Giant! One giant of a movie!
I was watching Giant, the 1956 movie that is still a great movie and one that I had not seen since it was first shown. One memory is still sad. I heard that James Dean, my idol at the time, had died. In fact, he died before the movie was released.
Anyway.....back to the subject. Anita Hart Fuller, our super Searcy sleuth for history, insisted that I pay attention to the movie when two beauty operators come out and deny service to a character because she is Mexican. She said one of them was a Searcy girl who went to Hollywood to become a movie star.
I am going to let Anita explain the end results of Martha Gene's leaving Searcy. Above, however, in the center is Martha Gene Randall in the movie scene. Below is Martha Gene's photo from the 1945 yearbook.
Another star lived here so check out Cher's mom by clicking here.
