Footnotes and Extras
1963
'When the cats come out all hell breaks loose.'
The 4th of July party
in 1963 was nearly cancelled by Anna after a major tiff between the powers that
be at the theater. Tensions had been brewing all that year between the triangle
of Anna, Vivian and Stella with Vivian being the focal point of the tension.
Vivian was under a great deal of pressure at the theater dealing with
production casting, scheduling and a number of turnovers in recent years. Vivian
was still among the actors in the production as well thus had to be prepared on
stage and behind the scenes and some of it got to her. In the midst of this,
Vivian's relationship with Stella grew colder each year. Part of Stella's role
in the theater was to attract an audience and also to bring other potential
audience draws to the theater. Vivian didn't feel that Stella was doing an
adequate job in drawing celebrity types to the theater. Vivian noticed that
Stella could round up some popular people for gatherings and parties but rarely
brought any big names to the theater. Furthermore, Stella had grown into a habit
of not showing up for show dates she originally agreed to be at thus creating a
lot of havoc with the production of the show. These awols from Stella were
mostly due to personal affairs that she had to tend to but the damage was the
same nonetheless. Stella also became a bit 'unmanageable' for Vivian at the
theater when afterall by 1963 Stella had starred in a number of major Hollywood
movies and her career was well underway thus she didn't feel that she needed any
real direction or education from Vivian and Vivian resented this.
**
These tensions came to a head at a theater presentation in late May of
1963 when the night before the show Vivian and Stella had it out during the
rehearsal. The two women nearly had to be separated and Anna was furious with
Vivian. Stella threatened to catch the first flight to Los Angeles but decided
to stay at the pleading of Anna. Vivian walked the theater and literally
quit the production and in a show of solidarity five other actors walked from
the theater as well including Sherry Glasone and Laura Burns, in the meantime
Stella vowed to never return to the theater if Vivian were there. A personality
clash with a good dose of stress created quite a riff; Anna was not prepared for
five actors to leave the theater along with Vivian and as a result the two weeks
showing was cancelled.
**
After 2 weeks of stubborn silence Anna was
contacted by Mary Strat who urged Anna to contact Vivian and resolve the matter
before it was too late. Anna agreed and sought out Vivian in the second week of
June. Mary had informed Anna of some frustrations that Vivian was having and
Anna approached Vivian with these concerns. Anna was quite poiniant yet
understanding with Vivian. First of all Vivian really couldn't quit being that
she was a partner with Anna. Secondly Anna pointed out that many various
celebrities and personalities would come and go through the theater and Vivian
would have be more patient in melding with these various personalities if she
wanted them to appear at the theater. Vivian seemed to take this to heart and
agreed but told Anna she was too stressed in managing all the aspects of the
theater as well as being in the production; Vivian wanted to produce the show,
direct the show, nothing more. Anna agreed to take on more responsibilites
herself and granted Vivian what she wanted but insisted that she and the others
return to the theater immediately and to never again walk the theater. Vivian
agreed and apologized, but the two women were distant for some
time.
**
Surprisingly Anna then confronted Stella about her behavior. Anna
did not reference their friendship but sternly pointed out that it was Vivian's
production and basically Vivian's theater. The actors in the theater looked to
Vivian and worked with her day after day and in fact respected Vivian thereofore
Stella needed to respect Vivian's input and direction if she were to perform
there.
Stella took all this in, nodded her head and said to Anna, "aw, I
love you hun." Anna replied, "well i'm glad you understand dear." Stella calmly
added, "well i'm gonna miss that ole theater, so who'll be at the pool party?"
This was not the reply Anna had anticipated and thus told Stella there may not
be a pool party. Anna and Stella were cold shoulder for about 2 months but the
ladies resolved their differences by late June when Stella called with a great
theme party idea and Anna just couldn't resist.
**
Anna later threatened
no pool parties the following year if Stella didn't appear in theater so Stella
gave in but her and Vivian's relationship remained rather cold for a number of
years thereafter. Anna and Vivian actually became closer after this debacle but
the nature of their relationship changed to being more business-like. The three ladies seemed to smooth over this riff, Vivian was given some relief by Anna pitching in more, and Stella worked harder in 63 to deliver some high profile names to the theater but the repercussions of the whole feud ran much deeper with others in the theater who on different fronts felt betrayed after they made the effort to walk out in protest. Laura Burns never returned to the theater, and also missing for some time at the theater in 1963 would be Sherry Glasone, Donna Mehnger and Ken Stams.
Despite it all, by 1963 the Independence Day pool party was back on
track with Anna insisting that Vivian AND Stella both attend and with the help of Mary Strat, Sherry and Donna would also return.