A person who knows quite a bit about men and Hollywood stars in particular, says girls flip over Jim MacArthur because “he acts on a date just the way the girls figure their boys should act.”

If you saw him tinkering with a junk heap in a garage you would think it quite natural. And if you saw him in a tuxedo at a Hollywood premiere, again he would fit right into the surroundings.

He’s equally at home eating at a hotdog stand at Coney Island or at the famed Chambord. Whatever he does, he fits in.

“They like Jim,” said our source of information, “because he never tries to act like an important movie star.”

Jim is a boy who takes everything seriously -- except himself. As far as he personally is concerned, he is just an average guy who is trying to have some fun out of life. You can get from that that he isn’t stuffy and stilted and that’s one of the big reasons he’s so well-liked.

“He’s the type of guy that might be walking down the street and all of a sudden say hello to a little 10-year-old girl and stop and have a conversation simply because he felt like it,” said our friend. “And he’d do this without any thought in the back of his mind that someone might consider it a publicity stunt. He simply was doing what he felt like because he is so darn friendly.”

He isn’t what you would call really handsome. He looks like a sturdy, quick, clean-cut, good-looking college boy and that’s about what he is -- with a world of talent thrown in.

His popularity extends from Hollywood starlets to young students from some of the best colleges in the East. When he isn’t studying at Harvard or working in a play or movie he usually can be found at some informal place with a bunch of his friends, having quite a time for himself.

In addition to these duties he has a place with a small publishing house and he finds it keeps him on his toes. It’s not just the business of wearing the title of vice-president around with him, the job really means something to him.

At the moment he’s not sure what he will do for his life’s work. He may try his hand in the business world or stick to his law studies at school. Maybe he’ll follow in the footsteps of his famous mother, Helen Hayes, and string along with show business.

He has a very healthy respect for his mother and often seeks her advice. She is not grooming him for the stage but wants him to make up his own mind.

And he’ll make up his own mind about the girl he’ll marry, but not right away.

“I’m not ready. I’ll keep looking,” he said. So while he’s looking, the girls will keep flipping, hoping one of his glances will come their way.