Actress and singer Debbie Reynolds died yesterday at 84, sadly a mere day after her daughter Carrie Fisher passed away at the all-too-young age of 60 after a life of big ups and huge downs. Who says you can’t die from a broken heart.
I never had the honor to meet Ms. Reynolds, nor her daughter, but I have a connection. So, I am modifying the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” game in honor of the woman I fell in love with thanks to her role in “Tammy and the Bachelor.” (I saw the movie, released in 1957, as a TV rerun sometime in the early ‘60s.)
During the Korean War (Conflict), Peter Antos, his brother Steven Antos, their best buddy Kenny Davis – all from Pontiac, Michigan — and Lou Tulianello, from the Bronx, enlisted in the Army (Gunnery Division, I think) and formed The Four Joes after initially calling themselves The Four G.I. Joes. They travelled throughout now-South Korea entertaining their fellow soldiers, joining forces with singer and heartthrob Eddie Fisher. Don’t get me wrong, The Four Joes were heartthrobs in their own right, just not nearly as famous as Fisher.
On May 23rd, 1955, at the 8th Army Headquarters in Seoul, Korea, according to “legend,” also known as the story told by Peter and Steve (more on that later), Debbie Reynolds joined The Four Joes, performing for our troops and it was that night that Peter and Steve introduced Reynolds to Eddie Fisher. The two, Debbie and Eddie that is, were soon married and lived happily ever after. NOT! Fisher’s eyes would soon be wandering and in 1958 he left Reynolds for Elizabeth Taylor, but not before he fathered Reynolds’ daughter, Carrie Fisher.
(The photos in this blog are (One, above) a shot of Debbie with The Four Joes in Korea; (Below) the group of entertainers, including The Four Joes, Eddie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds (head scarf next to accordian) and others, that night in May 1955; and (Below) The Four Joes and Eddie Fisher.)
After the war, The Four Joes (sometimes just The Three Joes) travelled around the country, doing shows in Las Vegas with Pearl Bailey and at the Copacabana in New York City, opening for Nat King Cole. Have I dropped enough names yet?
After a few years, the Pontiac, Michigan boys had to give up show biz and earn a real living. Peter settled down in his home town and married Helen Govenis in March, 1959, and nineteen months later, Helen gave birth to her first child, Betsy Lynn. Twenty-five years later, Betsy met a guy also in the undercard section of show business, a moonlighting stand-up comedian who had become a regular middle act at Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle in Royal Oak, Michigan and a voice impersonator on the incredibly popular Dick Purtan Show on Q95.5 in Motown. A year later, Betsy would marry the comic-wannabe in November, 1986, one year and 15 day after their first date. Her groom — drumroll please — was and is me, 30 years later.
As for the “legend” of “The Debbie Reynolds Incident,” we – Betsy, me, her brother and sister and her cousins – assumed that Peter and Steve Antos were, how do I put this, oh yeah, completely full of shit. Peter and Steve also frequently talked that they ran into a fellow “Detroiter” in New York, an actor down on his luck, and loaned him twenty bucks. That actor was Robert Wagner. Yes, THAT Robert Wagner: the “Number Two” Robert Wagner and the Robert Wagner who knows all-too-well that the only kind of wood that doesn’t float is Natalie Wood. Ahem.
Fast forward to 2002 and the Los Angeles premiere of Austin Powers’ third installment, “Goldmember.” Although I had been canned by Ford the previous year, along with my friend and boss, CEO Jacques Nasser, the head of Jaguar PR (then a part of Ford Motor Company) and a great friend, Simon Sproule, called me up and asked if Betsy and I would accept a fully-paid trip to LA to be at the premiere. Why me? Well, two years before, while still head of Ford PR, and Jag PR reporting up to me, I got a call from Jay Roach, the director of the Austin Powers films (“Meet the Parents” later), asking if I could get them a vintage Jag to use in the movie as the Shaguar. I called up Simon, who along with me loved the idea, and he sent the request to the top of the chain, Mike Dale.
Dale, a bit of a stuck-up p—ck, “shat” on the idea right out of the box, saying it would be demeaning to the vaunted British brand. Luckily, Dale retired a few months later and the Shaguar was a go! If you remember the movie, it opens with Austin, played by Tom Cruise, parachuting into the said Shaguar, shouting “Yeah, baby, yeah!”
Back to our story. After the movie showing, we gathered outside the theater at Universal Studios with all the stars of the picture and more. Betsy and I shook hands and took pictures with the Olsen Twins, Frau Farbissina (the lovely Mindy Sterling) and Mini Me (Verne Troyer, a real sweetheart). We even grabbed a, er, “shot” of Monica Lewinsky.
And then it happened: we spotted Number Two, Robert Wagner, and his wife Jill St. John, enjoying a glass of wine. Bets and I made a bee-line for the famous couple. I introduced us and then told him that I had to ask him a question. He said “sure.” I let him have it: “My father-in-law was in a singing group from Pontiac, Michigan in the late ‘50s, and said that they loaned you twenty bucks in New York City.”
Wagner didn’t hesitate. “Oh,” he said, “You mean The Four Joes?”
I looked at Betsy; her jaw had dropped. It wasn’t “legend,” it was the gospel. We chit-chatted with the two for a few more minutes and got some great photos with Wagner’s arm around Betsy’s shoulder and Jill St. John giving her the “stink eye.”
R.I.P. Debbie Reynolds, Carrie Fisher and Eddie Fisher: Say hi to Peter and Steve Antos. May the ULTIMATE FORCE be with you.
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