Speaker 1: This is Alec Baldwin, and you're listening to Here's the thing.
Speaker 1: As all of our listeners know, actress Debbie Reynolds died
Speaker 1: on December twenty eighth, just one day after her daughter,
Speaker 1: actress Carrie Fisher, passed away on the twenty seventh. Carrie
Speaker 1: and her mother had an unusually close relationship in public,
Speaker 1: and that was no act. Carrie was a friend of mine,
Speaker 1: and I don't mean in passing at movie premieres or
Speaker 1: film festivals. When I would attend parties at Carrie's home,
Speaker 1: she would talk about her mother incessantly. They were each
Speaker 1: other's best friend. It breaks my heart, especially for her
Speaker 1: daughter Billie, that Carrie is gone. I always imagine we
Speaker 1: would have her on this program, perhaps with her mother,
Speaker 1: but that never came to pass. But right now we
Speaker 1: like to rebroadcast our interview with Hollywood legend, the late
Speaker 1: Debbie Reynolds. It's rare when a movie comes along and
Speaker 1: inspires a whole generation of actors, singers, and directors. Singing
Speaker 1: in the Rain is one of those movies. It also
Speaker 1: transformed the lives of its stars. Debbie Reynolds was just
Speaker 1: a twenty year old actress under contract at MGM, but
Speaker 1: after her performance in that iconic film, Debbie Reynolds was
Speaker 1: destined to become a star. Some of the highlights of
Speaker 1: her career include Tammy and Tammy and The Bachelor, with
Speaker 1: a song that reached number one on the Billboard Charts,
Speaker 1: I have a Cottonwoods whispering a ball Jimmy jem Jemmy Love.
Speaker 1: Reynolds was nominated for an Academy Award for her leading
Speaker 1: role in The Unsinkable Molly Brown and received a Tony
Speaker 1: nomination for her Broadway debut in the musical Irene. Over
Speaker 1: twenty years later, Reynolds played Albert Brooks mother in his
Speaker 1: film entitled Mother. This is My Son the Other one
Speaker 1: is he staying with me for a while. Debbie and
Speaker 1: I celebrated our birthdays earlier this month, just two days apart.
Speaker 1: We share an astrological sign aries, I'm still living. Isn't
Speaker 1: that extraordinary? Well? I couldn't believe it without my birthday
Speaker 1: came again. It just was, and there were the world
Speaker 1: and eighty one. I said, hold it. I didn't want
Speaker 1: to be eighty. How did we get to eighty one?
Speaker 1: And Debbie Reynolds has stayed busy unlike a lot of
Speaker 1: her contemporaries. My friends, a lot of them just gave
Speaker 1: up because there weren't any good rules and everything they
Speaker 1: read was sort of a moron and that was depressing
Speaker 1: to a lot of them. So the opportunities just dried up.
Speaker 1: They just walked a way and everything just wound up
Speaker 1: to be like nothing, you know, And so they took
Speaker 1: up different hobbies. Some of them example teachers. Agnes Moorehead
Speaker 1: was one of my best girlfriends, and she was a
Speaker 1: great act that's really great, and she had a lot
Speaker 1: of students at her house come over and she taught acting.
Speaker 1: She taught acting, and she taught singing. She taught impressions
Speaker 1: to California, California on Roxbury. Right across the street was
Speaker 1: Jimmy Stewart and Lucille Ball and everybody was on that
Speaker 1: one street. It was like, let's have a party every night.
Speaker 1: George Burns and Eddie Candor lived on one block, so
Speaker 1: I would drive over there because that street was more
Speaker 1: fun than my phone. No, I'm gonna mention certain people,
Speaker 1: and not for the obvious reasons, but I you remained
Speaker 1: friends with Elizabeth Taylor until she died. Why do you
Speaker 1: think she stopped working, and why do you think she
Speaker 1: stopped taking care of it? That had to stop more,
Speaker 1: and she became quite ill. She wouldn't have ever quit working.
Speaker 1: All Elizabeth love to work, Yes she did, and she
Speaker 1: was a very good actress. We did a picture Carrie wrote,
Speaker 1: My daughter carry these Old Broads. It was called and
Speaker 1: as Sherley McClain, Joan Collins and Elizabeth and myself made
Speaker 1: this movie. We made a movie was called These Old
Speaker 1: Broads that carrying This movie, Well, maybe you're one of
Speaker 1: the lucky ones. It was a cute movie. Was you know,
Speaker 1: four old broads that gave up was what you're talking about.
Speaker 1: They gave up working and you know, just kind of
Speaker 1: dillied around with the rest of the movie. You Elizabeth Taylor,
Speaker 1: j Collins, and Shirley McClain. It was funny. Well, we
Speaker 1: had a lot of fun working together. That Joan never
Speaker 1: lets you watch her makeup, and she hides in her
Speaker 1: trailer and all her makeup. But we all kind of
Speaker 1: quite an operation. Well it is an operation for all
Speaker 1: of us. At a certain point when you look in
Speaker 1: the mirror and everything has moved someplace else, and all
Speaker 1: you broads, shall we say, came these four broads came
Speaker 1: from an era when everything was just was at its height.
Speaker 1: It's kind of heightened doing your hair and your makeup
Speaker 1: and your costumes and everything. It's not is everything is
Speaker 1: super important and everything is done for you. When we
Speaker 1: were into contract, most of us, Shirley McClain and Elizabeth
Speaker 1: they were at MGM, and everything was done for us,
Speaker 1: you know, the makeup, the hair, It sent cars for us.
Speaker 1: We were very spoiled. We didn't kind of know what
Speaker 1: to do when they dropped everybody, like when television came
Speaker 1: in and remember what year around there was the end
Speaker 1: of the studio system kind of died as you get
Speaker 1: into the fifties. It is slowly died a death. You know.
Speaker 1: It was like interesting to watch it was. I didn't
Speaker 1: realize it was the end, you know, I didn't know
Speaker 1: that it was that you didn't know what the change meant. Well,
Speaker 1: I was a young girl, so I didn't And I
Speaker 1: wasn't an intellectual. I wasn't educated. I'm from Burbankbank and
Speaker 1: originally from You want to be a gym teacher, that's me,
Speaker 1: you know what I always aim high get me too.
