WEBVTT - Debbie Reynolds 0:00:00.440 --> 0:00:13.880 This is Alec Baldwin and you're listening to here's the thing. 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:18.680 Stop stop stop. If you're a baby boomer, that might 0:00:18.720 --> 0:00:21.239 be the version of Singing in the Rain. You most 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:26.880 remember Malcolm McDowell and Stanley Kubrick's satiric masterpiece A Clockwork Orange, 0:00:27.480 --> 0:00:30.680 But if you were born before the nineteen fifties, you 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:44.760 probably prefer this just sing. It's rare when a movie 0:00:44.880 --> 0:00:49.159 comes along and inspires a whole generation of actors, singers, 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:53.040 and directors. Singing in the Rain is one of those movies. 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:59.120 It also transformed the lives of its stars. Debbie Reynolds 0:00:59.160 --> 0:01:02.840 was just a twenty year world actress under contract at MGM, 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:06.560 but after her performance and that iconic film, Debbie Reynolds 0:01:06.840 --> 0:01:13.040 was destined to become a star. Some of the highlights 0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:16.759 of her career include Tammy and Tammy and The Bachelor, 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:20.480 with a song that reached number one on the Billboard Charts, 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:33.520 I Hear the Cottonwoods Whisperingable Jimmy jem je j Love. 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:39.640 Reynolds was nominated for an Academy Award for her leading 0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:43.240 role in The Unsinkable Molly Brown and received a Tony 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:47.880 nomination for her Broadway debut in the musical Irene Over. 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:51.800 Twenty years later, Reynolds played Albert Brooks mother in his 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:57.640 film entitled Mother The Other One Is he staying with 0:01:57.680 --> 0:02:00.560 me for a while. Debbie and I Sell braided our 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:04.120 birthdays earlier this month, just two days apart. We share 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:09.239 an astrological sign aries I'm still living. Isn't that extraordinary? Well? 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:12.320 I couldn't believe it when my birthday came again. It 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:16.280 just was and there were the world and eighty one. 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:19.239 I said, hold it. I didn't want to be eighty 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:22.000 How did we get to eighty one? And Debbie Reynolds 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:26.720 has stayed busy, Unlike a lot of her contemporaries. My friends, 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:30.160 a lot of them just gave up because there weren't 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:34.280 any good rules and everything they read was sort of 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:38.600 a moron and that was depressing to a lot of them. 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:43.639 So the opportunities they just walked away, and everything just 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:47.160 wound up to be like nothing, you know, And so 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:52.880 they took up different hobbies. Some of them became example teachers. 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:57.320 Agnes Moorehead was one of my best girlfriends, and she 0:02:57.600 --> 0:03:01.079 was a great actor's really great and she had a 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:04.400 lot of students at her house, come over and she 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:07.920 taught acting. She taught acting, and she taught singing. She 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:12.959 taught impressions to California, California on Roxbury. Right across the 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:16.440 street was Jimmy Stewart and Lucille Ball and everybody was 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:18.640 on that one street. It was like, let's have a 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:23.760 party every night. George Burns and Eddie Candor lived on 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:26.760 one block because I would drive over there because that 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:29.800 street was more fun than my phone. No, I'm going 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:33.040 to mention certain people, and not for the obvious reasons, 0:03:33.040 --> 0:03:36.640 but I you remained friends with Elizabeth Taylor until she died. 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:38.880 Why do you think she stopped working? And why do 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:41.640 you think she stopped taking care of it? Had to 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:45.600 stop working. She became quite ill. She wouldn't have ever 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:49.240 quit working all. Elizabeth loved to work, Yes she did, 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:51.640 and she was a very good actress. We did a 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:55.600 picture Carrie wrote, My daughter Carry These Old Broads. It 0:03:55.760 --> 0:04:00.839 was called and as Shirley McClain, Joan Collins and Elizabeth 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:03.200 and myself, So I made this movie. We made a 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:07.000 movie was that called These Old Broads That Carry Missing 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:10.440 this movie, Well, maybe you're one of the lucky ones out. 