Meeting Virginia Woodward

[Angela Bauer]

Meeting Virginia Woodward

By Don Davis

As told to Angela Bauer

 

Nobody ever forgot the first time meeting Mrs. Virginia Woodward, I am willing to bet.

As a child I was an actor in network radio, so nearly all the women I routinely encountered were far better looking than average. My Granny Vi, who served as my agent, was 59 and still beautiful enough she dated men many years her junior. My mother Kate was attractive enough the first time my father saw her, he fell so in love he separated from his first wife.

But there was something unique about Virginia Woodward. She was tall and athletic, with fashionably bobbed strawberry blonde hair.

I was introduced to Virginia Woodward in our huge Greenwich Village loft that I shared with my parents. Mom was throwing an afternoon party several weeks before the Fall 1939 school term began. I had turned seven that June and had already skipped a year, so I was entering third grade. In 1938 Mrs. Wendy Munsterberger had become my school’s Third Grade teacher. As luck would have it she was a friend of my mother’s from Vassar.

So was Virginia. Her husband was English and was serving with the RAF, anticipating war with Germany. She was the mother of Joel. They had just moved to Greenwich Village from Boston. She bought a four-story townhouse on Grove Street, two blocks north of our Commerce Street loft. Virginia had hopes Joel would become a child actor. She herself was an advertising executive, so that helped Joel’s chances

He would turn eight in November and would be in Third Grade with me. During the party as I talked to Joel I liked him. We got along. His voice was interesting and sounded very young, so he seemed to have potential as a child actor.

The next day was a Sunday. Granny surprised me saying that she would be taking me to spend the afternoon playing at Joel’s home. That sounded like fun. I assumed Mrs. Woodward would be there.

It was not a long walk and it was a very warm day, so I was wearing shorts.

Sure enough Virginia Woodward greeted us at the front door. She was as beautiful as ever.

The interior of her townhouse was dimly lighted. Walking in from the bright sunlight I needed time for my eyes to adjust. Virginia said that lunch would be ready in a few minutes. Joel was in the downstairs playroom.

What came as a surprise was that Joel was wearing a diaper covered by PlayTex latex stretchy baby pants. I recognized those because in 1937 I had acted in an industrial short movie promoting PlayTex baby pants.

When I was auditioning or acting in radio shows I was used to being diapered. In those days that was standard practice. Usually Granny would have me diapered before we left the house for an audition or job. At first I did not wear diapers the rest of the time.

Seeing Joel my first thought was that Mrs. Woodward was trying to impress Granny that Joel really wanted to become an actor so was willing to put up with diapers. There was no reason why Granny could not represent Joel in addition to me.

Granny and Virginia had been talking as we walked down the stairs to the playroom. When Joel saw us he ran over to give Granny a big hug. As she continued to play with Joel, Virginia took my hand to lead me back up the stairs.

We passed the first floor and continued to the second floor. Joel’s bedroom was there. In the bedroom Virginia sat me on the bed and removed my shoes and socks. Then she removed my shirt, leaving me in just my shorts and underpants. I was so fascinated being undressed by Virginia I was not thinking about much else or paying close attention.

It was only as she began to lower my shorts and undies that I noticed Joel’s changing table against the inner wall. As Virginia led me to the changing table I could see a gauze diaper set was already spread out. Virginia easily lifted me and put me down on that diaper set. I did not resist as she pulled the diaper snug and pinned it. Seconds later my diaper was covered by a pair of PlayTex baby pants.

For those times I needed diapers to work, I had a second set of clothing with shorts and slacks large enough to fit over diapers comfortably. However the shorts I had worn that Sunday were not overly large. There was no way they would fit over the diaper.

As Virginia led me back to the playroom she explained that Joel still wet his bed every night and had a lot of daytime accidents. She told me she knew I hardly ever wet my diapers when working and that I did not have accidents, but she hoped I would be a supportive friend to Joel. He would be happy to see me also wearing an uncovered diaper.

Virginia told me that during the party Joel was wearing a diaper that I had not noticed. I did not generally care if other kids were still in diapers. To me being diapered was just part of being a child actor.

Granny went back to her home before lunch. After lunch Joel and I were led back upstairs to his bedroom because he needed a dry diaper. Once Virginia changed him, she started to remove my diaper. To my horror I had wet without realizing it.

Always before when working the only times I wet my diaper was when I had to pee during a performance. 999 Normally I would ask to be taken to the toilet during a break. My nanny Hannah Morris would lower my diaper. I would use the toilet. Then my diaper would be restored. When I wet during a performance I would discreetly admit that so I could be changed. Wetting without realizing what was happening was all new to me.

