Eve at Work

In the mid-1960s, Eve Arden was back at home in her native California after a family vacation in Rome and London that lasted more than a year. She was ready to get into the swing of being a working actress again, seeing what opportunities were out there in stage, film, and television. In March 1966, that included a guest appearance on NBC's Run for Your Life, which starred Ben Gazzara as a lawyer who goes on the road to experience life to the fullest after being told he's terminally ill.  

Eve on Run Your Life, with Ben Gazzara (center) and Bobby Darin.

Eve was cast as a character the Los Angeles Times' Charles Champlin described as "a gay mother, living it up on the Riviera, complete with Frug-Watusi session," with actress Davey Davison as her shy daughter. Also appearing in the episode was actor-singer Bobby Darin, with whom Eve shared a lively dance sequence. The role was a bit out of the ordinary for Eve, and that's what she liked about it. "It's terrible to be thought of as just a type. I'd rather play a well-developed role -- a mother, not just Joan Crawford's best friend."

Soon, a more prominent television role would come her way, when old friend Desi Arnaz approached her about coming back in a weekly series. The result was her two-year run opposite Kaye Ballard in The Mothers-in-Law. In her late fifties, Eve was still in demand, as she would be for years to come. For more on a career that lasted nearly a lifetime, check out Eve Arden: A Chronicle of All Film, Television, Radio and Stage Performances.

Cover Reveal!

Here's the just-released cover art (and complete title) for my ninth book, coming this fall from McFarland and Company. What's it all about? Read on:

He was Red Skelton’s favorite director, and mentored Lucille Ball in the art of physical comedy. In his 15-year Hollywood career, S. Sylvan Simon (1910-1951) directed and/or produced more than 40 films, with stars like Lana Turner, Abbott and Costello, and Wallace Beery. Though he loved to make moviegoers laugh, he demonstrated his versatility with murder mysteries, war stories, and musicals. After a decade at MGM, he moved to Columbia, where he produced his own projects, including the Western melodrama Lust for Gold, and popular slapstick comedies like The Fuller Brush Girl. As head of production, reporting to irascible Harry Cohn, he produced the award-winning Born Yesterday, and was working on From Here to Eternity when his life ended tragically at the age of 41.

   This first-ever account of Simon’s life and career draws on interviews with family and colleagues, genealogical records, archival materials, and his own annotated scripts to tell the story of a stage-struck boy from Pittsburgh whose talent and tenacity made him a Hollywood success. The filmography provides production histories, critical commentary, and excerpts from published reviews. An appendix covers books written or edited by Simon, including his anthologized plays for amateur groups.

So there you have it. I hope you'll give it a look when it's published later this year. 

C is for Cullen

Given the "new normal" that's come to pass in recent months, most of us are probably watching a little more TV than we used to. Around my house, we've recently discovered the vintage game show Blockbusters, which aired on NBC's daytime schedule from 1980 to 1982. Visit YouTube if you want to see some episodes.

This Goodson-Todman production revolves around a giant game board consisting of linked hexagons. Competing players try to win spots on the board by being first to answer an array of quiz questions, ranging from pop culture to world history, knowing only that the correct response begins with a certain letter of the alphabet. Overseeing the proceedings is the man commonly described as TV's best-ever game show emcee, affable and witty Bill Cullen.

One of the mysteries surrounding this engaging game is why it wasn't a bigger hit, running less than two years. For answers, I turned to a book I'd been meaning to read for awhile anyway, Adam Nedeff's Quizmaster: The Life and Times and Fun and Games of Bill Cullen (BearManor Media). It offers a satisfying chapter on this show's history in particular, as well as a thoroughly researched and highly readable account of Cullen's life. If you like a dose of tragedy in your biographies, this probably isn't the book for you. Despite a childhood bout with polio that left him with a permanent limp, Cullen was a happy man, doing what he loved and more than satisfied with his lot in life. Interviews with the star's fans and colleagues help elucidate just what he did that made him so good at a job many would have thought any smiling guy in a nice suit could do.

So at least my TV watching is leading to more reading. That's a good thing, right? Except for maybe a little eye strain.