Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1963)

CONNIE STEVENS continued “Just think for a moment of the success I’ve had without really trying very hard,” she declared earnestly. “Last year I won Photoplay’s Gold Medal Award as the most popular actress, though I’ve never taken an acting lesson. I’m considered one of the top three female singers in the country, yet I’ve never had a singing lesson. I’ve won the Motion Picture Exhibitors’ poll although I have never been a really dedicated actress. “All these things have come to me the easy way. I’ve read columns which refer to me as the ‘Golden Girl.’ I think perhaps that might he a good description of me, only because everything I’ve ever touched professionally has turned to gold. It’s happened so often that after a while I began to take all my good fortune for granted. But not any more. Now I ask myself why. Why should I have been so fortunate? What did I do to deserve it? I never worked terribly hard, I never studied. So, why? A sorority girl Connie paused a moment and then added softly, “Do you know that in all the years I’ve appeared on ‘Hawaiian Eye’ I never even took the time to really study a script before shooting? Do you realize that I never knew what the completed story would be until after the show was shot? I was like a sorority girl, more concerned with extracurricular activities than with work. Why knock myself out if I could get passing grades? Why work hard if I could pass the test anyway? Like that girl, I never realized until later that the only one I was cheating was myself.” She shook her head firmly to emphasize her next words. “It wasn’t right,” she said. “I know that now. I cheated myself before, but I’ll never do it again. I’ve changed. I’m a new Connie Stevens. Not only professionally but in every other way. I want different things now — from myself, from life, from love. Didn’t like herself “Why have I changed? The answer to that is pretty complicated. Gary Clarke, the studio, the people around me — they were all part of it. But it wasn’t until I was in Australia last year that I really took a good, hard look at myself and decided I didn’t like the person I saw.” Connie’s face was grave now, her eyes clouded with pain as she recalled, “I remember how tense I was as I waited in the dressing room before my opening night performance at the Chevron Hilton Hotel in Sydney. The evening was so very important to me! It was to be my dehut as a night-club performer, but it was even more than that. It was my chance to prove I was capable of expanding my professional horizons. I had gone on suspension from Warner Brothers over this issue and now, in a few moments, I would have a chance to prove to the studio and to the world that I could be more than just a television actress. “I was so nervous. My knees shook uncontrollably as I waited in the wings. I was so afraid the audience would notice my legs shaking that I pleaded with the production manager to allow me to change into a floor-length gown. He laughed and told me how silly my fears were while he gently steered me toward the stage. I felt like I was in limbo. I could hear the music announcing my entrance, but the sound seemed a million miles away. I must have floated — or been pushed — because the next thing I knew I was standing by myself on the stage with hundreds of people staring up at me. “I don’t think I’D ever forget that audience. Perhaps they were so extraordinarily nice because they sensed my fright. I grabbed the mike and stammered, ‘Hello, all of you. I wish I wasn’t so nervous,’ and they laughed. They applauded. They called out that they were with me. They were my friends, all of them. They responded to each song I sang with wild, enthusiastic applause. "All my friends” “By the time I finished my act and came back on stage for an encore I could actually laugh ahout the fears I had had. I was filled with a heady confidence, a giggly exuberance. ‘They like me!’ I told myself. ‘I was right all along. I can be a successful night-club singer!’ “My smugness lasted only until the next evening’s performance. Opening night audiences, I discovered later, are a very special lot. They understand a performer’s nervousness and will tolerate mistakes. ( Continued on page 66)