June 16, 2022 • 34 mins
Legendary singer and actress Connie Stevens – a favorite of our hosts Rita and Ellin – has a beautiful bond with her eldest grandchild Skylar, who draws her out on kissing Elvis, being shorter than Sammy Davis Jr. and whether or not she had a fling with Neil Armstrong after the moon landing. Skylar’s grounded sense of humor and work ethic as she follows in Connie’s larger than life footsteps are a testament to Connie’s steadfast focus on her family through the vicissitudes of a life in show business.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
You got me? You what? Yeah, you're there? Hold on,
don't okay, okay, okay, okay, I'm here. I'm here lately
I'm trying all my pants and all my pants are
long on me, and I could you have gotten shorter?
I had to get short of My pants are all
along and I'm not investing in new pants. I'm just
(00:24):
pulling them up. I listen, I'm gonna be ninety two.
Doesn't pay to me to invest in a good pair
of pants. How many years you think i'll bear them? It? Listen?
And if you live in New York City, to take
a pair of pants and to be shortened that they
got lining, you could buy a new pair. Not worth
That's very true. Bring them to me, read, I'll shorten
(00:44):
them for you. Rita, are you excited? We're going to
be speaking to Connie Stevens, who was one of my
favorite actresses when I was younger. Oh my goodness, and
granddaughter Skyler. This is our granddaughter with ex husband Eddie Fisher.
(01:05):
Oh my goodness. Also one of our favorite when we
were growing up. Connie Stevens. I could see her in
front of me. Now she was and probably still lives
a beautiful blond woman. She was gorgeous and she could sing.
You know what, they don't have the beautiful musicals and
love stories that they had in the day of Connie Stevens.
(01:26):
I could hardly think of a starve today in that category.
Can you know we gotta hear it's Connie Stevens exactly.
Rina Scorchy is the funniest thing ever. You guys have
to look up. Connie Stevens is Scorchy, the hottest cop
on the force. She plays like a spy. She's like
(01:50):
but she had nobody move a musself. Me and my
cousins used to do that like all the time to
each other. And you know the reproduction song from Greece
to reproduction. Oh god, she was the teacher, the hot teacher. Okay,
(02:11):
are you ready? I've been ready, I'm born ready. Connie
Stevens is my grandmother. I call her Nana. She's eighty
three years old and she lives in Los Angeles. I
call her Sky, my precious gym and my best girl,
my best girl. I've been here in that my whole life,
and I'm like, sure that's front of the other grandchildren.
(02:34):
You might know her from Scorchy Love Boat or being
the hot teacher from Greece too. You're just so cool. No,
I like her charm. She's always laughing, and she's steadfast
and in charge. She's a leo, so I think lion,
I think strong, and she's sparkly, sparkly. It wasn't like, oh,
(02:57):
there's nothing else to do, let's go to Nana's house.
As is like, no, that is the thing to do.
She's like, here for a good time, not a long time, yes,
just as long as you live life fully to the
very very inch of it. There's definitely a difference between
(03:18):
having like a famous nana versus a regular grandma. I mean,
here's someone who has the most expertise and has been
in the industry a long time. I mean after my
dance shows, you know, you come out the stage door,
people are giving flowers and you're talking to your family
and there's a whole crowd of people, and then I
would go, all right, it's time to go get nana's notes.
(03:40):
Go get Nana's notes. Get your arm? How was it?
And you'd be like, you know, you could extend your
arm a little bit more than that one part couldn't help,
But couldn't help that made me better though. You know,
no one else's grandparents is going to be like, this
is what you need to do tomorrow night to make
it better. Every performance, Nana's there with flowers, with flowers
(04:01):
and those very nice. Not only a grandmother and a
grandchild of relationship, it's a professional relationship. She goes to
all her performances and then gives a critique on it,
just like we do. You think a critique on their relationship.
That's our thing. We give critiques. That's our talent with
(04:23):
critical critics, you know. But this was interesting. It's just
sort of on a little different level. You can see
she respects her grandmother all the way. And you can
hear Connie Stevens love for that child too. Oh absolutely,
you can absolutely hear. You don't have to be famous.
That love that a grandmother has is just magical. Okay,
(04:45):
wed To, The producers have handed me the part titles,
and here's the first one, Part one, Grandma's Cocoon. What
was the song something, Lend me your comb Cookie, lend
me your combed. It was so stupid, cook sweetheart, I
(05:06):
bought a house with that. It was like number one
for years. So cool. What made you want to go
into show business. Well, I was lonely as a little girl.
My brother went in the army, my dad was on
the road, my grandma passed away. So I used to
(05:27):
go to the movies all the time for twenty one since,
Oh my gosh, that's great, and I just grew up
with the idea that I was going to do that. Ah.
After I became popular, I went back to Brooklyn and
I was so excited to talk to everybody on the block.
And there was this lady. Your name was Mazie. Did
(05:50):
I ever tell you this, I don't think. So. We
had stoops and Mazie. She'd sweep the stoop every day,
and if you went near her talk to her, which
we did, we teased her. She tried to hit you
with the broom. She said, get out of here, you
damn kid, Get out of here. Said we'd laugh and
(06:11):
run away. So I go home my pictures playing at
Radio City Musical, and I see her across. She's an old,
old woman, and I go quietly over there and I said, Mazie,
do you remember me? And she looked at me and said,
(06:33):
get out of here, you damn kid, Get out. That's
so funny. Nothing changed, and that's the way life is. Really.
That's Brooklyn too, Yeah it is. I wish I could
time travel and go back and see you when you
were in Brooklyn. I wish you could. I lived in
(06:53):
the Italian section and on the next side was the
Jewish section, so my grandma spoke Yiddish and the lady
next door spoke a little Italian, so they both spoke
each other's languages. Yeah, that's very cute. What was your
(07:13):
relationship like with your parents and your grandparents, because I
know you had an interesting kind of dynamic. I was
a daddy's girl and he was a musician, and he
went on the road. So I was awarded by court
to my grandparents, my Italian grandparents. Consequently, I spoke only
(07:34):
Italian to allow us five. My dad, of course, came
home off the road many times, and his beautiful packard
convertible with his cashmere coat, that's where you got it from.
