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WHAT LIZ MONTGOMERY SAYS
by Rose Perlberg
TV Picture Life
October 1965
"We're so thrilled, I can't tell you," she told us when we visited her on the Bewitched set recently. "We wanted another one right away (the first Asher heir arrived a year ago July) and when you're realy hoping for something like this, it's terribly exciting when it happens.
"We found out in mid-March. The doctor called me on the set to confirm the tests. Bill was in his office and I dashed in to tell him. I didn't even have to say a word," she giggled, remembering. "He knew the minute I poked my head in the door; I was grinning from ear-to-ear. Then, we both cried a little bit, we were so happy. I love being pregnant," she announced in her most breathless wide-eyed tones. "I adore it. I find the whole thing completely fascinating. So does Bill. We're both naturally curious people and this is like one amazing adventure. I'm just as excited as I was the first time around!"
With an attitude like that, you might expect Liz to enthusiastically endorse natural childbirth, but at the suggestion, she grimaced and shook her head so vigorously that her blonde hair tumbled across her face. "No thank you!" she stated, most positively. "It may be fine for other people, but I'd just as soon not!"
Pressed for an explanation, she shrugged, "I think you feel enough without having to go through all that. I was in hard labor last time; I'm very well aware of what goes on."
But the above, we discovered, wasn't the real reason for Liz's decision. It isn't the fear of pain that makes her shy away from giving birth in full consciousness. It's simply that she really doesn't need the experience. To many women who insist they wouldn't have a baby any other way, just delivering that baby may be the most important thing in their lives. In preparing daily for nine months for that one event, they probably find a kind of satisfaction and fulfillment that doesn't exist for them in every-day life. Liz doesn't need that kind of fulfillment; her life is already extraordinarily rich.
She best explained that when she said, "What a baby means is just one more marvelous thing we have to share--livng proof of our love. We're terribly lucky, first of all, to have each other and this just makes our love more of a reality and that much more fantastic."
"We want a big family," she said, answering the next question, "simply because we both adore children. I was raised with a marvelous group of children and I'd like my baby to have brothers and sisters close to his own age to grow up with; I think he'd miss a lot if he didn't.
"I don't care if the next one is a boy or a girl. It would be fun for Billy to have a brother so close in age, but if it's a girl, it'll be fun for her to have a big brother. If it is a girl, we're going to name her Rebecca Dare, after my grandmother, who passed away recently. Granny was so excited about our son that I promised her we'd name our first little girl for her.
"Bill doesn't care, either," she volunteered. "He's just excited about becoming a father again. He's a marvelous father; you ought to see him and the baby. They crawl around the floor together and he roughs little Billy up a bit and the kid adores it. I think Bill is probably every woman's idea of what a father should be--he's sensitive, strong and warm and he isn't afraid to show his feelings. A lot of men might feel that being tender and sentimental are signs of weakness, but this isn't true. My Bill is a tower of strength.
"He sure showed that when I gave birth last time. This time, I'm going to try and make it a little easier on him. For one thing, I hope to get to the hospital a little earlier. Last time, oh, boy! I didn't get that much advance warning." She grinned wryly. "We had been expecting the baby at any moment, but I never got the preliminary pains. Bill went to work that day as usual and he called me every hour. I kept saying, 'I feel a little peculiar, but that's all.' Around noon, he called and I said, 'Nothing's changed, why don't you go on to lunch.' Then, it happened.
"I started having real sharp pains. I was alone in our house at the Beach. I tried to get Bill, but he was already at lunch. Then I frantically called my mother who was out here from back East, but staying in town. She dashed out to Malibu and before she could say, 'How do you feel,' I yelped, 'Ouch!' She looked at her watch, and two minutes later, I said, 'Ouch' again. Mom said, 'I think we'd better get you somewhere!' We called the doctor, who was at the hospital and when he heard the news, he kind of gulped, 'I suggest you get here as fast as you can!'
"We just about made it to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica. One of the nurses who helped us in said she couldn't remember when they'd had a baby born in the lobby, but this might be the one!
"Bill got there five minutes after we did and I still don't know how he did it! He was in the labor room with me the whole time--until they wheeled me into the delivery room. I know it must have been a terrible strain on him, but he was marvelous; he didn't show it for a second." She grinned again. "The poor thing never even got a chance to pace up and down, like other expectant fathers!
