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Judy Garland, Betty Grable, Betty Furness. They all became lifelong friends. They all went to school together at RKO. A lot of them became very famous.

The one that Phyllis got to know best was Anne Shirley. Now Anne Shirley was in Anne of Green Gables and became really a star. She and Phyllis lived together out in Hollywood before that, however, and when they tell me their stories, I call them the “hallroom girls” because these two kids lived on their wits. They didn't have any money. They were just starting. The capers they cut! They learned to make one dinner. They'd make leg of lamb and some special salad and dessert and they'd have the boys over. The boys would think what wonderful home-loving girls they were. This was the only meal they could cook, however! They would never do it twice. After one production they would get the boys to take them out.

One of Phyllis‘great beaux at that time was Ben Alexander, who later became the fat man in Dragnet...you remember, with Sergeant Friday. He was the stand-by whenever she got into trouble. Ben Alexander would come to her rescue. She used him when her car would get stuck in the mud. Ben Alexander would come and pull her out.

At any rate, she began writing a little bit and selling a few pieces to movie magazines and whatnot. Finally she decided to come to New York and got a job at McCann Erickson in their radio department. When I met her, she was working on two very big radio shows, one with that little woman, Josephine Hull, who played in Arsenic and Old Lace. She was a wonderful