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:15.160 It was a cute movie was you know, four old 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:18.680 broads that gave up was what you're talking about. They 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:22.080 gave up working and you know, just kind of dillied 0:04:22.120 --> 0:04:25.600 around with the rest of their US movie You Elizabeth 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:30.920 Taylor College and Shirlie McCain. It was funny. Well, we 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:33.760 had a lot of fun working together that Joan. Nevertheless, 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:36.599 you watch her makeup and she hides in her trailer 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:40.560 and all her makeup. But we all kind of quite 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:43.360 an operation. Well it is an operation for all of 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:45.120 us at a certain point when you look in the 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:49.599 mirror and everything is moved someplace else and all you broads, 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:52.480 shall we say, came these four broads came from an 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:55.000 error when everything was just was at its height. It's 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:57.720 kind of heightened. Doing your hair and your makeup and 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:01.440 your costumes and everything that's thought is things super important 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:05.680 and everything is done for you. When we were under contract, 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:10.520 most of us, Shirley McClain and Elizabeth, they were at MGM, 0:05:11.040 --> 0:05:13.480 and everything was done for us, you know, the makeup 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:17.000 of hair, It sent cars for us. We were very spoiled. 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:19.240 We didn't kind of know what to do when they 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:24.120 dropped everybody, Like when television came in and remember what 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:29.640 year around that was. Studio system kind of died as 0:05:29.640 --> 0:05:32.680 you get into the fifties, it's slowly died a death. 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:35.600 You know. It was like interesting to watch it was. 0:05:35.920 --> 0:05:38.240 I didn't realize it was the end, you know, I 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:40.120 didn't know that it was that you didn't know what 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:42.360 the change meant. Well, I was a young girl, so 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:46.840 I didn't. And I wasn't an intellectual. I wasn't educated. 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:54.280 I'm from Burbankbank and originally from teacher. That's me. You 0:05:54.360 --> 0:05:58.159 know what. I always aim high too. I love Jim, 0:05:58.360 --> 0:05:59.920 you know I love I wanted to be a live 0:06:00.080 --> 0:06:05.039 guard son girls. Well yeah, yeah, Well I was never 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:09.600 that ambitious that I wanted to be a lifeguard. But 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:13.000 I wanted to be a gymnast. I wanted to work 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:18.200 on the bars and enterpedes work. I loved all that stuff. 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:21.600 And what's the link for you as a young girl, 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:24.040 because she started very young as a young girl in 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:28.160 Burbank and you're athletic, no doubt. What's the first thing 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:31.040 that happened that says show business to you? Well, I 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:34.880 never thought about me being in show business. I was 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:38.119 a fan and I would go to the movies because 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:41.000 my mother let me, but no one else in our 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:45.160 church was allowed to go to films because movie stars 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:49.600 were all evil creatures, just dreadful. My mother let me 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:53.279 go to films. Mother was very religious, very my family 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:56.320 said my dad. My father used to say, no, no, no, 0:06:56.440 --> 0:06:58.240 I'm not going to go to church with you. I've 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:00.320 told you that I'm not going to go because all 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:02.880 those good people will be killed. If I walked down, 0:07:02.960 --> 0:07:07.760 the roof would fall. And he was always teasing if 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:10.160 you by asking what church did you go to? Church 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:14.440 of the Nazarene, which is like hard shell Baptist, kind 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:16.400 of like your mom was a heart. She was a Texan. 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:21.200 She was a Texan Texan Baptist. She was tough and strict, 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:24.440 and there were so many rules. How many kids in 0:07:24.520 --> 0:07:27.600 the family. Just my brother and I were in the family. 