Copyright 1977, Ideal Publishing Corp.
Teen Beat Magazine: September, 1977, pg. 70
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"Runaways
never win the war, and they seldom gain anything in the battle," Eve Plumb
said solemnly as she relaxed on a love seat in her Los Angeles home.
The topic is one of Eve's favorites and she's become well acquainted with since starring in the television movie, Dawn: Portrait of a Teen-age Runaway. Even more recently, she's starred in a sequel to that successful film. Eve had frequently commented on what she learned in doing the first film, and in doing the second her ideas and thoughts about runaways are even more profound.
"Something like a million kids are going to run away this year," she says, an expression of dismay in her voice," and two-thirds of them will be girls. Of those, most are 16 years of age or younger, and the saddest part of it is that practically all of them will be found and returned to their homes. Only a few ever establish a new identity successfully and far too many are dead before they are found.
"A lot of girls run away to be with a boyfriend or because they're pregnant or figure they just can't cope with the hassles at home," Eve continues. "But if there's one special thing I've learned from doing these films, it's that running away doesn't accomplish a thing. Whatever a girl thinks she is going to achieve by running away is seldom accomplished."
"Oh sure, I suppose if a kid's being neglected, they can get their parent's attention by running away. But, in a lot of cases, when things get back to normal the kids find the same old pattern. That's the parent's fault a lot of the times, but kids have a responsibility too."
"From an adult standpoint - whether it's a parent or grandparent guardian, school teacher or church minister - they should be aware of a girl seeking their help. If she's really being hassled at home or at school or whatever, these adults should be prepared to help."
"However. those same responsible people can't offer help if they don't know a girl needs them, and that's where the kids have a responsibility. If they're really uptight and can't solve the problem with their parents there are a lot of places to seek help. In a lot of cities there are agencies just for this purpose, and a lot of police departments have counselors in their juvenile departments that will offer help without any unnecessary hassles."
"The thing of it is," Eve adds, "most girls who run away are scared and confused. They don't know which way to turn, so they split. But as you mature, you discover that running away from a problem doesn't solve it. Usually it only adds to it," she exclaims.
"So as bleak as the picture may see, there's always a way to handle it if you seek that help. It may seem like the end of the earth, and I suspect that some girls and guys have guilt feelings about going outside their immediate family or school to get assistance. But so many times it's an outsider's objective point of view that can bring an easy solution to the problem."
"I really fell sorry for kids who run away," she says sincerely. "I come from a very close family. I have a sister, Flora, and a brother, Ben, and I'd say we're a basic middle-class family. And generally speaking I've always been able to go to someone in my family if I needed to solve something."
"So it's very difficult for me to relate to someone who doesn't have this, but it's a simple fact that running away isn't the answer. When you leave you automatically find yourself mixing with an environment that in all likelihood will be foreign. And then there's the influence of drugs and all the other social pitfalls one is likely to face. It's not a pretty picture at all."
Though the films about a runaway in which Eve stars don't necessarily specify the dangers of running away from home, Eve does feel there are messages.
"Wow! All you have to do is watch and see the experiences of Dawn and the problems she gets into and it's very clear, the message is right there," she exclaims. "It's entertainment, true, but it's dramatized on what can happen to a girl on the run. And that offers a lesson."
That lesson, Eve hopes, will enlighten guys and gals alike, and show them that as bad as things might sometimes seem, running away only creates new problems and seldom solves the old ones.