Today we would like to Remember and Honor Mary Frances Reynolds.
Known to fans as Debbie Reynolds who recently passed away. Many know her name but do not realize she got her start as the 1948 Miss Burbank and was discovered and started in the motion picture industry soon after. She entered the contest not to win but to get the free Blouse and scarf offered to all who entered. little did she know at the time it would change her life entirely.
In her own words she had this to say…
“ONE MAY DAY in 1948, my friend Norma Harris and I were walking down Magnolia Boulevard when we saw a little handbill advertising the Miss Burbank contest that was being sponsored by Lock- heed Aircraft. Every girl who entered, it said, no matter what, received a blouse and a scarf. All you had to do was enter and they gave you a scarf and a blouse?! The only requirement was that the girls had to be sixteen or over. I made it by a month! We hurried right over to the Recreation Hall to sign up.
It seemed like half the girls in my class were there registering – the pretty half, that is. After all, it was a beauty contest. But that didn’t matter to me. I didn’t tell anybody, but I never dreamed of going through with it. I was not exactly a member of the glamour department; I didn’t even wear lipstick. What did matter was getting the white silk’ sports blouse and a green scarf. Plus we were all going to be taken someplace for a free lunch! A party! My mother thought we were crazy when we told her.”
To read more about her Miss Burbank pageant story click here
She was a humble girl and had many hidden talents she went on to star in movies, have her own Vegas show, records and TV shows etc. Even though she moved on from Burbank she remained loyal to her home town. We should remember her as Our hometown girl also. may she rest in peace.
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Slowly fading with the city’s ever-changing landscape, the places and people of Burbank’s past tell a vibrant story. Before the arrival of Warner Bros. and Walt Disney, First National Pictures built its original studio lot on Olive Ave in 1926. For over sixty years, Lockheed Aircraft Company produced some of the nation’s best airplanes where the massive Empire Shopping Center now stands. Heavyweight champion James Jeffries turned his Burbank ranch home and barn into a beloved landmark and boxing venue. Inventor Joseph Wesley Fawkes’s scheme to build a monorail to Los Angeles became a local laughingstock. Diehard Burbankers Wes Clark and Michael Mc Daniel collect these and many more forgotten local stories where they can finally be found.