When he came home, all the windows would go up,
and the ladies in the neighborhood would say, your father's home,
(07:56):
Your father's home, teddy, teddy, And he'd weighed, he just sparkled,
you know, he just had it. I almost want to say,
he's like the Godfather. He was funny, he was talented.
I loved my family very much. I never knew that
we were poor till I was about thirty. Right, I
(08:17):
was in a cocoon. I feel like you've provided that
for at least your grandkids. And I got it from
my grandmother. Yeah, so it's been passed down for sure.
I feel like I was in such a little cocoon
and I felt very safe growing up. Well, that's the
way you're supposed to feel. That's what we want for you.
(08:40):
You're growing up to be self sufficient so that somebody
can't come along and bust your bubble. And you're compassionate,
which is my favorite attribute. Very sweet relationship. And she
talks about the Brooklyn One side of this street was Jewish,
(09:00):
one side of the street was it Tagian. Absolutely, that's
the way Brooklyn was. That's how I grew up as well,
exactly how I grew exactly. And I think it's still
like that. There's a connection between Italian and Jewish grandmothers
from families I alway Jewish and Italian. You can intermingle them.
You'd never know the difference. From Italian people were your
(09:22):
best friends and they felt the same way about Jewish.
They knew were always there for each other exactly. You
know what. I used to go to my grandmother's have
and there was a woman, of course, is what she
was talking about. I used to stand by my grandmother's
window and watching yet yet a on the street. Everybody
hang it up. She think the same thing. She was
always cleaning up the street we had, Mrs Sweeney. It
(09:45):
was the same thing. There was always somebody. There's always
somebody and saying, get out of your kids. I'm telling
you you lived in a neighborhood. It wasn't just your building.
Most of your shopping wasn't a footstore. A butcher. Absolutely,
I remember there was a butcher that used to say
to my mother, Mrs Binstein, I got for you a
(10:07):
piece flesh. You'll die from eating it. Listen, times have changed.
She's still good with her grandkids, and she's giving that
sense of security and the what should I say, the
cocoonness a grandchild too. Right. Oh, that's a good word. Right,
It's a word I made up, but it's not in
the dipitionary. Really still the words that I use. Okay, reader,
(10:35):
Next up we have part two the last contract player
were already So when you were young, the big Hollywood
studios used to have contract players. They basically were on
contract to perform just for those studios. Right, yeah, I
know you were like one of the last ones. I
(10:57):
was the last one, the very last one. I have
a picture on the wall inside of all the contract players,
as you know, Natalie Wood and Carol Linley in the
dining room. Yes you saw, yeah, I've seen it. So
that meant that you couldn't go work at any other studios.
You had to do well, not without permission, right right, right?
(11:20):
How did you first get to Hollywood? What was the
big break? Well? I sang with three boys and we
had a group called the Foremost. We sang four part
harmony that was very intricate at the time. Then the
boys went on to become the Letterman. I went to
high school with them, and they're still popular today. I
(11:43):
should have stayed with them. I got discovered from that
group by Jerry Lewis. He made me laugh so hard,
he always did. It was embarrassing. I was laughing so hard.
So I went to meet Jerry Lewis and he said,
she's got a funny bone. She's got the part, and
(12:07):
Warner Brothers bought my contract and they put me in
a series Hawaiian I, which became maybe number two in
the world with Bonanza. The other big shure you did
was love Boat right, love Boat I was the most
frequent guest. I should be rich, but I'm not. They
(12:30):
didn't give me any residuals. Warner Brothers so cheap. So
I asked for permission to do a film and they said, no,
your contract isn't up for another fifty thou dollars or
some crazy thing. And I said, keep the money, let
me go. That's what I did. Crazy Girl gave away
(12:53):
my money. Guests who had their dressing rooms right above me,
Sammy Davis, Joey Bishop, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, the rat Pack.
They were the most popular people in the all of
show business at the time. One day I'm walking by
(13:15):
and they're all laughing and stuff, and they said, I
think she is I said, she's what they said, shorter
than Sammy Davis. So we had a contest and they
measured me and I was shorter thant Sammy, so I won.
I took the brunt of it. All the time, were
(13:35):
they loud yes, until they went to work. What did
you do in your breaks? Played basketball? Oh my gosh,
because we had a lot of time together, so in
between we would get our shots together. That's cool. It
was fun. She was a star, absolutely a big star.
(13:59):
And I can't imagine that she's shorter than Sammy Davis.
She must be my height. I love her that. I
love her and basketball. I could never play basketball. I
just was a little bit bigger than the ball. I mean,
I don't know how she played. I gotta meet her.
We have to arrange for us to meet her. She's sweets,
she's really sweet, and she's very humble. Um kind of
(14:21):
you know, she's not afterwards. She was a big I
love Bote. I used to love that. I remember, I
do love boat. Yeah no, no, no, no. It was
really a nice program. I don't know if you got
the feeling that it was a little bit not anger. Regret, regret,
a little regret exactly. They did take advantage of her, yes,
(14:43):
but I think that they took advantage of everybody in
those days. They did. The Water Brothers had that reputation
to start with. They were not easy to deal with it.
I don't know that any of the studios were particularly
kind to their players. That's true. That's true. Listen, everybody
has regrets. I should have, I should have, I could have.
That's the way life is. The movie stars handed well
(15:05):
as the public. I guess we all have nothing major
that I could think of, and if I did certain
things and I could, I'm not telling me. Well, we
have to take a little break now so you can
find out how to buy a new mattress, or get
a new website, or or the stamps. Very exciting stuff.
So hang in there, folks. Okay, guys, we're back Cookie
(15:37):
Cookie letting me. I don't remember the tune, but I
remember the words. What have they say? Don't give up
your day job? That's right, that's right, okay rider. Next up,
we have part three, sixteen Reasons Why I Love You.
