May 23, 1919– I was living in LA in the early 1970s & I was fortunate enough to be an acquaintance of actress/singer Betty Garrett. We had met through a mutual friend who had taught her 2 sons. Her boys were actually my age, but I preferred to hang with the adults. I traveled in this circle for a couple of years, & although we never had a date, just the 2 of us, Betty Garrett & I saw each other with some frequency at dinners & parties. We knew each other by name & I found her to be friendly, engaging, warm, & she could spin a delicious tale.
Garrett told me about her husband Larry Park’s political history & that because of their past affiliations with the Communist Party, thanks to Parks’ involvement with people from the Group Theatre, Garrett & Parks became embroiled with the House Un-American Activities Committee, although only Parks was forced to testify. While Parks willingly admitted he had been a member of the party, he had refused to name others, although it was widely assumed that he had & he found himself on the Hollywood Blacklist.
Garrett also had trouble finding work, although as the mother of 2 young sons, she did not mind being unemployed as much as her husband did. She related to me that the only person that would see them socially in Hollywood during that time was Frank Sinatra (she played a woman in love with him in 2 films), who defied Hollywood convention & was open in his support of the couple with friendship & money.
Garrett had been my acquaintance for a while, but we had recently been at a very informal outdoor dinner thrown by mutual friends. Garrett & I had a very special conversation that evening that ended with Betty offering house seats to her show the next evening. I took her up on the offer. Her one-woman show Betty Garrett & Other Songs at the Westwood Playhouse (now The Geffen), spring 1976, was just terrific, with songs & anecdotes about her years in the biz. After her last number, but before the curtain call, Betty looked into the house with her hands shielding her eyes & announced: “Celeste & Stephen… I want to see you both in my dressing room in a few minutes.” I turned to the person next to me & nudged & whispered: “That’s me she is talking about… I’m that Stephen… I’m not Celeste.”
On the occasion of being received backstage by Garrett, Oscar winner & consummate character actor Celeste Home & I hung out in her dressing room while Garrett got out of costume & make up, Holm & I made small talk & loudly praised Garrett’s performance. I declined an offer from the 2 amazing stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age to move on to the next party. Instead, I would opt for Studio One in West Hollywood, hoping that some hot man would shove that little brown bottle under my nose, the one that makes me feel so sexy & really connect with music. I met a beefy redhead that will took me home, use me for my considerable talents & then make me breakfast.
I came to the fork in the road, & I made a wrong decision. I could have partied away the evening with the fabulous Betty Garrett & Celeste Holm, but I took the fork that got me forked later that evening.
I always feel myself aglow when I when catch Garrett in an old film or a TV show. She had a 70+ year career in Radio, TV, Film & on Stage. Garrett rose to fame in MGM musicals, starring alongside Sinatra in Busby Berkeley‘s Take Me Out To The Ballgame & On The Town, in which she sang the memorably racy tune Come Up To My Place.
Garrett also appeared in the star-studded musical Words & Music a highly fictionalized account of the partnership of songwriters Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart, & in the aquatic Neptune’s Daughter, alongside Esther Williams in which she sang the Oscar-winning classic Baby, It’s Cold Outside opposite Red Skelton. Younger fans might know her from TV’s All In The Family as Irene Lorenzo, the bubbly friend of Edith Bunker, & as landlady Edna Babish on the sitcom Laverne & Shirley.
Garrett left this life at 91 years old in February 2011. She was surrounded by her family. She was in her mid-50s when I knew her & still very attractive. At that time Garrett seemed impossibly old to me. Now, I am much older than that. Thanks for the outstanding performances, the stories, the kindness, & the pleasure of your company, lovely Betty Garrett. You will not be forgotten.
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