Still Trouping

Miss Burbank of 1948 is still doing encores more than a few years after the fact.

Debbie Reynolds, who made headlines in the Valley more than half a century ago, will make her Thousand Oaks debut Saturday night at the Civic Arts Plaza. An eternal trouper on a never-ending road trip, Reynolds is the consummate performer.

One of her memorable quotes pretty much sums up her career: “I do 20 minutes every time the refrigerator opens and the light comes on.”

Mary Frances Reynolds signed a movie contract shortly after winning that beauty contest, and became a star of ‘50s musicals, including the classics “Singin’ in the Rain” and “Tammy and the Bachelor.”

Later, she became an endearing comedian, appearing in such films as “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” and “The Singing Nun.”

The mother of a princess (Carrie Fisher, Princess Leia of “Star Wars” fame), Reynolds has never stopped performing, maintaining an unbelievable touring schedule.

Her next big project will be “These Old Broads,” a made-for-TV movie to be shown early next year. The unsinkable Ms. Reynolds has been around and has stories to tell. Here are a few of them:

How often do you go on the road these days?

I’m on the road always 50 weeks a year. I travel and work what is called “the vaudeville circuit,” which means variety like we always did in the old days. You know, vaudeville still exists--we just don’t read about it in Hollywood, but we’re on the road, those of us that still do an act.

What is the secret of survival on the road?

The difficulty is the travel, because of the air situation--flights canceled, delays and problems. Show business is very easy, but it’s not like the old days, because you didn’t have so much air traffic. It’s just very difficult to survive touring. Everybody complains about it--it’s called burnout, and a lot of the groups will just give up going out on tour because it’s just so hard to be able to get from one place to another. It took me 12 hours to get where I am now, which is just south of Chicago, and my last venue wasn’t that far away. So the road is hard in that way, but the performing end is the fun of it.

Fifty weeks? That’s amazing.

The people still crave live performances, which they don’t get because of television. In the old days, Jack Benny would hit the road. Danny Kaye would hit the road along with Sammy Davis, Betty Hutton, Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli. Ann-Margret was on the road. Mitzi Gaynor was on the road. Now most of them are gone or choose not to tour anymore, because of the difficulty of travel. If I could travel by train everywhere, I’d be really happy, but it’s not practical and not financially possible. You do three shows a week. So you do a show, then travel, which takes a whole day, then another show. Three shows is about all you can do in a week.

It sounds a lot like work.

Well, it is work. I just finished a film called “These Old Broads” with Shirley MacLaine, Joan Collins and Elizabeth Taylor. It was a lot of work--14 hours a day. It’ll be on ABC during February sweeps week. My daughter Carrie wrote the script along with a girl named Elaine Pope. Carrie was heavily involved in the plot of this, and a lot of it is almost the truth. Of course, if we had Clint Eastwood’s money, we would’ve made it a theatrical feature.

How did the song “Tammy” change your life?

It took me into the recording business. I had never made records before. I was very young--I was at MGM and that was a Ross Hunter Universal Picture. They had me sing the title song, “Tammy,” and it was a hit in the rock ‘n’ roll era--in the Elvis era--so it was a shock to everyone. It’s a very pretty song and everyone requests it, of course, and I’m very lucky to have had it.

So you haven’t forgotten the words to that one?

No, I don’t think so. I do a variety show. I do impressions. I do Barbra Streisand. I do Bette Davis. I do Cher, and I even throw in Dr. Ruth, because she’s funny.

How did the studio system prepare you for your career?

We had to learn it all, because that’s the way it was in those days. You did whatever you were told to do whether you were in a musical or a drama. I was in “The Catered Affair,’ which was a heavy drama;then I was in another movie,singing “Abba Dabba Dabba” about a monkey. You went from ridiculous, silly things to serious things in those days and you had to be prepared for all of it. We took about eight hours of lessons a day--speaking, ballet, tap, jazz, speech, singing--everything. Esther Williams always said that it was our university--we just didn’t get a degree.

How much training did you have to do for “Singin’ in the Rain”? You were not a trained dancer before that movie came out, but you certainly were afterward.

I sure was. I worked for six months. Gene Kelly was a taskmaster, but I had great teachers. And Donald O’Connor was a young boy and a big help to me, coming from a circus family, a vaudeville family. No one in my family was in show business, so I had no real background, whereas Donald would tell me these fabulous stories of how he crawled onto the stage when he was 3 months old and they put him in the act. I was lucky to come in at the end of that whole great golden era in ’49 and ’50.

You won the Miss Burbank 1948 title by doing a Betty Hutton impression. I just saw her in “The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek” the other night, which I think is the funniest movie of all time.

I loved her because she had so much energy, spit and fire. I loved her in “The Perils of Pauline.” I loved Judy Garland and Betty Hutton--they were my favorites. I also loved [Katharine] Hepburn and Roz Russell. You know,we had some great comediennes then. We had Lucille Ball, but she came later because television came later.

What advice would you give to an aspiring singer or actor?

Well, they’re both so very different, so I couldn’t give the same advice. For a singer, you have to study, train, and then once you’ve been taught how to correctly sing, then appear anywhere. Go out on the street corner--just get some experience.

An actress is different, because it’s harder to break in today. You have to come through the ranks of TV--you don’t break into a movie. You don’t have the chance we had when we were young. Just try to get in front of an audience, and try to get into a play and get some experience. If you can go to a university that has a good program, then go there and train. Learn all you can, so you’re ready. And study all fields. I studied singing, acting, dancing, serious drama and comedy.

What’s the most misunderstood thing about Debbie Reynolds?

Maybe my directness. I’m Aries-born, so I just speak my mind. I’m totally and completely honest. I don’t try to cover anything up, and sometimes, I’m not always the most patient woman in the world. I’m a workaholic. I love my business. I trained very, very hard and I’m 52 years in the business now. I like feeling good about my talent, and I like to feel I’m accomplished in each of my fields, and I’ve worked hard to get there.

DETAILS

Debbie Reynolds at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Saturday, 8 p.m. COST: $52, $42 or $32. CALL: 449-2787.

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Mucho mariachi music is in store for lovers of that upbeat genre at a fund-raiser and concert Sunday afternoon at the Civic Arts Plaza in Thousand Oaks. Sponsored by the Office of Hispanic Affairs at Pepperdine University, one of the most famous mariachi musicians in the world, Jose Hernandez of Sol de Mexico, will appear for the fifth consecutive year. Also on the bill are Little Joe (of Little Joe y la Familia) and Junko, a Japanese mariachi act.

The word “mariachi” was first used in the mid-1800s to describe ensembles of violin, vihuela (a mini-violin), harp, drums and guitarron (a small guitar) that played at social functions in Mexico. Mariachi music was a combination of Spanish, African and the indigenous cultures of Mexico.

Israel Rodriguez, who grew up in Texas with Little Joe and is now Pepperdine’s director of Hispanic affairs, explained the concept behind the event.

“The problem we have is fewer than 20% of Latino high school graduates will go to college. We have more Hispanics in prison than we do in higher education. Every penny we make from this concert goes into the scholarship program.

“The theme of this year’s concert is ‘Planting the Educational Seed in Hispanic America.’ We’re going to award 30 savings bonds to fourth-graders at the intermission of the show.”

Considered the “Liberace of Mariachi,” Hernandez is a descendant of five generations of mariachi musicians, so his calling should come as no surprise. He is a composer, arranger, producer and performer who has toured the world.

“The reason I hired Jose is that he has taken mariachi music to another level,” Rodriguez said. “He writes his own music, he’s an accomplished musician and he integrates into the mariachi music Gershwin, Sinatra, Presley, Patsy Cline and also Glenn Miller.”

DETAILS

Jose Hernandez & Sol de Mexico, Little Joe and Junko at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, Sunday, 3:30 p.m. COST: $40, $34 or $24. CALL: 449-2787.

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Those who fondly remember Charlie’s--that eclectic center of local music down on the beach in Ventura--should have some pleasant flashbacks at a couple of shows this week.

First off, debuting tonight at a new place--Bubba’s Lounge in Ventura--will be Jackass, featuring members of Raging Arb--both original guitar players, Toby Emory and Billy McGraw. They will play a pair of sets, both free, beginning about 9 and again about two hours later. Hey, they only know about a dozen songs. Bubba’s is at 1664 E. Thompson Blvd.

Also, on Thursday, Dave Girtsman will make a rare appearance at the Ban-Dar. Girtsman, the singer-songwriter from Blimp, and before that a member of the late great Mudheads, is a solo guy these days.

Everyone you used to know, or have been trying to stay away from all these years, will likely be at both of these shows.

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Bill Locey can be reached at blocey@pacbell.net.