Your most famous song, though, was sixteen res Why I
(16:02):
Love You? Why they comb you here? See, you don't
think of things like that anymore. We used to think
of you the way you comb your hair, the way
your tie whatever. Now they go to first base immediately
(16:29):
you stay off first base. I wanted to ask you
how you met Eddie, how you met my grandfather, because
I don't think I ever heard the full story. Well,
I was in trouble. I was confused. I was coming
out of a divorce with Jim Stacy. I didn't know
(16:52):
what I was gonna do. I was going to go
to Broadway or stay and do another television show. And
I took a job and I played the Plaza Hotel
in New York and he had just finished there, so
he came to see my show. And he was really
kind and sweet, and he was the kind of guy.
(17:14):
I'd say, I love the New York pretzels on the street.
So he said, can I get you anything? I said,
he didn't get me a pretzel, and he came back
with ten of them. Oh my gosh, I like that.
And he could say he could just open up his
mouth and just say five o'clock in the morning. I
(17:36):
have often. He was kind. He would give you the
shirt office back if you liked it. And he was fun.
He was a fun guy. His problem with the drugs,
otherwise I'd probably still be with him. Yeah. Mom always
said he was very charming, like everybody was charmed by him.
(17:58):
He was. He was just the golden boy, you know,
he really was. I didn't really know him. That's right,
you didn't. He would have made you laugh. He was
good at that. Yeah, he was a little strange character.
What do you mean by strange? You know, he was
from another era and he was from the old country
(18:18):
and he acted like it. And I was a shick sah,
that's a non Jewish girl. And he say, Eddie, what
are you doing with another shick sah? Well, there is
like kind of a special club of Eddie Fisher's wife. Yeah, well,
never mind, you gotta lay it on me. What's the
(18:40):
dating advice? Dating advice? I go with you. I gotta
see what he looks like, check his pockets, Nana's approval. Yeah, no,
I think you can pick the n ice guy. We've
trained you. Well, Well, can we talk about Elvis? Little Bill?
(19:02):
Elvis was the best kisser. Oh la la la to
hear that. He was the sweetest. He was a lot
of fun and we were friends till he died. I
think she's holding back, and though he is, it doesn't
stop at a kiss. But so on, you don't know,
(19:23):
I don't know, nobody knows. You know, there used to
be rumors about her and Elvis, So whatever it is,
it wasn't you know what I don't care about what's
doing in anybody else's bed. I really don't. No listen,
what's good for them. It's good for them, that's all. Absolutely.
How long was Connie married to Eddie? Long enough to
(19:43):
give her two daughters and grandchildren. Eddie Fisher in his
day was a big deal. He had songs like, oh
my Papa, Oh my Papa, Oh my Papa. I really
was a very big Eddie Fisher fan. Everybody was. I
had an autography picture of him that hung on my mirror.
He had a beautiful voice, he really did. And he
had curly hair especially. I hate to say that, I
(20:07):
don't want if he were Jewish, he was like you know,
that was a big thing. That was a big thing.
That was a big deal for the Jews. I mean,
how many they were, all Italians, Victor Moone, Frankie Valley
all then, not one was a Jew. He was the
only Jew, Oh my Papapa, to medful, Oh my Papa.
(20:32):
He was so good, Oh my Papa was like a
Jewish love song. Reata. Do you remember that? When he
was married to Debbie Reynolds and they were like the
hottest couple in Hollywood, Alright, they had two children and everything,
one of which was Carrie Fisher Harry Fisher, right right,
And then all of a sudden he divorced Debbie Reynolds
(20:55):
and he married Elizabeth Taylor. Oh my goodness. Mike Todd
was married to Elizabeth Taylor, and Eddie Fishing was his
best friend. When Mike Todd died, he tried to console
Elizabeth Taylor, and that consoling became, I mean to get
Elizabeth Taylor to marry you. It was not a big deal.
(21:17):
She only had eight or nine my right, absolutely right.
And after Elizabeth Taylor left him for Richard Burton, Eddie
went from Elizabeth Taylor to Conne But she said he
had a problem of drugs. That's a big problem in
a relationship. Sweet and kind is nice, but that's that's
(21:39):
a big thing. Yeah, And you know what, it was
a marriage that didn't work out. But look what she
got from it, exactly. She had wonderful children and grandchildren.
So that's where heart is at this point. Alright, time
for another ad break. What should we do this time? Ellen?
You know what, maybe we should better her us And
(22:00):
on a horse. I'm lucky reading, I am very very lucky.
The first time I ever went to a horse race.
I bet on a horse, Barnie's boy. I made a
killing my close to a thousand dollars. Peter said, whatever
made your bet on Bonnie's boy? I said, your father
is Bonnie and your Bonnie's boy. So all that was
so killed. That's as good as reason to bet on
(22:23):
a horse as any Okay, we're back, reader. How much
did you put on that head break? Oh? My goodness,
that's it. You know, I went to a a on
a bet on horses anymore, I was the only one
that famous the a a with a gambling problem. Reading,
(22:45):
you needed to see a psychiatrist for that. It's for nothing,
and so conscious quants you a lot of money. And
I'm back on the headphones, ready to start the rest
of the podcast. Okay, reader, let's see what happens. It's
really like an enticing novel. Part four. Singing for the
Troops with Bob Hope. Oh, Bob Hope was the entertainer
(23:09):
of that era, and he used to gather together the
top entertainers and bring them to where the troops were
and put on a big show. And it was such
a shot in the arm for these people who are
battle weary it was a wonderful thing for the boys,
and I guess Connie Stevens was one of them that volunteered.
We're about to find out. I'm like fascinated that you
(23:36):
were there, not just alive, but present for so many
crazy world events that I can only read about. But
let's talk about this. Were are you dating Neil Armstrong?
I don't know if that's the word. Of course. I
went on the road with Neil and that was really something.
(23:57):
You went on tour with Neil Armstrong? Well, I was
in Vietnam. Oh so this was a part of the U.
S O tour. Yeah, so Neil Armstrong went with you
for that to like entertain the troops. Right after he
landed on the moon. He went with us. So that
was an interesting part of my life. Oh my gosh.
Neil and I met in Vietnam and continued our relationship.
