Biography:
MARY FRANCES REYNOLDS was born on April 1, 1932 in El Paso, Texas to Raymond Francis Reynolds, a railroad mechanic and carpenter, and his wife Maxene Harman Reynolds.  The family had little money, and when her father lost his job at the height of the Great Depression, little Mary Frances, her parents and her older brother William moved in with Maxene's parents and their four boys.  Living hand-to-mouth while her parents and grandparents struggled to provide, "Sis" (as she was called) enjoyed a tomboyish childhood, tagging along after her older brother and uncles.  In 1939, Raymond Reynolds moved to southern California to take a job with the Southern Pacific Railroad, and in December of that year, his wife and children followed, setting up house in Glendale before building a house in Burbank about a year later.
Growing up in Burbank in the 1940s, Mary Frances attended public school, participated in athletics and the school band, was an ardent member of the Girl Scouts, and, despite her mother's Nazarene upbringing, even went to the movies on occasion where she developed an admiration for the ebullient comic style of Paramount star Betty Hutton.  Somewhat of a class clown and a comic cut-up in her own family, Mary Frances developed a talent for lip-syncing and imitating radio comedians which she frequently used to entertain her friends and family.  When, on a whim in 1948, she entered and won the local "Miss Burbank" beauty pageant (for which she fulfilled the "talent" requirement by lip-syncing to a record of Betty Hutton singing "I'm a Square in the Social Circle"), talent scouts for both Warner Bros. and MGM recognized her film potential.  Reportedly on the toss of a coin, the Warners scout won the right to give Mary Frances a screen test, and shortly thereafter, at the age of 16, she was put under contract to the studio at a salary of $65 per week.  To her dismay, studio head Jack Warner changed her name to Debbie, and she was required to attend school for three hours a day on the Warners lot.  As time wore on however, and it became apparent that Debbie's hours on the lot were not particularly fruitful, her mother arranged for her to attend John Burroughs High School in Burbank when she was not needed at the studio.
Debbie's career at Warners got off to a slow start.  As studio executives struggled to find a showcase for her unique personality, Debbie took dance and drama lessons and wandered around the lot.  Finally in the fall of 1948, Debbie was cast as a teenage extra in the Bette Davis - Robert Montgomery vehicle JUNE BRIDE (1948), after which the studio exercised its option to put her contract on hiatus.  Early in 1949, Debbie was given a speaking part in THE DAUGHTER OF ROSIE O'GRADY (1950), playing June Haver's younger sister.  Despite her complementary comic turn in the picture, Warners decided they had little use for an ingénue of Debbie's age and inexperience, so when MGM expressed an interest in her, Warner Bros. declined to pick up their next six-month option on Debbie's contract.  Under a one-picture deal with MGM, Debbie finished out the year appearing as Helen Kane  in the studio's musical biopic THREE LITTLE WORDS (1950) starring Fred Astaire and Red Skelton, after which MGM picked up their option to sign Debbie to a standard seven-year studio contract, starting at $300 per week.