Sweet Sixteen #5

When Dirinda joins her classmates for the Central High Spring Frolic, her warnings about poisonous plants go ignored—the other kids think she's just being a know-it-all killjoy. But when her fears come true and the group ends up covered in poison ivy, Dirinda suddenly finds herself the only one who saw it coming. Now the tables have turned, and everyone wants her attention—whether she wants theirs or not.

This biographical portrait chronicles Gregory Peck's unlikely journey from a California boy torn between medicine and the sea to one of Hollywood's brightest emerging stars. Following his switch from pre-med to drama in college, Peck's path winds through a barker's job at the New York World's Fair, a Radio City guide position, and a hard-won dramatic scholarship that led to Broadway success and critical acclaim. Now back home in California, he's already sharing top billing with Hollywood's biggest names while still finding time to enjoy the simple pleasures that drew him away from medicine in the first place.

Meet the De Marco Sisters—Ann, Jean, Marie, Arlene, and Gloria—five girls from Rome, New York, whose father taught them to harmonize before they could even talk, dreaming of a stage for their voices. When Papa brings them to New York for an audition on just a 24-hour excursion ticket, their determination and talent catch the ear of radio producers, launching them from a church benefit performance into the spotlight. This 1947 biography traces how these five sisters climbed from local hopefuls to regular members of a national radio show, with help from their proud papa and a little bit of family determination.

Joan Maxwell is a young reporter determined to break into newspaper work, but discovers that starting at the bottom means doing every unglamorous job in the newsroom—until she finally gets her chance to prove she can write a real story. This true-life profile shows how persistence and a willingness to pay your dues can lead to a career you love, even when the path isn't quite what you imagined.