To me, as a child, movie stars were all adored and could do no wrong, we aspired to be as glamorous and just like the characters they portrayed in most instances. Probably, because of my age, I still found it difficult to separate the movie persona from their personal lives. Movie star's private lives were hidden if they were a bit on the shady side.
I avidly cut out magazine pictures of everyone portrayed as a film star.
Being an only child, living in a house with 4 adults (parents, grandparents) I had to occupy my time in various ways.
This was but one.
I begged magazines from neighbours. My favorite always was the Australian Women's Weekly - at that time it was a weekly magazine, and quite large in size - tabloid/newspaper style, but stapled in the middle.
Sometimes I was allowed to buy movie magazines at the theatre (not really a theatre, but the Town Hall at Henley Beach - converted most evenings to become a theatre or a stage). But buying these magazines was an extravagance that was frowned upon.
I was besides myself when I was given some photos from a hard-bound book. Here the photography rendered my favorite stars as perfection, with lighting and poses that were extraordinary. This made me yearn to be just like them, even more.
I had a divan bed. And one drawer in its base was completely full of clippings.
I was almost obsessive about this, but some of it was the times ... I thought everyone did this, and I felt complelled to have the best collection I could gather.
Favourites were Greta Garbo, Elizabeth Taylor, Veronica Lake, Marlene Deitrich, Clark Gable, Katherine Hepburn, and more.
