Betty Garrett "Sings All Over"

In Betty Garrett's very first film, “Big City,” young Margaret O’Brien says to her, “When you sing, you sing all over!” Truer words were never spoken. Of all the incredible stars of the MGM stock company of the 1940s and 50s (and, as Louis B. Mayer liked to say, “MGM had more stars than there are in the heavens”), Betty Garrett was my all-time favorite. Apart from her ability to act, dance, and sing anyone off the screen, she exuded an intelligence, wit, and sincerity that was quite rare among the studio manipulated stars of her day. Even though she often played man-hungry dames with a slapstick sensibility, Betty Garrett always transcended her roles and made us care far more about her characters than the screenwriters had any right to expect. She was funny and brash and had perfect comic timing, but there was always a vulnerable and sweet quality that came through and lit up the screen. You either have that quality or you don’t, in my opinion, it’s not something that can be taught or written into a script. Betty Garrett had it then and she still has it now.

Our friend Naomi Caryl is one of Betty’s closest friends (they’ve known each other for 44 years) and wrote a lovely tribute this week on her blog to mark Betty Garrett’s 87th birthday. Betty and Naomi appeared on Broadway together in 1963 in “Spoon River Anthology” which was revived 40 years later at Theatre West in North Hollywood. When I read Naomi’s post and saw the date, I remembered that Betty’s birthday was on the anniversary of my mother’s death. The last thing I ever gave my mother, just a few weeks before she died, was a copy of Betty's wonderful autobiography, “Betty Garrett and Other Songs,” personally inscribed to her. My mom treasured this book. She adored Betty Garrett and had the hots for Betty’s husband Larry Parks ever since she saw “The Jolson Story” at the age of 14 at the Roosevelt Theatre in downtown Chicago.

I first met Betty Garrett at Kendall’s mom’s house in Studio City in the late 1980s. She and Larry were friends of the Haileys since the 1960s when Betty starred in Kendall’s father’s autobiographical play, “Who’s Happy Now?” during the premiere season of the Mark Taper Forum. For 15 years I’ve been attending S.T.A.G.E., the world’s longest running AIDS benefit, that is co-chaired by Betty and Naomi. Betty’s numbers are always the highlight of the show, whether she’s rollerskating across the stage (in her 80s!) or shimmying up some set piece.

This year’s show honored Comden and Green so we were treated to Betty singing some of her numbers from one of the best MGM musicals ever made, “On the Town.” Her role as lady taxi driver Brunhilde Esterhazy was the first of many screen opportunities she had to chase after Frank Sinatra and Betty had some of the best songs in the film including “Come Up to My Place” and “You’re Awful (Awful Good to Look at).” In the Esther Williams vehicle, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” Betty and Frank sang the wonderful, “It’s Fate Baby, It’s Fate.” Propping up Esther Williams again in “Neptune’s Daughter,” Betty introduced one of my favorite songs ever, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” which I heard her sing at another S.T.A.G.E. benefit and which I always fantasized about singing with her.

I simply must go (But baby, it's cold outside)
The answer is no (But baby, it's cold outside)
This welcome has been (I'm lucky that you dropped in)
So nice and warm (Look out the window at that storm)
My sister will be suspicious (Gosh, your lips look delicious)
My brother will be there at the door (Waves upon a tropical shore)
My maiden aunt's mind is vicious (Gosh, your lips are delicious)
Well maybe just a cigarette more (Never such a blizzard before)

I've got to go home (Oh, baby, you'll freeze out there)
Say, lend me your comb (It's up to your knees out there)
You've really been grand (Your eyes are like starlight now)
But don't you see (How can you do this thing to me?)
There's bound to be talk tomorrow (Think of my lifelong sorrow)
At least there will be plenty implied (If you caught pneumonia and died)
I really can't stay (Get over that old out)
Ahh, but it's cold outside!

After understudying Ethel Merman on Broadway and being part of Martha Graham’s dance company, Betty got famous for doing comical specialty songs, starting with “South America, Take It Away” from her huge Broadway hit, “Call Me Mister” that opened 60 years ago last month. I’ve been driving my family nuts singing this song around the house since I read Naomi’s birthday post. A few years ago I bought this portrait at one of the S.T.A.G.E. silent auctions. It was drawn by Betty and shows her character singing that song (which was later "cleaned up" and recorded by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters). The song parodied America's “good neighbor policy” and the South American dance craze that resulted.

