How to Be a Movie Star (65 page)

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"who kept the factory humming": Basinger,
The Star Machine.

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"swathed in a turquoise blue robe": Shirley MacLaine,
You Can Get There from Here
(W. W. Norton, 1975).

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not counting the cost of extras: Memo from Joe Finn to J. J. Cohn, July 5, 1956,
Raintree County
file, MGM Collection, USC.

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–65 "soap opera with elephantitis": Bosworth,
Montgomery Clift.

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Father George Long: Bosworth wrote about the priest who said "fuck," but did not name him. Kevin McClory admitted to Mike Todd Jr. that Long covered for his affair with Elizabeth. See Mike Todd Jr. and Susan McCarthy Todd,
A Valuable Property.
Eddie Fisher also wrote of a priest who was having an affair with Monty Clift (Fisher,
Been There, Done That).

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–66 "cork-twister": ET,
Elizabeth Taylor.

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a serious car accident: I have based my account on interviews with Kevin McCarthy and Jack Larson. I also attempted to reconcile various accounts given by Elizabeth in several different tellings of the story. Also see Bosworth,
Montgomery Clift.

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"accordion-pleated mess," "Adrenaline does something": Interview on
Larry King Live,
January 15, 2001, CNN transcripts.

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,
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"All my revulsion," "It would come up": ET,
Elizabeth Taylor.

168 for
Moby Dick
at Mocambo:
Photoplay,
January 1957.

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cautioning McClory against being seen with Elizabeth: My descriptions are based on conversations with Susan McCarthy Todd, Shirley MacLaine, and Henry Baron, as well as Todd,
A Valuable Property.

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–69 "I've never really been": LAT, October 31, 1956.

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"It must have set him": Todd,
A Valuable Property.

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Giant
premiere: Notes in
Giant
file, JWC, USC.

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"She got hold of that": Waterbury transcript, GSC, AMPAS.

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"a new artistry":
Motion Picture Herald,
October 11, 1956.

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"a woman of spirit": NYT, October 11, 1956.

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"Miss Taylor, whose talent":
Variety,
October 10, 1956.

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launched a campaign:
Giant
promotional files, JWC, USC.

5. Over the Top

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–73 Dick jetted from Hollywood to New York: Pan Am passenger lists, August 16, 1955; September 13, 1955; various newspaper articles.

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"the hottest man in show business": Vincent X. Flaherty's column,
Los Angeles Examiner,
February 5, 1957.

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"Imagine, a duchess on a bus": Associated Press wire reports; see, for example,
Hartford Courant,
July 3, 1957.

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"An openhanded sort":
Time,
July 15, 1957.

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"My wife is pregnant": This story has been reported in several different ways. Todd's defense of Elizabeth was used as an example of his quick temper in various articles and columns. In some versions, it's Todd who says that the world isn't ready for another one of him. But this seems to be the most accurate account. See, for example,
Time,
July 15, 1957.

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"There must be $10,000": This comes from Walker,
Elizabeth,
sourced to "private information."

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"Call the American Embassy": LAT, July 5, 1957. Also see various Associated Press reports, Mike Todd Collection, NYPL.

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"He was sort of the top": Katharine Hepburn,
Me: Stories of My Life
(Alfred A. Knopf, 1991). For more on the Hepburn-Hughes relationship see my
Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn.

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"Mike and I hope":
Screen Album,
August 1957.

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"I've been an actress": LAT, March 16, 1958.

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South Pacific:
LAT, October 31, 1956.

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the Todds had bantered with reporters:
Photoplay,
March 1958; various articles, NYPL.

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"I love him madly,":
Motion Picture,
July 1957.

178–79 "There's no such thing": LAT, January 5, 1957.

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"Thirty carats": Todd,
A Valuable Property.

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the glove was left behind: Bosworth,
Montgomery Clift.

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,
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"pacing through the rooms," "For the first time in weeks":
Modern Screen,
[nd] 1957, part of the Constance McCormick Collection, USC.

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"Hollywood is in the business of lying":
Confidential,
September 1957.

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–81 "a marriage of equals":
New York Mirror,
March 9, 1961.

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"They go off": Walker,
Elizabeth.
Apparently this comment was made directly to Walker by Todd.

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"Glamour dames":
New York Daily News,
November 24, 1960.

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"It's nice to be married": quoted in Cy Rice,
Cleopatra in Mink
(Paperback Library, 1962), no original source given.

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"I loved it when": ET,
Elizabeth Taylor.

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"I don't profess":
New York Mirror,
March 9, 1961.

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Todd carried her up to the balcony: LAT, February 4, 1957.

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reported to have cost $80,000:
New York Daily News,
November 24, 1960. See also Elizabeth Taylor,
My Love Affair with Jewelry
(Simon & Schuster, 2003).

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"Life in Europe": LAT, June 13, 1957.

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"scattering Yankee dollars":
Photoplay,
October 1957.

