Hold the Roses (41 page)

Yeah, we had a lot of good times and some pretty rough times, and I
was slowly having a nervous breakdown because of all the bickering going on with the show. It was mostly little things that just got on my nerves. I
was always trying to straighten them out so that we could do the shows. I
didn't realize what it was doing to my stomach. I decided to quit, so I
talked to Margaret and it turned out that she wanted to quit too. Helen
seemed to think that 4 Girls 4 belonged to her alone. Margaret and I had a
meeting and told Helen and Clooney that after this date we wanted to
quit. Helen called a lawyer and drew up some kind of papers about owning
4 Girls 4. She got Clooney to go along with her. I really didn't care, I just
wanted to go home. They got Kay Starr and Martha Raye to replace us,
and I understand Martha quit after a few dates. She couldn't take the bickering either.

I went on to do Bus Stop with Karen Valentine and James Naughton.
We played the John Kenley circuit for about six weeks. I loved working
with Karen and Jimmy. We had a great time. I also did quite a few guest
shots on some of the best TV shows of the times. I spoke to Clooney a lot;
we kept in touch because we really liked one another. I loved her kids and
she loved my Noop and the kids liked one another, which was nice. And I
loved Dante, who traveled with her. He was her fella-a sweet man. He
was a dancer in one of Clooney's pictures and they were friends for years
and finally got married.

I was happy to be home, all calmed down, and back to normal. I had
traveled quite a lot in six years.

My mother was now living with me. When I played Westbury in
Long Island, I had a day off, so I went to New Jersey to see my mother.
When I saw her crawling on all fours to go upstairs, I said, "That's it.
You're coming home with me. We'll sell the house."

She seemed happy about that, so that was good. After the last date
with "4 Girls 4," I went to New Jersey and we packed. I got her ready to fly
to California. We sold some of the furniture, but had a lot of things left
over. I got her settled in my house and it was wonderful to have her with
me.

I called Bernice to go with me to Pittsburgh. I was doing two plays
for the Civic Light Opera: Once Upon a Mattress, with Morey Amsterdam,
and Pippin. It was about four weeks. Mother was doing fine in California,
and when I finished Pittsburgh, Bernice and I went to Jersey to get rid of
the other stuff in the house and then sell the house. My mother only wanted
to keep a few things and she didn't seem upset when we sold the house. I
think she was glad, in a way-it was getting too big for her. She was get ting a little deaf and I was always worried about her being alone. She had
arthritis in her legs and my house is one level, so that made it easy for her.
She had the big room next to mine, with her own bathroom, and she had
the dogs-at that time, two-and she had Noop, so she was happy... and
so was I.

A[oop's C-Weddivq

Noop's wedding was coming up on October 14 and we were having a great
time getting prepared for the big event. My brother and his family came
out for the wedding. Noop wanted her Uncle Frank to give her away. Two
of my girlfriends from Chicago flew out for the wedding, and Gerri Danna
and her daughter Maria came from Florida. The house was full. The wedding was beautiful. The colors were brown and beige. The men wore brown
tuxedos. Steve's brother, Tony, was his best man, and Pam Glober was Noop's
matron of honor. She had six bridesmaids and six ushers. They were married
in St. Charles Catholic Church in North Hollywood. Frankie played the
organ. Margaret was going to sing, but the church said she couldn't sing the
songs we wanted, so Linda Ortega, Frankie's daughter, sang "Ave Maria" and
"Oh Promise Me." She did a beautiful job and has a great voice.

We had the reception at Vince's house-this was a year before he
passed away. Frankie got the band, and they didn't want to take any moneythey did it for free because it was Bobby's daughter! Vince's backyard was
twice as big as mine, so Vince said, "Let's do it at my house." And he was
running around enjoying every minute of it.

We did it in style. The caterers were great. The flowers were beautiful. We had five hundred hors d'oeuvres, roast beef cut from a cart, salad,
and a big wedding cake made by Steve's brother.

The guest list was unbelievabl: Paul Lynde, Richard Deacon, Margaret
and her date, Peter Marshall, Joanne Worley, most of the gang from Squares,
Vincent Price, Karen Valentine.. .1 can't remember all the wonderful people
who came. Clooney was out of town and Helen was working.

