a •nursery school. • • •• • '