Twitch Upon a Star (29 page)

Born William Milton Asher on August 8, 1921, Bill was the son of Ephraim Asher, an associate producer of the classic 1931 horror films
Frankenstein
and
Dracula
, as well the original 1935 edition of
Magnificent Obsession
starring Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor (which was remade in 1954 with Jane Wyman, Rock Hudson, and
Bewitched's
Agnes Moorehead). His mother Lillian worked as a clerical assistant for MGM.

As chronicled in
Palm Springs Life
magazine December 1999, Bill lost his father when he was just eleven years old and “the excitement of a life in the new and daring film industry” was supplanted by the bottle for a Catholic mother whose Jewish associate producer–husband had died young and left her the burden of rearing children during the Depression. At fifteen, Bill enlisted in the Army, lied about his age, and forged his mother's consent.

After four years with the Signal Corps as a photographer during World War II, he left the service, which he said probably saved his life because he was one to fight authority.

Consequently, he headed for Hollywood where he approached “some guys” his father knew for help. They slammed the door in his face. At which point, he left Tinseltown for the low-rent, basic living of the Salton Sea area east of Palm Springs. There, he began writing short stories for magazines, which he had done in the Army.

In 1948, he co-directed with Richard Quine the feature film
Leather Gloves
, starring Cameron Mitchell, Virginia Grey, and a young aspiring actor named Blake Edwards. Like Asher, Edwards would later marry an actress best known for playing a supernatural woman: Julie Andrews (
Mary Poppins
). (Also like Asher, Edwards would become one of the industry's most prominent directors;
10, S.O.B
.,
The Pink Panther, Victor/Victoria, The Man Who Loved Women
).

In addition to feature length movies, Asher also wrote short films, five-minute reels that were utilized as interstitials in theatres for a new growing sensation called
television
. This resulted in a call from CBS officials who were familiar with his work and seeking directors for this new small screen medium, then a foreign concept in the industry. But within six weeks, Asher had returned to Hollywood, where he was directing shows like
Racket Squad
(1950–1953, syndicated CBS), and
Big Town
(1950–1954, CBS/NBC). He also completed a pilot for a new TV series called
Our Miss Brooks
(1952–1956), featuring big screen star Eve Arden, recreating her hit show from radio.

On the sound stage next to
Miss Brooks
was another infant CBS show called
I Love Lucy
which was about a relatively diverse married couple. He was
Ricky Ricardo
, a Cuban bandleader played by the multifaceted Desi Arnaz; she was his wife
Lucy
, daffy-but-crafty Hollywood-obsessed American redhead embodied in the one and only Lucille Ball. Despite such combined talent the show's immediate future was in doubt. But Lucy and Desi remained calm in the midst of the storm, preserved the honesty of their
Love
and, in the process, the series became the cornerstone for an entertainment empire called
Desilu
(a company title that combined its proprietors' first names).

One of the first bricks placed to solidify that creative foundation was by a vigorous Asher who, in 1952, was hired by Arnaz to direct a few
Love
episodes. By the end of its first season,
Lucy
was a monster hit and was renewed for an additional year. Bill was asked to direct the show for $500 per episode. “In those days if you were making $200 a month, you were doing well,” he told
Palm Springs Life
. “I was in my mid-twenties, unmarried, working on
Our Miss Brooks
and
I Love Lucy
, making $1000.00 a week from both shows combined. I lived like a drunken sailor! You can believe I spent the money.”

But he also spent time honing his craft, in the process blazing the trail for a new medium that would change the way the world communicated. Once turned away by his dad's false friends, Bill eventually connected with the TV greats of the era: Danny Thomas on
Make Room for Daddy
(ABC/CBS, 1953–1965);
The Dinah Shore Chevy Show
(1956–1963; for which he won an Emmy); Sally Field on
Gidget
(ABC, 1965–1966; for which he directed the pilot and several episodes); producer Sidney Sheldon on
The Patty Duke Show
(ABC, 1963–1966), and countless others.

By 1963, he ventured into directing movies first for TV (
Mickey and the
Contessa
), and then features, beginning with
Johnny Cool
, in which he met and cast Lizzie, who shared the lead with actor Henry Silva. The film was co-produced by Asher's friend Peter Lawford, who was married to Pat Kennedy, sister to President John F. Kennedy, and party to the famous celebrity
Rat Pack
: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin (Lizzie's co-star from
Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed
, which filmed that same year), Joey Bishop, and Sammy Davis, Jr., who both had supporting roles in the movie (while Davis performed the title song). Adapted from the novel,
The Kingdom of Johnny Cool
, by John McPartland, the movie follows this story:

While hardcore
Bewitched
fans may liken her character's name to
Samantha's
“what's-his-name” mortal husband,
Dare
was also the name Elizabeth once considered giving her first daughter. But that never panned out (she ultimately decided on
Rebecca
, after her grandmother).

