'UNSINKABLE' DEBBIE REYNOLDS IN CONCERT AT RIVERSIDE
Tuesday, October 14, 2008 4:57 PM PDT
Debbie Reynolds is Hollywood. Her career is storied and full. It reaches back to the big studio “star system” days when MGM, Warner Bros. and Paramount had stables of stars under contract whose images were completely calculated and controlled. With co-stars like Gene Kelly, Jimmy Stewart and Frank Sinatra, Reynolds was kept busy portraying a string of sweet young innocents.
But Reynolds' career didn't end with the break-up of the old “system.” While many young actors careers were washed away with the change, Reynolds proved a survivor as she continued to land roles (even earning an Oscar nomination for Best Actress for The Unsinkable Molly Brown) and adding to her status by creating a nightclub act.
Today, Reynolds continues to appear in films and lend her voice to cartoon characters. She finished her reoccurring role as Bobbie Adler on the popular sitcom, “Will and Grace,” when the show ended it's eight-season run two years ago.
Reynolds talked with the Laughlin entertainer during her last appearance in town; here are her responses.
Q. Your career has touched multiple media-films, television, nightclubs-and has created a great body of work. What are your favorites?
A. I think my favorite film is Unsinkable Molly Brown...and maybe Mother comes in second. Goodbye Charlie is an old movie but still funny. I made 50 films...one of my favorites is Singin' in the Rain. Of course, I was very young. It was very challenging keeping up with the dancing. It was my first dancing movie and my voice was really high. We worked so hard.
I'm fortunate to have worked all those years and I'm busier than ever. I don't know what I'll do next. I can pick and choose. I like theater, I like the live audience. The response is immediate.
Q. A noticeable trait of your stage act is that you keep it clean.
A. Red Skelton never used foul language. Bill Cosby doesn't use foul language. Phyllis Diller never used foul language on stage. I get tired of hearing some of those irreverent words. It's why I like country music ...they've kept it clean.
Q. You were 15 years old when you began your acting career. There have been many child actors who have come and gone, some haven't fared as well with drug problems and arrest records. What did you do differently.
A. Background is really important. My mother and father were religious and I was brought up in church which is something I think is missing. They want to take the word God out of schools which I think is getting very peculiar. I was a Girl Scout...background is really important.
Q. You were a teen-aged actor in the 40s and also someone who worked with teenage actors at Disney studios in the 2000s...do you see any similarities, differences?
A. I think it's harder now, but there's always been producers who insist on certain ‘questionable' scenes. That's where you make your choices and put in strong arguments that you morally don't wish to do. Stay convinced of what you believe...keep in mind what's your image. How you wish to influence young people and keeping that in mind helps make those choices.
If you come from a well grounded family, you already have a moral base which makes it easier for a person to do good quality work. Young people today have so much demand put on them by shows on cable...shows like ‘Sex in the City,' which I think goes overboard. There are comedies out there that are not good for children and we, as parents, have to be ever alert.
Q. What projects are you working on?
A. They want me to narrate this and narrate that. I guess they figure I've been a part of so many different generations and forms of show business that they want me to do specials and documentaries. They try to get those of us who are still living to narrate for free. A lot of times it's for non-profit organizations, so if I can, I try to do them.
I've read a couple of scripts. I just keep reading them for different projects. I don't care for some of them because I don't like the subject matter. I stick with theater-the live performance. That's what I'm doing when I come to Laughlin or in Reno, or at the Sun Coast in Vegas. I keep working all of the different clubs. That's what I do.
I've also been working on my museum, getting it built. It's in Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Hollywood didn't think it was important, so I took it to America.
Q. What are some of the items in your collection?
A. I have the largest costume collection in the world. I have the ruby red slippers from The Wizard of Oz; Marilyn Monroe's white dress from the ‘52 LIFE cover photo; Barbra Streisand's dress from Hello Dolly. I have costumes from the Maltese Falcon, Cleopatra, Ben Hur; Costumes worn by Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly. I have 40,000 costumes all together.I also have pieces from all the films that won an Oscar, from the silent era up until now. I'm still buying and collecting.
