TV Radio Mirror (Jan - Jun 1957)

Just call me "Meadows," valet extraordinary. I lay out Steve's clothes, socks to tie — and, of course, a clean handkerchief. But the apple isn't for "Teacher." I slip them into his pockets, in case he forgets to eat lunch. Tli^at's ^^*y Steve J (Continued) is called for, such as the one last October to Fairmount, Indiana, Jimmy Dean's home town, in preparation for the tribute Steve paid the late beloved young actor on his Sunday-night show. On Mondays and Tuesdays, his "days off," he might be found making an album or a recording for Coral Records. When he is not on a movie or TV screen — or preparing to be — he is burning the post-midnight oil at his typewriter. Within the space of one year, Steve published three books: "Bop Fables," "The Funny Men," and "Fourteen for Tonight," a collection of short stories. His most recent book, "Wry on the Rocks," a collection of his poems, was published last October by Henry Holt & Company. He writes a monthly page for a national nnagazine — and fiction, mostly short stories, for a number of magazines. He has more contracts than the nimble piano-playing fingers of his hands. Television contracts. Contracts with movie companies — "The Benny Goodman Story," in which he impersonated the great clarinetist, was a Universal-International film. Contracts with publishers. Compared with Steve's activities and commitments, my Wednesday-night stint on the Garry Moore panel show, I've Got A Secret, guest shots on TV dramatic shows, summer-theater work (such as "Tea and Sympathy," in which I toured' last summer), the recordings my sister Audrey and I do every few months under the RCA Victor label — and all the personal appearances we make in connection with these records — is so relatively relaxed a schedule as to leave me, presumably, with time on my hands to spare. But, although the question of what I do with my time is obviously a fair one, the innocence of those who ask it amuses me no end. When a man as busy as Steve Allen is as absent-minded and helpless as Steve Allen, no one knows what the wife has to do! I get him up in the morning. I run his bath. I lay out his clothes. I cook breakfast for him. I keep after him as a mother after a child in danger of being late for school: "Now get into the tub. Now eat your breakfast. Here is your list of appointments for the day. You have eight minutes to get to the office." As soon as he leaves the house, I pick up the little heap of last night's shoes, socks, newspapers, scraps of paper on which he has scribbled fragments of verse, pens, pencils, everything that has been dumped (and everything dumpable has been) on the table or floor by his bed. Usually the debris is strictly for the laundry and/or wastebasket, but I dare not delegate the task of picking up after Steve to our maid — ^since, one morning, I salvaged a mothy scrap of paper on which was scrawled, in pencil: "He never harmed a soul Except his own." Under the title, "Epitaph," these two poignant lines are to be found on page 111 of "Wry on the Rocks." I once asked him, "Isn't it as easy to drop things in a wastebasket as on the floor?" What answer did he make? None. He didn't hear me. He was dreaming about something. . . . (Continued on page 93) The Steve Allen Show is seen on NBC-TV, Sun., 8 P.M. EST, for Viceroy Cigarettes, Andrew .Tergens Co., Polaroid, Maybelline, and others. .layne is seen on I've Got A Secret. CBS-TV, Wed.. 9:30 P.M. EST, for Winston Cigarettes. Steve stars on Tonight, NBC-TV, Wed-Thu-Fri, 11 :,30 P.M. E.ST and PST, 11 P.M. C'ST. I