As to the film itself, it's the kind of violent project to which Lizzie would later cling, post-
Bewitched
, with TV-movies like
A Case of Rape
and
Act of Violence
, both in which her characters were severely beaten—as was
Dare
shortly after meeting Johnny.

In fact, when
Cool
was released, an item in the press singled Elizabeth out as possibly the “most bruised actress in pictures as a result of her co-starring role opposite Henry Silva in the electric dramatic thriller.”

The item went on to explain how in one day's filming Lizzie's
Dare
was beaten in a “frighteningly realistic violent scene,” which was followed by another scene in which a car door slammed on her hand upon entering the vehicle (after fleeing a pool bombing). In the next day's filming, she was then called upon to leap from a pier to a small dinghy in Los Angeles Newport Harbor, and that's when things really turned ugly. Poor Lizzie failed to clear the pier and fell forward with a shuddering thud. Consequently, she received contusions on her arms and legs, and that last scene was cut from the final print of the film.

But as the press release stated further, “true to the acting heritage of her family name, Miss Montgomery, famed Bob's daughter, showed up bright and early for the next day's filming, and the shooting of
Johnny Cool
proceeded on schedule.”

Into this mix, however, Lizzie's
daring
portrayal of
Guiness
continued to fit her choice of roles that somewhat resonated with her reality. For example, upon first meeting Silva's
Cool, Dare
offers this telling introduction:

Beyond the inconsistent age reference in 1963 (when the film was released that year, Elizabeth was thirty years old) and the braces (she always prided herself on her uniquely chipped front tooth), it was Lizzie all over, at least until she met, married, and then divorced Fred Cammann.

The same year
Cool
was released, Asher directed his first
Beach Party
movie, which spawned
Muscle Beach Party
and
Bikini Beach
, both in 1964, and
Beach Blanket Bingo
and
How to Stuff a Wild Bikini
, both in 1965, the latter in which Lizzie made a cameo doing her then newly famed twitch.

Through it all, there was additional
Cool/Rat Pack
intermingling involving Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, and Frank Sinatra, who was then entertainment counsel to President Kennedy's Inaugural. Not only did Lizzie meet Bill on the set of
Cool
, she was introduced to the
Pack
via Bill's friend Lawford, who was Kennedy's brother-in-law. From there, she went with Bill to Washington for JFK's Inaugural on January 20, 1961. Approximately eighteen months later, on May 19, 1962, Asher produced, directed, and supervised the President's birthday bash at which Marilyn Monroe performed her sultry ditty “Happy Birthday Mr. President.” Asher recalled in
Palm Springs Life
, December 1999:

Suffice it to say, Elizabeth and Bill's friendship with the Kennedys was solidified at the President's Inaugural—and nearly three years before the tragic political incident that would send shockwaves around the world—just as a particular magical mayhem would step in to help ease the fray.

The pilot for
Bewitched
began rehearsals on November 22, 1963—the fateful day on which President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

The night before, Elizabeth and Bill Asher were at home, wrestling with what in perspective was a minor frustration, but one that later became a major magic snag: they had yet to conceive of a unique and identifiable gesture with which
Samantha
could manifest her magic.

Fortunately, a creative spark provided a proverbial light when, Bill, from the living room, shouted to Lizzie, “That's it!” Upon hearing her husband scream, she rushed to his side to offer comfort during what sounded like a pressing tragedy. But that was yet to come. For now, upon her arrival at his side, Bill simply asked, “What's that thing you do with your nose?”

Clueless as to what he meant, she queried in return, “What
thing
?!”

“When you become nervous, you move your nose in a certain way,” Bill prodded.

“He thought I just didn't want to do it or something,” she remembered in 1989, and she was still confused, and downright aggravated. “The next time I do this (thing),” she told him, “let me know.”

At that moment, Lizzie became so flustered she instinctively performed what has today transmuted into one of the world's most recognizable facial tics. Bill then went on to explain what he had seen, and what she had done and, in those joyful moments,
Samantha's
nose twitch was born, igniting the eventual birth of
Bewitched
—if on the night before a catastrophic incident that would change the world.

Elizabeth remembered that fateful November day in 1963, which began like any other, if at first unique only because she was preparing to leave for her first
Bewitched
rehearsal. As the early hours passed, the events of this new atypical day expanded. As she recalled in 1989, she was brushing her hair in the bedroom and heard Bill scream from the living room. But this time, it wasn't a good thing.

“No! It can't be true!” he said.

“For some reason,” she said in 1989, “I felt it had nothing to do with family. But it's as if I inherently knew what had happened. The whole thing was very strange, but to keep on working did seem to be the right thing to do.”

So, that's exactly what they did. Lizzie and Bill pushed forward, and went on to the set of
Bewitched
, which filmed at the Sunset Gower Studios in Hollywood. She remembered: