W W A VV A W A
rami m jopg
n an unseasonably hot day last September, I
sat in a Poughkeepsie, N.Y., theater watching
the magic of Mary Martin at a technical rehearsal.
Suspended on wires for her "Peter Pan" flying
sequence, she zoomed high across the stage.
"Higher! Faster!" she called to the wire prop
man, and he had to throw all his weight behind
the ropes to keep her from hitting the scenery.
Suddenly she sailed into the wings and failed to
emerge. Out front, everyone gasped. Then she
blithely reappeared. The impish musical-comedy
star had held onto a guy rope just to give us a
scare, and her laughter filled the theater.
For almost 16 hours that day, Miss Martin drove
relentlessly through rehearsal.
"Good heavens," the sound manager whispered
to me, "when will she drop?"
At 4: 30 a.m., the rehearsal ended. Everyone else
drooped with fatigue; only Mary Martin seemed
fresh and high-spirited. Back at her motel, she
consumed half a melon, two thick lamb chops,
creamed onions, baked potato with sour cream
and chives, half a small loaf of bread, India pud
ding, and coffee. She read a chapter from a book
on philosophy and promptly fell asleep.
It wasn't hard to believe that this galvanic 45-year-old
grandmother could embark, two days
later, on a formidable five-month tour of 60 cities
in 30 states with her one-woman show, "Music
with Mary Martin." I recalled a remark once made
by the blind Helen Keller after attending "South
Pacific." Passing her hands over Mary's face, Miss
Keller said, "You are. the true spirit of youth."
What is the secret of Mary Martin's incredible
energy, her remarkable exuberance?
On opening night, as she burst into song with
her elfin grin and piping voice, her special kind of
wonder soared over the footlights and I could sense
her ebullience infecting the audience. At the end,
people left their seats in a glow.
Backstage, I cornered Miss Martin in her dress
ing room. Up close, she is no glamour goddess. By
Hollywood standards, her face is plain, her nose
too large and her neck too thin, her chin sticks
out, her figure can hardly compete with Brigitte
Bardot's. But her radiant warmth and magnetism
make you forget all that.
She looks at least a decade younger than she is.
How, I asked, does she do it?
. "I never even consider age," she said, in her
flat Texas twang. "I'm 45 but I actually think I'm
19. I haven't ever let myself go past 19.
"One trick I have is to make myself not think
of ugly and disagreeable things. I believe people
dwell too much on the unpleasant I seem to have
an instinct for accepting my problems, dealing
with them, and then discarding them.
"Maybe I keep young in mood at least because
I don't occupy my mind with the past I have so
' many plans, so many ambitions to keep growing.
My work, my family, and my home keep me busy
24 hours a day. I can't remember when I've been
bored for a second."
To feel ageless, according to the Mary Martin
credo, you also have to be an incurable optimist
"I guess it's part of my nature to be a positive
thinker," she said. "Rodgers and Hammers tein's
song, 'A Cockeyed Optimist' that's me. Take this
tour we're doing. It would probably frighten me
if I took time to think about it, but I don't.
"Last Saturday we returned from Alaska, where
we warmed up our show. Before that tour started,
there were so many complications that the trip
seemed impossible. But I was confident it could
be handled. I was just a cockeyed optimist Well,
our whole company did fly up and we put on 13
shows in nine days at 11 Army, Air Force, and
Navy installations. We covered nearly 20,000 miles.
Sure it was gruelling, but we did it" ,
I asked, "Where do you get all that energy?"
She rapped with both hands on her wooden
dressing table. "I keep in good health," she said.
"Like my mother, I must have a fantastic consti
tution. I remember once she had a gall-bladder
attack and the next day she was on the go again.
My theory is that I never get tired just my body
does. I lead a very disciplined life. Since last
March, when I began preparing for this tour, all
I've done is practice, eat, and go to bed by 8:30.
"I don't have to diet I work too hard. I always
weigh about 115. 1 love good healthful foods steak,
potatoes, salads, vegetables, desserts. But I never
gorge myself. That reminds me, I'm starved!"
Ahile miss martin changed into street clothes,
"I turned to Richard Halliday, her tall, 'slim,
handsome husband and personal manager. -
"About Mary's buoyant youthfulness and good
health," he said. "Up in Alaska, she was the only
one in our troupe who didn't come down with a
cold, have to take aspirin or tranquilizers, or go
to the dispensary. And during the entire three
year run of 'South Pacific,' Mary missed only
three performances.
"Someone once said that Mary doesn't need any
mechanical apparatus to fly in 'Peter Pan' she
can fly under her own power, using old-fashioned
zest for fuel. You can't fake pure joy, the kind that
gets across to all types in an audience. I guess
Mary's perpetual joy stems from her passion for
the stage. The greatest thing in life is to love your
. work and keep at it until you're exhausted."
We were joined by Humphrey Doulins of
Columbia Artists Management, who is supervising
the Mary Martin tour. Doulins, who has worked "
with Lily Pons, Grace Moore, Gladys Swarthout,
She's 45 and a grandmother,
yet she has
the lively exuberance
of a teen-ager.
Here is her formula
for preserving
the spirit of youth.
by Theodore Irwin
family Weekly, January II, mi
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