While I never met Debbie Reynolds, I feel almost as if I grew up with her. My first memory of her is from a movie called Two Weeks with Love, which I saw when I was about nine years old. I thought "Aba Daba Honeymoon" was the greatest song ever, and I fell hard for Debbie Reynolds. I saw her in many movies after that, and when that rat Eddie Fisher dumped her for Liz, it was big news among my friends, especially the girls. (Carleton Carpenter, who sang the duet with Debbie, went on to write a series of mystery novels, most of which I own, but none of which I've read.)
But the main thing I wanted to mention is that there was a persistent rumor that Debbie was related to some people in my little hometown of Mexia, Texas. These people weren't the cream of society, quite the opposite, in fact. One of them was known only to me (and everyone else I knew) as Guv'nor. He was, as we say now, mentally challenged, and he lived with his mother in a house that wasn't much more than a shack. The rumor went that Debbie came to Mexia more than once to visit Guv'nor and his mom. I knew at least two people who claimed to have seen her when she was in town.
Several years ago Judy and I saw her do a one-woman show about which I remember very little other than that she was natural and charming and exactly what I'd expected Debbie Reynolds to be. I sure wish I'd seen her when she slipped into my hometown to visit her less fortunate relatives. If they were her relatives and if she ever did.
5 comments:
I have never heard of the Mexia connection. How mysterious and surprising if it is true.
I've heard that rumor for years. Always wondered if it was true.
Carrie Fisher did a section - naturally - about her parents, Liz Taylor, etc. in WISHFUL DRINKING. They rushed to comfort Liz, Debbie's best friend at the time, when husband Mike Todd was killed in a plane crash. Then Eddie "comforted her with his penis," as Carrie put it.
I still love SINGIN' IN THE RAIN.
RIP
I missed the key events in Debbie Reynolds's Life. I always liked Debbie Reynolds in the movies and TV shows she appeared in. And, of course I liked Carrie Fisher. Both women seemed to have a lot of problems.
Carrie (never the most objective source, so take with the grain of salt of the appropriate size) said that Debbie's problems all stemmed from Debbie's appalling choice of husbands. After Eddie, there were a couple more, each of them managed to fritter away much of Debbie's hard-earned cash. Whether for love or money, she continued working. My twins knew her less from "Singing in the Rain" and more as the grandmother witch from the Halloween-town movies (Disney Channel? Nickelodeon? Not sure).
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