Less than two hours after my wet diaper was changed Virginia checked Joel’s diaper. It was wet. She then found my diaper was also wet. Again we were led upstairs and were changed. There was no scolding and Virginia managed to turn diaper changing into a fun experience.

After Joel and I resumed playing, I could hear Virginia on the phone with Granny. She made it clear I had wet my diapers. I was not in the least embarrassed.

Granny was carrying my diaper bag when she came to walk me home. Right away she handed Virginia a stack of diapers to make up for the ones I had wet. Virginia changed me for the final time that day using diapers from my bag. For the walk home I wore a pair of my own PlayTex baby pants. It had been a lot of fun playing with Joel while we were only wearing diapers.

Granny had brought a pair of my larger shorts, so for the walk home my diapers were covered. Had I been working normally the first thing that happened when I returned home was that my diaper would be removed.

However, Granny said that because I had wet so often without knowing or telling Virginia, she felt I needed to be diapered the rest of the day and for bed. My folks were away, so those were the instructions Granny gave Nanny Hannah Morris. Only rarely had Hannah diapered me for bed, except when I was sick. For awhile it always felt strange to be diapered in bed. Eventually I fell asleep.

The next thing I knew it was my Mom waking me. My folks had come home and Nanny Hannah must have explained why I was diapered. Mom found that I had wet while sleeping. She asked Hannah to change me before she went to bed. Needless to say it was not nearly as much fun being diapered by Hannah. She made no game of the diapering.

Monday morning after breakfast, for which I remained diapered, Granny told me that I would be spending all that day with Joel. When I finished eating I needed to go poop in the toilet. Nanny Hannah wiped me clean and pinned me into a fresh diaper, which she covered with dry PlayTex pants. I was allowed to otherwise dress myself.

As Granny walked me to Joel’s home, she was carrying my diaper bag. She told me that Virginia had to work but that I would enjoy Joel’s nanny. Her name was Clarita DelGato. I had not met her already because she had Sundays off duty.

Sure enough, although Clarita was not as beautiful as Virginia, she was darn near as much fun. There was no judgment or scolding about wet diapers. I was told to ask to use the toilet and if I wet to admit it. Yet when I did not realize I had wet and Clarita discovered me wet, she did not scold. She simply changed my diaper.

I noticed that two bundles of fresh DyDee Service diapers in their distinctive wrapping were on a table near Joel’s front door. When I started acting on the radio and returned to wearing diapers, we started receiving those delivered by DyDee, usually on Mondays.

On Sunday Joel and I had played inside. Granny told Clarita that I had made poop in the toilet and was wearing a fresh diaper. Then Granny gave me a kiss and left.

Joel came down the stairs and said he wanted to play in the fort. We went down to the playroom. Joel showed me that from there we could scamper through the kitchen to a back door. That was a couple of steps below ground level in a back yard. Along the far wall there was a real wooden fort.

It was wonderful. Joel said that he was sad to leave his first fort at their home near Boston. Virginia had hired a team of woodworkers to build the new fort on Grove Street.

Playing in, on and around that fort was so much fun! I never felt any need to use the toilet, which was inside the house, of course. At one point I felt that my diaper was squishy. It was hard to tell, because of the PlayTex pants and my shorts.

Knowing I had wet without realizing it made me understand why Virginia Woodward kept Joel in diapers. It all made sense.

After a couple of hours Clarita appeared carrying Joel’s diaper bag. She called us over to a yard table. On that she spread out a large changing pad. “Boys, I’d be very much surprised if either of you has a dry diaper! Have some refreshing juice; then I shall change you both.”

From the diaper bag Clarita extracted two baby bottles with dark amber rubber nipples. Joel reached for a baby bottle as if doing so was natural. I could not remember even holding a baby bottle. Clarita sat next to me to hold my bottle as she cuddled me. Watching Joel I figured out how to suckle by nipple. It was far more fun than drinking from a glass.

Sure enough, as soon as we finished our bottles, Clarita removed our shoes, socks and shorts. She changed Joel first because his diaper was sagging more than mine.

That table was left set up with the changing pad. Clarita put the wet diapers into a DyDee bag which she carried inside along with the used baby bottles. Wearing our shoes and shorts, we resumed playing on the fort.

At lunch time Clarita brought out not only our sandwiches, but also my diaper bag and two more baby bottles, this time filled with milk. I was able to suckle my bottle without help and I missed not being cuddled.

We stayed in our wet diapers for a half hour of play following lunch. Then Clarita led us into the house and to the second floor. We were completely undressed. First Joel used the toilet to make poop. Then it was my turn.

Clarita made sure we were clean before diapering us on the changing table using diapers and PlayTex pants stacked there.

