"If You Were Sandra Dee..."



This article, written by Robert Peer, appeared in Screen Stars Magazine June, 1960
The other day Sandra Dee got a letter from a fan. It read:
Dear Sandra: Gee, how I wish I were you! You have such an exciting life to lead. For me there is nothing to do but go to school. No other entertainment except the movies or an occasional prom. No dates except with boys who can talk about nothing but baseball and football. How I envy you ....
This was not an isolated case. Sandra gets dozens of letters like this in the mail every week from girls who have the idea that if you're a movie star, life is one long round of parties, T-Birds, glamorous dates, and autograph signing. But it isn't really.
What if one of the girls who wrote Sandra--what if you, the reader--were in her shoes? What would life be like?
Just take a typical day of Sandra's, and compare it with yours. Like when she was in San Francisco on location recently for "Portrait in Black," in which she plays Lana Turner's daughter.
Because the director wanted to get started as early as possible with the limited number of daytime hours available, the first call was for 8 A.M., camera ready to shoot.
Now, if you are in school and you're supposed to be in class at 8---and chances are you'll never have to show up before 9--you'll probably get up an hour to an hour-and-a-half earlier, take a shower, have a leisurely breakfast, and leave the house a half hour before you're supposed to be there.
For Sandra to be ready for work at 8 meant that she had to get up at 4:30, be in make-up by 5:30, and leave the hotel by 7:15.
Just because she has to get up so early when she is working doesn't mean she's used to it. Some people never do get used to it--and Sandra is one of them.
When her alarm rang at 4:15, Sandra sleepily reached for it and turned it off. A second clock went off five minutes later. Sandra buried her face under her pillow. Another five minutes passed before her mother, Mary Douvan, walked into her room and gently shook her.
"Oh, no," Sandra cried out as she peeked out from beneath the pillow. Oh, yes," Mary Douvan said. Then she smiled. "All right, you can have an extra five minutes."
Happily Sandra dozed off again, only to be awakened more firmly the fourth and final time.
Even at that, it wouldn't be so hard if the preparations for the day's work could be compared to what you would study up on for a typical day at school. But if you're an actress, like Sandra, you may be expected to memorize as many as ten pages of dialogue the night before. And there can't be any guessing about it, because flubbing a line costs the studio a small fortune and they can't afford to put up with it repeatedly.
"At least in this respect I'm very lucky," Sandra explains. "I have a very good memory and can usually learn my lines when I'm under the hair dryer in the morning."
When she was still in school--Sandra graduated a year ago---she not only memorized her lines, but did a lot of her homework as well at that time.
At 8 sharp, Sandra, along with her costars, Lana Turner and Anthony Quinn, was ready to go to work at the Fisherman's Wharf location in San Francisco. So what happens?
"We have to wait for the sun to get through the overcast," the assistant director announced.
This might seem pretty silly with the sensitivity of today's camera equipment. But actually, movie companies are as dependent on the weather as vacationists. And so the whole company had to wait for two hours before there was sufficiently good light for them to go ahead.
And there was no time for Sandra to go back to the hotel and relax. Or to head for a nearby corner drugstore and have a milk shake. She had to find something to do to keep her busy within shouting distance of the company.
"I tried reading," she told me, "but it didn't work. Invariably, right in the middle of the most exciting part I'm called in to another scene. That takes all the fun out of books."
She also tried painting, but she became just as disturbed when the back-to-work call interrupted her right in the middle of the proper mood. Now, when she isn't busy talking to her co-workers, she likes to get into a game of cards--usually Gin. And she's been very lucky at it. "I don't play for money, but for all sorts of little objects that we happen to notice. After that particular game I ended up with two handkerchiefs, one slightly used belt, a man's tie, two notebooks, and 15 hairpins."
What about a glamourous luncheon at Ernie's during the noon break?
Nothing doing.
A catering service usually supplies the food for companies on location, and while occasionally it can be quite exceptional, more often than not we bet you wouldn't trade it for the lunch your mom gives you to take along to school!
It's six o'clock now and the day's shooting is finally over. So can she rush home, quickly change into a cocktail or evening dress and be ready for a date at seven?
Not a chance! "It takes me at least an hour to get all the make-up off my face," Sandra explained. "If I have body makeup on, I have to add an extra 30 minutes."
By that time it's 7:30 and she hasn't even had dinner yet. When she gets through at 8:30 or 9, it's too late for a date, even if she felt like it--which she usually doesn't. "Besides," says Sandra, "I don't go out nights when I work the next morning." And since she is almost constantly in front of the cameras---during the last 12 months she has made five pictures--it means that her social life cannot compare with that of any even passably attractive teenage girl in this country.
Even if it looks like she won't be needed at the studio the next morning when a film is in production, there's always a possibility that she may be called in after all. Consequently she must be prepared to leave a party early.
While most actors she goes out with know this, some of her non-professional friends occasionally get hurt by her attitude. She will never forget one boy who got so upset when she told him at ten o'clock that she had to get back that he never called her again.
And what about all those glamorous young stars she goes out with?
