If the class of ’42 from Franklin K. Lane High School will look in the yearbooks, they’ll discover that its selections of Anne Jackson for best actress and Earl Hyman for best actor were doing more than all right. They turned up with 1,026 other hopefuls for the John Golden auditions, and both were among eight finalists. I had been catapulted to brief fame as winner of the John Golden auditions and letters poured in from Broadway and Hollywood agents.
The offer that determined my direction came from Margaret Webster and Eva Le Gallienne. There was a job for me in their touring company of Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard. I would play Anya (the ingénue) for the first half of the tour and then understudy both Anya and Dunyasha, the comic maid, for the remaining eight weeks. Of course, I’d have the benefit of rehearsals and it would be an auspicious start. Le Gallienne was sensitive to my disappointment when the terms were explained to me. “You’re very young,” she said, “and I’m sure the Hollywood people beckoned, but don’t be fooled by those promises of screen tests and big money, try to establish yourself on the stage first.” I joined Equity and was earning my first salary as an actress. The die was cast.