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:30.600 And then my mother discovered what's your brother's name? Bill? 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:34.160 And do you know who Bill is? To me? You 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:37.960 don't know. Do you know that Billy Reynolds was my 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:41.120 makeup artist on nuts Landing for a year? Oh my gosh, 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:45.280 was he your brother? Billy? Isn't he my makeup artist? 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:50.040 And he's one of the people that helped me survived 0:07:50.080 --> 0:07:53.640 that experience because those three broads were from the Joan 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:55.800 Colins School where they were having the makeup put on 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:58.600 with a trowel every day. I had to have federally 0:07:58.680 --> 0:08:01.880 funded programs to pay for the makeup for them. Billy 0:08:01.960 --> 0:08:03.960 Reynolds would turn to me and he'd sit there and say, 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:07.400 you know, did you bring a book with you to go? 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:10.120 We're in a be here for a while. These girls 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:12.400 are two or three hours in the chair. And then 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:16.200 he told me that he was Elvis's makeup artist. As 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:18.120 you know that every time he mentioned Elvis, he didn't 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:21.480 mention it a lot because he was very shy, very shy. 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:24.160 He mentioned Elvis once or twice and he started to cry. 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:27.120 He would turn away from me and hide to say. 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:29.240 He said to me, Elvis was the greatest man I 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:33.040 ever worked with. Well, the only used to play. Elvis 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:35.800 used to tease him a lot and put snakes down 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:40.520 his pants and popcorn and pop pop popcorn and put 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:42.439 it in his drawers. You know, they used to kid 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:45.199 my brother. They used to just pick on him kind of, 0:08:45.600 --> 0:08:48.920 but he didn't care. My brother was a baseball player, 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:55.199 really man's man. He lives men in my house with me. 0:08:56.240 --> 0:08:58.480 Will you give him my love? I don't even know 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:01.760 if he'll remember me. Yes, Oh he remembers everything. He 0:09:01.880 --> 0:09:04.120 just doesn't talk about it. You know some men that 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:08.480 are like almost reclusive, but not really, because underneath all 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:11.480 of that is a great sense of humor. I adore 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:15.000 my brother. I think he helped save my life. The 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:16.800 ladies here, by the way, who we work with, made 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:21.240 us a cupcake. I see, I know that the candle. 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:24.640 I just said, the candle just burned my finger. Candles 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:27.400 and strawberries and cupcakes. It's our birthday that has to 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:30.000 be nice to us, so it has to be nice 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:32.160 to us. They made the cupcake gluten free, but you 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:38.720 and I both know the gluten free really is bullshit. Well, 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:41.839 I think you're allowed on the radio, you know, I 0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:44.079 always I used to be a disc jockey when I 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:46.920 was sixteen years older. Was it Warner Brothers. I first 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:49.079 went there when I first won this a little contest? 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:53.760 What contest in Burbank, California, where I was raised. So 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:56.319 we came from Texas because we were really poor, and 0:09:56.480 --> 0:09:58.160 my dad wanted us to have a better life, so 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:01.320 he moved us to California. Work. He's looking for he railroad. 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:05.360 He worked for the railroad. He repaired underneath the engines. 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:08.600 He would repair all kinds of a railroad happening there 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:12.719 in California. Well, my my dad worked really hard, but 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:15.480 I did the most boring job in the whole wide world. 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:19.160 I retired him as soon as I came As luck 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:22.320 changed in my whole life changed, and I came into 0:10:22.360 --> 0:10:25.800 show business. I discovered a whole different world and that 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:29.040 people really had fun and people laughed. And our life 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:32.920 was rather tedious and hard because we didn't have any money. 