Speaker 1: I love Jim. You know I love I wanted to
Speaker 1: be a lifeguard son girls. Well yeah, yes, Well I
Speaker 1: was never that ambitious that I wanted to be a lifeguard,
Speaker 1: but I wanted to be a gymnast. I wanted to
Speaker 1: work on the bars and entropedes work. I loved all
Speaker 1: that stuff. And what's the link for you as a
Speaker 1: young girl, because you started very young as a young
Speaker 1: girl in Burbank and you're athletic, no doubt. What's the
Speaker 1: first thing that happened that says show business to you? Well,
Speaker 1: I never thought about me being in show business. I
Speaker 1: was a fan, and I would go to the movies
Speaker 1: because my mother left me. But no one else in
Speaker 1: our church was allowed to go to films because movie
Speaker 1: stars were all evil creatures, just dreadful. My mother let
Speaker 1: me go to films. My mother was very religious, very
Speaker 1: my family said my dad. My father used to say, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to go to church with you. I've
Speaker 1: told you that I'm not going to go because all
Speaker 1: those good people will be killed if I walked down
Speaker 1: the roof of fallen And he was always teasing if
Speaker 1: you don't by asking what church did you go to?
Speaker 1: Church of the Nazarene, which is like heart shell Baptist,
Speaker 1: kind of like your mom was a heart She was
Speaker 1: a Texan. She was a Texan Texan Baptist. She was
Speaker 1: tough and strict, and there were so many rules, how
Speaker 1: many kids in the family. Just my brother and I
Speaker 1: were in the family. And then my mother discovered what's
Speaker 1: your brother's name? Bill? And do you know who Bill is?
Speaker 1: To me, you don't know. Do you know that Billy
Speaker 1: Reynolds was my makeup artist on nuts Landing for a year?
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, was he your brother? Billy wasn't He
Speaker 1: was my makeup artist. And he's one of the people
Speaker 1: that helped me survived that experience because those three broads
Speaker 1: were from the Joan Colins School where they were having
Speaker 1: the makeup put on with a trowel every day. They
Speaker 1: had to have federally funded programs to pay for the
Speaker 1: makeup for them. Billy Reynolds would turn to me and
Speaker 1: he'd sit there and say, you know, did you bring
Speaker 1: a book with you? We're in a bere for a while.
Speaker 1: These girls are two or three hours in the chair.
Speaker 1: And then he told me that he was Elvis's makeup artist.
Speaker 1: And you know that every time he mentioned Elvis. He
Speaker 1: didn't mention it a lot because he was very shy,
Speaker 1: very shy. He mentioned Elvis once or twice and he
Speaker 1: started to cry. He would turn away from me and
Speaker 1: hid to say. She said to me, almost was the
Speaker 1: greatest man I ever worked with. Well, the only used
Speaker 1: to play. Elvis used to tease him and put snakes
Speaker 1: down his pants, off corn and pop pop popcorn and
Speaker 1: put it in his drawers. You know, they used to
Speaker 1: kid my brother. They used to just pick on them
Speaker 1: kind of, but he didn't care. My brother was a
Speaker 1: baseball player, really man's man. He lives men in my
Speaker 1: house with me. Will you give him my love? I
Speaker 1: don't even know if he'll remember me. He does, Oh,
Speaker 1: he remembers everything. He just doesn't talk about it. You
Speaker 1: know some men that are like almost reclusive, but not really,
Speaker 1: because underneath all of that is a great sense of humor. Jore,
Speaker 1: my brother, I think he helped save my life. The
Speaker 1: ladies here, by the way, who we work with, made
Speaker 1: us a cupcake. I see, I know that the candle
Speaker 1: I just said, the candle just burned my father. Candles
Speaker 1: and strawberries and cupcakes. It's our birthday. That has to
Speaker 1: be nice to us. So it has to be nice
Speaker 1: to us. They made the cupcake gluten free, but you
Speaker 1: and I both know the gluten free really is bullshit. Well,
Speaker 1: I think you're allowed on radio, you know. I always
Speaker 1: I used to be a disc jockey when I was
Speaker 1: sixteen years older, was at Warner Brothers. I first went
Speaker 1: there when I first won this little contest contest in Burbank, California,
Speaker 1: where I was raised. So we came from Texas because
Speaker 1: we were really poor, and my dad wanted us to
Speaker 1: have a better life, so he moved us to California
Speaker 1: for he railroad. He worked for the railroad. He repaired
Speaker 1: underneath the engines. He would repair all kinds of railroad
Speaker 1: happening there in California. Well, my my dad worked really hard,
Speaker 1: but I did the most boring job in the whole
Speaker 1: wide world. I retired him as soon as I came
Speaker 1: as luck changed in my whole life changed, and I
Speaker 1: came into show business. I discovered a whole different world
Speaker 1: and that people really had fun and people laughed. And
Speaker 1: our life was rather tedious and hard because we didn't
Speaker 1: have any money. I mean, my dad made two hundred
Speaker 1: a month. Now, that's better than nothing, but it's still
Speaker 1: also advised very little. So our life was a little
Speaker 1: bit eager. You know, we never had a Christmas tree.
Speaker 1: We never had so when the opportunity came along for
Speaker 1: you to get into the business, and I'm from the
Speaker 1: same school, actually, I'm wondering where you was enticed by
Speaker 1: and where you was thrilled by as much about making
Speaker 1: money to help your family as you were about your
Speaker 1: own glory. Well, mostly I thought it was a joke
Speaker 1: that I won this contest, and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: I'm in movies. The silliest thing was the contest. It
Speaker 1: was a Miss Burbank, were Miss burbank Bank. Don't don't, don't,
Speaker 1: don't downplay that. I changed my whole life and made
Speaker 1: my whole life wonderful and marvelous, travel all over the
Speaker 1: world and meet all these fabulous, interesting people and see
Speaker 1: different countries as so I'm very proud to say I
Speaker 1: was Miss Burbank and had a hole in my bathing
Speaker 1: suit and there my rear end was hanging out, and
Speaker 1: I didn't have shoes, high heel shoes, so I had
Speaker 1: I'm very grateful for stumbling in the show the first step. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Then after miss Burbank what happened? They took me to
Speaker 1: Warner Brothers and made a little screen test and asked
Speaker 1: me why I wanted to be a movie star. So
Speaker 1: of course I told him I didn't march. And after
Speaker 1: they laughed and they said, of course you do, I
Speaker 1: said no, I don't. I don't really. I mean, this
Speaker 1: is just fun. You're just this is your kidding around, right.