(24:21):
We got a long, really great So it's kind of
a big deal that he performed with Bob Hope. Oh,
I went all over the world with Bob. You're my
kind of girl. You've got everything, talent, beauty and me.
I was in Vietnam many times, Bob, and you're my
kind of guy. Well, when you've got it, you've got it.
(24:43):
I was in Vietnam and the mood of the country
was not happy, and everybody wanted the soldiers to come home,
and there was a lot of unrest. So I went
out and sang, and I noticed that the whole country
was acting differently. As a matter of fact, they caught
(25:04):
some Viet com two young guys, and I ran over
there and they couldn't have been more than fifteen years old.
And I said, what are you doing? What they're fifteen
years old? What are you doing? You know, I said,
their babies, And of course they shut me up. That
(25:24):
was the first time I spoke up, and I wanted
us to get out of there, and I could see
what was happening politically, but they told me not to
attend any more press conferences. And then we came home
and I had a different opinion than when I went.
And you know, Uncle ralphin my own brother was there,
(25:47):
My nineteen year old brother was on clean up. Clean
up was the soldiers that went into a village and
cleaned up the mess. Whether they had to kill people
or get rid of the huts. It was not a
nice job, and a lot of Vietnamese people got hurt
(26:08):
in that, and Uncle Ralph did that. He was nineteen,
and he was so upset, and just because I had
stepped foot over there, he felt like he could talk
to me about it. And he called me and say,
I can't do this. I can't do this anymore. You know,
(26:29):
sometimes things happen and you don't believe they're real. I've
had a lot of those. Did you feel like you
got more into politics and into activism and stuff like that? After? Definitely?
I wanted him to come home, and I wanted all
(26:51):
those boys in that area, and especially cleanups to come home.
They didn't need to do that, and nobody, no government
should ask them to do that. Yeah, how about you
with your activism, You're amazing. I have it on tape,
(27:16):
you know, you speaking to the audience giving your speech
about black lives matter, and quietly and uniquely outspoken. That's
what you are. I like that. I don't like screaming
and yelling. I don't like screaming and yelling either. I
think you don't have to. You lead by example, and
(27:39):
you lead with your heart and soul, and you make
it known who you are, and that's the best you
can hope for with people. Very impressive. You see all
these things that affect at her. It does change a
(28:01):
person's outlook on life. Absolutely, don't you kind of get
like when she said, what was your relationship with Neil Armstrong?
There's a lot of things left on said doesn't matter,
it's her own business what she wants to tell. But
there's some depth to the woman. Yes, she's not just
another pretty face exactly. These women in that era were
(28:21):
portrayed as dumb blondes. But she's got a depth to her. Yes,
and she saw a lot about Vietnam and it's a
war that that was an unpopular war, very unpopular war.
I think the only good thing that came out of
that war was mash Okay reader. Next up, it's time
(28:42):
for the last part of the show, Part five. There's
no business like so business. That's cute, Allen, We're ready.
I tried really hard not to go into film and TV.
(29:02):
There are some really really big shoes to fill, and
it's like it's a lot of pressure. So I majored
in political science my first year of college. I was like,
I'm going to go into politics, but then the pandemic
hit and I was writing a lot, and we were
watching movies and I was like, who my kidding, Like,
(29:24):
this is what I'm supposed to be doing. I don't
know why I'm fighting against it. Like it was like,
if you can't beat him, join them. Kind of feeling
a little bit because I was like, it's big shoes
to fill, but like I'm just gonna walk alongside them
anyways and we'll see what happens. But yeah, I would
love to work in film and TV forever. I wanted
(29:49):
to ask you what your number one advice is for
young women going into the industry. Be careful, do you train,
pick the best, put your money in the bank, always
have some extra cash, keep good people around you, stay
(30:11):
close to the family that love you, and work really hard.
I heard a story, and you can confirm or deny
that You're managers told you to turn down Breakfast at Tiffany's.
Turned down Breakfast to Tiffany's, turned down the Lenny Bruce story.
She won an Academy Awards, turned down a few others
(30:36):
that were pretty important, but something was happening at the time,
like headlining in Las Vegas, and I loved it. It's
not bad working with Tina Turner and yeah, so do
you think things would be just like completely different if
you didn't turn down things like that? Yeah? You know,
I was up for the Diane Keaton role in The Godfather.
(31:00):
Blas said, I'd love to have her in the role.
She's perfect, but she's too popular right now, and everybody
would go, oh, that's Connie Stevens in that role, and
he's right, it would have been wrong. But I would
love to have done that role. I'm perfect for it.
(31:20):
I didn't know that. That's crazy. We're gonna do something together.
To remember that psychic party we went to. Every room
of the house had like at least five little tables
set up, crystals, palm reading, tarot cards. That's right. I
remember going to this one lady. She was in her
(31:40):
own private room, so I was like, she must be good, right.
She was like, is your grandmother here with you? And
I was like, as a matter of fact, she is.
And she was like, I just see that you guys
are gonna do something together, like writing or a movie
or something. And I was like, sold, I'm sold. We're
(32:02):
doing something together, absolutely, baby, do anything with you. We like,
weirdly work really well together. Yeah, let's do it. Let's
do it. Thank you, by sweetheart, Thank you. I love you,
love you, love you, love you so much. Yeah, call
(32:25):
me later. I'm gonna call you right after this. Okay,
bye bye, very nice, very nice, lovely relationship to lovely,
very sweet relationship. She wound up Connie in a nice place,
surrounded by love, by loving children and grandchildren. And if
(32:47):
that's the way that you wind up, that's the best. Exactly.
It's a crazy life being in show business. Yes, but
we're to look at us. We're so normal and where
did show business? We show business because we're on this
fabulous podcast. That's right, But listen, I'll pay, it's not
their pay. Why Not Call Your Grandmother is a production
(33:15):
of I Heart podcast Network and Superb Entertainment. Our lead
producers are Shina Ozaki and Nora cb. Executive producers are
Narrow Poster, Nikki Eatore, and Anna Stump. Our managing producer
is Lindsay Hoffman. Mastering by Bahed Fraser. A theme song
(33:36):
is by Anna Stump and Hamilton's Lighthouser. Listen to Call
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(33:59):
leave us ere we you and we might get more famous. M.
