LA xi
MOVIES
BURL IVES -
Just a Gypsy at Heart
This versatile performer juggles
several successful careers
but doesnyt take them too seriously
his restless spirit tvon't let him
by PEER J. OPPENHEIMER
To burl ives, the only place to be in time of crisis
is on the open sea. Whenever things are going
badly and often when they're not he's liable to
drop everything and sail off on his 32-foot sloop.
With this versatile singer-actor-writer, sailing
isn't just a hobby; it's an obsession and has been for
more than 20 years. Burl's boat is his assurance that
he'll never have to settle down in one place for long,
and he wouldn't be happy without that assurance.
Born 50 years ago on a farm in Illinois, Ives began
displaying maverick qualities early. But wanderlust
really set in while he was studying at Eastern State
Teachers College. "One morning," he recalls, "I left
right in the middle of a class with 15 cents in my
pocket and a banjo slung over my shoulder."
He hitchhiked across the country, singing folk
songs for his meals (a hobby begun in childhood).
There were times when his singing wouldn't buy
him a cup of coffee, and he was forced to take
any job to keep going. But however lonely and
fatiguing his uncertain existence was, the demon
within him never let him rest:
"I kept growing tired of the same faces day in and
day out. I would try to talk myself into staying a bit
longer, but I was too restless. There were so many
places to see, so many people to meet."
He has since admitted: "Traveling is fun only
when you can afford to do it in style. For years I
was just a bum, living on handouts. Believe me, it
sounds more romantic in retrospect than it was."
Ives finally ended up in New York at the depth
of the depression. He kept alive through odd jobs
and even landed a few bit parts on Broadway. He
began to make a name for himself when he got his
own radio show on NBC in 1940. World War II
interrupted and he went into the Air Corps. Two
years later a medical discharge led him back to
radio, but he was unable to shake the old feeling of
(discontent with any sort of permanence.
So he pulled up stakes and toured the country
in style this time doing the thing he liked best, folk
singing. It became a way of life that made him
America's best-loved balladeer. His fame even
tually brought him the role of Big Daddy in the
play, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." And when the
screen version took him to Hollywood, he found
himself with a new career as a dramatic actor.
That career has won him an Oscar and a part
opposite Sir Alec Guinness in Columbia's forth
coming "Our Man In Havana."
As an antidote to these spells of "hard work,"
Burl turns to the sailor's life. On most of his trips,
his chief cook, cabin boy, and first mate is his wife
Helen, whom he married in 1945. Their 11-year-old
son Alexander has inherited Ives' nautical enthusi
asm, and whenever he's not in school, he joins them?
Says Burl of his need to "get away": "There are
no ties, no worries, and no obligations on board my
boat. That's where I relax, write my books and my
songs, or just sit on deck and spit in the ocean. It's
the only place where I am really alive. Some men
are born to have roots. I don't like responsibilities,
like a house and a car and having to be pleasant to
neighbors. I'm just a gypsy at heart."
A very successful one, too.
S (
wmm
Above, Burl, Alec Guinness, and Jo Morrow in a tense
moment from "Our Man in Havana." As soon as the
film was completed, Ives headed for his "home" on the
open sea, accompanied by his wife Helen and son.
Family Weekly, January 3, 1960
11