Take back your Samba, ay!, your Rumba, ay!, your Conga, ay-yi-yi!
I can't keep movin', ay!, my chassis, ay!, any longer, ay-yi-yi!
Now maybe Latins, ay!, in their middles, ay!, are built stronger, ay-yi-yi!
But all this takin' to the quakin' and this makin' with the shakin' leaves me achin', ole!

Who else could sing lyrics like that? In that first movie she made ,”Big City,” Betty’s character Shoo Shoo Grady (love that name!) sang the song “Okie, Baby, Dokie.” As she said in a newspaper article at the time, “I will inflict ‘Okie, Baby, Dokie’ on the public, just as I inflicted ‘South America, Take it Away’ on them—and I hope they will not hold it against me!” We didn’t. Betty introduced so many great songs over the years that I suddenly couldn’t believe there wasn’t a CD available of her work. But wait—a quick Amazon search uncovered the recently released “Betty Garrett, Star of Stage and Screen” which I promptly ordered. 28 tracks, most never before released on CD, and several recorded with Larry Parks. Yippee!

I always thought it was shocking that Betty didn’t make more movies. She only made 5 musicals for MGM despite being one of their most talented stars. In 1951, Larry Parks was dragged down by the House Un-American Activities Committee. While he was the first movie star to actually admit that he’d been a member of the Communist Party (between 1941 and 1945), he repudiated his involvement and explained how at the time the Party was one of the only groups trying to help the downtrodden groups in this country. His admission to HUAC nearly wrecked his career in Hollywood and severely damaged Betty’s as well. With no movie roles being offered, the Parks put together a successful nightclub act and were a huge hit at the London Palladium and elsewhere.

Most people today know Betty from one of her TV series. She played Archie Bunker’s liberal counterpart Irene Lorenzo on “All in the Family” and in my opinion she was TV’s first true feminist. While Bea Arthur’s “Maude” also sparred with bigoted Archie Bunker before getting her own series, she was often subservient to her patriarchal husband Walter. Irene Lorenzo had a loving relationship with her husband Frank (played by Vincent Gardenia) but she was always her own woman, never sacrificing her beliefs to make peace with her man and yet still being a caring spouse and a great friend to people with different beliefs. Later Betty moved over to “Laverne and Shirley” as landlady Edna Babish who ended up marrying Laverne’s father. On this show Betty got a chance to showcase her physical comedy abilities.

I could go on and on about Betty Garrett but I’ll restrain myself and tell you to go read her excellent book! Today, at 87, Betty Garrett shows us all how people can move through the aging process with dignity, grace, and true beauty. She is a doting mother and grandma. (I'm always a little shocked when I see her talented sons Garrett and Andy because they look so much like Larry Parks!) And the woman never stops. She opens in two weeks in the play "Nunsense” co-starring Lee Meriweather and Bridget Hanley.

Fifty years ago, Betty told a New York Times reporter, “I’ve always thought my value as a performer was not having any claim to being great, just doing a little bit of everything. I’m certainly no Bernhardt, but I always manage to have a good time. I might even be ahead of her there!” Nicely stated, except I’d take Betty Garrett over Sarah Bernhardt any day of the week.

Comments

[OldOldLady Of The Hills]

Lovely Lovely post Danny...and such a wonderful tribute..Thank you for the sweet mention of the posts I did for Betty's Birthday...(I put up the one from yesterdays small Birthday luncheon at my house for her...Chocolate Cake and all!)...One correction...I believe it is "O-ckle Baby D-ockle "...at least that is what Betty always has sung in her one-woman show...and I've probably seen it 60 times since 1974...! (All over this country and in London, too!) Check with her...but I'm pretty sure this is correct...I'm going to put a link to your post on the bottom of my post today, right now! Aren't we cute?

[Danny]

I'm sure you're right, Naomi. I took that quote straight from the 1947 New York Times article I found, but I'm guessing the reporter misquoted the title of that song (especially since the article came out before the film was released). Did you ever see that movie? Very odd but I love it! Where else can you see Lebanese Danny Thomas as a rabbi?