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:35.600 I mean, my dad made two hundred a month. Now 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:38.880 that's better than nothing, but it's still also AD buys 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:42.520 very little, so our life was a little bit meager. 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:44.760 You know. We never had a Christmas tree. We never 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:47.719 had So when the opportunity came along for you to 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:51.040 get into the business, and I'm from the same school, actually, 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:53.800 I'm wondering where you was enticed by and where you 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:56.559 was thrilled by as much about making money to help 0:10:56.600 --> 0:11:00.320 your family as you were about your own glory. Well, honestly, 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:04.600 I thought it was a joke that I won this contest, 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:07.160 and then all of a sudden, I'm in movies. The 0:11:07.240 --> 0:11:10.200 silliest thing was the contest. It was a Miss Burbank. 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:14.719 Mrs Burbank. Don't don't, don't, don't downplay that. No, I 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:17.920 like it changed my whole life, had made my whole 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:21.199 life wonderful and marvelous. Travel all over the world and 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:25.720 meet all these fabulous, interesting people and see different countries 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:28.040 as so I'm very proud to say I was Miss 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:30.839 Burbank and had a hole in my bathing suit and 0:11:30.880 --> 0:11:33.240 there my rear end was hanging out, and I didn't 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:37.439 have shoes, high heeled shoes, so I had I'm very 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:43.240 agrateful for stumbling in the show business. Yeah, Miss Burbank. 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:46.439 What happened? They took me to Warner Brothers and made 0:11:46.440 --> 0:11:49.120 a little screen test and asked me why I wanted 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:51.360 to be a movie star. So of course I told 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:54.400 him I didn't want to. And after they laughed and 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:56.400 they said, of course you do, I said, no, I don't. 0:11:56.679 --> 0:11:59.400 I don't really, I mean, this is just fun. You're 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:02.880 just this is you're kidding around, right. I was very 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:07.200 square and my family were very virginal, you know, very 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:11.160 go to church Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. You're glad they 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:14.720 were square. I'm grateful for that kind of upbringing throughout 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:16.760 your career. And I'm not just saying this, I mean 0:12:16.800 --> 0:12:18.920 I wouldn't waste your time of mind. You know, you're 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:21.520 a gorgeous woman, and everybody thinks of you and think 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:24.800 of you being three things, beautiful and talented, but also 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:26.760 being very straight laced. I mean, your career was something 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:29.360 where there's a kind of a in the sensuality quote 0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:32.440 and there's a gardener over here. It's kind of working 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:35.000 that whole thing, and then there's you, who you didn't 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:36.960 work that whole thing. Did you find that was something 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:39.800 that was because of your childhoo? I just think that 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:42.600 that's the way you're raised, you know, it's what you hear. 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:45.839 What you hear is sinful, and what you hear is 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:50.360 not proper for young girls to behave in that manner. 0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:53.160 So you were pretty strict, you know, I mean you were, 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:56.720 and I just grew up that way, so I thought 0:12:56.800 --> 0:13:01.200 that's the way everybody was until after three husbands now 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:04.240 I realized that as it's totally wrong concept. We're going 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:07.679 to get to that unlucky and love unlucky? What else 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:11.080 happens when you're unlucky and I just made it up. 