You got me? You what? Yeah, you're there? Hold on,
don't okay, okay, okay, okay, I'm here. I'm here lately
I'm trying all my pants and all my pants are
long on me, and I could you have gotten shorter?
I had to get short of My pants are all
along and I'm not investing in new pants. I'm just
(00:24):
pulling them up. I listen, I'm gonna be ninety two.
Doesn't pay to me to invest in a good pair
of pants. How many years you think i'll bear them? It? Listen?
And if you live in New York City, to take
a pair of pants and to be shortened that they
got lining, you could buy a new pair. Not worth
That's very true. Bring them to me, read, I'll shorten
(00:44):
them for you. Rita, are you excited? We're going to
be speaking to Connie Stevens, who was one of my
favorite actresses when I was younger. Oh my goodness, and
granddaughter Skyler. This is our granddaughter with ex husband Eddie Fisher.
(01:05):
Oh my goodness. Also one of our favorite when we
were growing up. Connie Stevens. I could see her in
front of me. Now she was and probably still lives
a beautiful blond woman. She was gorgeous and she could sing.
You know what, they don't have the beautiful musicals and
love stories that they had in the day of Connie Stevens.
(01:26):
I could hardly think of a starve today in that category.
Can you know we gotta hear it's Connie Stevens exactly.
Rina Scorchy is the funniest thing ever. You guys have
to look up. Connie Stevens is Scorchy, the hottest cop
on the force. She plays like a spy. She's like
(01:50):
but she had nobody move a musself. Me and my
cousins used to do that like all the time to
each other. And you know the reproduction song from Greece
to reproduction. Oh god, she was the teacher, the hot teacher. Okay,
(02:11):
are you ready? I've been ready, I'm born ready. Connie
Stevens is my grandmother. I call her Nana. She's eighty
three years old and she lives in Los Angeles. I
call her Sky, my precious gym and my best girl,
my best girl. I've been here in that my whole life,
and I'm like, sure that's front of the other grandchildren.
(02:34):
You might know her from Scorchy Love Boat or being
the hot teacher from Greece too. You're just so cool. No,
I like her charm. She's always laughing, and she's steadfast
and in charge. She's a leo, so I think lion,
I think strong, and she's sparkly, sparkly. It wasn't like, oh,
(02:57):
there's nothing else to do, let's go to Nana's house.
As is like, no, that is the thing to do.
She's like, here for a good time, not a long time, yes,
just as long as you live life fully to the
very very inch of it. There's definitely a difference between
(03:18):
having like a famous nana versus a regular grandma. I mean,
here's someone who has the most expertise and has been
in the industry a long time. I mean after my
dance shows, you know, you come out the stage door,
people are giving flowers and you're talking to your family
and there's a whole crowd of people, and then I
would go, all right, it's time to go get nana's notes.
(03:40):
Go get Nana's notes. Get your arm? How was it?
And you'd be like, you know, you could extend your
arm a little bit more than that one part couldn't help,
But couldn't help that made me better though. You know,
no one else's grandparents is going to be like, this
is what you need to do tomorrow night to make
it better. Every performance, Nana's there with flowers, with flowers
(04:01):
and those very nice. Not only a grandmother and a
grandchild of relationship, it's a professional relationship. She goes to
all her performances and then gives a critique on it,
just like we do. You think a critique on their relationship.
That's our thing. We give critiques. That's our talent with
(04:23):
critical critics, you know. But this was interesting. It's just
sort of on a little different level. You can see
she respects her grandmother all the way. And you can
hear Connie Stevens love for that child too. Oh absolutely,
you can absolutely hear. You don't have to be famous.
That love that a grandmother has is just magical. Okay,
(04:45):
wed To, The producers have handed me the part titles,
and here's the first one, Part one, Grandma's Cocoon. What
was the song something, Lend me your comb Cookie, lend
me your combed. It was so stupid, cook sweetheart, I
(05:06):
bought a house with that. It was like number one
for years. So cool. What made you want to go
into show business. Well, I was lonely as a little girl.
My brother went in the army, my dad was on
the road, my grandma passed away. So I used to
(05:27):
go to the movies all the time for twenty one since,
Oh my gosh, that's great, and I just grew up
with the idea that I was going to do that. Ah.
After I became popular, I went back to Brooklyn and
I was so excited to talk to everybody on the block.
And there was this lady. Your name was Mazie. Did
(05:50):
I ever tell you this, I don't think. So. We
had stoops and Mazie. She'd sweep the stoop every day,
and if you went near her talk to her, which
we did, we teased her. She tried to hit you
with the broom. She said, get out of here, you
damn kid, Get out of here. Said we'd laugh and
(06:11):
run away. So I go home my pictures playing at
Radio City Musical, and I see her across. She's an old,
old woman, and I go quietly over there and I said, Mazie,
do you remember me? And she looked at me and said,
(06:33):
get out of here, you damn kid, Get out. That's
so funny. Nothing changed, and that's the way life is. Really.
That's Brooklyn too, Yeah it is. I wish I could
time travel and go back and see you when you
were in Brooklyn. I wish you could. I lived in
(06:53):
the Italian section and on the next side was the
Jewish section, so my grandma spoke Yiddish and the lady
next door spoke a little Italian, so they both spoke
each other's languages. Yeah, that's very cute. What was your
(07:13):
relationship like with your parents and your grandparents, because I
know you had an interesting kind of dynamic. I was
a daddy's girl and he was a musician, and he
went on the road. So I was awarded by court
to my grandparents, my Italian grandparents. Consequently, I spoke only
(07:34):
Italian to allow us five. My dad, of course, came
home off the road many times, and his beautiful packard
convertible with his cashmere coat, that's where you got it from.
When he came home, all the windows would go up,
and the ladies in the neighborhood would say, your father's home,
(07:56):
Your father's home, teddy, teddy, And he'd weighed, he just sparkled,
you know, he just had it. I almost want to say,
he's like the Godfather. He was funny, he was talented.