[OldOldLady Of The Hills]

Oh yes..I have seen that movie many many times...BTW:I think I made an error in the spelling of this song..."Okle Baby Dokle" no C...(lol)...I gave her the original sheet music for a Christmas present or birthday many many years ago...

I was talking to Betty earlier tonight and I mentioned your post and how wonderful it is and I said you had said the song was "Okie Baby Doike" and she immediately said..."Oh no, it's Okle Baby Dokle....I laughed and said yes, I know...reminding her I had seen her show enough to know that myself....! Seemah and I were like Groupies! And before that I used to sit with Larry...He came to her show every night that first year that she did it at Theatre West. He was so devoted. He would sit on a chair in the back right under the light booth...There is a little plaque there now, commemorating his devotion...next time you are at Theatre West, take a look...It should still be there unless in somebody's stupid wisdom they have removed it...!

[cruisin-mom]

Nice tribute Danny. I saw her speak at a Brandeis luncheon several years ago, and I enjoyed her so much. I always thought she was terrific, and thought it was great that Laverne and Shirley could introduce her talents to a whole new generation.

[Bruce F. Winston]

Dear Danny:
From doing a simple search for info about Betty Garrett's latest appearance in "Nunsense," I found your lovely birthday tribute along with the wonderful blog that her friend Naomi Caryl did about her birthday lunch for Betty along with those wonderful photos.
I should identify myself since my name will mean nothing to you reading this on the West Coast.
I was a friend of Harold Rome's who wrote the songs for Betty to sing in "Call Me Mister" on Broadway in 1946-'47. Betty was kind enough to let me interview her in 2000 for the chapter I was writing about "Call Me Mister" for a proposed biography of Mr. Rome, who was my mentor.
On June 15-18, there was the first concert version of "Call Me Mister" performed since the National Touring Company of the original production in 1946-48. It was produced by The American Century Theater in Arlington, VA. We invited Betty to attend and would have loved to have been graced by her presence; but as she explained to me by phone, she was already committed to doing "Nunsense" that weekend in LA.
I just wanted you all to know that 60 years after its Broadway debut, "Call Me Mister" is still both humorous and touching with all those marvelous Harold Rome songs ("South America, Take It Away," "Military Life (The Jerk Song)," "Call Me Mister," "Along With Me," "When We Meet Again," and many other gems). The audience in attendance loved it vociferously!!!
We know that Betty, George S. Irving (her supporting cast member who is also still active in NY theatre productions)and the great Harold Rome were all with us in spirit for the five performances.
Ironically, one of Betty's favorite numbers from the score, "Yuletide, Park Avenue," was not possible for the cast to learn in their limited rehearsal time. I remarked in the post show discussion that if Betty had been at the performance, she would have been happy to have sung her part of the number for us. If you remember, it is done as a madrigal with several character parts, which is why it was tricky for the current cast to learn in a hurry.
I am hoping to come to Chicago in November when Betty and George S. Irving are planning to perform numbers from 'Mister' at the Humana Festival. Meanwhile, I wish all of you the very best.
Most Sincerely,
Bruce F. Winston of suburban Philadelphia, PA, Harold Rome scholar and musical theatre historian

[Jan Essex]

Finally, what a wonderful Page on a great Talented Lady. I am putting up a link to this on my Larry Parks Web Site on Betty's Page. Thankyou... it irritates me that half way through most Bios on Betty on the web they turn into a rehash of the Blacklist thing. This Lady has done so much and given so much of herself... her Book is Great.

[Lyn M.]

Betty Garrett holds a very special place for me because she is the epitomy of a real Star, a truly Great Lady, a wonderful Mother and a perfect Wife to her husband of 30 years.
How much more could anyone ever be?

[Nancy Alain]

I have a personal story one that spans a few years. As a little girl, my mother a friend from NYC days with Betty and her mother, drove us to LA and Hollywood to visit. I was only seven and what I remember most was the soft boiled egg in the cute egg cup--the first I had ever seen. I was so fascinated by this, that I started to collect the cups...now long lost. The other few things I remember was Elizabeth Taylor popping in to visit, while Betty was folding clothes after doing the laundry. It is a vague memory, linked, with a bar-b-que, my dancing about the lawn and I believe with a movie Larry was making with Elizabeth at that time. The last memory of my seventh year, were that of her boys, rambunktious and afforded the opportunity to draw on the walls, thanks to mom Betty installing, if I recall correctly, a fake wall for drawing purposes.

