from the Australian magazine Adam and Eve featuring Movie Life, May 1, 1950...

STARDOM came swift to Scotch-Irish colleen, Barbara Hale. Born and brought up in Illinois, she quit art school and modelling in Chicago to take advantage of an R.K.O. audition. She did bit parts in such unawakened "sleepers" as Heavenly Days, Lady Luck and The Falcon Out West. She gained a brief, well-publicised notice by giving Frank Sinatra his first screen kiss in Higher And Higher. But to the average fan, Barbara Hale was an unknown until Columbia executives chose her over 100 other beauties for the coveted role of Mrs. Al Jolson.. Since that ecstatic moment, life has been a high-key kaleidoscope of new people, new horizons, new thrills.
Yet her pretty head hasn't been turned. To be successful as Mr. Bill Williams (himself an actor making Westerns for Producer Nat Holt) obviously means as much to Barbara as becoming the Technicolor toast of the Columbia lot. Right now she is more than happy making a success of both roles. But if she ever had to choose between home and Hollywood, this sunkissed sweetheart of the midwest wouldn't hesitate for long. She would put first things first--things such as love, happiness, and a home for her child.
"With Billy in show business, too, this can become a dangerous situation," Barbara explained. "It has happened in far too many Hollywood homes. But we are trying with all our power to be truly married. At home we are just Mom and Daddy. I do Jody's laundry. I do most of the cooking, except when working late on a picture--then Billy prepares steak and potatoes which we both like better than anything else. At the end of the week, I have a woman in to help me clean just like millions of other housewives do.
"Back home in Illinois, I was taught to do everything to the best of my ability. I'm still trying to do that. For example, North Hollywood--I suppose I should say 'The Valley' as most of the elite do--is really a small town, and we live pretty much like small-towners anywhere. We try hard to be good neighbors, and it's interesting that most of our neighborhood friends are not movie people. There's an electrician, fireman, accountant, insurance salesman, orchestra drummer, and ice-cream shop proprietor. Certainly, it is more fun inviting them over occasionally than racing around to the nightclubs. And since we got a television set recently, their kids are in and out fairly regularly, too."
Life-loving, yet sincere and sensible, this 27-year-old mid-Western miss was ready for her big break when it came. And just how was she taking her sensational success--the rave reviews, autograph seekers, Hollywood social whirl--someone asked the trim, brown-haired star who won her first beauty laurels as Queen of the May at Rockford, Illinois, High School.
"Right in stride, I hope, at least as far as important things are concerned," she replied. "Of course, I've travelled recently to New York, and Washington, and other big cities for press interviews, parties and personal appearances. It has been both hard work and loads of fun, and I even had a chance to leave my baby for a visit with Grandmother Lane in Rockford. But the most important thing for my husband, Billy, and me is that we're trying to lead normal lives and become responsible citizens of Our Town, which in this case happens to be North Hollywood.
"There's a lot more to life than just today," Barbara went on. "I have a wonderful husband and baby, and we are trying to build foundations for living that are secure and sensible. We save a substantial portion of our salaries, we budget ourselves, we avoid silly extravagances. Oh, there have been times lately when it hasn't been easy to escape the vacuum of Hollywood night life, the partying and riotous spending, but Billy and I have been pretty successful because we're serious. Looking after a husband, who's also an actor. and little Jody, who's barely two, takes all the time I can spare from the studio and this new thing called stardom."
Barbara Hale and Bill Williams represent a new generation in Hollywood. It is a younger generation concerned with home, church, community life. Its members are not madcap but serious-minded; they are not selfish and sensation-seeking, but generous and socially-conscious. They believe in God and their fellowmen. They earn their living making movies, but otherwise they are little different from young couples in Kenosha, Wisconsin or Caribou, Maine.
Barbara Hale--or Mrs. Bill Williams as she likes to be called--pledged allegiance to such ideals when she was a Baptist choir singer back in Rockford. She is still living by them. "I do think there's a new generation in Hollywood," she agrees. "Of course, as anywhere else, Hollywood has a minority who are impressed only by material things, who find pleasure only in the gadgets and gimmicks money can buy. But more and more, I think people out here are developing a deeper set of values. The War--and more recently the studio slump--served to bring out their better sides, deflate many of our pompous nobodies, and in general debunk a lot of this "glamorous movie star" publicity.
"Billy and I both find we can be 'regular guys' without wrapping ourselves in Hollywood tinsel. Quite a few of our close friends feel the same way, too. Larry Parks and Betty Garrett, Virginia Mayo, Ann Blyth, Gale Storm and Roddy McDowall. to name only a few, all have this same awareness, this same concern for their families, friends, and civic responsibilities. Some teach Sunday School or help organise youth choral groups or assist regularly on such charity projects as the Red Cross and Community Chest. The point is that the majority of today's stars are not going the pace that kills, but are developing themselves and helping others along the way. As a result, a new religious awareness and community spirit are becoming evident in Hollywood.
"You know," she mused, smiling that radiant smile which lights up a room, "Billy and I are really simple people. We stay home nights, adore being with Jody, and doing things about the house. I still sketch a little. Billy works at his various hobbies. He cemented our patio and built our fences with his bare hands. Does all our gardening, too, and there's one rose-bush out back that he never fails to water and put to bed every night.
"In fact, our home life is so pleasant that I'd just about quit pictures when that offer to do Mrs. Jolson came along. My contract at R.K.O. had expired, and I was just sitting around waiting for twins to happen to me. Then, one day my agent told me they were testing and that I should try out--especially as I do closely resemble the real Mrs. Jolson. Well--I tested for one part, and that did it. I was so happy on that picture that I signed a deal with Columbia, and I've just made another thrilling picture with Robert Young and Bob Hutton called And Baby Makes Three, which is funny and crazy all over the place. What's next? They haven't said. Secretly, I'm still hoping for those twins!"