Noopy at her wedding in 1978

Dodi was my right and left arms. She took care of things and kept a
record of everything so Noop would know who was there, the gifts, and so
on. Angela took care of the wedding favors. We gave little porcelain jugs
with flowers and a tag that said, "Noopy and Steve, October 14th."

It was a beautiful wedding and I was very proud. Now I had a son-inlaw. They went to Reno, Lake Tahoe, and San Francisco for their honeymoon, which was a gift from Art Alisi from Squares. It was really nice.

I got a call for a cruise to Alaska. Joy was working on TV, so I asked
Bernice to go with me. Frankie was out of town, I think with Kay Starr. I
was stuck. Then I remembered Michael Feinstein. Richard Deacon had
introduced us and we had gone to see him play and sing. He was just great.
We became friends, including his parents, who are wonderful. I asked
Michael if he would play for me on the cruise. He said he'd love to. We
rehearsed and he was great. I even made him sing a song in my act. It was
funny, and it was all about Alaska, which fit right in. He was a big hit with
everyone on the cruise; they all loved him. It was a pleasure to work with
him. He's so talented and we still keep in touch.

Noop and Steve settled in an apartment for a while, which was seven minutes to NBC-good for Steve. But Noop wasn't working as much. She
had her horses over at Pam's house and wanted to get a place where she
could keep the horses in the backyard. Her friends Pam and Bill Glober
were moving, and she had to find another place to board the horses. They
went looking for a house. They finally found a place about forty-five minutes from NBC. It was a beautiful little house on two and a half acres, with
a riding ring and stalls for four horses. I told them to get it. It would solve
all their problems, except for being a long drive for Steve everyday. They
loved the house, so they bought it and named it the Residual Ranch.They
have been married over twenty years now, and they love that house more
than ever. They live about twenty-two miles from me but hate to come to
the San Fernando Valley, so I don't see them as much as I would love to.
But we're always together on birthdays, anniversaries, holidays; they're always here Christmas Eve, and always here if I need them. No children... just
horses. I think that's one of the disappointments in my life. No grandchildren. I would have loved to spoil my grandchildren. Another disappointment is I wanted more children. Actually, I wanted two girls and a boy, but
I guess we lost the formula!

Our family has always been animal lovers. I have always had dogs. All
my dogs come from the pound. Noop usually has anywhere from one to
five horses and cats. I know I mention fur coats a lot, because I have always
felt it was very glamorous. But after meeting with animal activists, I don't
wear fur anymore. I never knew the pain and suffering of the animals that
was involved to get the fur. I thought they were bred for that purpose. Boy,
was I wrong!

I belong to five Humane Societies: Actors and Others for Animals,
Friends of Animals, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA),
the Humane Society of the United States, and the American Animal Society. I do a lot of work for those organizations. We've put on shows. Gretchen
Wyler does a lot of that and always calls me because, as she says, "You're an
animal person." I love my animals. They are treated with love and care. I
would be lost without their love and devotion. They all sleep with me and
have the run of the house. Of course, they've all been "fixed," and they
have a big yard to run around in. I just wanted you to know that I'm on the
side of the animals now.

Just to bring you up to date, Steve is still directing the news at KNBC.
Noop is now freelancing. She works at home with her fax machine and
computer. She also produced a show called The New Homes Show. It was a show for people thinking of moving to a particular city. She would go to
that city with two hosts and find out information on taxes, churches, housing, schools, and so on. Usually one of the hosts would interview the mayor
of that particular city about why that city was a good place to live. She
wrote and edited the whole thing. It was a popular show and was very
helpful to those who didn't know too much about an area. She did a similar show in San Diego called America on the Move.

Noopy and my son-in-law, Steve Rodrigues

She also writes a monthly column for the Pacific Coast Horse Shows
Association and is busy taking care of the horses and going to horse shows.
She's won a lot of prizes and is considered a top rider. She's been into it
since she was eleven years old.

She's really very good at her job, and so is Steve at his. They help each
other. It's nice to see two kids working and helping each other. I'm very
proud of both of them.