"A lot of them," Sandra insists, "are interested in very little except movies. That's all we ever talk about . . . work . . . work . . . work!" While there are times when she grows a little tired of it, she doesn't complain about it. "After all," she admits with a grin, "it's my favorite subject as well." But is it so different from fellows talking about nothing but high school athletics, or hot rods?
Aside from the inconveniences and the long hours, if you were Sandra you might find yourself in some pretty dangerous situations.
For instance, when Sandra starred in "Gidget" a couple of years ago, she didn't know how to swim. Yet the script not only called for her to do so, but to be an expert surfboard rider as well.
"I was terrified by the mere thought of going into the deep water--beyond where I could stand," Sandra recalled. "But there was really nothing I could do about it. I was assured there were two expert swimmers with me at all times."
Even at that, when she got into 30 feet of water off Malibu Beach she was so scared that she refused to get off the surfboard and it took an hour's persuasion to get her into the water. And then she had to be ducked under before the filming could begin.
"In a way it was the best thing that could have happened to me," Sandra recalled. "If they hadn't done it, we might still be trying to get the scene!" As it was, she had no choice but to learn how to swim in a hurry.
Likewise, although she was afraid of horses after being thrown once when she was riding in Central Park as a little girl, for another film she had to learn riding--English style---and in a hurry. Other demands like that are made of her constantly.
Sandra doesn't complain because she feels it's as much a part of her job as learning her lines, or getting up early in the morning. But certainly it isn't as glamorous as it may appear to her fans.
What about those numerous publicity tours? The klieg lights? The attention heaped upon Sandra by her fans?
"I'm very grateful for it," Sandra says appreciatively. "Without the support of my fans I would never have gotten the wonderful parts I have."
That's one side of it. But there is another one, too. As a result of her popularity there isn't a restaurant she can go to, there isn't a plane she can walk out of, there isn't a shop she can visit without people crowding around her, demanding autographs. That, too, is part of her job--as not only Sandra but all movie stars will admit. And if the attention of the fans ever stopped, it would only indicate that the stars involved had lost their popularity.
Unfortunately the attention isn't restricted to public places. Sandra isn't immune from it at her own home.
After a particularly strenuous personal appearance tour a short while ago, Sandra came back to the beautiful Beverly Hills home she occupies with her mother, content to spend the weekend relaxing and resting up.
For two weeks she had looked forward to sleeping late that Sunday. So what happens? At seven in the morning an out-of-town fan had somehow gotten hold of her unlisted telephone number, and called her. He was very pleasant, very polite, and only wanted to say hello on the phone. Yet when he did, the damage was done. Sandra was awakened.
She did manage to go back to sleep a little longer. By noon she found herself floating in her heated swimming pool.
Ten minutes after she had dived into it, she suddenly found herself confronted by two little girls about six and seven years old, right on the edge of the pool. "How did you get here?" Sandra cried out in surprise. After all, the house had been locked and there was a six-foot fence surrounding the rest of the property.
"It was easy," one of the youngsters volunteered. "Someone forgot to lock the fence gate."
"Now that you're here, what can I do for you?" Sandra wanted to know.
The older girl explained that they had come for her autograph. "But I'm all wet now," Sandra insisted. "Couldn't you come back later?"
"Not today," the older girl told her. "But we could come back tomorrow morning."
Sandra would have had an easy way out, but that's not in her nature. "Tomorrow I won't be here," she explained. "I'll be working."
It was the girls' turn to be surprised. "Sandra Dee is working!" they cried out in unison.
This was one reaction Sandra hadn't expected! "Yes, Sandra is working," she smiled, climbed out of the pool, dried herself off, and went inside the house to get a pen and a piece of paper for the autographs.
Sandra is considered one of the most popular young stars as far as the press is concerned. She is vivacious, intelligent, and probably the most cooperative young girl in Hollywood. By her reactions you would never guess how embarrassed she gets from time to time at some of the questions asked of her.
Like at a recent press conference for high school editors, when a boy wanted to know, "Are you in love with Edd Byrnes?"
"I think Edd is a very nice boy," Sandra came back, "but I'm not in love with him."
"And why not?" screeched a 16-year-old girl, her face showing her disbelief and disappointment that there could be any girl who didn't have a crush on Edd.
Said Sandra frankly, "I don't know why not. I'm just not."
Maybe when you read articles on how Sandra was kissed for the first time, what kind of bed she sleeps in, and other intimate items about her, you take it as a matter of course. But what if somebody asked you the same questions? Wouldn't you blush? Feel uneasy? Maybe even refuse to answer altogether?
Well--that, too, is part of being a young movie star.
Of course Sandra has a lot of pretty clothes, drives a beautiful car, and probably lives a lot better than most girls her age. But she works hard for it, and there's no one in Hollywood who doesn't think she deserves it.
Sandra herself says, "I don't mind the inconveniences, the embarrassments, the difficulties of being an actress, because my career has given me so much in return."
But before you envy Sandra too much, just think over what you would have to do if you were in her place.

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