How to Be a Movie Star (62 page)

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posing with two puppies: These shots ran in various newspapers, including the
Hartford Courant,
September 30, 1945.

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Nibbles and Me:
The book was published by Duell, Sloane & Pearce, Inc., in 1946, and reissued by Simon & Schuster in 2002.

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gave the story lots of ink: LAT, June 11, 1946.

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plus a $15,000 bonus: MGM studio ledgers, MGM Collection, AMPAS.

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"Oh, I'm quite comfortable here": Interview with Anne Francis.

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the studio's "chattel": ET,
Elizabeth Taylor.

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"We were so surprised": ET,
Elizabeth Taylor.

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"a china doll.":
Photoplay,
September 1951.

3. The Most Exciting Girl

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"The edge had gone off": Interview with Frank Capra by George Stevens, Jr., included in the George Stevens Collection (GSC), AMPAS.

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out of sync with his prewar films: I based much of this on Marilyn Ann Moss,
Giant: George Stevens, A Life on Film
(University of Wisconsin Press, 2004); various interviews collected in Paul Cronin, ed.,
George Stevens: Interviews
(University Press of Mississippi, 2004); and various interviews and notes in the GSC, AMPAS.

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–84 "The kind of girl," "It might appear": George Stevens to William Meiklejohn, May 24, 1949, GSC, AMPAS.

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from $20.8 million to $6.6 million: These figures were taken from various sources, notably the
Motion Picture Herald.
Cobbett Steinberg,
Reel Facts: The Movie Book of Records
(Vintage, 1982) was also a helpful compendium of data and charts.

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"very male member of society": Transcript of an interview with Hepburn by George Stevens, Jr., notes for "George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey," GSC, AMPAS.

85 Stevens actually prepared two lawsuits: These are discussed in Moss,
Giant.

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Dropping out of Wilder's
Sunset Boulevard:
Most accounts seem to have confused the timing of this. William Holden was announced as a replacement for Clift on
Sunset Boulevar
d in the NYT, March 19, 1949. According to records in Stevens's files, Clift was signed for
An American Tragedy
just a few days later on March 23, 1949.

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So Stevens insisted they do everything: In a memo dated June 15, 1949, Stevens described a meeting with Henry Ginsberg of Paramount about the importance of obtaining Elizabeth and asked for assurances "that all had been done that was possible to bring this about." GCS, AMPAS.

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"She was this extraordinary child": Transcript of an unpublished interview with George Stevens by Ruth Waterbury, September 7, 1962 (hereafter Waterbury transcript), GSC, AMPAS.

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If she played this part: Memos dated May 23, 24, and June 15, 1949, GCS, AMPAS.

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Metro had turned down the request: Hedda Hopper reported in early July: "George Stevens still hopes to get Elizabeth Taylor for
An American Tragedy.
Her studio turned down a loan-out after they'd read the wrong part. Now they've got the right one, and George expects to have a yes within the week"
(Hartford Courant,
July 4, 1949). In fact, Elizabeth had already been signed by the time the item ran.

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"The big surprise":
New York Herald Tribune,
August 7, 1948.

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"You have bosoms!": Elizabeth Taylor,
Elizabeth Takes Off: On Weight Gain, Weight Loss, Self-Image, and Self-Esteem
(G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1987).

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"No longer do her worries":
Photoplay,
June 1948.

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–88 "I learned how to look sultry": ET,
Elizabeth Takes Off.

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"Truly a most remarkable machine": ET,
Elizabeth Taylor.

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"drifting out through the walls": Ann Rutherford oral history (SMU).

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paint her mouth "way over,":
Cosmopolitan,
September 1987.

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"No woman": Elizabeth, rather immodestly, tells this story herself in ET,
Elizabeth Takes Off.

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Glenn was twenty-three and Elizabeth just sixteen: NYT, July 19, 1948; LAT, July 19, 1948; September 13, 1948; various articles, NYPL, AMPAS.

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"spontaneous combustion":
Hartford Courant,
October 7, 1948.

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"the romance was largely a studio directive":
Hartford Courant,
April 30, 1950.

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"It was so childish": ET,
Elizabeth Taylor.

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–91 a live, supposedly authentic radio interview: This extraordinary document is dated July 13, 1947, and is part of the Louella Parsons Collection, USC.

91 "didn't need skates": LAT, April 25, 1949.

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"The luscious, long-lashed lass of love": Unsourced article, May 10, 1949, NYPL.

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"deep-set pools of blue":
Hartford Courant,
August 29, 1948.

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–92 "famous violet eyes": Ellen Gatti's short stories about Lily Thorndyke ran in the
Los Angeles Times
from 1946 through 1949. The first instance of Elizabeth's being described as having violet eyes that I could find was in the LAT, March 23, 1949.

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her lord and master: Much of my conception of Mayer, his times, and his place at MGM comes from Scott Eyman,
Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer
(Simon & Schuster, 2005). See also Charles Higham,
Merchant of Dreams: Louis B. Mayer, MGM, and the Secret Hollywood
(Dutton, 1993).

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"foaming at the mouth": Interview on
Larry King Live,
January 15, 2001, CNN transcripts. Elizabeth tried a bit of whitewashing in that interview, making herself appear more innocent than she was by saying that she had never heard such words before.

