Oona becomes Debutante No. 1

Lots of interest in Oona Chaplin lately, so here is a bit from the file about Oona becoming "Debutante No. 1," before she became Mrs. Chaplin.
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Debutante No. 1 - April 12, 1942 - New York
"A 16-year-old girl who says she is not 'lace-curtain Irish' but definitely the other kind was voted "Debutante No. 1" of the 1942 season today. The very cute "Shanty Irisher" is Oona O'Neill, daughter of Eugene O'Neill, famed playwright.

"My first name is not a typographical error," she said. "It's an old Irish name and James Stephens, the Irish writer, suggested it to father. Of course, I'm not lace-curtain. I'm Shanty Irish and proud of it. How do I feel about being a glamor girl? - I'm pretty darn excited."

The setting was in of all places, a bistro named the Stork Club where cafe society dropped in ballots for their choice of the "sub-debutante"... who combines... beauty, leader-shop, intelligence and popularity."

Oona has jet-black hair, stands 5 feet/4 inches in high heels, weighs 125 pounds, doesn't smoke or drink, dates only on week-ends and was accompanied by three young men of pre-Class 1-A age.

"Oh, they're nobody," she said, admitting she had never been in love.

Her father is convalescing in Danville, California, and she's a bit timid about letting him hear the latest news. She's read everything he ever wrote but she's written only one thing, a poem entitled "Springs," which a magazine returned to her with a rejection slip in 48 hours.

She took her college entrance exams yesterday: if she makes the grade she wants to go to Vassar. Meantime she'll pursue her latest hobby - painting."
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On June 16, 1942, Oona became Mrs. Chaplin.