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THOUGHT SHE COULD NEVER LOVE!
by Nancy Winelander
TV Picture Life
October 1969
If she kept jiggling fast enough the baby with the big blue eyes would let out little squeaks instead of yells. It was mid-morning snack time and babies don't give a darn who's on the telephone.
Next thing she knew, Liz's two young sons were tugging at her skirt asking for peaches and cookies--and Liz gave up.
The boys weren't really hungry. They just wanted to catch another glimpse of that fascinating creature, their new baby sister.
Liz rough-housed them as best she could while she balanced the baby and commented: "I guess I just must be a man's woman. I've always preferred men's company. I don't know what the devil I'm doing with a baby girl."
The boys looked at her a little stragely, but then decided that it must be another of their mother's kookie remarks. But when she finally shooed them out to the backyard garden, Liz made it perfectly clear to her visitor that she wasn't kidding in the least.
It's no secret that her relationship with her Bewitched co-star Agnes Moorehead is not in the least cordial. Everything is strictly business, and that's how both Liz and Agnes want it to be.
"I've had very mixed feelings about this whole thing," Liz confessed.
She wanted to get pregnant again. Liz always wanted a big family and she married a man with thoughs like her own.
Producer Bill Asher, who runs her show, is a take charge, take over guy, highly respected in the movie and television industry.
Like Liz, his interests are broader than the entertainment industry. Both of them take a lively interest in world affairs, politics and social welfare.
"We're so busy with the show, we find it hard to get directly involved," says Liz. "But at least we feels we can try to vote intelligently and pass on, when they get old enough, some world savvy to our kids."
The other "kids" are William, 5, and Robert, 4, named after her father, actor Robert Montgomery.
"My Dad has always been like that, very aware of what's going on in the world and very concerned," said Liz. "He raised me that way--and that's why I have no patience with flibbertigibbet women and lazy men."
Underneath that soft, feminine exterior, Liz is tough.
"Look," she said, "I grew up in this business. I saw what it could do to a woman, what it almost did to me. That's one reason I was so glad we had sons, Bill and I. At least a man can develop muscles, mental muscles as well as physical ones, and use 'em. A woman's got to be so subtle all the time--unless she wants to get the reputation of being a bitch.
"But I guess that's what most of us get reputations of being after a while, bitches. If you're not, people will take advantage of you until they drive you out of show business.
"Of course, I've been very lucky with Bewitched. I've got Bill there and I have tremendous professional respect for him--aside from the fact that he's my guy."
Just then Bill walked in--a casual man, slightly paunchy, slightly balding, although he's only in his early 40's.
How're my two girls?" he asked, gingerly touching the nursing baby. It was obvious he was pleased, very pleased, with having another girl in his house.
"She's going to be the most spoiled little girl in town," said Liz, "and it's going to be all your fault."
Behind his back, Bill was holding a package. He sat beside his wife and daughter on the couch and opened it. Inside, in a blue velvet-lined box, were a miniature vanity set--tiny mirror, comb and brush--fit for a princess.
"A gold hairbrush!" cried Liz. "You must be out of your mind!"
But it was obvious she was delighted.
"How come you never bought me a set like this?" she asked.
"I dunno," Bill replied. "You're a working girl. Buy one for yourself. After all, I've got to bribe this little one so she'll take care of me in my old age."
"You know," Bill said, turning to the visitor, "this really is my gal. I think it's going to take a while for Liz to get used to the fact that she isn't the only female in this house any more."
Liz looked at him thoughtfully. "You know," she said, "basically I hate women, but I can't reject my baby girl.
"I think...I think this child will probably do more for me in the long run than I can ever possibly do for her. This feeling I have for women. Sometimes, it's really unreasonable.
"Oh, I'm comfortable enough in the company of women. If I never saw a woman around, I guess I'd feel the need for some female company. But basically, bore me to death--most of them.
"And those who are accomplished, who do something in this world, are either too frightfully sure of themselves and pushy or they're so filled with hangups, wanting really to chuck it all for marriage, that they make me nervous.
"I'd be very happy to have a woman friend...if I could find one, if I could find one who didn't bore me, overpower me or make me nervous.
"That's why, to be perfectly truthful, having a baby girl scared me to death."
Liz had an easy time of it physically. Already the healthy mother of two healthy boys, she was in labor only a couple of hours at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica before giving birth to her 7-pound, 13-ounce daughter.
"No, it wasn't the birth process that bothered me. It was the responsibility of bringing up a daughter in this day and age.
"I really think it's a lot more frightening. Women can be wrecked by too much attention or too little. I don't think our basic moral code is going to change that much in Rebecca's liftime that she also couldn't be wrecked by a man, by guilt feelings, by physical decline.
"Somehow a man can survive all that so much more easily. Society doesn't put so many strictures on him. He can do what he damn pleases and people will usually applaud him for being so independent.
"I don't really care to go into any gory details, but between my father's house and Bill's house, I had a rough time. I'm sure a lot of it was my fault. But, still, it was tough."
Liz was married twice before, to Fred Cammann, a non-pro, and to actor Gig Young, considerably her senior.
"You would have thought I would have married a father image in the end--I have such a wonderful father. Instead I married someone strong like him, but otherwise quite unlike him in personality.
"I think Bill is a lot more easy-going than my father. It was what I needed, after Daddy. I didn't find it until Bill.
"What if my little girl isn't as lucky as I am?..."
Liz said men aren't the only people her daughter will have to watch out for.
"Women can be just as cruel. They get jealous," she said, "and it's no holds barred, until they destroy you--or think they've succeeded in destroying you. I think women can be a lot rougher on you in the long run than men.
"And then there's this town--Hollywood. It's bad enough trying to raise a normal, happy child anywhere, but this town has values that are unbelievable.
"A girl is expected to be a sexpot by the time she turns 13. The worst part is their mothers push them into it."
Bill nodded silently. As director of several highly successful beach party pictures--replete with some of the prettiest bikini-clad girls in town--he was well aware of what they, or their mothers, would do to get them a chance in films.
"Look," he said, as much to calm his own misgivings as Liz's, "by the time this little girl is big enough for that scene, we can give up this whole business and move some place with a more normal atmosphere."
"She's only a few days old. Let's not worry about things so far ahead," Liz said.
Just then little Bill and Bobby burst into the room.
"I guess you're right," said Liz, breaking into a grin at the sight of her two, dirt-smudged little boys.
"this little girl does have one, no two, big advantages--she has two big brothers to look after her."