"But they wanted me to tell about the serious you," she grinned. "How could I? I've never seen you when you weren't on top of the world. I'll bet you were even born smiling".

That's me, the original laughing boy, or so you may have heard. However, there are two sides to every story, even the one Terry didn't write.

If I give the impression that I'm enjoying life every minute, it's strictly on the level. I am. And when I say it's a gift, I'm not being flip. The ability to make the most of each day is a gift given to everyone. It's our job to learn and recognize it--to take advantage of it. I'll be the first to admit that it isn't always easy. I'm a fellow who knows and, more often than not, I've learned the hard way.

There are people (and I've been one of them) who constantly fight against their daily right to happiness. Most of them aren't even aware of the fact. Take the fellow who says, "Good grief, what a day! If only it were over!" He's decided that tomorrow is bound to be better than today. But then some hours later, when tomorrow finally becomes his today, he doesn't give it a chance. Right away he begins living for the day after that. This boy just can't win. He'll never find contentment, because he hasn't learned to live in the present. He spends his entire life waiting, but he does nothing today to ensure that his tomorrow actually will be better. I might go so far as to say that he hasn't learned to live, period! He simply dreams.

I'm not contending that it's wrong to dream of a pot of gold at the end of some rainbow--or the greener pastures and easier times on the other side of some fence. But why not take the time to enjoy the beauty of the rainbow outside your own door right now, while it's with you? Your rainbows, your minutes, your hours, your days slip by and they're gone forever. They'll never be back. Don't belittle them, or ignore them. Love 'em while you have 'em!

I began to learn this lesson early in life and when I find myself slipping back into this old way of thinking, I snap out of it by remembering an experience I had as a youngster in military school.

I was pretty much of a rebel in those days and, naturally, many things I wanted were forbidden me. "When I get older...when I get out of school...". I said to my instructor on one particular occasion "Am I ever living for graduation! Things will be different then".

He shook his head rather sadly. "I hope you don't really mean that," he said. "Don't you belive me?" I asked him. "I'd like to give you a piece of advice," he said. "I'm not certain whether I can make you understand it, but I'd like to try."

I settled down to listen, still bitter and dreaming of the day when I would be able to do as I pleased, without adult disapproval and interference. "I've heard a great many boys say, 'When I grow up, I'll do this or that,'" said my instructor. "And I've watched them get older. But in one sense they never really grow up at all. They refuse to accept today's problems and disappointments--the ones that come with every age. They're always looking ahead to the next period in their lives when they expect their worries to disappear miraculously. They live in the future and they have no time to appreciate or make the most of the present. And by the time they're old and gray, they look back--and upon what? They see the years they've wasted--looking for tomorrows that never came--and now it's too late to make up for them.

"We have to learn to live in the present, young man," he said. "And when you realize this, you'll be happier for it."

That started me thinking, and I've thought about it quite often since then. I can't tell you how much it has helped me get along with myself and make the most of life.

And there's still another type of "tomorrowite." He's the guy (or maybe she's the girl) who spends today dreading the future. He thinks of all the terrible things that will probably happen tomorrow--the problems that will confront him, the disasters that threaten him--and he's so wrapped up in worrying about these things that his today is a complete failure.

I've been guilty. In the early days of my career, I won an award. It was the PHOTOPLAY "Choose Your Stars" award. Happy? I was on top of the world. But suddenly I started to worry. "What's going to happen next?" I wondered. "I can't go on forever being the most promising newcomer year after year. I have to keep pushing ahead. Will I get good pictures? Can I live up to them?"

I was thinking out loud like this one noon when Dale Robertson spoke up and brought me back to my senses! "Simmer down, boy," he drawled. "Take one thing at a time. You just play your scenes for all they're worth today, and you won't have to be in such a stew about the future."

It's this way with any chore in every walk of life. As Thomas Carlyle put it (and I have the quotation framed), "Our main business is not to see what lies dimly at a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand."

I'm very conscious of the fact that I have to give a good performance and that each performance has to be better than the last. The public expects more and more of an actor with every picture. He has to progress toward tomorrow--right now!