Shirley Jones' True Story Suggests

Fantasy Quality of “Carousel” Role

Shirley Jones, who co-stars with Gordon MacRae in Twentieth Century-Fox's Cine-maScope 55 film version of Rodgers and Hammerstein's “Carousel”, is probably the rarest Hollywood star extant. Although the sole worthwhile theatrical credit she possesses is a second lead in a road company of "Me and Juliet," the petite, 21-year-old blonde is already the star of two motion pictures with an aggregate cost of about $10,000,000 一 Rodgers and Hammer-stein's "Oklahoma" and Carousel." Furthermore she was given star roles in the two pictures without ever having seen either production in their long runs on Broadway or on the road.

As befits the subject of such an extraordinary experience, Shirley is an extraordinary girl. She was no star from Broadway, having been in the chorus of "South Pacific" and in "Me and Juliet," but her luminous quality was instantly recognized wherever seen. Here's her fantastic story:

She walked into an agent's office in New York with a letter from her vocal coach. He listened and after talking it over a few minutes, they signed her. After 10-weeks' seasoning they put her in the role of "Laurie" in the Todd-AO screen version of "Oklahoma,” which so far has been exhibited only in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Darryl F. Zanuck and Twentieth Century-Fox officials saw her in this and signed her for "Carousel" without even giving her a test. This has been done only with established stars, but is unheard of in the case of a player of brief experience.

Shirley was born Shirley Jones, March 31, in Smith,Pa. (Pop. 800), to Paul Jones, proprietor of a brewery owned by his family for generations, and Mrs. Marjorie Williams Jones. She is an only child.

She showed talent for singing as a child. At the age of six she did a solo, "Froggy Went A-Wooing," and never looked back. Her parents were able and willing to give her voice lessons with Ken Welch in Pittsburgh, 28 miles away. For this and many, many other reasons she has always maintained the closest relations with her parents and re-gains them unimpaired to this day. Among other things, her father is her business manager and still gives her an allowance, although it's Shirley's own money now.

She was chosen "Miss Pitts-burgh” in the “Miss Pennsylvania” division of the Miss America contest and as a con-sequence won a year's scholar-ship at "the Pittsburgh Play-house; where she took instruction and gained valuable experience. She had stopped off in New York on her way to New Jersey to investigate enrollment in college there when she called upon the agent, Gus Schirmer; That was the end of college and the beginning of a career.