Speaker 1: I was very square and my family were very virginal,
Speaker 1: you know, very go to church Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
Speaker 1: Are you glad they were square? I'm grateful for that
Speaker 1: kind of upbringing throughout your career. And I'm not just
Speaker 1: saying this, I mean I wouldn't waste your time of mind.
Speaker 1: You know, you're a gorgeous woman, and everybody thinks of
Speaker 1: you and think of you being three things beautiful and talented,
Speaker 1: but also being very straight laced. I mean, your career
Speaker 1: was something where there's a kind of a in the
Speaker 1: sensuality quote and there's any of a gardener over here.
Speaker 1: It's kind of working that whole thing, and then there's you,
Speaker 1: who you didn't work that whole thing? Did you find
Speaker 1: that that was something that was because of your childho.
Speaker 1: I just think that that's the way you're raised. You know,
Speaker 1: it's what here. What you hear is sinful, and what
Speaker 1: you hear is not proper for young girls to behave
Speaker 1: in that manner. So you were pretty strict, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean you were, and I just grew up that way,
Speaker 1: So I thought that's the way everybody was until after
Speaker 1: three husbands. Now I realized that that is totally wrong concept.
Speaker 1: We're going to get to that unlucky and love unlucky?
Speaker 1: What else happens when you're unlucky and love? I just
Speaker 1: made it up. You just wrote that just for you. Okay,
Speaker 1: well we should record you later. Good morning, we've danced
Speaker 1: the whole night through. Good morning, Good morning to you,
Speaker 1: and you and you and you're good morning, good morning.
Speaker 1: It's great to stay in Blake. Good morning, good morning
Speaker 1: to you. What fun you see? I can't sing to
Speaker 1: save my life. If you put a gun to my head,
Speaker 1: said sing. You almost sang on key. When did you
Speaker 1: know you could sing? When did you know? When you
Speaker 1: just started singing? Like of the people. So what you're
Speaker 1: saying you started by doing mimicry. I started mimic Janet
Speaker 1: McDonald's I've never tried to Derica, she's a soprano, but
Speaker 1: I would do the alto and ethel Merman, anybody with
Speaker 1: a big voice, you know, I'd always do their voices
Speaker 1: because I I enjoy comedy, comedies, everything a Pratfall Stelach,
Speaker 1: that's everything to me. I love vaudeville, that's my favorite thing.
Speaker 1: I enjoy drama. Somebody else doing it, I personally don't
Speaker 1: want to do it Debbie Reynolds, because it's so serious.
Speaker 1: It makes me sad, it takes me where it goes,
Speaker 1: and so I don't accept any parts that are devastating
Speaker 1: because I don't want to be unhappy in my life.
Speaker 1: I'll just live my life is that's tough enough, So
Speaker 1: I don't need any parts that make me miserable. So
Speaker 1: when you're at warners and you say to them I
Speaker 1: don't want to be an actress, and they do the
Speaker 1: screen test, what happens there that you wind up banking
Speaker 1: over to MGM. What happened? Well, Jack Warner, here's the boss.
Speaker 1: So he said, we're not going to do it more musical,
Speaker 1: So I'll send the kid over to MGM. So they
Speaker 1: drove me. They sold me like a horse. Well there, donkey.
Speaker 1: I was sort of stubborn, and I say a donkey.
Speaker 1: So I go to MGM, which is LB Mayor, and
Speaker 1: they're still making musicals like mad because they were the
Speaker 1: biggest studio of all. Everybody in the world was there, Clark, Gable,
Speaker 1: Van Johnson, you know, Gear Gars and Lana Turner, ever,
Speaker 1: every I mean, the doors opened and like all these
Speaker 1: stars spilled out. It was the only one, the only
Speaker 1: one that ever really left on her own was Garble.
Speaker 1: So I won't be alone. I won't will be alone.
Speaker 1: So we left her alone. She's gone, She's had her car,
Speaker 1: she's wed a car and shipped off. She went to
Speaker 1: New York. She saved a hundred thousand dollars. She went
Speaker 1: to the bank, she met the president. His name is Slee,
Speaker 1: Mr Slee, and he's gone now. But I all this story.
Speaker 1: I love stories. You could call me a gossip. So
Speaker 1: Garbos with Mr. Shelee with a grand and she asked,
Speaker 1: don't please, don't help me, don't take care of my money.
Speaker 1: So Mr Shelee falls in love with Greta Garbo and
Speaker 1: it takes care of her the rest of her life.
Speaker 1: She lived in New York City and they used to
Speaker 1: go for a walk. Garbo would walk and Mr Shelee
Speaker 1: didn't like to walk, so he'd drive in the rolls
Speaker 1: roys of the Dusselburg or whatever it was, beside her
Speaker 1: while she did her shopping antiquing. And she loved Auntie.
Speaker 1: Mr Shelee taking care of Greta Garbo or was he
Speaker 1: taking her? He was taking care of her money. Money.
Speaker 1: Now what they did on the side of her tea
Speaker 1: or lunch. I never inquired A good doctors girl from
Speaker 1: Texas doesn't tell you know. I didn't want to even
Speaker 1: think about that, because I just wanted to think about
Speaker 1: what a romantic situation. The whole thing's a man trailing
Speaker 1: along in his how with this movie star, and she's
Speaker 1: walking looking in all the windows, and then he's in
Speaker 1: a in a car right with the door open, driving
Speaker 1: along beside her. These stories don't happen anymore. She walked
Speaker 1: away forever, She walked away forever. She's never made another
Speaker 1: film ever. And you show up in an MGM and
Speaker 1: what happens, Well, what happens is they send me to
Speaker 1: a meeting. And so they called Jane Kelly in the
Speaker 1: room and Mr Mayer says, here, Jean, this is a
Speaker 1: new girl that you're going to have as you're leading lady.
