my services." ~ Carole
When Carole's contract with Warner Brothers ended she signed with agent Louis Shurr. In June of 1938 she made her stage debut in a Los Angeles production of Roberta. The nineteen year old had one of the leading female roles opposite Bob Hope. She was offered a contract at Paramount but turned it down so she could star in the play Once Upon A Night. Carole went out on a few dates with her costar Ken Murray. The show opened in Delaware in September and closed after only two performances. She said "We opened in Wilmington and closed in two nights without so much of a breath of Broadway. I was pretty inconsolable." After returning to Los Angeles she started taking acting classes. Carole and her mother Clara moved into a small home on 1130 South Clark Drive in Los Angeles. During the Fall she was seen out with agent Vic Orsatti and actor Alexander D'Arcy. At a Christmas party in December in of 1938 she met Kenny Morgan, a twenty-six year old press agent. They started dating and he helped her get a three picture contract at Republic Studios.
Carole at her 1939 divorce hearing