“RKO Radio Star” Anne Shirley — born Dawn Evelyeen Paris in 1918 – was billed as Dawn O’Day in her first feature film at age 4. Over the next decade, she tried out a number of screen names before settling on that of the schoolgirl heroine she played in 1934’s “Anne of Green Gables.” Five years later, she was pitching Lux soap in this ad, which appeared in “The American Weekly,” a Sunday supplement to the Minneapolis Star-Journal.

To save you some squinting, here’s what the little type says: “Lovely Anne Shirley reminds you that soft, smooth skin is important to romance. When a man’s in love, his eyes look close, and to pass this test — the Love Test — skin must be really lovely. Foolish to risk Cosmetic Skin: the dullness, little blemishes, enlarged pores that come when pores are choked. Lux Toilet Soap removes stale cosmetics, dust and dirt thoroughly, because it has ACTIVE lather. Use this fine soap regularly.”

I was unable to track down the key people in this Minneapolis Star story. They’ve all moved on to the great beyond.

CHECKS ON STORIES HERE

Ghost Hunter Begins Search

By WILLIAM MOFFETT
Minneapolis Star Staff Writer

A man who seeks proof of the existence of ghosts and other supernatural phenomena came to Minneapolis over the weekend to hear ghost stories.

	Nandor Fodor

Dr. Nandor Fodor, who calls himself a para-psychologist (a person who studies the supernatural) was here as part of a stunt to plug a new Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie, The Haunting.

He personally interviewed three of “nearly 100” persons in the Minneapolis area who answered a newspaper advertisement run by M-G-M asking for accounts of experiences with the supernatural. The ad, which was run nationally, brought some 1,300 replies.

Fodor, who earns a living as a psychoanalyst in New York, has been an interested believer in the supernatural “over 40 years.” He will write his fifth book on the subject of poltergeists (mischievous spirits) and other mysterious phenomena from information derived from the nation-wide round of interviews.

The first interview in Minneapolis was with Mr. and Mrs. Charles J. Organ, 3213 18th Av. S. The couple claimed they had lived in a haunted house 30 years ago.

“The ghost had a peg leg,” Mrs. Organ said. “He’d walk from the attic to the basement at night. You could hear his peg thumping, but you couldn’t see him. Doors would open when they should have been closed. A set of long underwear appeared in the doorway one night. We saw footprints in the snow …”

Not Afraid

“The house had been owned by a man who had his leg amputated. He hanged himself one night after he told his wife he’d haunt the house if she ever sold it. People told us it was haunted before we bought it.”

“Were you afraid?” Fodor asked.

“I’ve never been afraid of anything in my life,” she said.

“Me neither,” said her husband.

	A poster for 1963’s “The Haunting”

“We cut down the rope and burned the chair he had stood on to hang himself.”

“Did the ghost stop?”

“Yep. Never saw him again.”

“Remove the props and you often remove the ghost,” Fodor advised.

Another interview was with a woman who forecasted the reception of a gift.

Another was with a man who felt his wife’s fear at the same instant her life was jeopardized miles away.

Does he consider these accounts of the supernatural genuine?

“Often these things are hallucinatory. The mind refuses to be stunted,” he said.

“They are a kind of reality because what exists in the mind is real.”

Born in Hungary, Fodor was a journalist in England and Europe 20 years. He has a law degree from the University of Budapest.

He became interested in the supernatural over 40 years ago when he communicated with his dead father in a séance. He considers this one of three occasions of his “evidential” to the existence of supernatural powers.

“There is no logic in this business,” he said.

This likely apocryphal slice of life about a slice of pie deserves a better headline than the one served up by the Minneapolis Daily Star. Can you top it?

One Indian Word
Enough; Waiter
Learns Language

A new waiter came to the White Bus restaurant in Onamia, Minn., today. He was unacquainted with the Chippewa Indian language and was at a loss to understand the strange noises Indians made when they ordered dinner.

John Mah-gua, from the Mille Lacs lake reservation, came into the restaurant with a hunger for pie. When the new waiter heard the order he felt that it was too big for his restaurant to fill.

	A woman with a prize-winning pie — and a prize-worthy frock — in 1926. (Photo courtesy mnhs.org)

John asked for Mus-ke-Me-man-Bash-ski-me-ne-se-gan-be-tow-see-chi-gan-Bah-gway-zhe-gan. The new waiter caught his head in his hands and ran out to the kitchen to recuperate.

Then he called up H.D. Ayer at the Mille Lacs Trading Post and tried to repeat what the Indian had said.

“Send the Indian to the telephone, then I’ll tell you what it is he wants,” said Mr. Ayer.

“John Mah-gua want Musk-ke-ge-Me-man-Bash-ski-me-ne-se-gan-BeTow-see-chi-gan-Bah-gway-zhe-gan,” said the Indian. “

“Give him a slice of cranberry pie,” Mr. Ayer told the waiter, who was on the point of hysterics.

After his experience the new waiter declared that he would learn the pronunciation of that word if it killed him.

Here is the explanation: Mus-ke-ge-Me-Man means berry or bog berry; Bash-ski-me-ne-se-gan means jam; Be-tow-see-chi-gan means between two layers, and Bah-gway-zhe-gan means flour, or bog berry jam between two layers of flour.