Speaker 1: And I'm seventeen, and but I'd never danced before, I'd
Speaker 1: never acted before, nothing, nothing, person, just a girl's scout.
Speaker 1: So there was a Gene Kelly a movie. So I
Speaker 1: couldn't believe the whole scene. I mean, I just thought
Speaker 1: the whole thing was silly. I really thought it was silly.
Speaker 1: So Mr Kelly says, can you do a time step?
Speaker 1: I said, oh, oh yes, I learned that a girl
Speaker 1: scout cab So he said to do time step. So
Speaker 1: I did a little awful time step and he said
Speaker 1: can you do a Maxi Ford? And I said I
Speaker 1: don't have a car. Well, obviously that was the wrong answer.
Speaker 1: He looked at Mr Mayor and he said, you're kidding me, boss,
Speaker 1: And Mr Mays said, now I'm not getting you meeting you.
Speaker 1: This is this is the leading lady. She's going to
Speaker 1: do the part. And that was it. He was stuck
Speaker 1: with me, poor thing. Can you imagine Jane Gell and
Speaker 1: these guys I'm assuming, like like many of the actors
Speaker 1: I know today, they're pretty no nonsense people. When it
Speaker 1: comes to the quality of their their product, and they're
Speaker 1: very hard Gene Kelly. Of course when it is the
Speaker 1: most brilliant dancer. Jean said, all right, I'll take her.
Speaker 1: I can I can fix her. I can fix it
Speaker 1: up because she's right for the part, the acting, bar
Speaker 1: and but the dancing. My god. It was an interesting time,
Speaker 1: but I was too young to know about it. Stare
Speaker 1: taught you too. He helped me. I was trying to
Speaker 1: learn everything, like with Donald run up the wall and
Speaker 1: flip backwards you. I was a flip, but you know,
Speaker 1: I had to learn how. I wanted to learn everything,
Speaker 1: and then I'd be crying under the piano. One day
Speaker 1: a pair of legs go by and I'm some crying
Speaker 1: away and the legs say, who is that under the piano?
Speaker 1: Who is crying? So I said, I'm sorry, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: it's just me, Debbie. So it was al fred Is Stare.
Speaker 1: He said, Debbie, get out, get out from underneath. They
Speaker 1: pulled me out and he said, now you come and
Speaker 1: watch me with hers. I never allow anybody. He always
Speaker 1: had a guard at the gate, a security guard. No
Speaker 1: one was ever allowed. But he let me watch and
Speaker 1: for maybe over forty minutes and his face turned already
Speaker 1: just used a cane and a drum after about half
Speaker 1: an hour in his face turning red, and he's doing
Speaker 1: brilliant work. Of course, he looked over at me and says, now, Debbie,
Speaker 1: I wants you to go back in there, stop crying
Speaker 1: and be great. In order to be a great dancer,
Speaker 1: you have to practict, to kill yourself. This is what
Speaker 1: it takes to be a great dancing. Now, run in there,
Speaker 1: just running there, shut up and do it and help you.
Speaker 1: Oh yes, I just felt like I was a big sissy,
Speaker 1: and I don't like to be a big sissy in
Speaker 1: those days or any other day. And then when you
Speaker 1: you finished the movie, and when it was done, how
Speaker 1: did you feel, and how did you feel when it
Speaker 1: was over? I think you you've learned a great deal.
Speaker 1: Either that or you already quit, because in order to
Speaker 1: keep up with these great talents, you had to devote
Speaker 1: yourself totally. I didn't go home. I slept in my
Speaker 1: dressing room. I wasn't off any days. I didn't take
Speaker 1: any days off because I practiced more while I was
Speaker 1: on Saturday and Sunday. We didn't have a Saturday off.
Speaker 1: We only had Sunday off and I practice all the time,
Speaker 1: and I don't think I changed at all. I just
Speaker 1: learned how to apply myself. And what about people's perception
Speaker 1: of you? That must have changed. The picture came out
Speaker 1: what year, I don't remember what year, in nineteen fifty two,
Speaker 1: something like that. Well, it was not a hit. It
Speaker 1: was not a hit. It was just a mediocre hit.
Speaker 1: And then it was discovered, rediscovered through the schools and
Speaker 1: the teachers that taught drama and class and lessons. The
Speaker 1: movie became a hit through school and for teachers, university
Speaker 1: teachers and all that. Singing in the Rain has remained
Speaker 1: a hit or became a hit many ten years, fifteen years.
Speaker 1: But is it safe to say that the girl who's
Speaker 1: crying under the table by the time the movie comes
Speaker 1: out of that process is complete. You're a movie star now, correct?
Speaker 1: Well I was popular. They couldn't believe a young girl
Speaker 1: had gotten that far and no talent, no no experience,
Speaker 1: So I was newsworthy. But in those days we had
Speaker 1: movie magazines and they'd write all kinds of stories for free,
Speaker 1: you know, studios would give It was the golden era.
Speaker 1: So what kind of story did they write about? You
Speaker 1: then when you're only seventeen, eighteen years old? What did
Speaker 1: they want to make it up? You know, they'd give
Speaker 1: a little party. They'd give a party. They had Rock
Speaker 1: Hudson going out with his secretary. You know Rock didn't
Speaker 1: want to go out with his secretary. Yes, that's John,
Speaker 1: Sam and Joe. What's the next picture you did? After
Speaker 1: Singing in the Ring? After Singing in the Rain? I
Speaker 1: did How the West was One? With every star you've
Speaker 1: ever heard about? The first movie I ever saw in
Speaker 1: the movie theater in my life ever. It was a
Speaker 1: wonderful picture. Spencer Tracy narrated the whole thing. Starr You'll
Speaker 1: never see again. That was Tracy's last appearance and they
Speaker 1: didn't even go on film and he just narrated it.