When I was 14, I visited Pomona with my girlfriend. We took a bus to the big city, and I said "Hey, I know an actress here." Why and how I recalled her address, I do not know, but sure enough two brazen, free wheeling teens popped up on her doorstep in Nichols Canyon. Gracious is not enough of a suitable word to describe how wonderful she was to these two silly girls. She even took us for a ride in her British sportster...we were over the top! I returned many years later to find that I could no longer find Nichols Canyon on the map. I am not sure why.

These are very fond memories of a little girl, now grown into a woman who once opened her scrap book to find a copy of the music/lyrics of a lullabye penned by Betty and autographed to me, Nancy, whose mother was Ada.

I am now serving our nation in the diplomatic corps and will always cherish those few moments of recollection wrapped around Betty Garrett. These are memories that will take me home and rather special in a simple, youthful way.

[Susan Booth]

Hi! Indeed that was a marvelous post. I was first introduced to Betty Garrett as Edna Babish on Laverne & Shirley. It was years later that when my sisters and I saw "On the Town" for the first time on public television. We instantly became avid fans of Betty's. It is lovely to read these wonderful stories about someone who blessed our lives through music and laughter. Thank you Betty! Susan

[Miriam Rubinstein]

I can't believe this. This old broad, a former Broadway dancer, just put on CALL ME MISTER and I came to this site!

Boy, do I remember the wonderful Betty Garrett. I was lucky enough to have seen her in CALL ME MISTER, and her TAKE IT AWAY SOUTH AMERICA has remained one of the highlights of my theatre going career.

One thing I never understood. Why wasn't Betty Garrett cast as Nellie Forbush in the original SOUTH PACIFIC. I saw Mary Martin--also worked with her, phey!--and she lacked sexuality and charisma. And those cutesy looks and put on laughter-yeak. Those stories of Pinza running after her. %^&*()$#

Had Betty been in the original SOUTH PACIFIC, Pinza would have been running around with a bowler hat between his legs. Don't mean to be crude. But true!

So here's to the greatest Nellie Forbush who never was.

Love,

Miriam

[Rebekah]

Hmm. I'm going to have to watch some All in the Family and Laverne and Shirley episodes now to see if I can spot her. I used to watch those shows religiously, so why don't I remember her characters?...

[Laurie]

Hi Okie Baby Dokie is that on Garretts CD
thanks

[Eric from France]

it is soon Betty's birthday; does anyone know how to have my birthday greetings passed on to her? thx

[Patricia O'Donnell]

Yes, an apology to the grand Betty Garrett. I met her for the first time at the LADCC Awards Show this past week. To my horror, I mentioned to her that I remember her well from the time my mother took me to see Okalahoma when I was a small girl. She quickly reminded me that it was Celeste Holmes and that they often got mixed up. My 74 year old memory is obviously not as sharp as her 89 year old one because all these years, I thought it was Betty Garrett. However, that being said, and my apology is sincere for that blunder, I do want to thank her for her great courage and that of her husband Larry Parks for having stood up to the Red Scare that gripped Hollywood during the McCarthy era. That I do remember very well and I don't think my memory is clouded on that point.

Thank you Ms. Garret, you were a beacon of light in a very dark time and for that we are all the better.

[Donna Milanka]

Hello there! We've posted a link from your website to the Betty Garrett Fan Page on Facebook's social site.

We're posting all sorts of goodies there... including info on Betty's upcoming 90th Birthday extravaganza in the heart of Hollywood, next month on Sunday May 31st at Henry Fonda's MUSIC Box Theatre.

It's a fundraiser in Betty's honour, benefiting not for profit Theatre West (which she is a Founding Member of and it's the longest running of its kind - over 40 years), along with a Green Space project that is being built atop of the Hollywood Freeway - 44 acres of park land between Hollywood and Santa Monica Boulevard. Honorary Co-Chairs include Norman Lear, Barbara & Garry Marshall, as well as Lee Meriwether.