How to Be a Movie Star (68 page)

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"Jewess": This was told to me by Robert Wheaton, a close friend of director George Cukor's, in an interview for my book
Behind the Screen.

264 "swastika epidemic":
Social Problems,
Volume 9, Number 3, Winter 1962.

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"What the hell": Heymann,
Liz.

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"It's a double act":
Photoplay,
August 1959.

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"It will be the last time":
Daily Express,
May 13, 1959.

7. A Second Chance on Life

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"I'm so happy":
Hartford Courant,
May 17, 1959. Elizabeth's honeymoon might have been written off as a business expense, since she made time to do an unbilled walk-on in Mike Todd Jr.'s film,
Scent of Mystery,
shot in Spain and developed around a gimmick that would have made Papa proud. Smell-O-Vision came with a machine that spewed forth various aromas as the film unwound, including a floral perfume when Elizabeth, her face hidden, walks across the screen.

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"The old moguls": MacLaine,
You Can Get There From Here.

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–68 "Are you planning": HCSBU.

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The actor Martin Landau: He made this remark in the commentary for the DVD of
Cleopatra.

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"Hell, no!": Dorothy Kilgallen's column,
New York Journal-American,
April 4, 1962.

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the much-older political columnist Max Lerner: He wrote about his friendship with Elizabeth in
McCall's,
September 1974, but gave far more personal details in an interview with Alexander Walker for Walker's book
Elizabeth.

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"Her name is
Mrs. Fisher :
AP report, as in the
Hartford Courant,
May 27, 1959.

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"songs that meant something": Fisher,
Been There, Done That.

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"There's not a decent stone here": Interview with John Valva by C. David Heymann, HCSBU.

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"An unheard-of price": Wanger,
My Life With Cleopatra.

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Fox's 1960–61 production schedule was budgeted: NYT, September 13, 1959.

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"a fight between the older generation and the younger": NYT, October 25, 1959.

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"clammy coils":
Time,
January 11, 1960.

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"possibly the most bizarre film":
Variety,
December 10, 1959.

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"rightly roiled": NYT, December 23, 1959.

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–73 Even Hepburn hated the film: See my
Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn.

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"Sam Spiegel expects":
Hartford Courant,
July 17, 1959.

273 the movie poster that would dominate Hollywood: Interview with Tom Mankiewicz, as well as Kenneth L. Geist,
Pictures Will Talk: The Life and Films of Joseph L. Mankiewicz
(Da Capo Press, 1983).

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"Finds men the source": Notes to shooting script of
Butterfield 8,
Daniel Mann Collection, AMPAS.

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"normally be clear": Pandro Berman to John Michael Hayes, May 11, 1960, Daniel Mann Collection, AMPAS.

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"A walking time bomb": Hank Moonjean,
Bring in the Peacocks: Memoirs of a Hollywood Producer
(AuthorHouse, 2004). Other Moonjean quotes are from my interview with him.

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Screen Actors Guild called a strike: NYT, March 8, 1960.

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–77 Actress Mary Murphy:
Los Angeles Examiner,
June 12, 1959.

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"A lot of citizens":
Hartford Courant,
October 21, 1959.

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how cold Elizabeth was in person:
Motion Picture,
March 1960.

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WHAT I TELL MY CHILDREN:
Photoplay,
April 1962.

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EXCLUSIVE! DEBBIE THREATENED!:
Motion Picture,
October 1960.

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HOW MUCH CAN EDDIE:
Screen Stars,
August 1960.

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She's showcased as a doting mother:
Photoplay,
October 1960.

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"I've never been America's sweetheart":
Photoplay,
December 1959.

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"My ambition is to win an Oscar":
New York Post,
October 26, 1959.

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Reporter James Bacon:
Hartford Courant,
March 27, 1960.

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yellow chiffon gown:
Hartford Courant,
April 4, 1960.

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"The crowd ooh'd and aah'd":
Hartford Courant,
April 5, 1960.

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"There are very few actresses": Wanger,
My Life With Cleopatra.

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Elizabeth was hiding out because she was too fat:
Daily Mail,
October 13, 1960. Elizabeth sued them for saying so and won.

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"million dollars' worth": Wanger,
My Life With Cleopatra.

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the fussy hairdresser worked his magic: Guilaroff,
Crowning Glory.

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"She has been around too long": Wanger,
My Life With Cleopatra.

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"Malta fever": Various articles, including LAT, November 2, 1960;
New York Post,
November 2, 1960;
Daily Mail,
November 1, 1960.

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"A tenacious bug":
New York Post,
November 2, 1960.

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STRICKEN LIZ TAYLOR:
New York Journal-American,
November 14, 1960.

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"still a sick girl":
New York Post,
November 15, 1960.

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"more frequently encountered": LAT, November 16, 1960.

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"She had become addicted": Eddie said a version of this quote in both his memoirs, but this comes from his interview with C. David Heymann, for
Liz.

