TV Radio Mirror (Jul - Dec 1962)

80 My father and mother and sister — my friends who were near — had no doubts about me. But it's cost my relatives in St. Louis a lot of phone calls when they've read what they assume is absurd. They still want to be reassured, and I don't blame them. I would like to emphasize that, as a whole, the press has been marvelous to me. Some of my best pals are reporters, editors, and columnists. I can be perfectly frank with them. They have the good taste I like. But that made the disappointments even harder to bear. Imagine my surprise when I read false accounts of how I was feuding with Connie Stevens, and then with Dorothy Provine. I've never had a feud with anyone, because I refuse to be that petty. I'm not envious of the ability I see in others. I admire it! When an accident — a falling light on the set — gave me a brain concussion soon after I started as Kate, I was in a hospital to recover for several months. All my pals came to cheer me up, deluged me with flowers and messages. So what appeared in print? Sob stories about poor, sad little me, utterly forsaken and alone in heartless Hollywood! They may have aroused sympathy, but that phony version made me furious. I've built loyal friendships wherever I've been, and this definitely includes Hollywood. Yet those uncalled-for cracks made me so miserable I finally reached the point where I flew back to New York and my family there almost every weekend. If I hadn't been under long-term contract for the series, I would have left Hollywood. For instance, there was the date who was so dented by the party-girl publicity I was getting that he believed it. He got too fresh when he was taking me home. I made him stop his car on Sepulveda Boulevard, one of the main freeways in Los Angeles, and I walked home the rest of the way. It was the last mile home, and I trudged along in the dark. I'd do it again if I had to. A new way to say no I valued the stories that had appeared about me in TV Radio Mirror. This is one magazine I always have been glad to be in. But, after a while, I no longer was asked for interviews. One evening at an industrial gathering, I had a chance to talk directly to Eunice Field, the West Coast Editor. She's as wise as she is pretty. When I made UP my mind to ask her point-blank why this magazine wasn't interested in anything on me anymore, she answered kindly, "Perhaps we've read so much about the kookie things you do, you don't seem the type for our readers." She never knew that when I reached home that night I cried, thinking that over again. I hadn't suspected even people as discerning as she is could believe I was at fault. That's when I resolved to say no in a new way. Until then, I felt nothing could be done. I'd firmly turned down the requests that confused me. When I was polite, but wouldn't go along with the gags, I was written about as a bit balmy, anyway. When I reached my decision that I wouldn't cater to sensationalism, I was passed by for others who could be played up for their antics. But I realized, at last, that it was immature of me to be so discouraged by a few tricky operators and their fabricated stories. I'm a romanticist, but I'm realistic, ultimately. I saw I didn't have to run away, shrink in silence, either. From that time on, whenever I read something that isn't so about myself, I refused to despair. I try to get on the phone to the person who wrote it and DID KATHY SAY NO ONCE TOO OFTEN? Newspapers recently headlined Kathy Nolan's biggest NO when she refused to sign a new contract for "The Real McCoys." Producer Irving Pincus was quoted as saying he'd offered to double her $l250-a-week salary and throw in a percentage of the profits — but couldn't agree to her other "demands." "It was never a question of 'demands,' " Kathy tells TV Radio Mirror. "Signing a new five-year contract would mean ten years of my life given to one role — the most important, most productive years of a woman's life. I'm twenty-eight. I want a home and children. But no romance could really thrive under these circumstances. "There's a lot more to playing a regular part in a series than working in front of the cameras. Bob Fuller would say, 'Let's go fishing this weekend' — and I'd have to answer, 'Can't. Sot to go to Peoria for a personal appearance.' A couple of weeks later, I'd say, 'Let's take the day off and go to Laguna' — and Bob couldn't make it. "Now I'm not only making records but have been asked to sing and dance on TV variety guest shots. I've been approached about three Broadway shows so far — two musicals — as well as movies." At the moment, Kathy is glad she said NO to the new TV contract. But is this one time she should have said YES? What do you think? ask, "Just where did you get your information?" To my astonishment, invariably they're glad to hear the facts. I say no now, when I must, with a happy feeling. For I dare to be myself. Although Dick Crenna and I had been a "team" in the series, I didn't become as good friends as I am now with him and his wife until this past year. When we finally sat down to talk at length after four years in the show, I was amazed to discover even Dick had strange ideas about what I did — thanks to that old, kookie publicity! Sometimes you can't win. When the Spanish distributor of our show invited us to Puerto Rico for a week, I was able to fly there with Tony Martinez, who is Pepino in "The Real McCoys." Since he's from there, he was given a royal welcome. The newspapers also headlined that he was bringing me home to meet his family because we were getting married! The man I'll marry Marriage will be wonderful for me. when the time is right for this step. Bob Fuller and I have been going together for over two-and-a-half years now. What you may possibly have read about Bob and me is guessing, because we haven't given any stories on love in the past two years. Our plans are not definite yet. Just because we have a disagreement over a cup of coffee at times, I'm not going to run to some writer and weep over what is bound to be a laugh for us in another day. Bob is the exception to my rule of always take time to become friends first. I didn't have time with him! Mutual friends arranged a blind date for us, and friendship had to follow the initial impact. The reason I have never married is that I want to be sure. I want to be married only once. I have my silver pattern and keep adding to it. I have a hope chest full of china, guest towels, and linen. I'd rather have yellowed linen than the wrong man! Bob and I still go out with others at times. Keely Smith and her brother are mutual friends of ours. Most of my friends are married couples: the Edmund O'Briens, the Danny Thomases, the Andy Williamses, Nick and Carol Adams, the Dick Crennas and the Charlton Hestons. I know interesting men in the business world. Nobody ever talks about my business sense, but Kathy Nolan Enterprises has a suite of offices in an ultra-modern building on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. I handle my realestate holdings, my interest in a printing firm, in a bowling alley, my stocks, personal appearances, and back a public relations firm there. My own office is efficient, but feminine. I've a silk scene of a romantic spot in Rome stretching across one wall. My desk is a table with a pink marble top. All the rest is cream and gold and pink. So is my life, now that I've learned how to say no! — as told to Tex Maddox This summer, Kathy Nolan can still be seen as Kate in "The Real McCoys." on ABC-TV, Thurs.. 8:30 p.m. edt.