Paul Lynde - A Biography (9 page)

At a time when seeing a shrink was not very in, Paul was open about it — even to the press. He talked about his therapist Sylvia, by name, and said, “She saved my life.” His phone was ringing a lot. His friends were calling to make sure he was okay. For once, he didn’t seem too disappointed that these calls could be tying up his line for the call that he never gave up on. The one that would lead him to that big role that would make him famous. He had just hung up from talking to Alice, when the phone rang again. He picked up the phone and this time, on the other end, was a little birdie… one that would fly him right to the top.

Chapter 5

“An actor should never undergo psychoanalysis.”

Paul Lynde

“I just need to be working.” Paul said to his therapist. Sylvia nodded, she was relieved the distressed man who entered her office just weeks before was no longer thinking about suicide. Paul lit a cigarette, as he told her how he tried to be a serious actor at Northwestern, but when he recited Cyrano de Bergerac “the class laughed so hard that I was typecast into comedic roles.” He was sure he just needed the right part and he’d be successful.

Sylvia asked him about his childhood and teen years. He admitted he was made fun of by the kids at school, even his brothers. He explained he weighed 260 pounds when he entered high school. They talked about how his mother over indulged him with food and how food played a role in his life. As their sessions continued, Paul talked about his stage fright and his fear of forgetting his lines or walking on stage and not getting laughs. Reluctantly, he touched on the significant people he loved and lost to early deaths: his brother and both his parents. He talked of Marilyn, who had married another man.

He had no love life and wanted the passion he had seen in his favorite movie,
Wuthering Heights.
He longed to feel how Heathcliff felt for Cathy. The way he felt she belonged to him, referring to her as
“My
Cathy.” Paul told
Ohio Magazine
that he became inconsolable every time he watched it. He also related to Heathcliff’s dark side that emerged after he lost the love of his life. Heathcliff had become cruel and mean, the way Paul could become with the effects from alcohol.

Paul was not very comfortable talking about himself. “An actor should never undergo psychoanalysis,” he later told
People Magazine.
“The mystery of not knowing why is important to an actor, and should be kept that way.” He told Sylvia that he didn’t seem to have time to take care of his dogs, Orville and Wilbur, the way they should be. She suggested he give them away, which he did, with a heavy heart.

After months of sessions, the two discussed how his weight was part of the problem. It was crushing his self-esteem and limiting his career. Paul was determined to change all that. He paid the three dollar fee for the session and headed out. He liked Sylvia and did not want to disappoint her, so he skipped dinner that night, continued to eat less, and began to lose weight. Later that year, he was in a car accident and lost more weight. When he recovered, he continued to ferociously diet, practically starving himself, and he began to exercise. In less than two years, he would drop one hundred pounds.

Paul was in his apartment when his phone rang, with what he thought was good news for a change. He was told that Gower Champion had seen him perform, and he wanted him for a part in a new musical. Paul did not know who he was, but was excited for an acting job and agreed to read the script. Edward Padula was producing the new show called
Bye Bye Birdie.
It was based on the book
Let’s Go Steady
by Michael Stewart, who also wrote the script for the play. It was the story of a sexy rock star, mirroring Elvis Presley, named Conrad Birdie. Like Elvis, this idol was being drafted into the army. One lucky girl was to be chosen from his fan club for that one last kiss, to represent all his fans. Albert Peterson was his manager and Rose was Albert’s secretary and girlfriend. The rock star would sing,
One Last Kiss,
to that teenage fan on a staged
Ed Sullivan Show.

The musical had over a dozen songs and dance numbers. Charles Strouse composed the music and Lee Adams wrote the lyrics. Champion Gower was both director and choreographer. Dick Van Dyke, who had just finished in his first Broadway appearance,
The Girls Against The Boys,
auditioned for the lead role of Albert, singing
Til There Was You,
and then he performed with a few dance steps. When he finished, Gower told him he got the part. Charles Nelson Reilly, who played Mr. Henkel in the show, later became Dick’s understudy and filled in when he took vacations. (Later Peter Marshall would play the part of Albert.)