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"I'm here to do whatever": Fisher,
My Life, My Loves.

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"Elizabeth Taylor is in a class":
Motion Picture Herald,
October 8, 1960. The trade paper offers a fascinating, detailed account of the studio's marketing and distribution plans for
Butterfield 8.

285 "working amid the ruins": Lana Turner,
Lana: The Lady, the Legend, the Truth
(Dutton, 1982).

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"long-range stock": Goodman,
The Fifty Year Decline and Fall of Hollywood.

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"The true love that exists": This is from the fan magazine
Movie Stars TV Closeups,
quoted by Goodman.

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"It seemed the thing to do": Quoted in Heymann,
Liz.
See also Earl Wilson,
Hot Times: True Tales of Hollywood and Broadway
(Contemporary Books, 1984).

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"If I could be":
Movie Mirror,
[nd] 1961, Elizabeth Taylor file, NYPL.

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–89 "This is the fourth nomination": Syndicated column, as in the
Hartford Courant,
March 8, 1961.

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"She might have survived": Alexander Walker interviewed the first doctor on the scene, but did not identify him, for his book
Elizabeth.

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"primitive corners": Wanger,
My Life With Cleopatra.

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House of Lords: Lord Mancroft "wondered whether the freedom of the press would have been seriously endangered if [the public] had not been shown photographs of Miss Elizabeth Taylor lying unconscious on a stretcher and being carried to an ambulance."
The Times,
March 14, 1961.

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"Her condition remains grave": Various reports, including LAT, March 5, 1961.

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"The condition of":
The Times,
March 6, 1961.

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–91 "At last everything is going": Wanger,
My Life With Cleopatra.

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"once-lithe body":
New York Daily News,
March 7, 1961. For the press coverage of Elizabeth's hospitalization, I read dozens of newspaper articles in her files at both AMPAS and NYPL.

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"out of danger":
The Times,
March 10, 1961.

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"going along very nicely": LAT, March 13, 1961.

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"black maria," "Go on home": Unsourced article, possibly the
Daily Mail,
March 13, 1961, ET file, NYPL.

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"dreadful illness": LAT, March 13, 1961.

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"There, in her hospital bed":
The Times,
January 22, 2008.

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champagne with Truman Capote: Wanger.

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"the white light": Interview on
Larry King Live,
January 15, 2001, CNN transcripts. The stories did tend to become more grandiose as time went by. In a later interview with King, aired on May 30, 2006, she'd say that she'd been pronounced dead four times and that doctors had tried everything to save her, including giving dog distemper shots to her.

295
MISS TAYLOR COMES HOME:
LAT, March 29, 1961.

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"a little better":
New York Post,
March 28, 1961.

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"numerous shots of antibiotics": LAT, March 29, 1961.

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"It is
love
that is killing":
Motion Picture,
March 1960.

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"a beautiful woman of twenty-eight," "that a good spanking wouldn't cure":
Motion Picture,
February 1961.

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"This was the ultimate climax": Fisher,
Been There, Done That.

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"Elizabeth Taylor looks tough":
Hartford Courant,
April 16, 1961.

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"cool and confident": AP report, as in the
Hartford Courant,
April 18, 1961.

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When the nominees for Best Actress: My description of the night and the ceremony comes from the AP reports, April 16, 17, 18, 1961.

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"prolong the drama": Fisher,
Been There, Done That.

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–99 With Max Lerner: See
McCall's,
September 1974, as well as Walker,
Elizabeth,
and Kelley,
Elizabeth Taylor.

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an act at the legendary Cocoanut Grove: Various, including
New York Post,
July 26, 1961;
Hollywood Citizen-News,
July 26 and 27, 1961;
Los Angeles Examiner,
July 27, 1961; Sidney Skolsky's column, July 28, 1961.

8. No Deodorant Like Success

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Hedda Hopper had announced the possibility: Syndicated column, as in the
Hartford Courant,
September 19, 1960. Louella Parsons confirmed the casting in the
Los Angeles Examiner
on December 16, 1960.

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since Elizabeth was now a Jew: Mrs. Velda Fulcher to George Stevens, December 27, 1960, GSC.

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"Surely you can find": Mrs. Florence S. Chipman to George Stevens, January 3, 1961, GSC.

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"A woman like Liz Taylor": Mrs. Sidney Myers to George Stevens, December 28, 1960, GSC.

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Kurt Frings was not impressed: Stevens's handwritten notes, as well as typewritten summaries and annotations possibly made by George Stevens Jr., an associate producer on the film,
The Greatest Story Ever Told
file, GSC.

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sashaying down the Via Veneto: Various articles, including the
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner,
April 4, 1962;
Daily Mail,
April 4, 1962;
New York Daily News,
April 5 and 7, 1962; UPI reports, as in the
Middletown Press,
April 7, 1962;
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner,
April 8, 1962;
New York Post,
April 8, 1962.