Speaker 1: And John Wayne was in that everybody. It took two
Speaker 1: years to make that picture. I started out playing a
Speaker 1: sixteen year old and ended up a ninety year old,
Speaker 1: So it felt like my life if there. I worked
Speaker 1: very hard on that picture, and Henry Hathaway was the director,
Speaker 1: and he was really tough and very hard on everybody.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not very kind of actors, but we
Speaker 1: were all a little bit stupid and employees slow. He
Speaker 1: thought it was slow. So he I had heard this
Speaker 1: about him. You know that he was a very tough director.
Speaker 1: So when he came over to Fox Studio where I
Speaker 1: was making another film with Andy Griffith, I said to him,
Speaker 1: he wanted me to do it the first part of it,
Speaker 1: how the West was on. I said, will sir, the
Speaker 1: truth of it is that I've heard really such bad
Speaker 1: things about you. I don't want to work with you.
Speaker 1: So I just stared at me. Said, what the is
Speaker 1: that what he's cussed like crazy? Oh? Yeah, cost He said,
Speaker 1: what the what you little snot knows it? Little? Oh? Yes?
Speaker 1: He attacked you aggressive, He bawled me out. He just said,
Speaker 1: you have no right to say that I'm boss here,
Speaker 1: that I cust and all that. I said, well, what
Speaker 1: are you doing now? For goodness sake, what do you
Speaker 1: think You're yelling at me, promissary, there are people staring
Speaker 1: at everything. I said, this is why I would never
Speaker 1: work for you, because I don't want to be miserable.
Speaker 1: So I turned it down, and then he wouldn't let
Speaker 1: me turn it down. He said, no, you're going to
Speaker 1: do it, and he talked to the president of Fox
Speaker 1: and MGM, which owned my contract. They said, I had
Speaker 1: to do it, so I had to do it. There's
Speaker 1: a one where I'll be home in the So back then,
Speaker 1: you signed those contracts and people, I think the the
Speaker 1: distance that the studio system has now, which we seed
Speaker 1: it so far for audiences today, they don't understand that
Speaker 1: notion that you signed a contract and you didn't get
Speaker 1: to pick the films your him your own. It's like
Speaker 1: a bondage, the condentured servitude. That's exactly. How did the
Speaker 1: picture go with him? Was? He was? He was? He? Well,
Speaker 1: I went the first section is the one that I
Speaker 1: was signed for and went on location and he said,
Speaker 1: all right, walk over there. I said, where am I walking?
Speaker 1: To sir? You just walk where? I said, pointing to
Speaker 1: I said, I have to understand where Why am I walking?
Speaker 1: What am I saying? He said, no, you know, you
Speaker 1: just do what I say. I said, this is what
Speaker 1: I told you that day we had the lunch that
Speaker 1: you were going to be rude and terrible to work
Speaker 1: with them. So I'm going to go lie down to rest.
Speaker 1: He said, no, you're not. You're going to walk over
Speaker 1: there and you're going to shut out. I said, no,
Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm going to faint because you've upset me
Speaker 1: too much. So I fainted, and what happened? I love this.
Speaker 1: I'm going to do that one. I'm going to do
Speaker 1: that now. You just pass out when I need a
Speaker 1: director like I'm gonna faint. Oh my god, you've upset me.
Speaker 1: Some boom boom fall Just fall down this let him
Speaker 1: kick here, It doesn't matter, so lay down. So if
Speaker 1: you're lane, did hath awake come up and kick you? Did?
Speaker 1: He kind of poke you with his boot or he
Speaker 1: poked me? He poked me with seriously, no here his foot.
Speaker 1: You know he poked me because you wake up? You're
Speaker 1: silly sum what custing kidding me? I wouldn't open my
Speaker 1: eyes at all because I was just in my mind.
Speaker 1: I said, just stay here all day, just say they
Speaker 1: can't wake make you wake up. So they put some
Speaker 1: that chlora what's that stuff under ether under your nose. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I didn't still wake up. I just breathed really
Speaker 1: deeply like yoga. You know, no, I was doing this
Speaker 1: iron vaded breathing of smelling souls. That's how obstinate you were.
Speaker 1: I was not going to wake up. He couldn't get
Speaker 1: me up with the conclusion of this. What happened? Did you?
Speaker 1: I'm assuming because you're here. You eventually got up. He
Speaker 1: walked away from and he said, she's faking. I know
Speaker 1: she's faking, and I'm gonna kill a little kid. And
Speaker 1: then he became amused by it because he thought he
Speaker 1: knew I was faking, but I wasn't going to wake up.
Speaker 1: He kind of respected you a little bit before back
Speaker 1: I wasn't going away, and he knew I wouldn't do it.
Speaker 1: I was a lot like Hathaway, say so, so, how
Speaker 1: many months did you have to go on this goddamn picture?
Speaker 1: A year, year and a half. About ten times I
Speaker 1: was gonna say, how many more faith did you? Did?
Speaker 1: Your dresser not to laid down a cushion or something.
Speaker 1: When you did you wink at her. I would just
Speaker 1: kind of wink and I'd fall. You know, the same
Speaker 1: thing happened on Broadway. I was doing a play here
Speaker 1: called Irene, and they wouldn't give us two more days
Speaker 1: to rehearsal Gower Champions going nuts. We're not quite ready
Speaker 1: or ready to open, but we're not quite ready. So
Speaker 1: I went over to Gary. I said listen, Garret, if
Speaker 1: we need another two days, I'll get it. He says,
Speaker 1: you can't get it. They wore they're out of money.
Speaker 1: As a no no if I disappear, if I get
Speaker 1: sick or something happened, if I fall, you know, He said,
Speaker 1: well how can you do that? I said, watch. I said, okay,
Speaker 1: let's rehearse that. What first number? So we were the
Speaker 1: one when I do the flip? So I did, and
Speaker 1: I said, all right, all right, go ahead, go And
Speaker 1: Gower is looking a can't relieve what I'm going to do.
Speaker 1: He doesn't know what I'm going to do. So I
Speaker 1: ran and run forward to the wings and flip in
Speaker 1: the air and crashed down and knocked myself out. But
Speaker 1: I'm not really out of no, so I opened one
Speaker 1: eye to Gower and winked at him and went back out.
