Cinema Retro columnist Tom Lisanti has paired with actress Gail Gerber to write her fascinating autobiography that details her experiences in Hollywood as a young starlet in the 1960s as well as her career as a writer and Terry Southern's longtime companion. The book, Trippin' With Terry Southern, is due out in June. Here is an excerpt:
Hollywood,
summer of 1964. I had been living in California
for almost a year now and still felt like a fish out of water. Growing up in Canada where I studied ballet
from the time I was a small child, Los Angeles was mystifying to me with its
palm trees, bright sunlight forever contrasting with the deep shade, and its
superficial inhabitants. But I readily
admit I was sort of a snob myself and didn’t know much about the actors or
directors I came in contact with. Petite blondes like Sandra Dee were the
reigning young actresses of the time but I couldn’t tell a Sandra Dee from a
Tuesday Weld from a Connie Stevens. They
were all one big yellow-haired blur to me.Â
And forget about pop music—the minute The Beach Boys or Connie Francis
would come on the radio I’d reach for the dial in a mad rush so as not to hear
their insipid songs. The dance and jazz
worlds were where my interests and background lay.Â
Arriving
in town with my unwarranted bias and without knowing a soul, I had done pretty
well for myself, or so I thought, in a short period of time. I had a leading role in a play, two featured
movie roles albeit in teenage B-movies, and had done a few guest TV shots. I knew it wasn’t solely my acting talent that
was landing me roles. I was a pretty
blonde with a shapely figure that looked good in a bikini and wasn’t afraid to
show it off, which helped me tremendously.Â
It didn’t bother me in the bit, unlike actresses who I regularly came in
contact with, that wanted to be known for their talent rather than their looks.
In
August 1964 I found myself back on the MGM lot, after working there previously
in the Elvis Presley musical Girl Happy,
auditioning for a cameo role as an airport information girl in a big major
production. I was very excited. The movie was The Loved One based on the novel by Evelyn Waugh and directed by
Tony Richardson who was the hot
director at this time. Part of that
British “New Wave†of directors in the late Fifties, Richardson directed such
well-received movies as Look Back in
Anger (1958), A Taste of Honey
(1961), The Loneliness of the Long
Distance Runner (1962) and the hit bawdy comedy Tom Jones (1963). The Loved One was his second U.S.
production.
I
interviewed with associate producer Neil Hartley, the boyfriend of Richardson
who was bi-sexual though married to actress Vanessa Redgrave since 1962. Folks in Hollywood used to joke that Tony
only wed Vanessa because he could fit into her clothes. It seemed that every aspiring young actress
auditioned for the part but they gave it to platinum blonde bombshell Jayne
Mansfield whose career was on the down slope.Â
This didn’t help as her scene was left on the cutting room floor and
didn’t make it into the final print. As
a sort of consolation for not getting that role, I was hired to appear as one
of the decorative background cosmeticians working at the funeral parlor with
the film’s leading lady, Anjanette Comer. Little did I know that this would forever
change my life.
The Loved One
starred Robert Morse, who looked adorable with his shaggy Beatles haircut, as
the young British poet named Dennis Barlow newly arrived in Hollywood to visit his
upper crust uncle (John Gielgud) who shortly thereafter commits suicide when he
is unceremoniously fired from the movie studio he has worked at for over thirty
years. Barlow then is given the
responsibility of the burial arrangements and is led by his uncle’s pompous
friend (Robert Morley) to the ornate Whispering Glades funeral parlor foundered
by the Blessed Reverned Glenworthy (Jonanthan Winters). He falls in love with one of the cosmeticians
named Aimee Thanatogenos (Comer) a strange girl who fantasizes about death and
lives in a condemned house on stilts in the Hollywood Hills. But their blossoming romance is complicated
by head embalmer Mr. Joyboy (Rod Steiger), a rival for the charms of Miss
Thanatogenous and Barlow’s humiliating job at a pet cemetery, which he tries to
keep a secret. When all the men in Aimee’s life let her down—Barlow’s
occupation is revealed, Joyboy deserts her, Glenworthy proves to be a lecherous
phony, and the Guru Brahmin (Lionel Stander), whom she writes to for advice
turns out to be a drunkard—she commits suicide by embalming herself.
A
number of actors make cameo appearances including James Coburn as a customs
inspector, Tab Hunter as a tour guide, Roddy McDowall as a movie studio
executive, Liberace as a coffin salesman, and most hilariously Milton Berle and
Margaret Leighton as a battling Beverly Hills couple whose dog has died.
