How to Be a Movie Star (67 page)

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"protect her own interests": Heymann,
Liz.

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"still very much in love": The
Hartford Courant
reported on the story that ran in the
Chester Times
on September 14, 1958.

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"I'm the heavy":
Los Angeles Examiner,
September 12, 1958.

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"full responsibility":
New York Daily News,
September 13, 1958.

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"how blind love can be": LAT, September 13, 1958.

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"Insiders know": UPI syndicated column,
Middletown
(Connecticut)
Press,
September 13, 1958.

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"It seems unbelievable": AP syndicated report,
Hartford Courant,
September 14,1958.

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"For many years": Mrs. G.L.H. to Hedda Hopper, September 11, 1958, HHC.

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"I consider the show people": Mrs. Betty Reifel to Hedda Hopper, October 7, 1958, HHC.

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"I am so disgusted": Mrs. Marion D. Sparks to Hedda Hopper, October 1, 1958, HHC.

243 "There is
so
much feeling": Mrs. A. L. Wood to Hedda Hopper, September 16, 1958, HHC.

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"As far back as I can": Mrs. E. R. Gross to Hedda Hopper, October 14, 1958, HHC.

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–44 "I had little respect": B.M.S. to Hedda Hopper, September 12, 1958, HHC.

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"not to the acting profession": Mrs. John La Peire to Hedda Hopper, September 30, 1958, HHC.

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"rat she trapped": Anonymous to Hedda Hopper, [nd], HHC. The foil remains in the Hedda Hopper Collection, though the cheese, thankfully, has been discarded.

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"I always feel": Kathy Hammer to Hedda Hopper, October 1, 1958, HHC.

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"the blame should be placed": Mrs. W. Doolittle to Hedda Hopper, [nd] 1958, HHC.

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"Imagine a woman": "Fanny's Column,"
The Evanston Review,
[nd] 1958, HHC.

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"Randy and I": Pat Scott to Hedda Hopper, [nd] 1958, HHC.

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–45 "beautiful job of reporting": "Jack" to Hedda Hopper, [nd] 1958, HHC.

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"one of the finest jobs": Corinne Griffith to Hedda Hopper, September 12, 1958, HHC.

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"gutsy and slashing piece": Florabel Muir to Hedda Hopper, September 11, 1958, HHC.

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"one of the best pieces": Sammy Fuller to Hedda Hopper, September 11, 1958, HHC.

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"Please do something": Anonymous to Hedda Hopper, September 12, 1958, HHC.

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"Keep the Catholic": Mrs. Preston Miller to Hedda Hopper, October 6, 1958, HHC.

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–46 "mess of pottage": Lucy Davis to Hedda Hopper, September 26, 1958, HHC.

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"multiple marriages": Dr. Ida Mary Trask to Hedda Hopper, September 13, 1958, HHC.

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"the devil's daughter": Anonymous to Hedda Hopper, [nd] 1959, HHC.

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"God bless you": Mary L. Jenkisson to Hedda Hopper, September 12, 1958, HHC.

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"The die was cast": J. Frank Smith to Hedda Hopper, [nd] 1958, HHC.

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"just another beak-nosed Jew": Mrs. Celeste Davey to Hedda Hopper, September 12, 1958, HHC.

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"Gone are the days": Unsourced article, October 2, 1958, Lana Turner file, NYPL.

246–47 "I was so thoroughly": Theresa Dzriham to Hedda Hopper, [nd] 1958, HHC.

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"Taylor is even worse": Anonymous to Hedda Hopper, [nd] 1958, HHC.

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"You play by the rules": Anonymous to Hedda Hopper, September 11, 1958, HHC.

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"So the Eddie Fisher sponsor": Mrs. Preston Miller to Hedda Hopper, September 25, 1958, HHC.

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Various petitions were received: These are preserved in the HHC.

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"never to see": Richard Brooks Collection, AMPAS.

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–48 "I am more than a little shocked": Mary Grant to Liggett & Myers Tobacco, October 1, 1958, a copy of which was mailed to Hedda Hopper and kept in her files, HHC.

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"7,000 nasty letters": Fisher,
Been There, Done That.

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if Eddie and his sponsor could: LAT, September 28, 1958.

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"the season debut of Eddie's show": Associated Press report; see
Hartford Courant,
October 3, 1958.

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He sang "Moonlight Becomes You": My description of his show comes from the TV preview listings,
Hartford Courant,
September 30, 1958.

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"those appearing with Fisher": unsigned letter, unsourced, HHC.

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"better if Eddie didn't appear": Walker,
Elizabeth.

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"Some cautious ad men": Unsourced article, September 20, 1958, Eddie Fisher microfiche, AMPAS.

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"war whoop": This is quoted in McLean, "The Cinderella Princess and the Instrument of Evil," in McLean and Cook,
Headline Hollywood.
I have been unable to locate the original reference in
Variety.

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"In their profession": Edward Hoyt to Hedda Hopper, September 26, 1958, HHC.

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"We spent most of our time": Fisher,
Been There, Done That.

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"siding with Elizabeth": Heymann,
Liz.

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"oriented toward short-term profit": For a fascinating consideration of Hollywood scandals and how they played out in the press, see McLean and Cook,
Headline Hollywood.