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:13.599 You just wrote that just for you. Okay, well we 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:17.640 should record you laterning. Good morning. We've danced the whole 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:20.959 night through. Good morning, good morning to you, and you 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:25.160 and you and you're good morning, good morning. It's great 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:28.439 to stay in late. Good morning, good morning to you. 0:13:29.200 --> 0:13:32.160 What fun you see? I can't sing to save my life. 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:34.040 If you put a gun to my head and said saying, 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:36.640 you almost sang on key? When did you know you 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:41.079 could sing? When did you know? You just started singing 0:13:41.920 --> 0:13:45.600 like other people? So what you're saying? So you started 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:49.959 by doing mimicry. I started mimic Jeanette McDonald's I've never 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:54.160 tried and that recash. She's a soprano, but I would 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:58.920 do the alto and ethel mermon anybody with a big voice. 0:13:59.000 --> 0:14:01.920 You know, I don't always do their voices because I 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:07.679 I enjoy comedy, comedies, everything a Pratt fall sticklach, that's 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:11.679 everything to me. I love vaudeville, that's my favorite thing. 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:16.280 I enjoy drama. Somebody else doing it, I personally don't 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:19.600 want to do it Debbie Reynolds because it's so serious. 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:22.400 It makes me sad, It takes me where it goes, 0:14:23.080 --> 0:14:27.040 and so I don't accept any parts that are devastating 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:29.360 because I don't want to be unhappy in my life. 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:32.800 I'll just live my life is that's tough enough, So 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:35.920 I don't need any parts that make me miserable. Ball 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:37.800 So when you're at Warners and you say to them 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:38.960 I don't want to be an actress and they do 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:41.560 the screen test, what happens there that you wind up 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:44.440 banking over to MGM. What happened? Well, Jack Warner, here's 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:46.360 the boss. So he said, We're not going to do 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:48.680 more musical, so I'll send the kid over to MGM. 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:54.080 They drove me, they sold me like a horse. Well, 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:56.640 are donkey? I was sort of stubborn, and I say 0:14:56.640 --> 0:14:59.920 a donkey. So I go to MGM, which is l 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:03.160 will be Mayor and they're still making musicals like mad 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:05.800 because they were the biggest studio of all. Everybody in 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:09.080 the world was there, Clark Gable, Vyan Johnson, you know, 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:13.200 Gear Gars and Lana Turnery, every I mean, the doors 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:16.560 opened and like all these stars spilled out. It was 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:18.840 the only one, the only one that ever really left 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:23.320 on her own was Garble. So all I won't be alone. 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:27.720 I won't will be alone. So we left her alone. 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:32.200 She's gone. She's her car. She's weinted a car and 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:35.040 shipped off. She went to New York. She saved a 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:37.600 hundred thousand dollars. She went to the bank. She met 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:41.280 the president. His name is Shelee, Mr Shelee, and he's 0:15:41.360 --> 0:15:44.480 gone now. But I know this story. I love stories. 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:47.920 You could call me a gossip. Garbs with Mr Shelee 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:51.000 with a hundred grand and she asked, don't please, don't 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:55.280 help me, don't take care of my money. So Mr 0:15:55.400 --> 0:15:59.120 Shelee falls in love with Greta Garbo and it takes 0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:01.040 care of her the rest of her life. She lived 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:03.360 in New York City and they used to go for 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:07.000 a walk. Garbo would walk and Mr Schlei didn't like 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:09.360 to walk, so he had drive in the rolls roys 0:16:09.400 --> 0:16:12.800 of the Dusselberg or whatever it was beside her while 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:16.000 she did her shopping antiquing. You know, she loved anti. 0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:21.120 Mr Shelee taking care of Greta Garbo or was her money? No, 0:16:21.560 --> 0:16:24.480 he was taking care of her money. Money. Now what 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:27.560 they did on the side of her tea or lunch, 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:31.160 I never inquired because got this girl from Texas doesn't 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:34.440 tell you know, I didn't want to even think about that, 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:38.200 because I just wanted to think about what a romantic situation. 