Q. You are as unsinkable as Molly Brown ever was. You've had your share of rough patches and troubles, but, you are a survivor. How much of that character of Molly Brown was you and how much of you was in that character?
A. I feel that type of woman is me-the sort of woman that doesn't give up. I strive to finish my job and I'm stubborn enough to keep working hard. I try not to be stepped over or stepped on. If I get knocked down, I get up and move on. I'm always still going straight ahead doing my projects.
I still have my children and I help take care of my step-children. We mothers never give up. We always take care of our obligations, our responsibilities.
Q. You've been in the entertainment business for many years, do you have a favorite time period, a favorite time in Hollywood and in the business?
A. I loved the ‘60s in Vegas because it was very different. It hadn't been built up yet. All the performers knew each other. We got together and had parties. We did two shows a night and then met up for laughs. Louie Prima, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis-we all hung out and had great times and great laughs. There was a camaraderie to that time like with few other.
Q. How many engagements in a year do you continue to do?
A. I work 42 weeks a years. I can't do any more than that. I just land for two or three days at home and then I'm off to the next thing. In November, I did two months in Australia. I worked 13 different theaters. I was really busy with that show, really busy.
Q. What do you do for fun?
A. Work is fun for me. I'm a workaholic. I don't really do anything other than work. I don't date. I don't go out. I've already been there and done that. After three marriages, that's enough. I'm not interested in that side of life any more. I want to spend my time with people who love me-my children, my friends and my work. That keeps me busy.
I'm lucky that I like what I do...travel, working clubs-and I'll keep doing that until the good Lord kicks in.
Q. Do you ever think of retiring
A. Oh, no! I think retiring would be boring. I'm going to be like George Burns. I'm not going to retire. I'm going to stay on stage until I drop dead and then have myself stuffed like Trigger. I started at 15- and so far, so good.
Q. What kind of a show do you have planned for Laughlin audiences?
A. I try to bring back songs people know but seldom hear live anymore-the songs of Gershwin, Judy Garland. I do medleys-one composed of Judy Garland songs and another of country songs.
I tell anecdotes about some of the people I've met over the years-like Willie Nelson-he's one of my favorites. I point out the differences in the way the two of us travel-air travel versus bus travel.
Of course, I do my Barbra Streisand and
Katharine Hepburn impressions. I also do my impression of Zsa Zsa Gabor-but I've added a little Paris Hilton bit. Zsa Zsa is her great-aunt, you know. She was married to Conrad Hilton, who started the Hilton chain. So I do a segment about what her advice to Paris would be-advice about being arrested, dealing with cops. Paris is following in her great-aunt's footsteps. It's perfect for me. It updates my act and keeps it current.
What's good about today's technology is I can have 26 pieces of music on a soundtrack and still have a live trio on stage who perform with me.
Q. You've been coming to Laughlin for quite a while...Tell us a little bit about your impression of the area and how it has changed...
A. I've been coming to Laughlin for 20 years. I was coming to Mr. Laughlin's casino before they built the bridge across the river. We used to take a little motorboat across to Bullhead City. I've watched Bullhead City grow up.
They had a little airport back then and I did land there once-but I never wanted to do that again. The only planes that flew there were the prop planes and coming over the mountains to land on a short runway was scary. They threw the bags out of the plane and you carried them yourself. There was no terminal-it was a trailer. The “tower” was one man with his feet up looking around to see if there were any planes that wanted to come in and he'd tell them whether they could or not. And the reason they couldn't was because there was a low flying bird in the way.
I've worked with some wonderful people-it's been more fun than work. I love the place. It's very friendly...and there is a wonderful gourmet restaurant upstairs where I eat every night. Roy Jernigan is the man who books me at the Riverside and keeps me coming back. I hope I can keep working there until I fall over.
Q. You've kept your name and face out there through appearances in all three Disney Halloweentown movies (which have been airing this month); you're the voice of “Nanna Possible” on the Kim Possible cartoon and you were popular playing Grace's mother on “Will and Grace.” That is staying power.
A. I have a whole new audience...they either have white hair or they're 12 and under.
www.laughlinentertainer.com/articles/2008/10/14/news_features/cover_stories/news1.txtShe impersonates Kate??? That is new to me - hmm