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missed their flight to Nice: This was covered extensively, as the various articles in the Elizabeth Taylor file at NYPL show. See, for example, LAT, June 22, 1957, and the
Hartford Courant,
June 23, 1957.

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–84 "There's no doubt": ET,
Elizabeth Taylor.

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"Sure Mike and I fight":
New York Post,
July 3, 1957.

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"[Mike] really hit her": Debbie Reynolds with David Patrick Columbia,
Debbie: My Life
(William Morrow & Co., 1988).

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"just horsing around":
Photoplay,
March 1958.

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"We scream at each other":
New York Daily News,
July 11, 1957.

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–85 "Elizabeth's beautiful mouth": James Bacon,
Hollywood Is a Four Letter Town
(Avon Books, 1977).

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"She told me I was wonderful":
Daily Express,
September 7, 1956.

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"No deep-breathing declarations":
New York Mirror,
March 9, 1961.

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"My choice is both of them":
Photoplay,
March 1958.

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"Talk about dull days": Hedda Hopper to Mike Todd, May 27, 1957, HHC.

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"Dad felt that the films": Interview with Mike Todd Jr. by Roy Frumkes, former editor of
Films in Review
(hereafter Frumkes interview). The interview was originally intended for that magazine but was never published because
Films in Review
folded. It has since been published online at
www.in70mm.com
.

187 "Mike thought food": Interview with Glenda Jensen,
www.in70mm.com
.

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"By the time most movies": Todd,
A Valuable Property.

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"I burned up four girls": Todd,
A Valuable Property.

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publicity wizard Bill Doll: Bill Doll clipping collection, NYPL; NYT, May 9, 1943, and March 3, 1979.

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Call Me Ziggy:
NYT, February 15, 1937.

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"so it must be the producer": Letter from Mike Todd to cast and crew of
January Thaw,
dated March 9, 1946, William and Audrey Roos Collection, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University.

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a declaration of bankruptcy:
The American Weekly,
January 28, 1951, a copy of which is in Todd's FBI file.

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"the fact that few books": FBI file on Michael Todd, file number 49–3518, December 5, 1950.

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"No specific assets": FBI file number 49–3518, August 27, 1951.

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"he'd kept his mouth shut": Frumkes interview.

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"showmanship and excitement": NYT, March 23, 1958.

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"standing room only": Hedda Hopper to Michael Todd, May 27, 1957, HHC.

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"This is for us":
Hartford Courant,
July 11, 1957.

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"renting Spain":
Photoplay,
March 1958.

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Mike Todd liked things his way: I based my account on conversations with Susan McCarthy Todd, Miles White, Mark Miller, Dick Clayton, and others. Also see Todd,
A Valuable Property
and Art Cohn,
The Nine Lives of Michael Todd
(Random House, 1958).

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"Dad's attitude was": Frumkes interview.

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"very much a part": Interview with Glenda Jensen,
www.in70mm.com
.

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"He'd have ten different ideas": ET,
Elizabeth Taylor.

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"Those guys were nuts": Interview with Shirley Herz by the Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers, 2000, at
www.atpam.com
(hereafter Herz interview).

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"become his own brand": Unsourced article, possibly
Variety,
[nd] 1957, Mike Todd file, NYPL.

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"needless extravagance": Todd,
A Valuable Property.

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"roughed it":
Photoplay,
March 1958.

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"I've often been broke": This line of Todd's was printed many times, including in several of his obituaries. It is also found in his FBI file.

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"brashness and cunning": Brooks Atkinson's observations were contained in a review he wrote of Art Cohn's biography of Todd, NYT, October 26, 1958.

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"I'm spending all my time": LAT, July 28, 1957.

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The baby was due:
Hartford Courant,
July 29, 1957.

198 "would go the full nine months": LAT, August 12, 1957.

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–99 Enter Kurt Frings: U.S. Ship Passenger Lists, August 30, 1933; October 21, 1933; April 24, 1934; January 31, 1936. Mexico-U.S. Border Crossings, May 24, 1939. Also interviews with Dick Clayton, Hank Moonjean, and Mark Miller. Also transcript of interview between Hedda Hopper and Ketti Frings, February 19, 1963, HHC.

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"A notorious international character": H. J. Anslinger, Commissioner of Narcotics, to Kenneth Clark of the Motion Picture Producers and Directors Association, October 11, 1940, Production Code Administration Collection, AMPAS.

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Cukor would eventually terminate: Kurt Frings file, George Cukor Collection, AMPAS.

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Cronyn was peeved: A 1952 holiday greeting card addressed to "Mr. and Mrs. Hume Croninger" had prompted a stinging rebuke. "I don't mind having my name spelled with an 'I,' or even a 'K,' but I draw the line at the enclosed. This, coming on top of such a long silence, adds insult to injury." Hume Cronyn to Kurt Frings, December 29, 1952, Hume Cronyn Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress.

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"For Christ's sake": Walker,
Elizabeth,
from the author's interview with Brooks.