The script was sent to both Eydie Gorme and Carol Hanley — to play Rosie, the female lead — but they both turned it down. Chita Rivera arrived, considering the part. She had become a star with her performance as Anita in
West Side Story.
According to Chita, after she read the script, she didn’t think it was so good. “Kids and telephones, who would relate. I wasn’t an Elvis Presley fan.” Then Chita sat and watched the first act. “The music was fun and I watched the guys and I was taken by it. I
have
to do this,” she told her agent. And she did.

Kaye Medford played Mrs. Peterson, Albert’s overbearing mother.Paul’s wife was played by Marijane Maricle. Their daughter, Kim, was played by Susan Watson, and their son, Randolph, was played by Barry Pearl.

There was a new character added, who wasn’t in the original story: a frustrated father of the starstruck teen. Gower had Paul in mind for that part right from the start. When Paul read the script, his heart sank and his temper rose. It was just a few lines! He was insulted and thought,
I’m better than this.
He walked out.

Paul told Al Cohn of
Newsday
that Gower followed him and gently pleaded with him to stay on the show. Gower told the upset actor that the parents would be bringing their kids to see it and Paul’s role would be someone they could relate to. The soft spoken director told Paul he was made for this part, and he would work on it and make it an important role. Though he had just met Gower that day, Paul felt he was genuine and took the gamble. He shook the director’s hand and returned to the stage.

The show still needed a pelvis-wiggling rock star Elvis-type: Over 500 males auditioned for that part. According to Dick Gautier, he had been working a club and heard about the show from his agent. It was called
Going Steady.
When Dick got back to New York, he heard that Gower and Buddy, the composer, had seen him earlier at the Blue Angel, and so he decided to audition for the part of Conrad Birdie — which was believed to be a play on words for Conway Twitty. He got it.

Chita had first met Paul at rehearsal, and her first impression of Paul was that she had never seen anyone like him.

His humor was on the edge: nervous, shaky. I was amazed at his timing; I screamed and yelled when I heard him. He played the father who had no control over anything and all he wanted to do was be on
The Ed Sullivan Show.
He was so funny. When Paul was saying his lines, on stage, I have never heard laughter so long.

Paul had Gower in the palm of his hands. Paul’s part was originally thirteen lines, but when Paul verbally attacked Randolph [the young boy who played his son] it was like, what kind of father was this, saying, “Don’t touch me,” to his own son? It was Paul, he stimulated Gower. The writing for his part kept extending. Paul actually created the character.

The thirty-four-year-old, now slim actor, played the neurotic, uptight father who just wants “respect-respect I tell you,” with amusing perfection.

Paul sang a few numbers in the show including “A Hymn for a Sunday Evening,” which was about him, as Harry McAfee, appearing on
The Ed Sullivan Show.
Later that year, Paul and some of the cast members actually performed that number on television on
The Ed Sullivan Show,
along with a few scenes from
Birdie.
Ed Sullivan did not appear in the Broadway play, but did appear in the movie version as himself.

Bye Bye Birdie
opened on Broadway on April 14, 1960, at the Martin Beck Theater, and it was an instant box office smash. The cast were ecstatic when they received a standing ovation, and almost every paper contained raved reviews. Most of the critics were pleasantly surprised, just about everyone behind
Birdie
were unknowns.

Paul was feeling the success. Gower had been right: the parents enjoyed the show as much as the kids. Paul told Andres Bart, of
TV Star Parade,
“I think my role had a lot to do with that and it wasn’t in the original script. That was Gower’s brilliance.”

Kaye Ballard thought
Birdie
was a great success because of Paul. The way he sang “Kids,” she said, “It was fresh and funny.” Paul said he created some of the character from a gym teacher he had in high school, along with the way his father sounded at times. No one had seen anyone play a father quite like Paul did.

According to Chita, there was always laughter coming from his dressing room, but one day she heard him saying things that she did not like. She went to his dressing room and stuck one finger through his door and said, “Don’t you
ever
speak that way to anyone again.”

Back on stage, Paul expected everyone to have the same discipline for perfectionism as he did. He had zero tolerance for mistakes and he let it known. One evening, a cast member was sick and there was no understudy for that part. Chita’s husband at that time, Tony Mordente, stepped up to the rescue. Chita and Tony had met when they were both in
West Side Story.
For
Birdie,
he was one of Gower’s assistants and he also knew the part of the one who was sick. Tony had also been a stage manager and knew all about the importance of timing. When the curtain went up, Tony was doing the original timing and was not aware that it had been changed. When the curtain came down, Paul did not react very kindly and said mean things to Tony. Chita stepped in. It was the first time she ever had a confrontation with Paul, or anyone, and she was quite shocked. She told Paul he was “terribly rude and ungrateful,” explaining that Tony could not have known they had changed the timing. Paul got upset and angry, as was she. Time soothed things out, and after the show ended, Chita would always send Paul messages with good wishes for him.