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"You and your studio can both go to hell": Elizabeth told the story of her contretemps with Mayer in both of her memoirs, in slightly different versions.

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"I began to see myself": ET,
Elizabeth Takes Off.

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"A little red schoolhouse": Waterbury transcript, GSC, AMPAS.

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"I would get up early": Interview on
Larry King Live,
January 15, 2001, CNN transcripts.

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"no football games to go to": Interview on
Larry King Live,
February 3, 2003, CNN transcripts.

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Extramarital affairs were whispered about: Francis Taylor was rumored to have had an affair with MGM chief costumer Adrian. C. David Heymann heard this claimed by at least two sources, one of whom was the longtime Hollywood reporter Doris Lilly. See Heymann,
Liz.
Sara was said to have had a fling with director Michael Curtiz while he directed Elizabeth in
Life with Father;
she would have been forty-nine years old at the time, Curtiz, fifty-nine. This was claimed by Irene Dunne in an interview with Heymann, HCSBU.

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"idyllic, happy little family":
Interview,
February 2007.

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"no special loss": These are the words of
Look
reporter Eleanor Harris, who interviewed ET for a three-part story beginning in the June 26, 1956, issue. They are not ET's words, as Kitty Kelley made them seem. Still, it can be assumed that ET said something similar in the course of her interview with Harris.

95 Benny Thau remained her surrogate father:
Look,,
June 26, 1956. ET would name Jules Goldstone, her agent, as another surrogate father. She didn't emotionally reconnect with her real father until later. She told Helen Gurley Brown that she didn't really become close to Francis until after she'd left home.
Cosmopolitan,
September 1987.

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"It didn't show up at the time":
Look
, July 10, 1956.

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"point of contention": HCSBU.

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Hopper, happy as ever to help:
Hartford Courant
(syndicated column), May 16, 1949.

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the happy couple's engagement: LAT, June 6, 1949.

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"to announce the," "Elizabeth saw the pattern":
Ladies' Home Journal,
April 1954.

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When profits began ticking upward: Various articles,
Hollywood Reporter, Variety,
January-June 1949; see also Hay,
MGM,
and Eyman,
Lion of Hollywood.

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"She leaves a trail of broken hearts": Unsourced article, October 1, 1949, Elizabeth Taylor file, NYPL.

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"a series of resounding smacks":
Sunday Pictorial,
September 25, 1949.

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"Besides taking billions": LAT, September 28, 1949.

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"If I were the kind of person": LAT, September 28, 1949.

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,
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"We went well together," "an emotional child": ET,
Elizabeth Taylor.

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"Elizabeth isn't just any little girl": Hedda Hopper syndicated column, as in
Hartford Courant,
April 30, 1950.

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"welfare worker": Memo in the George Stevens Collection, AMPAS, October 2, 1949. Elizabeth, in
Elizabeth Taylor,
would use the description "social worker."

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"noble sheet of blue water": From Twain's
Roughing It
and included in a travel piece on Lake Tahoe in the NYT, May 15, 1949. Might Stevens have read this as he planned the shoot?

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"long flannels": LAT, October 4, 1949.

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"very much the inadequate teenage Hollywood sort": Filmed interview with ET, George Stevens Collection, AMPAS.

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liked the "ring" to it: Cronin,
George Stevens Interviews.

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the cover of
Time
magazine: Elizabeth's face graced the cover of the 101 22, 1949, issue. She had been slated to appear several months earlier, but when
Quo Vadis,
the picture in which she was set to star, was temporarily shelved,
Time
lost its news hook and dropped plans for the Taylor cover. Intrepid press agents, however, kept after
Time,
pushing Elizabeth again and again, and finally scored their coup. See Hedda Hopper's column,
Hartford Courant,
May 26, 1949.

101 "The Most Exciting Girl in Hollywood":
Photoplay,
January 1950. This was in part a response to the criticisms from the British press, as Maxwell makes mention of it and defends Elizabeth as simply being unafraid "to act her age"—that is, like a teenager.

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Principal photography began on Tuesday: Daily production log, George Stevens Collection, AMPAS.

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waiting on the sidelines with a blanket: Sara supposedly complained that the exposure to the cold water affected Elizabeth's menstrual cycles, a story that is often told in the Taylor legend. Alexander Walker sourced the story to "private information" in his book
Elizabeth.
Although Walker is generally a reliable source, production records do not bear out his claim that Sara kept Elizabeth confined to her room for three days. The log shows that Elizabeth reported to work every day that she was called during the location shooting in Tahoe (GCS, AMPAS).

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"I use the camera": Cronin,
George Stevens Interviews.

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she was not charmed by it; Ava Gardner was her idea of beautiful:
Cosmopolitan,
July 1973.

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"too many freckles": Interview on
Larry King Live,
January 15, 2001, CNN transcripts.

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"I've just got to take off ten pounds":
Photoplay,
September 1947.

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costume budget of $6,600: Production notes,
A Place in the Sun,
GCS, AMPAS. Wardrobe costs for Shelley Winters were $1,655 and $1,320 for Montgomery Clift.

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"with a sort of benign tyranny": NYT, April 2, 1950.

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"hero worship": ET,
Elizabeth Taylor.