Speaker 1: You really aren't this wholesome that Nazarine from Burnbank. You
Speaker 1: with me? You can fool like trouble day tuble, But no,
Speaker 1: I just get a very wilful who's a director that
Speaker 1: you loved? I really loved all the directors. I loved
Speaker 1: Hathaway too. I became very dear friends and visited together
Speaker 1: aries aren't you you're an Aries. I'm Aries. I'm born
Speaker 1: April Fool's Day. Aries is is very stubborn but very
Speaker 1: really good person. I mean, I don't think that there's
Speaker 1: a bad bone in the body other than our temper
Speaker 1: o that I you're known for your temper. That's not true.
Speaker 1: But it's not true, right, It's just if you're the
Speaker 1: press making up things. You know. Oh, the press love
Speaker 1: to make everything well. Luckily see, I'm not popular in
Speaker 1: the sense for the press. I see a picture of
Speaker 1: me going to it says I'm going to hit or
Speaker 1: push the photographer. I'm going to help them. They might fold,
Speaker 1: I'm reaching to help them. Or think the photographers today
Speaker 1: are terrible when they chase people. Say they didn't do
Speaker 1: that in my day. Now, I'm so happy I was
Speaker 1: in a golden era. They keep calling it a show
Speaker 1: business and we didn't have paparazzie like this. When speaking
Speaker 1: of which, when you say about being an Aries, and
Speaker 1: I'm not big on astrology, but people who are areas there,
Speaker 1: we say they love to bury the hatchet and have
Speaker 1: people get along. And even though you can have a
Speaker 1: bad temper and you can have grudges against people, they
Speaker 1: don't laugh. You just speak up right. You're kind of
Speaker 1: rigorously honest if we if you will, But for you,
Speaker 1: you buried the hatchet with Hathaway and he became a friend.
Speaker 1: And you're someone that doesn't like to hold a grudge
Speaker 1: with people. No, I don't, but I'm rather like an elephant.
Speaker 1: I remember everything. And Debbie Reynolds has had her share
Speaker 1: of hatchets to berry. In nine she married singer Eddie Fisher.
Speaker 1: It was the show business wedding of the year. Four
Speaker 1: years later, Fisher famously left Reynolds for her best friend,
Speaker 1: Elizabeth Taylor soon after Taylor's husband was killed in an
Speaker 1: airplane accident, but years later she patched things up with Elizabeth.
Speaker 1: They had known each other since they were kids. We
Speaker 1: were friends, we went to school together. Elizabeth and I
Speaker 1: were kids together, and so what happens about our leationship
Speaker 1: was out of their desire to be together Eddie Fisher
Speaker 1: and and she sold that you know, when a man
Speaker 1: wants to go, he wants to go, he goes. I've
Speaker 1: learned that that certainly. So of course I forgave her
Speaker 1: years after that because she she forgave her. So marriages
Speaker 1: two and three were less public, but no less painful
Speaker 1: for Reynolds. Now she's sworn off the institution. In a minute,
Speaker 1: she'll talk about her daughter, Carrie Fisher and their relationship.
Speaker 1: I'm Alec Baldwin, and you're listening to here's the thing.
Speaker 1: This is Alec Baldwin. Carrie Fisher's solo show, Wishful Drinking,
Speaker 1: discusses her battles with substance abuse, manic depression, and being
Speaker 1: the child of Hollywood royalty. It's poignant and hilarious. Having
Speaker 1: waited my entire life to get an award for something,
Speaker 1: you know, anything, I don't care. All right, fine, not acting,
Speaker 1: but what about like a tiny one for writing? I
Speaker 1: now get awards all the time for being mentally ill.
Speaker 1: So she is so funny. Oh, yes, she's brilliant. She's brilliant.
Speaker 1: The children were really little. I was very worried about
Speaker 1: my health. I've been on the road that I was
Speaker 1: just working like mad in vaudeville, and I was concerned,
Speaker 1: and the children were very small, and I called up
Speaker 1: Jeane Dixon, who was a prophet and lived in Washington,
Speaker 1: and I mean she did, you know, she did with
Speaker 1: the government and all kinds of and she was. It
Speaker 1: was the truth. She was sensational. Gave me an appointment
Speaker 1: and I sat down and she told me exactly what
Speaker 1: my children have become and everything that happened. She told
Speaker 1: me I was married to Harry Carl at the time.
Speaker 1: She said, when you go home, you're going to have
Speaker 1: to face the divorce, and he has taken all of
Speaker 1: your money. When you go home, you will find that out.
Speaker 1: So you don't know anything about it. I said, well, no,
Speaker 1: I let him take care of the money. She said,
Speaker 1: well he is. Carrie was going to be in white
Speaker 1: robes and sand on a stage. The astrologer Gene Dixon estraller,
Speaker 1: just Jane Dixon, who is very world famous. Did she
Speaker 1: predict Kennedy's assassination as well? She predicted everything is Ken,
Speaker 1: Robert and Jack Kennedy. Yes, she was very famous. And
Speaker 1: then she told me Todd would would be a builder
Speaker 1: and go to architectural school, and they have exactly your son,
Speaker 1: my son architecturals well, he's a bills. Where does he live.
Speaker 1: He lives in the valley, all your families all around it. Yes,
Speaker 1: there are. We all live sort of together because we
Speaker 1: adore each other. You wrote in your book that you're
Speaker 1: unlucky in love? Why were you unlucky in love? What
Speaker 1: do you mean? Because I'm just too old fashioned? You know. Well,
Speaker 1: of course I picked the wrong man. But that's because
Speaker 1: I am easy. You know, I'm easy. I don't ever argue.
Speaker 1: I mean, you need the money here, you take it?
Speaker 1: Oh you need that? Well? Do you trust people? Well,
Speaker 1: I'm very trusting. How is Carrie like you? And how
Speaker 1: it was Carrie like Eddie? Can you see the lines
Speaker 1: that Well, Carrie was born with Eddie as the father,
Speaker 1: and he was speed So Carrie was born was manic, depressive, bipolar.
Speaker 1: So she will have that for the rest of her life.
