TV Radio Mirror (Jul - Dec 1957)

Two years later, the child — Shirley Temple— and her family moved into the house next to ZaSu's, and they were neighbors and friends for years. It was Don who first taught Shirley how to ride a pony. "She liked to run over and sample my pies," ZaSu smiles. "And here's an odd coincidence: My first film was "The Little Princess' — and then, after so many years, who comes along but little Shirley and does the remake in the part Mary Pickford played." If ZaSu was both a delight and an enigma to her own children, she is merely a delight to her grandchildren. "The kids are wise to her," Ann says gleefully. "When I get ready to administer a spanking, they giggle and say, 'Betcha Grandmother leaves the room.' " ZaSu herself remarks wryly, "I guess I'm of the old school that thought spankings were old-fashioned." The famous hands are quiet as ZaSu recalls old friends. "How clever and talented they were! And how I miss them!" Sorrowfully she calls the roster of the unforgettable dead: "Edna Mae Oliver, Slim Summerville, Thelma Todd . . ." And then her hands move, and the past is reluctantly put aside. She begins to revel in the present, in her new friends, in her newfound career in television. "Gale Storm is as dear to me as my own daughter. And Hal Roach, Senior — you know, he still drops in on the lot for a chat about the old days. He likes to tease me by saying I haven't changed a bit. And I come back at him by asking if he'd like to star me in one of his old bathing-beauty, Keystone Cop series. And then there's Bones Vreeland, our production head. He's been a great help. Would you believe it? I've begun to get a flood of fan mail since I became 'Nugey.' " Her smile brightens. "The way they all take care of me around here!" ZaSu, who eats like a bird, usually brings nothing but a pint of buttermilk to the lot. But a day never passes without Roy Roberts — the captain of the luxury liner in Oh! Susanna— dropping in her dressing room with a sandwich. Or else it's Gale Storm — or even one of the "grips" — with a piece of homemade pie. "Well," exclaims Gale, "we're only paying back for all the mothering she's given us. How she hovered over me when I was pregnant!" ZaSu herself is obviously delighted by the stories told about her. She laughs as heartily as the rest, when Bill Seider, her TV director, tells the following anecdote: "I'd worked with ZaSu before, so I was prepared. But poor Roy Roberts, he didn't know. So when I heard her blow a line during rehearsal, I yelled 'Look out!' — and ducked. Roy got it square on the chest." Gale breaks in with, "We're all on to her now, and the second she fluffs a line — which she seldom does — we all begin ducking out of range. Imagine! She's the gentlest of people. But when she goofs, ZaSu Pitts starts swinging!" Others recall that she's always an hour late for appointments, because she can't stand traffic and, like as not, will pull up to the side of the road and patiently wait until the rush is over. Still others tease her slyly about her hankering to make a comeback as a serious dramatic actress. All of it pleases her, fills her with a youthful zest, brings the color into her face and the sparkle into her eyes. "Oh," ZaSu cries, "I am so lucky. My family, my friends, all of whom stood by me so loyally when my acting seemed limited to maids . . . when I was so sick . . . my dear husband who, when we sold our big home and moved into a small apartment, put his arm around me and said, 'Moms, the smaller the place, the closer we'll be.' I am a lucky, happy woman!' " The hands weave on their tapestry of wonders . . . the hands weave out the wonders of a life. . . . 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