You Fascinate Me So: The Life and Times of Cy Coleman by Andy Propst Read Free Book Online Page B

Barbarians with Arthur Laurents’s The Time of the Cuckoo .
    As the principal woman in the young man’s life, Gaither cast Cloris Leachman, who would go on to win an Oscar for The Last Picture Show and multiple Emmys for her work on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Malcolm in the Middle . At the time of Dear Barbarians , Leachman had just made a splash in a play called A Story for a Sunday Evening , winning a Theatre World Award (to honor an outstanding bow in a major role), and in a photo feature in the July 1951 issue of Theatre Arts she had been described as “one of the most promising Broadway actresses.”
    The fifth member of the company was Betsy von Furstenberg, who played the young woman brought in to destroy the hero’s romance. It’s the smallest of the roles, and yet von Furstenberg’s was the first casting decision Gaither announced. Anyone with a cynical bent might have considered the choice of von Furstenberg a mere stunt. Of all of the company members, she had the least experience, with only one Broadway credit; but her presence guaranteed press, because even as the show was finalizing casting and scheduling, an offstage drama involving von Furstenberg was brewing that ensured the production would be covered in gossip columns around the country.
    During the latter portion of 1951 von Furstenberg was often seen on the arm of Conrad Hilton Jr.—the heir to the hotel fortune, Paris Hilton’s great-uncle, and the man who had the distinction of having been, for a grand total of 205 days, Elizabeth Taylor’s first husband. There were even reports that von Furstenberg and Hilton had gotten engaged in late September after a whirlwind two-week courtship, but no wedding date was announced. And even before her casting in Dear Barbarians , wags were wondering why she wasn’t sporting a ring from her supposed fiancé, fueling rumors about a possible reconciliation between Hilton and Taylor.
    The gossip mill ground on into early 1952 as rehearsals began, with Dorothy Kilgallen reporting: “Betsy Von Furstenberg’s much-publicized engagement to hotel heir Nicky Hilton hasn’t depressed the New York swains to the point where they’ve given up. Current rehearsals of ‘Dear Barbarians’ at the John Golden Theatre are interrupted most often by the backstage telephone—it rings all day, and the voices on the other end all belong to optimistic young men trying to arrange dates with Betsy.” 3
    Kilgallen’s fascination with von Furstenberg continued after the show had begun its tryout run in Philadelphia, when she wrote: “Betsy von Furstenberg juggling more beaux than any girl her age in town. Presumably engaged to Nicky Hilton, she’s wearing a costly sparkler from Peter Howard, who still takes her places, and another—a white sapphire surrounded by diamonds from John Reynolds, Jr. of the real estate clan. And then, there’s pianist Cy Coleman, etc. etc.” 4
    Von Furstenberg rebutted reports that she and Coleman might have been more than friends, saying that there never was any sort of affair, although she admitted that “he was irresistible” and continued, “I think both Cloris and I had crushes on him.” 5 She found herself working with him during rehearsals, however, because his responsibilities extended beyond simply arriving to provide music in between the acts.
    Von Furstenberg said that Coleman was there to “ghost play” for Taylor when his character was demonstrating his compositions and to help her with her singing, principally to train her how to perform a number badly. As she later recalled, “He must have done it well. I got good reviews.” 6
    Indeed, von Furstenberg, her fellow performers, and the play all got terrific notices in Philadelphia. Maurice Orodenker, reviewing for Billboard on February 16, 1952, predicted that the play, after some “polishing . . . should have a long and hilarious run when it reaches Broadway.” The Washington Post ’s critic Richard L. Coe, after catching