Speaker 1: And it's a dread disease. From him, Yes, from Eddie,
Speaker 1: it was very sweet of him. Carrie has an illness
Speaker 1: that is a severe problem over the whole world, and
Speaker 1: they do not have any answers for you. She's taking
Speaker 1: shock of treatments right now. It is a family's pain.
Speaker 1: We all have it because we so want carry to
Speaker 1: be well, and that's what we pray for all the time.
Speaker 1: And she's so funny. Her daughter is divine and she
Speaker 1: goes to school here in New York and she's the
Speaker 1: most beautiful, young, smart, really smart, and uh, she's taking accounting,
Speaker 1: so I think we'll be all right. Will come to
Speaker 1: me for about money, and Carrie's going to be fine.
Speaker 1: She's brilliant and she's a great writer. To carry it
Speaker 1: from you? From me? What did you get from laughter?
Speaker 1: If you could give people laughter, that would be the
Speaker 1: ideal thing. I know this is going to sound really
Speaker 1: cliched and kind of silly, but you know, you come
Speaker 1: from such a great era of movie stardom. Your name
Speaker 1: means something. When you say someone's name, you kind of
Speaker 1: go okay. But your name, you say a certain kind
Speaker 1: of a film. People automatically think, like the big Golden
Speaker 1: age of Hollywood musicals and you and Kelly and all
Speaker 1: these movies and Unsinkable Molly Brown and all these great films.
Speaker 1: Even though people don't realize that you stopped making films.
Speaker 1: I wrote this down. You stopped making films by and
Speaker 1: large and around What's the Matter with Helen in seventy one,
Speaker 1: and then from nineteen seventy one to six. According to
Speaker 1: your biography, most of what you do is voiceovers or
Speaker 1: retrospect the releases, like that's entertainment. You know, you don't
Speaker 1: work a lot during that period in film. I just
Speaker 1: do nightclubs. I work theater. I would do a club
Speaker 1: act for forty two weeks a year every day. Where
Speaker 1: would you go? Everywhere? Colorado to the country's sexist, Yes, Australia, England.
Speaker 1: I did five a day in England. So came a
Speaker 1: vout a villion for twenty years to make a living
Speaker 1: for my children. And then and then you go and
Speaker 1: do the movie with Albert Brooks? Yes I did. How
Speaker 1: did he convince you to do that movie? No, Carrie
Speaker 1: called me, she's a mother. I read a script Albert Brooks,
Speaker 1: who they were very good friends, did, and it's so funny.
Speaker 1: You have to do it. I said, well, you know,
Speaker 1: nobody wants me for movies anymore. Dear, well, mother, I
Speaker 1: want you to fly up here. I was in Vegas
Speaker 1: and I owned a little hotel and I had a nightclub,
Speaker 1: and I was happy as a hog in heaven. So
Speaker 1: she said, well, no, I don't care, mother, you have
Speaker 1: to fly. So I flew in and I met Albert
Speaker 1: and I read a scene for him, and he said
Speaker 1: to me, you've got it. And I said, what does
Speaker 1: that mean, Albert? He said, well, you've got it. You
Speaker 1: you've got the part, I said, Albert, I have to
Speaker 1: meet the director. Oh I am the director, Debbie. Oh
Speaker 1: I didn't know, Albert, I said, because you know I
Speaker 1: know him since he's a young boy. And then I said,
Speaker 1: well you have to see the producer. Then, dear, you
Speaker 1: can't just suddenly hired Debbie. Well, yes I can. I'm
Speaker 1: the producer. I'm the producer, I'm the director. I wrote it.
Speaker 1: And yes, you're going to do I said, Albert, you'll
Speaker 1: get into trouble. He said, no, you really are going
Speaker 1: to get it now because you're bossing me. So now
Speaker 1: you're just like my mother. So you've got the partner shore.
Speaker 1: Can you eat lamb? Shops? What the hell is a lamb?
Speaker 1: It's meat? I told you, I don't eat it. That's
Speaker 1: not a cow. I didn't know if it was the animal.
Speaker 1: You were siding with the whole it's the whole thing,
Speaker 1: wasn't cheese. Albert was very sweet. He wanted Doris today,
Speaker 1: but she just wouldn't do it because she would have
Speaker 1: been terrific. But as we all know, Doris doesn't want
Speaker 1: to go back on the screen, and I didn't want
Speaker 1: to because I was in Vegas, and I was running
Speaker 1: my hotel and I was having a lot of trouble
Speaker 1: with my husband and he wanted to, you know, take
Speaker 1: over my business and throw me over the balcony. And
Speaker 1: I was having a lot of problems. But I left
Speaker 1: and I did the movie Mother, and I'm happy I did.
Speaker 1: I think he made a lot of films and a
Speaker 1: lot of TV shows since then. Will and Grace, why
Speaker 1: did you play? Well? What do you mean? I played
Speaker 1: Grace's mother. Were Grace's mom Adler? Her name was Adler,
Speaker 1: and so as she sang a lot did impressions. It
Speaker 1: was a lot of fun to do. And the you
Speaker 1: have you stopped the club actor? You still doing that?
Speaker 1: You still know I still do my club act. I've
Speaker 1: been under the weather for about four months, so I've
Speaker 1: been kind of taking it easy and getting my health. Contestant,
Speaker 1: you look fantastic. Well, you look gorgeous. You give me
Speaker 1: me my birthday party. You look beautiful. Thank you, dear,
Speaker 1: and I wish you all happened. Is with your new
Speaker 1: wife and a baby, de camp, your life is all
Speaker 1: ahead of you. I love my baby so much, and
Speaker 1: even though they're all grown in your age, practically you know,
Speaker 1: there's nothing like it. This is so special. I'm really
Speaker 1: looking forward, you know when I think of you and
Speaker 1: you being part of that, you know, great era of
Speaker 1: studio filmmaking. Do you ever watch your stuff that you did?
Speaker 1: You have to go back and watch those films you
Speaker 1: don't bother. Well, some of the films. I watch everybody
Speaker 1: else's films. Bettie Davis, so I loved her and Katherine Hepburnna.