We were not the least tired, so we were allowed to resume play on the fort. Eventually Clarita changed us again outside on the pad using diapers from my bag. She took that with her when she left us outside.

There were so many ways to play with the fort. Eventually it was time for another change. That time Clarita had a stern expression on her face. “Joel, you know that before she left your mother said you would get spanked the moment she came home. Young Man, you are going to march to your room and stand in your corner.

“Donny, I don’t know if you will get spanked. So you also will wait standing in another corner of Joel’s room!” Clarita removed our shoes, socks and shorts, so our PlayTex pants and diapers were exposed.

My mind started racing at high speed. Although in general my parents opposed spanking on principle, the fact is I had been spanked a few time.

When I was three, months before I started acting, I went to a private nursery school. One time I must have misbehaved, although I have forgotten what I did wrong. What I do remember was that the teacher took down by shorts and training pants. She sat down and put me over her lap. Then she spanked me hard enough I cried. I had seen her spank virtually all the other boys and girls in my class and each cried.

A few months after I started acting I remember Granny showing up during the day at my school. I had been sent to the office for doing something naughty. While the lady principal watched Granny gave my bare bottom a hard spanking, just as Granny had so often described when telling me stories about her childhood and raising my mom.

Discipline was strict when child actors were performing on radio. There was a separate ‘green room’ where we waited until time to perform on our show. The child green rooms were all set up similarly. There was a changing table in a corner with curtains for privacy. There was a restroom. In a corner there was a room the size of a small office with just a chair.

We all knew if our parents or guardian decided to spank us that would happen in the small room. Spankings were rare. The door was not always closed. I assume the disciplinarian left the door open to increase the embarrassment.

In April of 1939, when I was still six, Granny and I entered the children’s green room at CBS on Madison Avenue. I had just finished the East Coast performance of a show, so I had to wait nearly three hours to do the West Coast performance. I needed a diaper change.

The door to the spanking room was open. A girl named Carole Alexander was getting a stern scolding from her mother Claudia. I had talked to Carole a few times. She was almost ten that time and a series regular on a CBS late afternoon series. Claudia was scolding very loudly.

I am sure that was to deliberately embarrass Carole. During the scolding it was made clear the spanking would be on the bare bottom, with a hairbrush and with the door open.

Granny must have hoped hearing Carole get spanked would teach me a lesson. The curtain was not closed around the changing table.  I could hear every smack of the hairbrush and Carole carrying-on like a baby brat. Granny ordered me to “Wipe that smirk off your face, Young Man!”

Carole was still crying her eyes out when she replaced me on the changing table. Her diapers were very thick. Certainly she wore very large PlayTex pants.

Where I made a massive mistake was teasing Carole once she was diapered and her dress was back in place. That was stupid on so many levels. First of all, Carole as a series regular was far more important than I was, because I freelanced and was not a series regular.

Without missing a beat, Granny asked Claudia Alexander for the loan of the hairbrush. “I would have packed one in Donny’s diaper bag had I suspected he would be such a rude brat!”

Granny did not even take me to the office. She just sat on a chair in the main part of the green room. My PlayTex pants were lowered along with my shorts. My diaper was unpinned. Granny spanked the daylights out of me with that darn hairbrush. I blubbered far more than had Carole. Before my PlayTex pants were back in position I started to wet my diaper. I glanced over and saw that Carole was grinning.

Remembering all of those spankings I assumed as I waited in my corner that I would be spanked once Virginia Woodward returned home. Perhaps Granny would show up to spank me. It was just as well I was diapered because I wet a lot as I fretted.

I could not see a clock. Of course it seemed like we were standing in our corners forever. The reality is that Virginia Woodward probably came home no more than a half hour after Clarita put us into our respective punishment corners.

“Joel, you already know why you will be spanked. Donny, although Nanny DelGato has told me how well you behaved here today, both your mother and grandmother are very unhappy with you. Your mother specifically asked me to give you a good old-fashioned spanking before you are taken home following dinner.

“Now I am going to remove my office clothing and put on a housedress because there is no reason my clothing should be wrinkled spanking two very naughty boys!

“While I am gone each of you should think who wants to get spanked first.”

I had turned to face her when Virginia began speaking. She was wearing a small hat, a stunning dress, high heels and seamed stockings. Her lipstick was vivid red and expertly applied. Any of the actresses I knew would have been envious.

A few minutes later, Virginia re-appeared in Joel’s bedroom. She was wearing a very nice housedress. She had changed to service-weight stockings and less elegant high heels.

“Okay, boys, normally the visitor should get to decide if he wants to be spanked first to get that out of the way. But the fact is Joel is such a baby, Donny would you mind if I spank him first?”

