
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 16, 1994                    TAG: 9406160052 
SECTION: DAILY BREAK                     PAGE: E6    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER 
DATELINE: 940616                                 LENGTH: Medium

MAC COULD LEARN A BIT FROM HIS PREDECESSORS

{LEAD} WHAT ARE Macaulay Culkin's chances for surviving stardom? The ``awkward years'' are difficult, but Culkin is the biggest child star in history - bigger, at least in salary - than Shirley Temple.

With an $8 million salary for ``Getting Even With Dad,'' he is the highest paid star in the history of MGM (and that's quite a history).

{REST} Based on movie history, the odds are against him. Some of his predecessors and how they turned out:

Jackie Cooper - He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in ``Skippy'' in 1930 and co-starred with Wallace Beery in ``The Champ'' and ``Treasure Island.'' After World War II service, he attempted a comeback in B movies and then tried theater. He became a successful director and producer in the 1970s, after the TV series ``The People's Choice'' and ``Hennessey.''

Bobby Driscoll - star of Walt Disney's ``Song of the South,'' ``Treasure Island'' and ``So Dear to My Heart.'' As an adult, he became a drug addict and was arrested several times. In 1968, his body was found in the rubble of an abandoned tenement, the victim of a heart attack. He was buried in a pauper's grave.

Shirley Temple - By 1938, she was the top box-office attraction in the world and a national institution. No child star ever had such longevity. She divorced actor John Agar, whom she married at age 17, and became U.S. ambassador to Ghana before becoming U.S. Chief of Protocol. She has been married since 1950 to business executive Charles Black.

Margaret O'Brien - MGM's child star of the 1940s specialized in teary performances. ``Journey for Margaret,'' ``Meet Me in St. Louis,'' ``Unfinished Dance'' and ``Little Women'' were among her hits. She failed, however, in her attempt to reach adult stardom and retired from the screen in 1951.

Judy Garland - MGM's young star of ``The Wizard of Oz'' faced a lifetime of addiction to pills, nervous breakdowns and suicide attempts, but maintained stardom through most of it. On June 22, 1969, she was found dead in the bathroom of her London apartment with death attributed to an accidental overdose of sleeping pills.

Freddie Bartholmew - The angelic boy star of ``Captains Courageous'' and ``David Copperfield'' faced two court fights. In one, his parents attempted to remove him from his aunt's guardianship. In the other, his aunt tried to have him released from his MGM contract. Both failed. Retiring from the screen, he eventually became an advertising executive.

Natalie Wood - The little girl who didn't believe in Santa Claus in ``Miracle on 34th Street'' grew up to play adult roles, including the stripper Gypsy Rose Lee in ``Gypsy.'' Married twice to actor Robert Wagner, she drowned in a mysterious accident off a yacht moored at Catalina Island.

Patty MacCormack - She received an Oscar nomination as the murderous little brat in both the stage and screen versions of ``The Bad Seed'' but failed to achieve adult stardom.

by CNB