Debbie Reynolds

[Rob Wick]

Yesterday, just one day after her daughter, Carrie Fisher, died, Debbie Reynolds suffered a stroke that also proved fatal.

In either 1990 or 1991, when I worked for the newspaper in Marion, Illinois, I had the opportunity to interview Reynolds before a show she did at the Marion Cultural and Civil Center as part of their yearly Patron Series. Even in her 60s, Reynolds performed several times a year, partly because she enjoyed working, but also because she was forced to repay debts incurred by her ex-husbands (she joked that she was horrible at picking men. We were told beforehand not to mention Eddie Fisher, but that was the very first person she mentioned).

Just to relate a few anecdotes that I remember.

Reynolds was one of the stars of the movie "How The West Was Won". Part of the movie was filmed near Cave-in-Rock, Illinois and the crew stayed in Paducah during filming. Reynolds talked about a scene where Carroll Baker and Jimmy Stewart were kissing while Reynolds looked on. The scene was filmed on the Ohio River on an island that was under water six months out of the year. They had to hurry to get the scene shot, because the island was beginning to flood. All of a sudden, Baker let out a loud scream. Wrapped around a tree limb was a huge water moccasin. Reynolds said "I ran, and Carroll ran, but Jimmy outran us both."

Gene Kelly didn't want Reynolds in "Singing in the Rain". In order to make his displeasure known, every time Reynolds would make a mistake Kelly would yell and curse at her, which caused her to mess up even more. Finally, one day, Reynolds noticed that when she messed up, Kelly would yell at Donald O'Connor instead. She asked O'Connor why Kelly was yelling at him and O'Connor replied "because every time he yells at you, you cry and we lose a day's filming. Donen (director Stanley Donen) told him to start yelling at me."

In a related story, after getting yelled at, Reynolds went into an empty rehearsal hall and sat under a piano, sobbing. She heard a voice say "what's the matter, honey?" It was Fred Astaire. She said "I'm terrible at this. I'm never going to learn how to dance. They're going to fire me." Astaire would never allow anyone to watch him rehearse, but that day he made an exception just to show how difficult dancing was even for Fred Astaire.

I asked Reynolds who was the best kisser she ever worked with. To my surprise, she said it was Glenn Ford. I never pictured Ford as a sex symbol, but she said he was, in her words, "plenty hot."

At that time, I have to admit that I was rather impressed with the lack of gravity in relation to Reynolds's upper quadrant. During the interview, I spent more time then I care to admit staring at her in that particular spot, wondering how it was even possible. I thought I was doing it surreptitiously, but afterward, she offered to autograph pictures for all the media present. All her signatures were to the left of her picture, except for mine. Look where she signed it.

https://s27.postimg.org/d17hj7tsj/Debbie_Reynolds.jpg

Best
Rob

[L Verge]

(12-29-2016 02:13 PM)Rob Wick Wrote:  Yesterday, just one day after her daughter, Carrie Fisher, died, Debbie Reynolds suffered a stroke that also proved fatal.

In either 1990 or 1991, when I worked for the newspaper in Marion, Illinois, I had the opportunity to interview Reynolds before a show she did at the Marion Cultural and Civil Center as part of their yearly Patron Series. Even in her 60s, Reynolds performed several times a year, partly because she enjoyed working, but also because she was forced to repay debts incurred by her ex-husbands (she joked that she was horrible at picking men. We were told beforehand not to mention Eddie Fisher, but that was the very first person she mentioned).

Just to relate a few anecdotes that I remember.

Reynolds was one of the stars of the movie "How The West Was Won". Part of the movie was filmed near Cave-in-Rock, Illinois and the crew stayed in Paducah during filming. Reynolds talked about a scene where Carroll Baker and Jimmy Stewart were kissing while Reynolds looked on. The scene was filmed on the Ohio River on an island that was under water six months out of the year. They had to hurry to get the scene shot, because the island was beginning to flood. All of a sudden, Baker let out a loud scream. Wrapped around a tree limb was a huge water moccasin. Reynolds said "I ran, and Carroll ran, but Jimmy outran us both."

Gene Kelly didn't want Reynolds in "Singing in the Rain". In order to make his displeasure known, every time Reynolds would make a mistake Kelly would yell and curse at her, which caused her to mess up even more. Finally, one day, Reynolds noticed that when she messed up, Kelly would yell at Donald O'Connor instead. She asked O'Connor why Kelly was yelling at him and O'Connor replied "because every time he yells at you, you cry and we lose a day's filming. Donen (director Stanley Donen) told him to start yelling at me."

In a related story, after getting yelled at, Reynolds went into an empty rehearsal hall and sat under a piano, sobbing. She heard a voice say "what's the matter, honey?" It was Fred Astaire. She said "I'm terrible at this. I'm never going to learn how to dance. They're going to fire me." Astaire would never allow anyone to watch him rehearse, but that day he made an exception just to show how difficult dancing was even for Fred Astaire.

I asked Reynolds who was the best kisser she ever worked with. To my surprise, she said it was Glenn Ford. I never pictured Ford as a sex symbol, but she said he was, in her words, "plenty hot."

At that time, I have to admit that I was rather impressed with the lack of gravity in relation to Reynolds's upper quadrant. During the interview, I spent more time then I care to admit staring at her in that particular spot, wondering how it was even possible. I thought I was doing it surreptitiously, but afterward, she offered to autograph pictures for all the media present. All her signatures were to the left of her picture, except for mine. Look where she signed it.

https://s27.postimg.org/d17hj7tsj/Debbie_Reynolds.jpg

Best
Rob

Thank you for sharing these memories, Rob. I think every little girl in the 1950s and 60s wanted to be just like Debbie Reynolds. It made our forced dancing lessons (to please our mothers) easier to survive. And damn that Gene Kelly for being such a egotistical tyrant -- though very talented...

[RJNorton]

Thanks for sharing, Rob. Your post was very interesting. As you know Denise Richards was a student in my classroom in 1984, but you have me beat.

[Rob Wick]

A couple more images I found among my files. I took both pictures. The picture of her singing is from what was known as a PMT (which if I remember correctly stood for pre-matted transfer in the days before newspapers used digital photos) that appeared in the paper, which explains the screened dots on the image. The other picture is her during her press conference and is from the original. Nice memories of a classy lady.

Best
Rob

https://s23.postimg.org/7bf46ymkb/Photo_Scan.jpg

https://s30.postimg.org/npzy38hf5/Photo_Scan2.jpg

[Joe Di Cola]

Thanks for sharing those memories, Rob. I remember sitting by her and Eddie Fisher at a Notre Dame football game many many years ago. It was interesting how she was the one character that spanned "How the West Was Won." One of my favorites of her films was "The Tender Trap", where she starred with Frank Sinatra and David Wayne--although I was also smitten with Lola Albright who also appeared in the film. (Lola Albright was also the love interest on TV's "Peter Gunn.")

[ELCore]

Thanks for sharing.

[LincolnMan]

Rob: thanks for posting!

[JMadonna]

Fame is temporary. Tammy became the most popular girl name in the country after her movie. Then it faded rapidly into oblivion.