I loved my family very much. I never knew that
we were poor till I was about thirty. Right, I
(08:17):
was in a cocoon. I feel like you've provided that
for at least your grandkids. And I got it from
my grandmother. Yeah, so it's been passed down for sure.
I feel like I was in such a little cocoon
and I felt very safe growing up. Well, that's the
way you're supposed to feel. That's what we want for you.
(08:40):
You're growing up to be self sufficient so that somebody
can't come along and bust your bubble. And you're compassionate,
which is my favorite attribute. Very sweet relationship. And she
talks about the Brooklyn One side of this street was Jewish,
(09:00):
one side of the street was it Tagian. Absolutely, that's
the way Brooklyn was. That's how I grew up as well,
exactly how I grew exactly. And I think it's still
like that. There's a connection between Italian and Jewish grandmothers
from families I alway Jewish and Italian. You can intermingle them.
You'd never know the difference. From Italian people were your
(09:22):
best friends and they felt the same way about Jewish.
They knew were always there for each other exactly. You
know what. I used to go to my grandmother's have
and there was a woman, of course, is what she
was talking about. I used to stand by my grandmother's
window and watching yet yet a on the street. Everybody
hang it up. She think the same thing. She was
always cleaning up the street we had, Mrs Sweeney. It
(09:45):
was the same thing. There was always somebody. There's always
somebody and saying, get out of your kids. I'm telling
you you lived in a neighborhood. It wasn't just your building.
Most of your shopping wasn't a footstore. A butcher. Absolutely,
I remember there was a butcher that used to say
to my mother, Mrs Binstein, I got for you a
(10:07):
piece flesh. You'll die from eating it. Listen, times have changed.
She's still good with her grandkids, and she's giving that
sense of security and the what should I say, the
cocoonness a grandchild too. Right. Oh, that's a good word. Right,
It's a word I made up, but it's not in
the dipitionary. Really still the words that I use. Okay, reader,
(10:35):
Next up we have part two the last contract player
were already So when you were young, the big Hollywood
studios used to have contract players. They basically were on
contract to perform just for those studios. Right, yeah, I
know you were like one of the last ones. I
(10:57):
was the last one, the very last one. I have
a picture on the wall inside of all the contract players,
as you know, Natalie Wood and Carol Linley in the
dining room. Yes you saw, yeah, I've seen it. So
that meant that you couldn't go work at any other studios.
You had to do well, not without permission, right right, right?
(11:20):
How did you first get to Hollywood? What was the
big break? Well? I sang with three boys and we
had a group called the Foremost. We sang four part
harmony that was very intricate at the time. Then the
boys went on to become the Letterman. I went to
high school with them, and they're still popular today. I
(11:43):
should have stayed with them. I got discovered from that
group by Jerry Lewis. He made me laugh so hard,
he always did. It was embarrassing. I was laughing so hard.
So I went to meet Jerry Lewis and he said,
she's got a funny bone. She's got the part, and
(12:07):
Warner Brothers bought my contract and they put me in
a series Hawaiian I, which became maybe number two in
the world with Bonanza. The other big shure you did
was love Boat right, love Boat I was the most
frequent guest. I should be rich, but I'm not. They
(12:30):
didn't give me any residuals. Warner Brothers so cheap. So
I asked for permission to do a film and they said, no,
your contract isn't up for another fifty thou dollars or
some crazy thing. And I said, keep the money, let
me go. That's what I did. Crazy Girl gave away
(12:53):
my money. Guests who had their dressing rooms right above me,
Sammy Davis, Joey Bishop, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, the rat Pack.
They were the most popular people in the all of
show business at the time. One day I'm walking by
(13:15):
and they're all laughing and stuff, and they said, I
think she is I said, she's what they said, shorter
than Sammy Davis. So we had a contest and they
measured me and I was shorter thant Sammy, so I won.
I took the brunt of it. All the time, were
(13:35):
they loud yes, until they went to work. What did
you do in your breaks? Played basketball? Oh my gosh,
because we had a lot of time together, so in
between we would get our shots together. That's cool. It
was fun. She was a star, absolutely a big star.
(13:59):
And I can't imagine that she's shorter than Sammy Davis.
She must be my height. I love her that. I
love her and basketball. I could never play basketball. I
just was a little bit bigger than the ball. I mean,
I don't know how she played. I gotta meet her.
We have to arrange for us to meet her. She's sweets,
she's really sweet, and she's very humble. Um kind of
(14:21):
you know, she's not afterwards. She was a big I
love Bote. I used to love that. I remember, I
do love boat. Yeah no, no, no, no. It was
really a nice program. I don't know if you got
the feeling that it was a little bit not anger. Regret, regret,
a little regret exactly. They did take advantage of her, yes,
(14:43):
but I think that they took advantage of everybody in
those days. They did. The Water Brothers had that reputation
to start with. They were not easy to deal with it.
I don't know that any of the studios were particularly
kind to their players. That's true. That's true. Listen, everybody
has regrets. I should have, I should have, I could have.
That's the way life is. The movie stars handed well
(15:05):
as the public. I guess we all have nothing major
that I could think of, and if I did certain
things and I could, I'm not telling me. Well, we
have to take a little break now so you can
find out how to buy a new mattress, or get
a new website, or or the stamps. Very exciting stuff.
So hang in there, folks. Okay, guys, we're back Cookie
(15:37):
Cookie letting me. I don't remember the tune, but I
remember the words. What have they say? Don't give up
your day job? That's right, that's right, okay rider. Next up,
we have part three, sixteen Reasons Why I Love You.
Your most famous song, though, was sixteen res Why I
(16:02):
Love You? Why they comb you here? See, you don't
think of things like that anymore. We used to think
of you the way you comb your hair, the way
your tie whatever. Now they go to first base immediately
(16:29):
you stay off first base. I wanted to ask you
how you met Eddie, how you met my grandfather, because
I don't think I ever heard the full story. Well,
I was in trouble. I was confused. I was coming
out of a divorce with Jim Stacy. I didn't know
(16:52):
what I was gonna do. I was going to go
to Broadway or stay and do another television show. And
I took a job and I played the Plaza Hotel
in New York and he had just finished there, so
he came to see my show. And he was really
kind and sweet, and he was the kind of guy.