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"the greatest binge": Ezra Goodman,
The Fifty-Year Decline and Fall of Hollywood
(MacFadden Books, 1962).

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"the Church of Latter-Day Debbie": Carrie Fisher,
Wishful Drinking
(Simon & Schuster, 2008).

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"Dear Debbie":
Photoplay,
June 1958.

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"Judas Iscariot": Joanna Walsh to Hedda Hopper, September 25, 1958, HHC.

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"A no-good mother": Pat Ryan to Hedda Hopper, September 11, 1958, HHC.

252 "excuses for her neglect": Mrs. A. L. Wood to Hedda Hopper, September 16, 1958, HHC.

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"Does she not even have": Mrs. E. R. Gross to Hedda Hopper, October 14, 1958, HHC.

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"It makes me furious": "A Texas housewife" to Hedda Hopper, September 30, 1958, HHC.

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"for her recent role":
New York Daily News,
September 17, 1958.

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"Debbie loved Eddie":
Motion Picture,
May 1960.

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"Debbie Reynolds—her hair":
Motion Picture,
March 1960.

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"Elizabeth Taylor may discover":
Motion Picture,
March 1960.

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"No sweeter girl": Unsourced magazine, January 1959, Debbie Reynolds file, NYPL.

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–54 "Debbie is a thousand times": Eileen Casper to Hedda Hopper, [nd] 1958, HHC.

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"an intelligence far above": Janet Wilson to Hedda Hopper, [nd] 1958, HHC.

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"
Tammy
gave enjoyment": Annabelle Barnett to Hedda Hopper, September 25, 1958, HHC.

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"Debbie has more beauty": Anonymous to Hedda Hopper, [nd] 1958, HHC.

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"In Hollywood": Goodman,
The Fifty Year Decline and Fall of Hollywood.

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"You know who those friends":
Motion Picture,
May 1960.

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"[Their] whole relationship": LAT, August 13, 1995.

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"That's how [stars]":
Outsmart Magazine,
August 1998.

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–55 "I had no control": Fisher,
Been There, Done That.

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"strong personality":
Motion Picture,
March 1960.

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"but only if you lived": Fisher,
Been There, Done That.

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"frigid and sexually unresponsive": World Entertainment News Network, wenn.com, May 14, 2001.

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"My father's story":
The Advocate,
February 3, 2004.

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"on whose slender shoulder": Charles Denton syndicated column,
Hartford Courant,
September 6, 1959.

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"all except the light":
Los Angeles Examiner,
September 12, 1958.

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Camille had been Miss Burbank: LAT, May 4, 1949; June 8, 1956; December 30, 1956; March 1, 1958.

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"voluptuous":
Outsmart Magazine,
August 1998.

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elude all offers of marriage: Not for another six years, after Debbie had married for the second time, would Camille finally wed; her husband was Debbie's friend, the well-known film composer Jerry Fielding.

256 Dan Dailey's Vegas act:
Confidential,
January 1957;
Uncensored,
September 1955; see also my
Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood
(Viking, 2001).

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"very close friend," "who had become": Fisher,
Been There, Done That.

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Whatever the truth of Debbie's sexuality: A few years later, she would also forge a close emotional bond with actress Agnes Moorehead. When Moorehead died in 1974, she left Debbie as executor of her estate. "My brilliant, witty, intelligent friend," Debbie eulogized. "Funny as can be, a great teacher, a great friend. And now she was gone forever from my life." In her memoir, Debbie would acknowledge, without officially denying, the persistent Hollywood rumors that she and Moorehead had been lovers. For an in-depth study of Moorehead's representation on- and off-screen as a lesbian, and how Reynolds fit into that narrative, see Patricia White,
Uninvited: Classical Hollywood Cinema and Lesbian Representability
(Indiana University Press, 1999).

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"I'm not taking anything away": LAT, September 11, 1958.

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"Although Liz and I":
Motion Picture,
March 1960.

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"The legend that":
Photoplay,
December 1959.

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"Ferocious and fascinating": NYT, September 19, 1958.

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"well-accented":
Variety,
September 10, 1958.

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"surprising sureness":
Time,
September 15, 1958.

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Quigley poll: LAT, December 24, 1958.

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"Year's most popular actress!":
Middletown Press,
April 5, 1959.

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Two for the Seesaw:
NYT, September 22, 1958.

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"People keep stopping me": Hedda Hopper column, as in the
Hartford Courant,
October 8, 1959.

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seen hugging the star: Unsourced article in HHC. There is no date, but the occasion was a party celebrating Romanoff's U.S. citizenship, bestowed on him by an act of Congress. This was in November 1958.

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at Romanoff's, Elizabeth took the next step: LAT, December 5, 1958.

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"the only event he and Liz":
Inside Story,
July 1959.

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"If Taylor was not":
Esquire,
March 1967.

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WHAT'S HAPPENING:
Photoplay,
May 1959.

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Academy Awards ceremony: AP press report, as in
Hartford Courant,
April 7, 1959.

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"There's nothing blue":
Photoplay,
August 1959.

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"A traitor to Jesus Christ": Mrs. P. Steffen to Hedda Hopper, April 30, 1959, HHC.