Paul had the reputation of being one of the funniest people in the world and sometimes the moodiest. Chita understood the complexity of many comedians. “Comedy is the hardest thing in the world. Comics, they’re totally exposed, and they take it personally. Most comics want to be serious actors, as if comedy was not brilliantly serious.”

Dick Gautier had first observed Paul at rehearsal and said:

Paul was tense and nervous, but he hadn’t been on Broadway since
New Faces.
He was a consummate professional…The only time I heard him blow a line was when he was supposed to say (just before the Ed Sullivan hymn) “Me? Harry MacAfee on
The Ed Sullivan Show?”
He transposed two letters and it came out as “Me? Mary HcAfee on
The Ed Sullivan Show?”
He was the only one on stage who didn’t find it humorous.

According to Gene Bayliss, who knew Paul from Northwestern and was now assisting Gower with the dance numbers, Paul was talented, but appeared a bit egotistical; after all, he was the star of School of Speech and off-campus Waa-Mu Production. He gave Gower and Mike Stewart a special talent; they recognized it and molded his part in the show to give them all a huge success. Gene created the telephone number, among others in the show. When he did the initial staging for “Kids,” he based it on a Charleston movement, as he did with the music. When Gower saw it he said “make it simpler,” which he did. The song “Kids” was originally intended to be sung by another cast member, but was later decided to be given to Paul. As Harry MacAfee, he runs around the house demanding respect. When his son says he respects him, the befuddled father tells the ten-year-old, “I don’t want your respe-e-e-e-ct.” And then breaks out, singing, “Kids.” He made that song quite memorable.

According to Dick Gautier, the cast got along well for the most part. Paul was especially chummy with Kaye Medford, but he wasn’t too keen on Dick. He brushed him off as if he was some teenage twerp, though he was nearly thirty years old at that time. Dick felt he didn’t show him any respect. One night he dropped the big key at the end of “Honestly Sincere,” and Paul freaked out, saying that he ruined his scene: the one that followed. Another time, Dick told him that Lucille Ball was in the audience, and he said, “Get out. I don’t want to know who’s out there!”

As it neared Tony time, Paul had hopes of owning a trophy. So many critics had raved about his performance. He was heartbroken when he saw so many from the show were up for a Tony, but he was not. He was especially perturbed at Dick Gautier, who had been nominated. Dick said Paul would not even talk to him for a while. About this time, Dick was to perform stand up at the Bon Soir, a popular nightclub in the village. He would be opening for a new singer named Barbra Streisand. Barbra told
Playboy
that when she auditioned there, she was already on the stage when she realized she forgot to dispose of her chewing gum. She took the wad of gum out of her mouth and stuck it on top of the microphone. This made everyone watching laugh, so they assumed she was auditioning for a comedy act. Then she opened her mouth and sang and was signed up fast.

According to Dick, Paul arrived at the Bon Soir and took a seat with some of his friends. He did not come to support Dick, but to sneer at him — he could not wait to see his
Birdie
co-star bomb on stage. Paul hoped Dick would feel the same humiliation that he had often felt when he did nightclubs act. Dick opened the show and the audience loved his act. To his surprise, so did Paul, who went backstage after the show and told him so. He apologized and explained how he hated doing stand-up. They were closer after that.

Everyone in
Birdie
did well and was becoming famous. Jan Forbes came to see her college friend in the musical, and after the show, they walked into Sardis for lunch. “When Paul walked in everyone stood up applauding and cheering for him,” Jan said. Twelve years of struggle, times of depression, and grueling stand-up, paid off: he was finally a star.

Bye Bye Birdie
was nominated for six Tonys and won Best Musical. Michael Stewart was presented with a Tony; Gower received two, one for best direction and another for best choreography; Ed Padula won for best producer; and Dick Van Dyke won for best actor in a Musical. Dick Gautier and Chita were both nominees. The show was also nominated for Best Scenic Design and for Best Conductor and musical director.