Anything Goes with Mitzi Gaynor

78-year-old entertainer Mitzi Gaynor is still bringing audiences her specialty, by giving them the old razzle dazzle with her one-woman show, Razzle Dazzle: My Life Behind the Sequins, which she will perform at The Welk Resorts Theatre September 2 through September 5.

 

A rare triple-threat commodity in the world of the business known as show, Miss Gaynor has been singing, dancing and acting her way into the hearts of fans for over 60 years now, and along the way has worked with the likes of Bing Crosby, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and even Marilyn Monroe.

 

Her film resume is chock full of stellar celluloid moments, in which she was able to showcase all of her talents, in films such as There’s No Business Like Show Business, Les Girls and Anything Goes.

 

Her turn as Nellie Forbush in 1958’s South Pacific saw Gaynor not only wash that man right outta of her hair in a lyrical sense, but she was also nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Actress for the role she is most identified with.

 

However, being the true entertainer that she is, Gaynor also parlayed her film credits into a successful run as a Las Vegas headliner for many years, while she also hit the road with her incomparable knack for song and dance.

 

And, she provided small screen viewers with glimmers of flash and dazzle in a series of annual specials that aired throughout the 1960s and into the late ’70s. A collection of these gems became an Emmy-winning documentary, “Mitzi Gaynor Razzle Dazzle: The Special Years,” which marked the seventh such accolade that the venerable showstopper has garnered over her storied career, while off camera, she enjoyed a 52-year marriage to Jack Bean, who passed away in 2006.

   

The Rage Monthly chatted with the very charming Gaynor about her showbiz past, the slap happy nature of Les Girls director George Cukor, memories of co-stars and the current crop of musicals.  

 

Mitzi Gaynor: Oh, aren’t you dear? Thank you so much, that’s very, very nice!

 

MG: When my husband, Jack Bean, told me who I was going to do a picture with, of course I just really flipped out, because of starring with Bing Crosby. I had been such a big fan of his for all of my life and I grew up listening to him.

 

We got along extremely well; he was a Taurus and I’m a Virgo, and Taurus’ and Virgo’s get along very well together. And Bing used to call me “Brookie,” and I asked him why. He said that when I walked away my little fanny looked like a Brook trout going upstream.

 

And, of course I got to dance with Donald (O’Connor), and in Show Business I was his sister. Some of the best dancing I know that I ever did was with Donald; when we did “De-Lovely” together that was so beautiful.   

MG: That was because of Ernie Flatt; Ernie Flatt and I started out in show business together and we were very good friends. And when I got to do this, Zizi Jeanmaire (her co-star) had her husband do her numbers, and the big coup was that I got to do the number for “Anything Goes.”

MG: Well, I was supposed to do White Christmas with Donald, and he was sick, so they got Danny Kaye. And Danny Kaye had done movies with Vera-Ellen, so I was out, Donald was out and Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen were in.

 

If I could live my life over again I would, honest to God, live it at Paramount; because the studio powers-that-be wanted Donald and I to do musical versions of Preston Sturges’ Miracle on Morgan Creek, The Palm Beach Story and all of those wonderful movies. But Donald wanted to do something else, so that didn’t work.

MG: One time Gene Kelly said, “He’s so full of sh**!” Cukor was a slapper and he couldn’t slap me, because I would have punched him out. So, he couldn’t smack me, he couldn’t smack Gene Kelly, and he certainly wasn’t going to smack Kay Kendall, so he kind of smacked Taina Elg. So, we did our very best to not do anything wrong, so Taina wouldn’t get smacked.

 

I’m telling you all kinds of bad things, but it was fun, and his personality would just radiate in the morning when you’d come in. As soon as you’d walk in on the set there would be music and he’d say, “Darling, my beautiful cast, come darlings, come, come, come and give me a kiss,” and then we’d go to work. He made everything fun.     

MG: Jack Cole did the choreography, but he came down with Hepatitis and had to quit. So, Gene did our motorcycle number that he and I did together. And, I think that’s really good work.

 

Gene, the dear heart that he was, was let go and this was going to be the end of his tenure at Metro, after all he had done for musical films, my God; and we never ever knew a thing, because he didn’t have any cross words with us or anybody.

 

MG: Marilyn worked like a dog for Jack Cole for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Jane Russell would say, “I’m tired, I’m going home.” And Marilyn would practically be on her hands and knees saying, “No, but I’ll do it another time.”

 

Because she wanted to do such a good job, and I thought she was fabulous in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. And think of how great she was in There’s No Business Like Show Business in that number that she did, “Heat Wave.”   

 

MG: I can say that it wasn’t hard, because I was lucky enough that Jack could be with me all the time. I didn’t go on the road by myself, in other words. Jack and I were like one person.

MG: Ten years ago, there was no such thing as a musical. And now, of course, with “Glee” and with “Dancing with the Stars” and all those things, life is changing a lot and kids really want to learn to dance. 

 

I’m the president of the board of directors of Professional Dancers Society, and one of our members is Joe Tremaine, who has these fabulous schools; and he says that his teachers have never been so busy, because people want to dance, dance is joy.