Being in no hurry to get spanked, I replied, “Mrs. Woodward, I don’t mind waiting.”

Virginia walked behind each of us. “I see you needed your diapers.”

She gathered a few dry diapers from a stack and placed them on a chair she moved to the center of the room. Joel’s PlayTex pants and diaper were removed. He was led to the chair. Virginia sat down and put a couple of the diapers in place to protect her lap.

“Young Man, you were so naughty you deserve a real hairbrush spanking. But this is your lucky day. I only want to spank Donny with my hand and it would not be fair to spank you with the hairbrush!” Virginia stated.

Joel carried on like a baby as he got spanked. Virginia clearly was an experienced disciplinarian. She was spanking very hard.

The second she released Joel, Clarita appeared to lead him to the changing table.

Virginia removed my PlayTex pants and diaper. She protected her lap before pulling me into position. She spanked me strictly, but I am sure not as hard as she had spanked Joel. Oh, sure I cried. She spanked me hard enough.

For dinner we each had a cushion on our chairs. We had baby bottles of milk with our meal. There was no dessert.

My Nanny Hannah was sent to escort me home. Upon her arrival she removed my damp diaper and PlayTex pants. She complimented Virginia for spanking me so soundly. “Ma’am, someday I hope to spank Donny just as hard!”

I was pinned into diapers from my bag. Those were covered with a pair of my PlayTex pants. Fortunately Joel and I wore the same size, Toddler Large. There was no practical way to determine who owned which pair of PlayTex pants. All of the DyDee diapers were washed at the same time, so it made no difference.

According to Hannah, Granny had phoned DyDee to increase the number of diapers delivered to our home because I was wearing diapers around the clock. Hannah also told me during the walk home that Granny had bought a wooden hairbrush for my diaper bag.

That evening I was put to bed before 8:30 PM in an extra-thick diaper. Later Nanny Hannah woke me up to change me while it was still very dark outside my window.

Tuesday I had an audition at 11:30 AM for an NBC Blue Network show and a rehearsal for a different show on the NBC Red Network. Granny brought Joel with us so he could be introduced to producers and directors.

Wednesday Hannah walked me to Joel’s house shortly after breakfast. She took delight in showing Nanny Clarita the new hairbrush in my diaper bag. Clarita promised to so inform Virginia during the day. Every couple of hours Clarita changed our diapers using the pad on the table in the yard.

Sure enough eventually Joel and I were taken to his room. We were undressed down to our diapers and were placed in our punishment corners. I had absolutely no doubt that soon Virginia would spank us with the hairbrush.

We could hear Virginia arriving and talking to Clarita, but we were left in our corners. When she did enter Joel’s bedroom Virginia was wearing a simple housedress. She held a hairbrush in each hand.

“Donny, your grandmother bought a brush like I use to spank Joel. That will be returned to your bag.” So saying she actually put the newer-looking brush in my diaper bag.

“Monday night I did not want to start off spanking you with a hairbrush, Donny, so I let Joel off easy. Subsequently I have spoken with your grandmother. She told me about borrowing a hairbrush to spank you earlier this year. Then in a conversation with your mother she asked me to give you a hard hairbrush spanking this evening because she is frustrated by you being such a brat. Of course Joel is still owed a hairbrush spanking from Monday.”

Virginia took her seat on the chair, holding Joel’s brush. Clarita brought her a couple of diapers to protect her lap. Then she undressed Joel and led him to the chair.

Joel had the daylights spanked out of him. He shrieked and sobbed, scissor-kicking and wriggling so much Virginia spanked the backs of his thighs: “Take your spanking like a big boy! No kicking!”

I was left in my corner as Clarita collected the damp diapers from Virginia’s lap and led Joel to the changing table. Once he was re-diapered, Clarita picked up a few more diapers. She gave those to Virginia and headed for me.

I was undressed and pulled into position over Virginia’s lap. Mommy must have been super mad at me because Virginia spanked me so hard I could not believe it. I did my best to not kick and I only wriggled a bit. But I did sob a whole lot.

Thursday afternoon I had a show on CBS. Granny took Joel with us so she could introduce him. By coincidence when we all entered the greenroom Claudia Alexander had Carole across her lap and was starting to scold the girl.

Carole sobbed and wriggled as her daylights were spanked out. When she was helped to stand while still crying, Joel could see that Carole was older by a couple of years. Claudia diapered her daughter and made her sit quietly.

Granny dug in my diaper bag until she found my new hairbrush. That she showed to Claudia: “I bought this so I would no longer need to borrow one when Donny is a brat.”