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:40.640 The whole thing as a man trailing along in his 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:46.000 with this movie star and she's walking looking in old 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:48.880 and windlows and then he's in a in a car 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:53.960 right with the door open, driving along beside her. These 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:57.360 stories don't happen anymore. She walked away forever, She walked 0:16:57.400 --> 0:16:59.600 away forever. She's never made another film ever, And you 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:03.840 should open an MGM. And what happens, Well, what happens 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:06.119 is they send me to a meeting. And so they 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:10.000 called Gene Kelly in the room and Mr Mayer says, here, Jean, 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:12.920 this is a new girl that you're going to have 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:17.840 as you're leading lady. And I'm seventeen, and but I 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:21.520 had never danced before, I'd never acted before, nothing, nothing, person, 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:24.760 just a girl's scout. So there was a Gene Kelly 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:27.239 a movie. So I couldn't believe the whole scene. I mean, 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:29.520 I just thought the whole thing was silly. I really 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:32.840 thought it was silly. So Mr Kelly said, can you 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:35.560 do a time step? I said, oh, oh, yes, I 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:38.600 learned that a girl scout cab so he said to 0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:41.760 do time step. So I did a little awful time step. 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:44.920 Then he said, can you do a Maxi Ford? And 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:48.840 I said I don't have a car. Well, obviously that 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:52.040 was the wrong answer. He looked at Mr Mayor and 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:55.960 he said, you're kidding me, boss, And Mr Mayer said, 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:58.680 now I'm not getting you meeting you. This is this 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:01.560 is the leading lady. She's going to do the part. 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:04.920 And that was it. He was stuck with me, poor thing. 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:08.199 Can you imagine Jane Gillen and these guys were I'm assuming, 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:10.800 like like many of the actors I know today, they're 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:13.159 pretty no nonsense people when it comes to the quality 0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:15.760 of their their product, and they're very hard. But Gene Kelly, 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:19.120 of course, when it is the most brilliant dancer. Jean said, 0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:21.639 all right, I'll take her. I can I can fix her. 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:24.800 I can fix it up because she's right for the part. 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:29.280 The acting, bar and but the dancing. My god. It 0:18:29.640 --> 0:18:31.920 was an interesting time, but I was too young to 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:34.680 know about it. Stare taught you too. He helped me. 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:39.800 I was trying to learn everything, like with Donald run 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:42.480 up the wall and flip backwards you. I knew I 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:44.719 was a flip. But you know, I had to learn how. 0:18:45.160 --> 0:18:48.360 I wanted to learn everything, and then I'd be crying 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:51.399 under the piano. One day, a pair of legs go 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:54.920 by and I'm some crying away and the legs say, 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:58.560 who is that under the piano? Who is crying? So 0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:01.680 I said, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's just me, Debbie. 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:05.520 So it was a fred Is stare. He said, Debbie, 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:07.920 get out, get out from underneath. They pulled me out 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:10.480 and he said, now you come and watch me with hers. 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:14.639 I never allow anybody. He always had a guard at 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:17.679 the gate and security guard. No one was ever allowed. 