TV Radio Mirror (Jan - Jun 1955)

Earl was booked for concerts and toured with opera companies. He and Markey moved all the way up to 74th Street. On December 23, 1941, Wendy Ann was born. ("We both wanted a girl," Earl says. "We didn't even have a name for a boy.") War broke out that same month and, although Earl was in prime condition, the draft board put him in a classification for men with dependents — which made sense, for he had no private means to support his wife and baby. Earl, however, wanted to do his part and signed up with the USO to go overseas. He went. To the South Pacific. He came back a little beat-up. He got malaria in the islands, a back injury when he helped unload .50 calibre ammunition from a ship, and a slight concussion from a bombing in Darwin, Australia. All told, he was on the receiving end of 27 bombings and lost 30 pounds. "I had to report to my draft board, and the doctor examined me and said, 'You look as if you'd been through the war.' I told him, 'That's a fact.' The medic said: 'You're 4-F now.' " Earl had his clothes shrunk and auditioned at the City Center Theater for a revival of "New Moon." He was chosen to co-star with Dorothy Kirsten. "And there I was discovered again. This time it was by Max Gordon, who was about to produce a new musical, 'Firebrand of Florence,' by Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin. Max gave me the male lead and I was overjoyed. With a big Broadway show, I figured I'd get fame and fortune." The big Broadway show was a $300,000 flop. But in the audience, before it closed, was Al Goodman — and he discovered Earl for radio. "For the next three years, I was in clover," Earl says. "There was the Prudential Hour and the Cities Service, Coca-Cola and Celanese programs." Al Goodman thought so highly of Earl's voice that he also featured Earl in seventeen operetta albums made for Victor. But, in 1946, Earl found himself facing a dead mike. Most advertisers had stopped sponsoring musical shows. J^arl went on tours, onenight stands and the night-club circuits. The rollercoaster career continued and, when he did a one-shot on Paul Whiteman's television show in 1950, he was discovered again. "Pops," who described Earl's voice as the most versatile in the business, signed him to a contract. In addition, Earl picked up his own radio and TV shows on CBS. "And then the bottom fell out of music on TV," Earl says. "Suddenly, sponsors realized that, for the money they put into one musical, they could pay for a halfdozen panel and dramatic shows." The bottom also fell out of Earl's realestate deals. He was renovating four different houses and paying for it out of his TV income. Then there was no TV income and he lost the property. He was once again a wandering minstrel. It was in December of 1953 that Earl was singing in an auditorium in Erie, Pennsylvania. Robert Q. Lewis was the emcee. He heard Earl, and he saw Earl literally stop the show. Robert Q. was then organizing his current afternoon show, which got its start in January of 1954. Earl signed and the rest is music. Among singers, Earl Wrightson is recognized as having one of the best singing techniques. He merely opens his mouth and a big, beautiful song pours out. It looks so simple, but he has worked like a stevedore to achieve this, and he still works. He still spends a full hour, five mornings a week, with a voice coach, Polly Robertson — who, Earl says, is like a second mother to him. She is the only individual Earl ever sings for. ("I can sing for two or three thousand people, but not for one or two," Earl says.) At home, he does no vocalizing of any kind. He doesn't even listen to records or radio programs that feature singers. He takes his music instrumental and in symphonic form. The Wrightson home is a converted red barn painted barn-red. Frankly, any other similarity between the present barn and the one frequented by cattle and chickens is strictly illusory. The Wrightson home is made for comfort. There are three bedrooms and two baths. The most interesting room is the Early American "keeping room." This is a combination living-dining-kitchen-den-ballroom. It is thirty-five by twenty feet, with a fireplace at one end. Here, anything goes — roasting and broiling, dancing, taffy pulls, music, and Halloween parties. The decorating of the walls has been reversed: The lower half is plaster, painted hunter green, the upper half has been paneled, and the oak-beamed ceiling is white. There is a phonograph for Earl's concert records — and Wendy's collection of Eddie Fisher. There is the Wrightson collection of pewter. There is a spinet piano and an antique organ, both played by Markey. (Earl still calls her Markey: "We began calling each other by our last names when we met at the bank, and we still do.") And their appetites have never diminished: "A big night out finds us in an expensive restaurant reading a menu like it was a best-seller." While Markey does most of the cooking, Earl considers cookery his hobby. Most of his recipes feature garlic. He likes garlic in everything but vanilla ice cream. There is only one dish he recommends which lacks garlic. "It's our favorite sandwich. You toast some white bread," Earl directs, "spread it with peanut butter and fill with thin slices of onions. It's really delicious. Honest. You hardly miss the garlic." The garlic is sometimes a little rough on Lois Hunt, who duets with Earl on the show. But Lois is used to it. She teamed up with Earl on his own television show a few years back. She and her husband are old friends of the Wrightsons. Daughter Wendy Ann, naturally conservative at thirteen, favors ordinary hamburgers. She is a bright, pretty child, a combination of both parents in looks. She has her mother's brown eyes and Earl's brown hair. A few years ago, when she was about nine, she was upset by Earl's TV romancing. "She caught me coming into the house and took my hand and led me up to her room," he recalls. "She gave me a talking to about making love to all those women. She was so serious about it. I explained to her that it was makebelieve. Making love to someone on television was no more real than her playing an angel in the Christmas play." Earl, without making a thing of it, has more or less kept his two women apart from show business. "Now Markey can be very accurate in her criticism of music and singing," Earl says, "but that's as far as she goes. Personally, she is cheerful, modest and a very good listener. Anyway, I talk too fast for her to interrupt my interruptions." At home they lead ordinary, orthodox lives. Between Earl's property and that of the nearest neighbor there is a pond. In the winter, the whole family skates there. In the spring, it's walks and, in the summer, it's the beach. Markey is a Girl Scout counselor and Wendy is a Girl Scout. Earl's a happy man. "I just hope the bottom doesn't fall out, this time," he says. "What I mean is — I hope that I don't have to be discovered again. I hope this one takes." "Nil YUTH" CHIN AND THROAT STRAP Beautiful Women Have Used This Method only 15 Minutes a Day A firm, smooth chin and a slim, wrinkle-free throat are two of the obviously most important elements in looking beautiful. Smart and glamorous women have recognized the beauty importance of the throat and chin line for hundreds of years— and many have used just this way of rejuvenating their appearance. It works in a simple way. Just follow the easy directions, wear Smooth-e-e 15 minutes a day, and massage with a mildly astringent throat cream. This helps to stimulate the circulation, passively exercise tbe muscles and improve the skin tone. Young loveliness may be yours again. 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