Twitch Upon a Star (20 page)
Read Twitch Upon a Star Online
Authors: Herbie J. Pilato
Lizzie's break-up with Fred Cammann was coined a
quickie
Nevada divorce, the criteria for which was met by her fulfilling a residency requirement in that state for thirty days. After that, she left for Hollywood to work with Gary Cooper on
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell
, her big screen debut.
In an interesting twist, this film shared several aesthetic similarities with
The Rack
, a motion picture from 1956 starring Paul Newman, Walter Pidgeon, Cloris Leachman (
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
), Robert F. Simon (who played
Darrin's
father on
Bewitched
), and a fair-haired Anne Francis.
Mitchell
was based on a true story of the American general (Cooper), and his court martial for public complaints about High Command's dismissal and neglect of the aerial fighting forces during World War I.
The Rack
was a fictional account of
Captain Edward Hall
(Newman) who returns to America after two years in a prison camp during the Korean War. But both films dealt with the military and alleged insubordinate behavior of its lead screen soldiers.
About a decade after working on
Mitchell
, Lizzie would star in
Bewitched
, which debuted on ABC in 1964. Some years following her work in
The Rack
, Francis would find TV fame with another ABC show called
Honey West
, which debuted in 1965 (if only running one season to
Bewitched's
eight). In
The Rack
, Francis played a troubled woman struggling with the death of her solider husband, a successful brother to Newman's ultimate poor soul. In
Billy Mitchell
, Lizzie portrayed an emotionally torn woman struggling with the loss of her husband at the apparent misguided hands of the Navy Brass.
The Rack
was a superior film, with Newman delivering an A-list performance at the on-set of his career. In
Billy Mitchell
, Cooper gave a tired performance near the end of his career. (Four years later, he would appear with Lizzie's
Bewitched
co-star Dick York in the 1959 film, “They Came to Cordura,” during which York suffered a permanently damaging back injury that ultimately forced him to be replaced by Dick Sargent as
Darrin
in 1969).
In either case, Elizabeth was gripping as the grieving wife in
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell
, potentially pulling emotions (via her preferred training in “method acting”) from the turmoil she was experiencing off-screen with her failed union to Fred Cammann.
For the time being, too, there was a rumor circulating that Cooper, well known in Hollywood as a Lothario of sorts, went chasing after her on the
Mitchell
set. According to Montgomery archivist Tom McCartney, Cooper was “driving pretty hard to the hoop.” The actor frequently flirted with Lizzie and was “on the make.” At one point, “Coop,” as he was sometimes known, was nowhere to be found, even after a stage manager completed an extensive search on the set. The stage manager finally knocked on Cooper's dressing room door, which was locked. Finally responding to the interruption, the actor popped opened the doorâwith Lizzie reportedly in view inside his room. Although it appeared that she was ultimately seduced by Cooper's various charms, the hearsay of their alleged affair was just that and never was substantiated.
There was additional supposition of a potent off-screen romance between Lizzie and the historically womanizing crooner Dean Martin when they co-starred in 1963's
Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?
, a salaciously titled film with a slightly daring plot for its time:
Actor
Jason Steele
(Martin) is not a doctor, but plays one on TV. He's so convincing in the role, women of all shapes and sizes, including the alluring
Toby Tobler
(Jill St. John), find him irresistible. His poker buddies (some played by Louis Nye and Jack
Barney Miller
Soo) may envy him, but his fiancée, art teacher
Melissa Morris
(Lizzie), isn't the least bit impressed. In fact, she's quite upset; although she eventually learns to hold his attention by implementing an inventively affable bedside manner of her own, which she partially introduces with a seductive dance sequence.
In 1989, Lizzie remembered that sequence with a smile, and posed, “Wasn't that funny? And that was strangely enough one of the more difficult things I had to do.” The actual dance moves were not an issue. She was always athletic and had studied dance for years. But it was the precise choreography that forced her to face the music. She clarified:
It wasn't like dancing today, which is freewheeling. And Jill St. John (who also danced in the film) did it better than I did. But my character was supposed to be a wonderful dancer, so that was cool. If they had me out there riding a horse or playing eight sets of tennis I would have been much better. Or if we filmed it today, I'd have been out at some disco dancing. That would have been no problem either. But it was difficult for me because you get so kind of confined when you have to do it and the
clicks
(dance measurements) are going and the music starts and stops, and the dialogue starts and the music stops. But it was fun. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed being pushed into the pool at the Beverly Hills hotel. That was really funny because there were a couple of people who couldn't swim, and I found myself in this bridal gown which must have weighed 900 pounds, saying, “It's okay. I can swim. And I'll be right here.” It was a very nice experience. It was a feature, which was fineâand it was one of those things that you did.
Elizabeth had worked with Martin one previous time, in another feature film, but to a much lesser and somewhat odder extent, in 1960's
Bells Are Ringing,
directed by Vincente Minnelli (once married to Judy Garland and father to Liza):
A Brooklyn phone service operator (Judy Holliday) seeks to improve the lives of her clients by relaying between them various bits of information. In the process, she falls in love with playwright
Jeffrey Moss
(Martin), whom she is determined to meet. Problem is: he only knows her on the phone as “Mom!”
Lizzie's credited role?
