Photoplay (Jan-Jun 1963)

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VAUGHN MEADER Continued, from page 56 way he always tries to make her comfortable and the way he always takes her along to wherever he’s going. To me it’s just a beautiful love story — two shy and lovely people who worked so hard together and who now kind of hold each other’s hand as everything is happening all around them. Oh yes, Vaughn is very shy, I think. And the way he’s overcome his shyness is to sing and play piano and get into this business and, especially, to do impersonations of other people. “Like with me. I’m shy, too. I used to be an outcast in high school. Because I tried to be a clown. And people would say to me, ‘Don’t act like that — it’s not ladylike.’ But so many of them didn’t understand that the way I was trying to overcome my shyness was by being funny. Jacqueline Kennedy is shy. My gosh, that’s the very basis of her appeal. She speaks so softly, like this — shhhhhh hel-lo Mr. De-Gaulle — she speaks so softly because she’s afraid. And shy. Just like everybody. “I see Vaughn Meader as I saw him before — quiet, fine, a fine human being inside. He hasn’t let any of this thing, this quick success, go to his head. A lot of people would go crazy with this kind of thing. But not Vaughn. He’s too for real. He’s too genuine. They don’t make them like him just any old day.” “Call me Chubby” Our next stop: Dressing Room No. 3. We knock and an adorable-looking little girl, Jan Rhodes (the Caroline of the troup), opens the door. Jan— who’s got about as many TV and stage credits as the real Caroline has ponies — -giggles something about the fact that she’s just taken a shower and we should excuse her if she goes on drying her hair. And then she says, still giggling. “Mr. Meader always calls me Chubby. That’s my nickname. Oh, he’s so nice. Even when I gave him a hard time he was so nice. It happened the other night. We were playing Bridgeport. And I found this Italian restaurant where they make my favorite dish of all — spaghetti with oil and loads and loads of garlic. Well, I had to tell Mr. Meader before !our big scene— the one where he leans over me and tells me the bedtime story — I had to tell him that I smelled pretty bad. But he just took a good whiff of me, screwed up his nose a little and then he said, ‘Oh, that’s all right, Chubby. I like garlic. I love garlic. I’m crazy about garlic!’ Of course I knew he was lying. I knew it bothered him just like it would have bothered anybody else. But he didn’t let on. And see what I mean, how nice he is? . . . He’s nice to everybody. He’s a very nice man. He’s not like some other people in this business, who aren’t nice at all. I want to give Mr. Meader a present when we end our run. Something real special. What’s that? — has he ever given me a present? Hmmmmmm, we’ll see on my birthday. I’ll be eleven the twenty-third of this month — and we’ll just see.” It’s 8:30 by now. The show has begun. Vaughn’s still in his dressing room, resting, , he’s not due on stage for half an hour yet. Outside his door, two men stand talking. One is Buddy Allen, Vaughn’s manager. The other is Dick O’Neill, actor. Dick says, laughing, “He’s a good poker player. I can testify to that. We play together once in a while. It’s one of the few ways the poor guy can relax nowadays.” Then, not laughing. “It’s not easy being the biggest thing in the business all of a sudden. The pressures are pretty tremendous. And to make it all worse — some of the creeps that Vaughn has to put up with! Last night we were in Norfolk at the Key Club, just sitting at a table minding our own business. And this guy comes walking over to the table, stares at Vaughn and calls out to someone, ‘You know who this screwball is? Vaughn Monroe!’ And then, a few minutes later, a girl comes over and she says to Vaughn, ‘Oh, would you please say “great vig-ah” for me?’ And Vaughn says to the girl, ‘Would you like to write some shorthand for me?’ The girl says, ‘What? I don’t get it.’ And Vaughn says, ‘Well, you do your work and I’ll be happy to do mine.’ The girl says hmphh and walks away highly insulted. . . . Funny how the truth can hurt, isn’t it? And Vaughn, while he doesn’t mean to hurt anybody — he’s certainly truthful.” Says Buddy Allen, the agent, next: “Nobody in the business has ever risen faster than Vaughn. It’s an incredible story, but true — the guy who had nothing to the guy who’s got the world at his feet. The day the record was made to the day it sold its four-millionth copy — those were eight weeks that shook the world. “The first time I saw Vaughn perform? One night last May. I had a few hours to spare this night. I went over to a workshop where comics work out. I watched one comic after another, and there was only one who interested me — Vaughn. He did a little Kennedy that night, not much; but what really interested me was that his stuff was high-level and full of imaginative satire— and that he wrote his own material. I didn’t approach him that night. I went home and I thought about him for a while. Then, a couple of days later I went down to this place in the Village where he’d picked up a small job. And by now, seeing him work in front of an audience, I was convinced that he had it, really had it. And I signed him. Big night! Big strike! “I’ve got to say two things about Vaughn. One — that he’s got a lot more talent than just as an impersonator, and that in short time he’s going to prove that this is not a flash in the pan. Two — I think that for a young boy who has had such instantaneous success and such a fantastic thing happen to him, I think he’s handling it very well. I’ve been around this business a long time. I’ve gotten to know that success is a lot more difficult to handle than failure. I’ve seen people actually go berserk with power when they’ve become successful. But not Vaughn. Not our boy. “I’ll never forget it, that night we opened at Carnegie Hall. It was a one-night date. It was an important night. Then the news TRUST YODORA For those intimate moments . . , don’t take a chance... trust Yodora and feel confident. New Yodora is a delicately scented modern beauty cream deodorant fortified with Hexachlorophene. Gives protection you can trust. Pure White. Non-Irritating. Contains no harsh Aluminum Salts FREE™ ENLARGEMEHToThr WALLET S I OO PHOTOS* ■ „us HANDLING Beautiful 21/2x31/2” silk finish, double weight, genuine photos. Send Polaroid or picture (no larger than 5x7") with $1.25 (60 for $2.25). 1 Money back guaranteed. [ROY PHOTO SERVICE • DeP' k-S. GP0B«x644,N.T.1.N.r. 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