(17:14):
I'd say, I love the New York pretzels on the street.
So he said, can I get you anything? I said,
he didn't get me a pretzel, and he came back
with ten of them. Oh my gosh, I like that.
And he could say he could just open up his
mouth and just say five o'clock in the morning. I
(17:36):
have often. He was kind. He would give you the
shirt office back if you liked it. And he was fun.
He was a fun guy. His problem with the drugs,
otherwise I'd probably still be with him. Yeah. Mom always
said he was very charming, like everybody was charmed by him.
(17:58):
He was. He was just the golden boy, you know,
he really was. I didn't really know him. That's right,
you didn't. He would have made you laugh. He was
good at that. Yeah, he was a little strange character.
What do you mean by strange? You know, he was
from another era and he was from the old country
(18:18):
and he acted like it. And I was a shick sah,
that's a non Jewish girl. And he say, Eddie, what
are you doing with another shick sah? Well, there is
like kind of a special club of Eddie Fisher's wife. Yeah, well,
never mind, you gotta lay it on me. What's the
(18:40):
dating advice? Dating advice? I go with you. I gotta
see what he looks like, check his pockets, Nana's approval. Yeah, no,
I think you can pick the n ice guy. We've
trained you. Well, Well, can we talk about Elvis? Little Bill?
(19:02):
Elvis was the best kisser. Oh la la la to
hear that. He was the sweetest. He was a lot
of fun and we were friends till he died. I
think she's holding back, and though he is, it doesn't
stop at a kiss. But so on, you don't know,
(19:23):
I don't know, nobody knows. You know, there used to
be rumors about her and Elvis, So whatever it is,
it wasn't you know what I don't care about what's
doing in anybody else's bed. I really don't. No listen,
what's good for them. It's good for them, that's all. Absolutely.
How long was Connie married to Eddie? Long enough to
(19:43):
give her two daughters and grandchildren. Eddie Fisher in his
day was a big deal. He had songs like, oh
my Papa, Oh my Papa, Oh my Papa. I really
was a very big Eddie Fisher fan. Everybody was. I
had an autography picture of him that hung on my mirror.
He had a beautiful voice, he really did. And he
had curly hair especially. I hate to say that, I
(20:07):
don't want if he were Jewish, he was like you know,
that was a big thing. That was a big thing.
That was a big deal for the Jews. I mean,
how many they were, all Italians, Victor Moone, Frankie Valley
all then, not one was a Jew. He was the
only Jew, Oh my Papapa, to medful, Oh my Papa.
(20:32):
He was so good, Oh my Papa was like a
Jewish love song. Reata. Do you remember that? When he
was married to Debbie Reynolds and they were like the
hottest couple in Hollywood, Alright, they had two children and everything,
one of which was Carrie Fisher Harry Fisher, right right,
And then all of a sudden he divorced Debbie Reynolds
(20:55):
and he married Elizabeth Taylor. Oh my goodness. Mike Todd
was married to Elizabeth Taylor, and Eddie Fishing was his
best friend. When Mike Todd died, he tried to console
Elizabeth Taylor, and that consoling became, I mean to get
Elizabeth Taylor to marry you. It was not a big deal.
(21:17):
She only had eight or nine my right, absolutely right.
And after Elizabeth Taylor left him for Richard Burton, Eddie
went from Elizabeth Taylor to Conne But she said he
had a problem of drugs. That's a big problem in
a relationship. Sweet and kind is nice, but that's that's
(21:39):
a big thing. Yeah, And you know what, it was
a marriage that didn't work out. But look what she
got from it, exactly. She had wonderful children and grandchildren.
So that's where heart is at this point. Alright, time
for another ad break. What should we do this time? Ellen?
You know what, maybe we should better her us And
(22:00):
on a horse. I'm lucky reading, I am very very lucky.
The first time I ever went to a horse race.
I bet on a horse, Barnie's boy. I made a
killing my close to a thousand dollars. Peter said, whatever
made your bet on Bonnie's boy? I said, your father
is Bonnie and your Bonnie's boy. So all that was
so killed. That's as good as reason to bet on
(22:23):
a horse as any Okay, we're back, reader. How much
did you put on that head break? Oh? My goodness,
that's it. You know, I went to a a on
a bet on horses anymore, I was the only one
that famous the a a with a gambling problem. Reading,
(22:45):
you needed to see a psychiatrist for that. It's for nothing,
and so conscious quants you a lot of money. And
I'm back on the headphones, ready to start the rest
of the podcast. Okay, reader, let's see what happens. It's
really like an enticing novel. Part four. Singing for the
Troops with Bob Hope. Oh, Bob Hope was the entertainer
(23:09):
of that era, and he used to gather together the
top entertainers and bring them to where the troops were
and put on a big show. And it was such
a shot in the arm for these people who are
battle weary it was a wonderful thing for the boys,
and I guess Connie Stevens was one of them that volunteered.
We're about to find out. I'm like fascinated that you
(23:36):
were there, not just alive, but present for so many
crazy world events that I can only read about. But
let's talk about this. Were are you dating Neil Armstrong?
I don't know if that's the word. Of course. I
went on the road with Neil and that was really something.
(23:57):
You went on tour with Neil Armstrong? Well, I was
in Vietnam. Oh so this was a part of the U.
S O tour. Yeah, so Neil Armstrong went with you
for that to like entertain the troops. Right after he
landed on the moon. He went with us. So that
was an interesting part of my life. Oh my gosh.
Neil and I met in Vietnam and continued our relationship.
(24:21):
We got a long, really great So it's kind of
a big deal that he performed with Bob Hope. Oh,
I went all over the world with Bob. You're my
kind of girl. You've got everything, talent, beauty and me.
I was in Vietnam many times, Bob, and you're my
kind of guy. Well, when you've got it, you've got it.