Girl Reading Book
, one of the strangest cameos in big screen and small screen history; one of the oddest appearances of any performer on record, anywhere; she's seen with her head down, collapsed over a table in a tavern. It may have had something to do with her love for reading, a practice her father had instilled in her ever since she was a child. Either way, entertainment historian Ken Gehrig tries to make sense of it all:
Having already made
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell
, and many guest-starring roles on television, it's a mystery that Liz would appear in this wordless role where she virtually seems a mannequin. In a very long take at an actor's hang-out in New York, Judy Holliday's character is trying to convince the Brando wannabe actor played by Frank Gorshin to drop
the method
. Liz is in the foreground screen left; no dialogue, no movement, no expression; very much concentrating on her reading matter. What? Was it the opportunity to work with Oscar-winners: actress Judy Holliday, director Vincente Minnelli and/or producer Arthur Freed? Sadly, this was Judy's last film appearance and the last MGM musical of Minnelli and Freed. So unwittingly this was Liz's only opportunity to do such a film. Also, it's unlikely anyone knew that in hindsight this film is early exposure for future TV people: Jean Stapleton (
All in the Family
), Frank Gorshin (
Batman
), Hal Linden (
Barney Miller
) and Donna Douglas (
The Beverly Hillbillies
). Ironically, Liz has less to do onscreen than all of these othersâand yet, her concentration on her actor's
goal
seems relentless. None of the posturing of Holliday or Gorshin distracts Liz from her book!
As to any alleged affair with Martin, during production of this film or
Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?
Lizzie mentioned not a word. However, Montgomery archivist Tom McCartney points out that various revealing documents from the files of famous Hollywood gossip columnist Hedda Hopper are now accessible online. Among the papers is a transcript of an alleged telephone conversation between Lizzie and Hopper during which Hedda threatened to expose the alleged affair that Lizzie had with Dean.
Into this mix, actor J. Anthony Russo, who had a small role in
Bed
, chronicled his own observation about a Montgomery/Martin connection in his book,
Creativity and Madness: The Passion of a Hollywood Bit Player
(BookSurge Publishing, 2005). According to Russo, one day at lunch between filming scenes for
Bed
, Lizzie apparently jumped onto Martin's lap and began to smother him with kisses. When she left, Martin turned to all of those who would listen and supposedly intoned, “Don't mind her. She's a little stunod,” which is Italian for “a little drunk.”
That said, if the rumor of Lizzie's purported affair with Martin had been addressed elsewhere, which it has not, she may have been on the rebound from Gig Young just before falling in love with and later marrying Bill Asher, whom she met on the set of
Johnny Cool
(which was filmed the same year as
Bed
). By then, her relationship with Asher was her only real documented affair, a dalliance that transpired after she and Young separated.
Concurrently, according to George Eell's book,
Final Gig
, Young was having a very publicâand one could only assume also a very wildâfling with Sophia Loren. He and Lizzie then reunited for approximately six months, after she which she divorced him for good.
On February 15, 1954, Lizzie appeared with Sally Kemp and Cliff Robertson in “Our Hearts Were Young and Gay,” an episode of
Robert Montgomery Presents
. The episode was based on the book by actress Cornelia Otis Skinner and journalist Emily Kimbrough. Originally published in 1942, the book is about their European tour in the 1920s when they were fresh out of college at Bryn Mawr. It spent five weeks atop the
New York Times
Best Seller List in the winter of 1943, and was adapted for the big screen in 1944, starring Gail Russell as
Cornelia
, Diana Lynn as
Emily
, and Charlie Ruggles (a future
Bewitched
guest-star) as
Otis Skinner
, Cornelia's father.
In the TV version on
Presents
, Lizzie played
Cornelia
, Kemp was
Emily
, and Robertson was
Paul Smith
, a romantic interest for
Emily
. Each actor brought youthful buoyancy to their roles.
Lizzie, Sally, and Cliff made many appearances on
Robert Montgomery Presents
, and appeared in the show's first summer stock theatre group that included an orchestra conducted by Al Kemp (not
Hal
Kemp, Sally's father). Cliff enthusiastically recalled it all in 2011:
One summer, Robert decided to form the
Robert Montgomery Playhouse
with a particular number of actors, and I was one of the few lucky ones to join in. And we got to do a number of shows. It was very nice, if a little bit isolated and insolated from Hollywood. Bob preferred the East, as it were. But we all worked so well together, and it was a romp! We never took each other too seriously. We just plain had a ball performing in a play called
Our Hearts Were Young and Gay
, written by a very good writer named Rod Crawford [although sources document Nathaniel Curtis as penning the teleplay]. Both Elizabeth and Sally were a delight to work with. They were very close, like sisters. And Sally was a lovely friend ⦠to both of us.
Sally adds:
Our Hearts Were Young and Gay
was a surprise. We were all so young and
green
! And sweet Cliff Robertson; I saw him again a couple of times when I moved back to New York City; sad to lose him last year (2011). At least there were glimpses of talent on all our parts. I went on to specialize in classical roles, Shakespeare, Shaw, Wilde, etc., mostly in theatres in L.A. and New York, keeping me in non-luxury, but great satisfaction; Elizabeth and Cliff achieved a far wider audience.
From 1962 to 1993, whenever a young comedian impressed Johnny Carson during an appearance on
The Tonight Show
, the heralded late-night king of talk shows would invite them over to his famous sofa. In the same way, Robert Montgomery would periodically invite key players from a given episode on
Presents
to join him at the show's end to bid farewell to the home audience until the following week. After they performed to their
Hearts
desire, a very young and bubbly Lizzie and Sally joined Robert at the end of the show. All three were beaming. Robert was proud of their performance, which pleased Elizabeth, but also surprised her. Robert spoke directly to the camera, but she did not, nor did Sally, who recently had a chance to see the episode nearly sixty years after she appeared in it: