On the Go

Forty years ago, when she was crowned Miss Burbank of 1948, Debbie Reynolds had a primary goal in life.

“I wanted to be a gym teacher,” she says. “I achieved more. . . . I have never been happier, and I pray it continues.”

For Reynolds, happiness, apparently, is keeping busy--on the road 42 weeks a year, trying to establish a movie museum, charitable functions, time with her family (her third husband, real estate developer Richard Hamlett, children Carrie and Todd Fisher) and, oh yes, completing her recently published autobiography, “Debbie: My Life.”

It’s an exhausting schedule--a three-week promotional book tour (nine interviews daily) and preparing to launch her latest performance tour--”An Evening of Music and Comedy.”

Teaming with Broadway singing star Harve Presnell, the 56-year-old entertainer starts a three-week, 22-city tour Wednesday night at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. Next stops: San Diego, Glendora, Albuquerque, then East.

It’s been only four months since she and Donald O’Connor ended their 1 1/2-year road show, and already Reynolds is gearing up for her next major stage commitment, “The Unsinkable Molly Brown.” In 1964, she received an Academy Award nomination for her role in the MGM film.

Scheduled to run a year, the musical opens in April in Houston and has a Long Beach date in May.

Reynolds closes a week’s engagement at Harrah’s at Lake Tahoe on Sunday and heads back to Los Angeles to get the new show ready.

She says she’s looking forward to her new act, particularly the impersonations.

“Impressions are my favorite part,” Reynolds says. “I can be a little more outrageous. I’m a true ham. I love a live audience.”