(24:43):
I was in Vietnam and the mood of the country
was not happy, and everybody wanted the soldiers to come home,
and there was a lot of unrest. So I went
out and sang, and I noticed that the whole country
was acting differently. As a matter of fact, they caught
(25:04):
some Viet com two young guys, and I ran over
there and they couldn't have been more than fifteen years old.
And I said, what are you doing? What they're fifteen
years old? What are you doing? You know, I said,
their babies, And of course they shut me up. That
(25:24):
was the first time I spoke up, and I wanted
us to get out of there, and I could see
what was happening politically, but they told me not to
attend any more press conferences. And then we came home
and I had a different opinion than when I went.
And you know, Uncle ralphin my own brother was there,
(25:47):
My nineteen year old brother was on clean up. Clean
up was the soldiers that went into a village and
cleaned up the mess. Whether they had to kill people
or get rid of the huts. It was not a
nice job, and a lot of Vietnamese people got hurt
(26:08):
in that, and Uncle Ralph did that. He was nineteen,
and he was so upset, and just because I had
stepped foot over there, he felt like he could talk
to me about it. And he called me and say,
I can't do this. I can't do this anymore. You know,
(26:29):
sometimes things happen and you don't believe they're real. I've
had a lot of those. Did you feel like you
got more into politics and into activism and stuff like that? After? Definitely?
I wanted him to come home, and I wanted all
(26:51):
those boys in that area, and especially cleanups to come home.
They didn't need to do that, and nobody, no government
should ask them to do that. Yeah, how about you
with your activism, You're amazing. I have it on tape,
(27:16):
you know, you speaking to the audience giving your speech
about black lives matter, and quietly and uniquely outspoken. That's
what you are. I like that. I don't like screaming
and yelling. I don't like screaming and yelling either. I
think you don't have to. You lead by example, and
(27:39):
you lead with your heart and soul, and you make
it known who you are, and that's the best you
can hope for with people. Very impressive. You see all
these things that affect at her. It does change a
(28:01):
person's outlook on life. Absolutely, don't you kind of get
like when she said, what was your relationship with Neil Armstrong?
There's a lot of things left on said doesn't matter,
it's her own business what she wants to tell. But
there's some depth to the woman. Yes, she's not just
another pretty face exactly. These women in that era were
(28:21):
portrayed as dumb blondes. But she's got a depth to her. Yes,
and she saw a lot about Vietnam and it's a
war that that was an unpopular war, very unpopular war.
I think the only good thing that came out of
that war was mash Okay reader. Next up, it's time
(28:42):
for the last part of the show, Part five. There's
no business like so business. That's cute, Allen, We're ready.
I tried really hard not to go into film and TV.
(29:02):
There are some really really big shoes to fill, and
it's like it's a lot of pressure. So I majored
in political science my first year of college. I was like,
I'm going to go into politics, but then the pandemic
hit and I was writing a lot, and we were
watching movies and I was like, who my kidding, Like,
(29:24):
this is what I'm supposed to be doing. I don't
know why I'm fighting against it. Like it was like,
if you can't beat him, join them. Kind of feeling
a little bit because I was like, it's big shoes
to fill, but like I'm just gonna walk alongside them
anyways and we'll see what happens. But yeah, I would
love to work in film and TV forever. I wanted
(29:49):
to ask you what your number one advice is for
young women going into the industry. Be careful, do you train,
pick the best, put your money in the bank, always
have some extra cash, keep good people around you, stay
(30:11):
close to the family that love you, and work really hard.
I heard a story, and you can confirm or deny
that You're managers told you to turn down Breakfast at Tiffany's.
Turned down Breakfast to Tiffany's, turned down the Lenny Bruce story.
She won an Academy Awards, turned down a few others
(30:36):
that were pretty important, but something was happening at the time,
like headlining in Las Vegas, and I loved it. It's
not bad working with Tina Turner and yeah, so do
you think things would be just like completely different if
you didn't turn down things like that? Yeah? You know,
I was up for the Diane Keaton role in The Godfather.
(31:00):
Blas said, I'd love to have her in the role.
She's perfect, but she's too popular right now, and everybody
would go, oh, that's Connie Stevens in that role, and
he's right, it would have been wrong. But I would
love to have done that role. I'm perfect for it.
(31:20):
I didn't know that. That's crazy. We're gonna do something together.
To remember that psychic party we went to. Every room
of the house had like at least five little tables
set up, crystals, palm reading, tarot cards. That's right. I
remember going to this one lady. She was in her
(31:40):
own private room, so I was like, she must be good, right.
She was like, is your grandmother here with you? And
I was like, as a matter of fact, she is.
And she was like, I just see that you guys
are gonna do something together, like writing or a movie
or something. And I was like, sold, I'm sold. We're
(32:02):
doing something together, absolutely, baby, do anything with you. We like,
weirdly work really well together. Yeah, let's do it. Let's
do it. Thank you, by sweetheart, Thank you. I love you,
love you, love you, love you so much. Yeah, call
(32:25):
me later. I'm gonna call you right after this. Okay,
bye bye, very nice, very nice, lovely relationship to lovely,
very sweet relationship. She wound up Connie in a nice place,
surrounded by love, by loving children and grandchildren. And if
(32:47):
that's the way that you wind up, that's the best. Exactly.
It's a crazy life being in show business. Yes, but
we're to look at us. We're so normal and where
did show business? We show business because we're on this
fabulous podcast. That's right, But listen, I'll pay, it's not
their pay. Why Not Call Your Grandmother is a production
(33:15):
of I Heart podcast Network and Superb Entertainment. Our lead
producers are Shina Ozaki and Nora cb. Executive producers are
Narrow Poster, Nikki Eatore, and Anna Stump. Our managing producer
is Lindsay Hoffman. Mastering by Bahed Fraser. A theme song
(33:36):
is by Anna Stump and Hamilton's Lighthouser. Listen to Call
Your Grandmother on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts
or wherever you get your podcasts, and don't forget leave
us a glowing five star review. You want, pick on
a couple of old ladies and give us less than
five stars, would you. We're not getting any younger, but
(33:59):
leave us ere we you and we might get more famous. M.
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com