Bill pressed the doorbell, setting off a series of musical chimes within the house, then stepped back. He took his hat off, looking at the house--it seemed nice. Nothing extravagant, but for this part of California, "nothing extravagant" still cost a good deal of money. The house must have cost her $15,000...whatever this lady had been doing with herself the past few years, she certainly wasn't broke.
The door opened, revealing a woman in her mid-forties wearing a floral-patterned housedress. "...um, hello, ma'am," Bill said. "I'm Bill Mallory, with the L.A. Times, and I'm here to speak with Myra Flatley? We're doing a little feature on former radio stars for the paper, about what television has done to the old radio shows. Are you Myra Flatley?" He hoped she hadn't noticed his slight hesitation when she opened the door, but he'd been a bit startled. If this was Myra Flatley, then no wonder she'd been left behind when the radio stars all moved to TV. She was the ugliest woman he'd ever seen--tall, ungainly, flat-chested, with thick bushy eyebrows and a large, hooked nose that looked like it had been broken at least once...and a face pitted and pocked with deep scars all over her cheeks.
"I'm Myra Flatley," she said, in a soft, lilting voice that seemed incongruous coming from that face. She must have killed on the radio. "And don't feel bad," she added, smiling both with her face and with her voice. "I know this kisser of mine's a bit of a shock on first look. Trust me, a little bit of staring's not the worst thing I got as a first impression. Come on in."
She led him back through a small foyer into a well-kept, tastefully decorated living room. "The worst of it's the scars--smallpox, back when I was a kid. Of course, they vaccinate for that now, but I grew up in a little dirt-poor town out in the countryside, and doctors were hard to come by. I count my blessings--a little boy died from it, just a few miles away from us--but it sure doesn't leave ya looking pretty, y'know?" She gestured to a chair for him. "Not that I'd be a real looker even without 'em. Can I get you something to drink?"
Bill felt a little shell-shocked by the woman's frank, open attitude about herself. Not many people were so...matter-of-fact about their strengths and weaknesses. It was actually kind of impressive. "Um, sure. Whatever you have."
"Coke OK, or can you reporters have something a little stronger?" She gave him a little wink. On another woman, it would have been flirtatious, but Myra just didn't have the face to pull it off.
"Coke's fine," he said. As Myra headed into the kitchen, he looked at the room around him. Again, Myra didn't seem to be doing too badly financially; the furniture was nice, tasteful and comfortable, and there were a couple of pieces of art on the walls that looked like they might be worth some actual money. She must have invested well after the bottom dropped out of the business a few years back.
Myra headed back in with two bottles of soda. "Here ya go," she said, handing him one. "So yeah, the nose got broke when I was about twelve; I was a little sensitive about my looks back then, and I wasn't shy about decking any girl who lipped off to me." She sat down opposite Bill. "Well, one day I picked on the wrong girl. I had a good foot of height on her and about thirty pounds of weight, but...well, this schnozz of mine makes a pretty easy target. Little gal planted her fist square on it. Probably had to stand on her tippy-toes." She chuckled. "After that, I started finding better ways to handle it." She took a sip of her soda. "But hey, I'm sure you didn't come out here to listen to me talk about that. You probably have some questions or something for me?"
"Well, yes, ma'am," Bill said.
"None of that 'ma'am' jazz," Myra said, waving her hand dismissively. "You call me Myra."
"Alright, um, Myra. I was wondering, first off, when did your radio show go off the air?"
"About two and a half years ago--sorry, you probably want a better answer than that." She adopted a slightly over-formal tone, but her face kept its smile. "My last broadcast was on December 14th, 1952. I could probably have kept the show going a while longer--I had some very devoted fans, and my sponsor loved me--but I could see the writing on the wall. Television was the future. Might as well go off the air sooner than later."
"I see," Bill said, taking down shorthand notes on a pad of paper. "And did you try television at all?"