Newspaper Page Text
Friday, February 24, 1967
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First Lady of Comedy Wowing Em
At Municipal's "Barefoot in Park"
By ADOLPH ROSENBERG
For Eve Arden, appearing currently in Municipal Theatre’s
hilarious Barefoot in the Park” is the realization of an
ambition.
She was invited to consider the play before it opened on
Broadway for a successful run and sent a script to see if she
would like the role.
She did. She was aching to
take the part. But there was a
hitch. At the time she and her
family had taken up residence
in Europe for two years and there
was no way to halt the plans set
in motion to give these six per
sons the kind of a cultural ex
perience few ever achieve.
So she had to say a tearful
“No.” It’s difficult to think of
the light-hearted personage she
has the reputation for portray
ing as ever being tearful.
‘‘I did hate to turn the part
down,” she explained in an ex
clusive interview-lunch with this
writer. “But how could I douse
the hopes of my husband and
four children for the exploration
into history and geography we’d
arranged in Europe and haul
them all back home?”
She’s glad she continued those
plans. But back in her mind was
the lurking, nostalgic regret over
an opportunity lost.
She got the chance a few
months when invited to take the
role in Atlanta. And to make
things nicer, her husband, the
well-known actor Brooks West is
in the cast too. The play con
tinues through March 4.
And judging from the fine res
ponse to the first opening days,
its a happy occasion for theatre
goers as well. Her flair for com
edy adds special charm and
depth to the story about a honey
mooning couple and their at
tempts at match-making.
‘‘My husband and I love doing
summer stock,” she exuber^fesT
And why not? They’re together
and their union (1951) long
enough to be as permanent as
anything Hollywood and the
theatrical-world has produced,
bids fair to be the ’till death-do-
us-part variety. This is not the
rule for the acting world, but the
exoeption.
But then that’s the kind of a
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gal Eve Arden is, the exception.
She’s achieved success enough to
•Jay down her scripts and think
'of the footlights no more.
She has this compulsion a real
trooper has for her profession
and right now has a pilot pro
gram in the making for televis
ion, provided a sponsor can be
found. It’ll probably go on any
ways since if a sponsor is not
around, a network will put it on
anyway.
“Mama was a talented singer
and her stories about her early
triumphs helped decide what I
wanted to do,” Eve explained.
Her first job was for the Henry
Duffy Player’s summer stock
company at the Alcazar theatre
in her home town of Mill Valley,
California. She just walked into
the place and asked Henry Duf
fy for a job. He could recognize
talent when he saw it. Eventually
the thirty-five dollars a week rose
to a munificent fifty.
Next came a not-so-successful
stay in Los Angeles where she
would have gone hungry if it
hadn’t been for the money her
mother sent her. Finally good
fortune smiled and Eve became
leading lady of a group of four
troopers calling themselves the
Bandbox Repertory The atre.
Traveling in a old Ford, with a
few props and baby spots, they
played a hotel lobby circuit from
Palm Springs to Santa Barbara.
A year and a half of that and
Eve joined the Pasadena Play
house in a musical “Lo and Be
hold,” in which she appeared in
a series of sketches. Her notices
were good. She attracted the at
tention of famous producer Lee
Shubert.
He brought her to Broadway
where critics confirmed his belief
in her.
There followed many years of
appearances in film, plays and
then of course television.
Her “Our Miss Brooks” was
perhaps the best known radio
_ and tv series. She has guested
for other series and special shows.
She often wondered how some
of the old movies came out. She
was always so busy making the
next one, she rarely if ever got
to see the one she had completed.
Right now her family, 21 and
under, are just discovering that
their mother is a celebrity. They
came along after the Holly binge
and never had a chance to see
those classics and near-classics.
But when they heard the ovations
a few years ago in Chicago when
she replaced Carol Channing in
“Hello, Dolly,” they learned new
ideas about ‘‘mama.”
“I didn’t know you were a
singer,” we asked Miss Arden.
“I didn’t either, but when I
stood on the ramp the first time
I substituted for Carol, the words
just came out.
“In some shows I just talked
a song.”
Well, I’m not so sure it’s exact
ly that way, but with a comedian
does it matter?
Eve Arden is a master at the
light touch in acting, the quick
repartee, the humorous situation.
She’s credulous enough in this
artistry for us to entertain us.
for the third time ....
^DEBORAH B.B.G ”
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