Speaker 1: Like when you watch a movie, you watch a movie
Speaker 1: from back then. Oh, yes, I only watch all movies
Speaker 1: you don't go to see. You don't exactly, So you
Speaker 1: don't go see movies today, not really don't, not even
Speaker 1: screeners from the Academy or DVDs at home. So if
Speaker 1: someone tells me it's really wonderful, I'll go, Like Titanic,
Speaker 1: you'd watch or something. No I did go to see
Speaker 1: You've been there? No I did that movie. No I
Speaker 1: I just did a film with It was about Liberaci,
Speaker 1: Behind the Candelabra, Michael Douglas, Michael Douglas and uh, that'll
Speaker 1: be out soon. I played Mrs Liberacci because I like
Speaker 1: to do di election and I knew Mrs Libaracci, and
Speaker 1: I knew Lee we were working a now very good friend. Yes,
Speaker 1: we were really dear friends. And he always called me
Speaker 1: up after the show and we'd go out together and
Speaker 1: he said, were white, all white Danby and your jewelry.
Speaker 1: And then he'd arrived in the limousine with the chauffeur's
Speaker 1: hat on and he'd drive me. I mean, he was
Speaker 1: so much fun. I loved Liberacci was great. So I
Speaker 1: did his mother? Howa Soderberg to work with? Did you
Speaker 1: like Soderbergh? Oh, he was wonderful. The director was wonderful,
Speaker 1: great director. I just had a little part, you know,
Speaker 1: and she had a little parts. She was The Only
Speaker 1: thing hard is dialected to be real, and you have
Speaker 1: to do doone when you're doing the dialect is polish
Speaker 1: and so you have to talk like really the really
Speaker 1: one and to be unbelievable. Because I am very good
Speaker 1: at dialects. I love to do them. You know what.
Speaker 1: You know what's amazing to me is you still enjoy
Speaker 1: doing this. You still love this? Yes, even though this
Speaker 1: is something that you came into almost accidentally. You know,
Speaker 1: you won the contest and you went over to Warner
Speaker 1: Brothers said we want you to be in the movie business.
Speaker 1: And you laughed when they said that. And yet here
Speaker 1: you are when you were sixteen years old, and now
Speaker 1: you're eighty one years old, sixty five years later. You
Speaker 1: still enjoy doing this, don't you? Absolutely if you're blessed
Speaker 1: enough to be able to have something to do that
Speaker 1: you love. Besides marriages, I mean, that's the only thing
Speaker 1: that's been a disappointment to me in my life. Honey,
Speaker 1: you're looking at the man you should have married. Here,
Speaker 1: it's me here I am. I wouldn't have stolen your money,
Speaker 1: will you? And I would be home right now watching
Speaker 1: turn of classic movies, eating popcorn. I'll be giving you
Speaker 1: a foot, rub. I have a wonderful life, I really do.
Speaker 1: God bless everybody. I really am very Another thing you
Speaker 1: have and you don't have to confirm us, but I
Speaker 1: bet you I know another thing you have, which is
Speaker 1: when you meet people you're fans. I bet you they
Speaker 1: just love you. They're my friends. Are not my fans.
Speaker 1: You know, everybody I meet, I just feel like I
Speaker 1: know them sixty five years and they made me, they
Speaker 1: gave me my work, and they stay by me all
Speaker 1: these years. You know, I work in Vegas all the time,
Speaker 1: and I work in Laughlin, which is called is right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: anywhere there's a job I work. You enjoy doing it
Speaker 1: live that way? How long is your show? Sure? The
Speaker 1: whole act of our two hour and a half. An
Speaker 1: hour and a half. I do a lot of comedy. Well,
Speaker 1: I mean I try it to make it funny. Let
Speaker 1: me end with this. Acting for me is very strange.
Speaker 1: Now I'm kind of done with it, and I mean
Speaker 1: I don't think I want to do it much longer.
Speaker 1: And the world has changed now, as you well know,
Speaker 1: it's very different. The way is that your phone? I
Speaker 1: think it is your phone? Where is my isn't that odd? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Where's my Oh? What you're listening to now is Dedie
Speaker 1: Reynolds taking her phone out? It's my it's my son. Yes,
Speaker 1: I'm calling from the valley, is now taking out all
Speaker 1: the kuchma on her little Asian. But I don't I
Speaker 1: can't find you can't find them. Let's find it. There,
Speaker 1: it is there, it is well And this is this
Speaker 1: is how my son was born nine pounds three ounces.
Speaker 1: Took a long time to get it out out. I
Speaker 1: was nine. Hello, good heavens, that's hard to find. Can
Speaker 1: you say it again? Hello? Did I get you too late?
Speaker 1: That's the story of my life, isn't It must be
Speaker 1: a man. Well, I'm going to hang up now. I'm
Speaker 1: visiting with Alec Baldwin. He's a big star. Yes, he's
Speaker 1: in Broadway, lives in New York. Just got married again,
Speaker 1: a young girl. They always pick them younger. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: might as well. That's one thing that hasn't changed. Yeah,
Speaker 1: then nothing is changed. Now. What I want to say
Speaker 1: to you is I've been doing this and I wanted
Speaker 1: to say I'd love to work with you one day.
Speaker 1: I'd love anytime. I'd love to work with you one day.
Speaker 1: If there's a movie and there's a partner for you
Speaker 1: to play my crazy aunts when you come in, there
Speaker 1: would be fun to do the crazy ant or the
Speaker 1: street lady or anybody like that. I like to do
Speaker 1: characters where I can fain. Debbie Reynolds has a new book, Unsinkable,
Speaker 1: and she has a huge collection of Hollywood memorabilia that
Speaker 1: you too can have a piece of. I'm selling it online,
Speaker 1: so Deynolds. Debbie mill studio store dot com. Debbie Reynolds
Speaker 1: studio store dot com. You're selling of wonderful things. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go buy something on there. Okay, Charles Javelin's head,
Speaker 1: how about that? Is any of your underwear for sale online? No,
Speaker 1: but if you really want it, Babby, I'll give it
Speaker 1: to you. We're done than branding there by. This is
Speaker 1: Alec Baldwin and you're listening to here's the thing.