"Whenever I think about expectant fathers, I remember this dinner party we were at recently. A woman there was terribly pregnant and someone said, 'When is your baby due?' She said quite cheerfully, 'Yesterday!' Her husband turned kind of pale. Halfway through the dinner, she turned to him and she said, very calmly, 'Dear, I think you ought to call the hospital!' At that, he fainted dead away! And he was the one who'd been saying all along, 'Don't you worry about a thing, darling. When the time comes, I'll handle everything!' I tease Bill about that, but I know he'd never fall apart; he just isn't the type."
We wondered whether Liz felt any different courting the stork for the second time. "Nope," she cheerfully chirped. "Before, I had the weirdest cravings for cantaloupe and cucumbers, and now it's eggplant and spare-ribs, but other than that, it really isn't any different. The only thing is that I feel a little less apprehensive, because I know what it's all about. You know, the first time everything is new and you're not quite sure of what to expect.
"I remember," another giggle escaped, "the first time I felt little Bill kick--that was something. I was lying in bed and our Siamese cat, Zip-Zip, was sitting on my tummy. All of a sudden, the kid gave a tremendous kick and it sent Zip-Zip flying across the room. The poor cat thought I'd hit him and he was horribly hurt. He glared at me, let out a tremendous Hsssssss! and stalked out of the room with his tail as big as a feather duster. He wouldn't have anything to do with me for a week!
"Now Zip-Zip and little Bill are tremendous friends. That baby loves everyone and everybody loves him." She beamed like any other proud mother. "I'm especially thrilled the way Bill's two children from his first marriage, Liane (13) and Brian (11) have taken to him. They live with their mother, but they're over at our house a lot. Liane is the perfect little mother; she handles the baby like a real pro. Brian's been even more amazing. They can't wait for the next one and neither can I.
"I'm going to work right up until the last month. It doesn't bother me at all. In fact, I feel less tired, being busy all day, than I did when I was sitting home last time, with nothing to do except think about how tired I was.
"I'll definately keep on working after the baby comes," she went on. "The first one didn't interfere with my working and I don't see why a second one should. We have a marvelous nurse and a great cook and they take wonderful care of little Bill while Bill and I are at work. We spend our evenings and weekends with him; we love him like crazy and he knows it. He's a marvelously well-adjusted baby. He's got the best temperament in the world, always laughing and carrying on. He's a real little ham-bone."
Most mothers talk glowingly of how the little one made her feel closer to her husband. But not Liz. "I don't think we've ever been far enough apart for a baby or anything else to bring us any closer," she earnestly insisted. "The baby is just an added joy; there's no space in between for him to fill.
"A friend of mine once said to me, 'You know, it's a strange thing: when I'm pregnant, my husband is so outwardly sweet, he's always doing little things. But I get the feeling he's only acting this way because I'm pregnant and he thinks these are the things he should do. I wish he'd do them all the time.' I thought that was terribly sad." Liz said quietly.
"Maybe I'm just awfully lucky, but I could never have that complaint. Bill and I have been married for two years and I still feel as if I'm on my honeymoon. He's constantly doing little things--little tiny things, that really don't mean that much, but can make a whole lot of difference, you know. Like," she gestured sweepingly, "in the morning if I can sleep late, he tiptoes around and then he leaves me a little note saying, 'I love you.' He's always opening doors for me, jumping up to light my cigarette and saying, 'Darling, would you like a drink?' instead of my offering to get him one or hearing him say, 'Would you make me a drink?' Golly! There are so many things: getting me little gifts and flowers or never forgetting to thank me for something I've done...He's forever showing me how much he loves me. Of course, I'd know it even if he didn't do all this, but his doing it makes me feel that much more loved. Every morning, it's the most marvelous thing to wake up and know I have a whole new day to share with him. And it just gets better and better!" she broke off, smiling softly to herself.
"Fun" was the word that cropped up most constantly in our conversation with Liz. To her, work is fun, the baby is fun, the idea of having more babies is fun, and being married seems to be the most fun of all. Her use of it isn't for show, any more than Bill's constant display of affection towards her is to impress any visitor on the set. He'll sneak up behind her, put his arms around her and kiss her lightly on the top of her nose, or he'll stand with his arm protectively around her shoulders. And when Liz looks at him, or talks about him, she glows with an inner radiance that no actress, no matter how talented, could pretend.
It's the perfect atmosphere for raising lots of little Ashers. And apparently, that's just what's on the agenda. It was from the minute little Bill was born. "When they were wheeling me out of the delivery room," Liz remembers, "I said, 'See you next year!'"
She kept her word and she doesn't deny that she may very well be making the same promise this October on her second exit from the same room!