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:21.719 But he let me watch and for maybe over forty minutes, 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:24.680 and his face turned already just used a cane and 0:19:24.840 --> 0:19:27.680 a drum. After about half an hour in his face 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:30.920 turning red, and he's doing brilliant work. Of course, he 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:33.600 looked over at me, says, now, Debbie wants you to 0:19:34.080 --> 0:19:37.600 go back in there, stop crying and be great. In 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:40.920 order to be a great dancer, you have to practically 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:43.600 kill yourself. This is what it takes to be a 0:19:43.680 --> 0:19:46.959 great dancer. Now running there, just running there, shut up 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:50.960 and do it help you? Oh? Yes, I just felt 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:53.600 like I was a big sissy, and I don't like 0:19:53.760 --> 0:19:56.000 to be a big sissy in those days or any 0:19:56.080 --> 0:19:59.760 other day. When you you finished the movie, when it 0:19:59.840 --> 0:20:03.280 was and how did you feel to how and how 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:06.159 did you feel when it was over? I think you 0:20:06.520 --> 0:20:09.800 you've learned a great deal. Either that or you already quit, 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:13.840 because in order to keep up with these great talents, 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:17.240 you had to devote yourself totally. I didn't go home. 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:21.000 I slept in my dressing room. I wasn't off any days. 0:20:21.080 --> 0:20:24.040 I didn't take any days off because I practiced more 0:20:24.160 --> 0:20:26.760 while I was on Saturday and Sunday. We didn't have 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:30.240 Saturday off. We only had Sunday off, and not practice 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:33.760 all the time. And I don't think I changed at all. 0:20:33.920 --> 0:20:37.080 I just learned how to apply myself. And what about 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:39.240 people's perception of you? That must have changed. The picture 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:44.760 came out what year, I don't remember what year, something 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:47.639 like that. Well, it was not a hit. It was 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:50.240 not a hit. It was just a mediocre hit. And 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:53.399 then it was discovered. We discovered through the schools and 0:20:53.520 --> 0:20:58.720 the teachers that taught drama and class and lessons that 0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:03.240 the movie became a it through school and for teachers, 0:21:03.920 --> 0:21:08.000 university teachers, and all that Seeing in the Rain has 0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:13.040 remained a hit or became a hit meditan years, fifteen years. 0:21:13.280 --> 0:21:15.200 Is it safe to say that the girl who's crying 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:17.159 under the table by the time the movie comes out, 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:21.360 in that process is complete. You're a movie star now, correct? Well, 0:21:21.440 --> 0:21:26.359 I was popular. They couldn't believe a young girl had 0:21:26.600 --> 0:21:32.200 gotten that far and no talent, no no experience. So 0:21:32.480 --> 0:21:35.760 I was newsworthy. But in those days we had movie 0:21:35.800 --> 0:21:40.000 magazines and they'd write all kinds of stories for free, 0:21:40.320 --> 0:21:43.480 you know, studios would give It was the golden era. 0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:46.000 So what kind of story did they write about you then? 0:21:46.040 --> 0:21:47.960 When you're only seventeen eighteen years old? What did they 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:50.640 make it up? You know, they'd give a little party. 0:21:51.640 --> 0:21:54.320 They'd give a party. They had Rock Hudson going out 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:56.520 with his secretary. You know Rock didn't want to go 0:21:56.600 --> 0:22:02.040 out with the secretary. Yes, John, Sam and Joe. What's 0:22:02.080 --> 0:22:03.760 the next picture you did? After singing in the Ring? 0:22:05.320 --> 0:22:08.160 After Singing in the Rain? I did? How the West 0:22:08.359 --> 0:22:12.040 was one? With every star you've ever heard about? The 0:22:12.080 --> 0:22:14.560 first movie I ever saw in the movie theater my life. Ever, 0:22:15.240 --> 0:22:18.880 it was a wonderful picture. Spencer Tracy narrated the whole 0:22:19.000 --> 0:22:23.399 thing Stars You'll never see again. That was Tracy's last 0:22:24.000 --> 0:22:26.879 appearance and he didn't even go on film and he 0:22:27.040 --> 0:22:31.719 just narrated it and John Wayne was in that everybody. 0:22:32.280 --> 0:22:35.520 It took two years to make that picture. I started 0:22:35.560 --> 0:22:37.480 out playing a sixteen year old and ended up a 0:22:37.600 --> 0:22:42.720 ninety year old, so it felt like my life. There's things. 0:22:44.680 --> 0:22:48.160 I worked very hard on that picture, and Henry Hathaway 0:22:48.280 --> 0:22:51.640 was the director, and he was really tough and very 0:22:51.720 --> 0:22:54.920 hard on everybody. You know, it's not very kind of actors, 0:22:56.200 --> 0:23:00.960 but we were all a little bit stupid and slow. 0:23:01.720 --> 0:23:04.879 He thought it was slow. So he uh, I had 0:23:04.960 --> 0:23:06.760 heard this about him, you know that he was a 0:23:06.880 --> 0:23:09.680 very tough director. So when he came over to Fox 0:23:09.760 --> 0:23:12.560 Studio where I was making another film with Andy Griffith, 0:23:13.320 --> 0:23:15.639 I said to him, he wanted me to do it 0:23:16.119 --> 0:23:17.960 the first part of it, how the West was on. 0:23:18.080 --> 0:23:21.359 I said, well, sir, the truth of it is that 0:23:21.600 --> 0:23:24.520 I've heard really such bad things about you. I don't 0:23:24.560 --> 0:23:27.439 want to work with you. So he just stared at 0:23:27.520 --> 0:23:31.080