My
scenes were set at Whispering Glades Funeral Parlor, which took weeks to shoot,
and were filmed on location in the extensive gardens and interiors of a lavish
estate called Greystone located on Sunset Boulevard. It was the former residence of
multimillionaire Edward Laurence Doheny II.Â
I worked mainly with Anjanette Comer, Rod Steiger, and Pamela
Curran. Anjanette never spoke to me or
any of the other girls playing small roles.Â
Since she had the leading role, I think she thought we were beneath her
and not worth her time. She was also busy learning her lines.
I
remember hanging around doing nothing my first day on the set. On the second day it seemed it was going to
be a repeat of the day before. I was
sitting around earning more money than I ever did as a ballet dancer so I
really couldn’t complain. There was a
whole bunch of us getting paid just to show up.Â
I was all decked out in the same costume as Anjanette, a tight
form-fitting white dress with a matching veil, but with absolutely nothing to
do but to just sit there and wait in the hot August sun. I spotted a nice shady chair in a quiet spot
and made a beeline for it, thinking I could pass the time over there.  A crew guy saw my lightning move and said,
“That one’s a dancer.â€Â Terry Southern overheard
and saw me. He came over and introduced
himself as the film’s screenwriter. He
was very slim at this time and was wearing his trademark dark sunglasses with a
cup of coffee in one hand and his script in the other. I thought, “Oh, great. Another old guy is
hitting on me.â€Â
Â
Publicity still from the Elvis Presley film Girl Happy features Pamela Curran, Rusty Wells and Gail (who was billed as "Gail Gilmore")
I
had recently met the notorious author Henry Miller of Tropic of Cancer fame at an afternoon garden party thrown by a big
time producer of MGM musicals who also happened to be Canadian. Once Miller noticed me, he never left my side
and insisted we have our picture taken together. I was initially flattered that such a world
famous author would pay so much attention to me but then quickly realized that
he was just a guy on the make. He
persisted that I give him my phone number and address so he could take me out
and I hesitantly gave it to him. I was reluctant because he was much older than
I was but as with most lecherous guys his age they don’t consider themselves “old.â€Â They just keep trying. When I ignored his phone calls he pursued me
by letter all of which I saved.Â
Terry
Southern, at forty years old, was much younger than Miller’s seventy-five. And
to be honest I was immediately attracted to Terry—no surprise there as I seemed
to have a penchant for older men so I accepted his invitation to go to his
office for a drink. I guess I was
destined to fall in with a bad crowd.Â
Henry Miller and Terry Southern were chasing me—I never had a
chance.Â
Terry’s
makeshift work space was in one of the mansion’s drawing rooms with a full
bar. I went, and we talked. He seemed quite taken with me, and asked me a
lot of questions about my life. I thought Terry was more interesting than most
men I had met for a long time. I had
read The Loved One years ago one cold
winter in Toronto and found it most enjoyable, and had seen Dr. Strangelove a few months earlier. He
said he had a best seller out, and I coolly replied, “I don’t read best
sellers.â€Â The next morning he brought a
copy of his book Candy for me. I took it home and read it that night. He
wrote “I love you†in tiny script on the inside corner of the cover. It seemed a bit hasty.Â
The
next day we went to lunch at the Polo Lounge in the Beverly Hills Hotel where
he was staying. I was still in my
Canadian version of what to wear, and showed up in a nice straw hat and white
crochet gloves. Terry must have thought
that was really weird but he kept his comments to himself. I learned that he spent a lot of time in
Paris and New York City writing short fiction and nonfiction for such magazines
as Paris Review, Harper’s Bazaar,Esquire, and Olympia Review, among others, and that besides Candy he authored the novels Flash
and Filigree and The Magic Christian. Oh and he also revealed that he had a
wife. Seeing how that didn’t faze me (I
was still legally married, too), Terry invited me to his hotel room where, when
he was not working on The Loved One,
he was writing a screenplay for Candy. A lovely woman named Margo, who worked in the
costume department on the film, came by after work to “freshen up.†They had
obviously known each other for awhile, and had worked on pre-production
together. Margo was surprised to find me there.Â
It was a very awkward scene. After
she had showered, she said to Terry, “I’m her dresser, I can’t compete with
that†and quickly left. Terry said he
had planned to work his way through all the beautiful women on the set, but got
stuck at me.Â
I
learned from Terry that he just received an Academy Award nomination for
co-writing Dr. Strangelove and he
became inundated with screenwriting offers.Â
He chose to work with Christopher Isherwood in adapting and updating Evelyn
Waugh’s The Loved One because he
loved satire, which was evident if you saw Dr.Strangelove. Terry talked very excitedly about his love of
collaboration and felt this would be an interesting challenge poking fun at the
Southern California funeral industry and Hollywood’s British “colony†of actors.Â
Terry
continued on telling me that after arriving in Hollywood, he booked himself
into the Beverly Hills Hotel. Tony
Richardson, whom Terry called “Tip Top Tone†as he loved giving nicknames to
people he liked, was hired by producer Martin Ransohoff of Filmways to direct The Loved One, which was going to be
distributed by MGM. Terry and Isherwood
wrote most of the screenplay at Richardson’s home while lounging around the
swimming pool. Tony’s then-wife Vanessa
Redgrave was also there, and he sent Terry and her to do research at several
funeral homes. They pretended to be a
couple who just lost a loved one. Redgrave
really got into the part, weeping and ringing her hands at every funeral home,
while Terry played the stalwart husband. Terry always said how impressed he was
with her. After the script was completed,
Isherwood returned to London…
Being
with Terry, I got to know first hand the machinations of what was going on around
me. Prior to that, the only thing that I
was conscious of was that actress Pamela Curran, a blonde, statuesque Julie
Newmar-type whom I shared a trailer with and worked with on Girl Happy, was popping some kind of
pills whenever she got the chance. Â I
never asked for one. It was just so Valley of the Dolls. Some of the other gals who played Whispering
Glades Hostesses thought Pamela was haughty but I thought she was just
stoned.Â
Terry
explained to me that Tony Richardson had just been awarded an Oscar for
directing the ribald British comedy, Tom
Jones. However, he had made the deal
for The Loved One before his big win,
and wanted to re-negotiate his contract.Â
He did not succeed, and was furious, working, in his estimation, for
less than his worth. Tony compensated
for this by charging the company as much as possible in production costs. The screening of the previous day’s dailies
was held in the basement theater of the Beverly Hills Hotel. Everyone had to run a gauntlet of long tables
laden with salmon, shrimp, cold cuts, and every type of gourmet treats you
could possibly imagine. There was
expensive food there for anyone who passed by.Â
Champagne, Dom Perignon, only the best of course, was served at seven
thirty in the morning—corks were popping every day like it was New Year’s
Eve.Â
Tony
Richardson while filming took as many takes as possible and wasted time between
set ups by working at a snails pace.Â
Terry chuckled that Tony had barred the executive producer, Martin
Ransohoff (who Terry modeled the producer character in his novel Blue Movie on) from the set. Richardson
purposely went over budget and extended the shooting schedule by weeks.
Terry
Southern was one of the first writers or maybe the first writer to always be on the set. In those days, you handed in your script and
you went home never to be seen again. Terry
changed all that for a while. He was
constantly on the set at all times to make script changes and co-wrote these
wonderful vignettes for all these incredible actors. He loved to tailor his work to a specific
person. He would watch what the actor
was doing, and then he and the actor would have their heads together in deep
conversation. The actors loved his work
and his dialog so much that Richardson couldn’t get them to stop. A less
confident director probably would not have allowed Terry to talk to his actors.
Terry
felt that Richardson’s perverseness reached into his casting choices. Despite the fact that such popular and
talented young British actors at the time such as Albert Finney, Terence Stamp,
David Hemmings, and Tom Courtenay would all have been wonderful in the lead,
Tony stuck with the roster of MGM contract players. He cast as the English poet American actor
Robert Morse who prior to this had starred in the hit Broadway musical How to Succeed in Business without Really
Trying and the non-hit movie comedies, Honeymoon
Hotel and Quick, Before It Melts,
which co-starred Anjanette Comer in her film debut. She too was not quite right and a bit bland
in the role but she did have a macabre look to her, which I thought was perfect
for the part. One day while at lunch,
Richardson saw actress Pamela Tiffin dining and remarked that he wished he
would have chosen her for the role of Aimee instead of Comer. Â
Other
than the two leads, Terry loved all the other casting choices for the star
cameo roles. He was delighted to find
himself writing for stars like Jonathan Winters, Rod Steiger, Margaret
Leighton, Milton Berle, Sir John Gielgud, and Liberace. The one performer that got away to Terry’s
disappointment was the notorious comic Lenny Bruce. Terry wanted him to play
the foul-mouthed drunken advice columnist played by Lionel Stander, who managed
a whole new career out of the role after being a blacklisted actor due to the
McCarthy hearings in the Fifties. Lenny
Bruce turned it down, saying that he wanted to make his own movie…