Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin:


Neither Heartbreak Nor Tragedy....


This article appeared in Screen Stars Magazine August, 1963



WHEN DISASTER STRIKES PEOPLE LIKE SANDY AND BOBBY, MUST THE "SHOW REALLY GO ON?" CAN THEY CONTINUE TO WARM YOUR HEART WHEN THEIR HEARTS CONTAIN ONLY TEARS?


The spotlight dimmed to a soft pool of light, the audience grew silent, and a lone young man strolled confidently on the stage. The place was the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. The audience quieted immediately, and turned eagerly towards the stage, as though each one had been waiting for this moment for years.

As indeed each might have been. Bobby Darin doesn't make half enough personal appearances to satisfy all his fans. Some of the Flamingo's customers had come miles just to hear him in person. And each had paid a substantial sum to hear his talent first-hand. They were not disappointed.

A small, blonde girl sat in a front row table, all alone. Swaying dreamily to the rhythm, her eyes never left Bobby's face. And his never left hers. It was a thrilling experience for an audience. After each number, the applause was deafening.

And then, something very strange happened just as Bobby's first act was finishing. It occurred right in the middle of his most tender love song.

A waiter had come silently up to the blonde girl's table, holding a small white telephone. Without distracting her, he plugged it in to her table, tapped her lightly on the shoulder and left. She picked up the receiver, looking more than a little annoyed.

She listened for a moment and began to tremble, with a faint moan, she left the room.

In the intermission, Bobby Darin rushed backstage. She fell sobbing into his arms.

The phone call had been from her family with the news that her beloved grandfather had died. Sandy was dazed with shock and disbelief.

But she insisted Bobby go on with his show. That, she said, would give her great comfort, to hear him sing at that moment, making others happy, singing his love to her for all the world to hear.

So Bobby went back onstage and Sandy went back to her table. The customers applauded loudly because they sensed some sort of tragedy had occurred.

But just a little bit later there was another interruption.

This time, the customers did not suspect it was a tragedy. Tragedies do not follow one after the other. Therefore, when the customers saw Bobby turn his head toward the curtain during a song, as though someone were beckoning, they weren't unduly alarmed.

Then Bobby disappeared behind the curtain.

And like a shot, Sandra was out of her chair and backstage. There she found her husband holding a telegram. Unable to speak, he handed her the slip of yellow paper.

It had four stars across the top of it. Four stars on a telegram means a death announcement. With shaking hands, Sandra read that Bobby's dearest, only uncle had just died.

Immediately, she forgot her own grief, folding Bobby in her arms. For a good ten minutes, he cried into her shoulder. Finally, "Come on, darling. I'm taking you home." She knew well how her husband's life had just been shattered, rendered empty by this bereavement. She could feel his body shaking with grief.

But he looked up and shook his head, his eyes begging her to help him. "I'm going back out there. They want me. They paid to see me. But listen, Sandy, please fly to your grandfather's funeral. Now. I know you want to go. I'll feel better if you do." Sandra nodded. She understood, perfectly.

And Bobby Darin, pale, shaking but smiling, strode back onstage. He looked around at the audience's rapt faces. The orchestra played the opening bars. He broke into song.

In spite of the two shattering personal tragedies, Bobby Darin, like the dedicated entertainer he is, gave his fans their money's worth.

Other people can stay home from work when a loved one dies or is ill, other people's private lives can take precedence over their business lives.

But an entertainer belongs solely to those people who paid money to see him. That old saying, "The show must go on" is perhaps the most rigidly followed, ironclad rule in use today. Though they may be flighty and unreliable in countless ways, you will never find a true entertainer breaking this rule.

What is this core of strength in the entertainers? What holds them, irrevocably, to the pledge, "The Show Must Go On?" Why must this strength show itself only in emergencies instead of their day-to-day lives? It does seem strange when you think of all the billions of normal, non-showbusiness people who exhibit calm strength in their routine activities and then go to pieces in emergencies.

But it becomes understandable when you think of the temperament showbusiness people possess. It is the same one that caused them to seek the spotlight in the first place. What kind is it? Well, it's a highly volatile temperament - constantly changing, and seeking change. It depends on applause for its very existence. Without applause and adulation, "showbiz" people seem to deflate like old balloons, unable to find happiness in anything. Those driven to the entertainment field by this temperament are doomed to lives of severe ups and downs, depressions and elations. If there's one thing the "showbiz" personality abhors, it's dullness. And what normal people call quiet happiness (such as happy married life), the performers find deadly confining.

So perhaps it can be accurately said that performers react well in the face of tragedy because it is a time when real-life acting is necessary. Because suddenly everyone becomes their rapt audience--waiting for them to break down.

This is probably why the actors are able to suppress their hysteria and grief better than anyone. As soon as they know the public is watching their bereavement and their reactions to it, they are given the strength to smile shakily and say, "I'm going to be all right." Their instinct to play a part to be someone else--takes over.

You may also be wondering how people like Bobby Darin, and all the others could go back to work so soon after tragedy.

Rest assured there's nothing at all indelicate or in bad taste about the stars' need for work during grief. It's quite normal for them. The self-expression and applause is more comforting to them than any sympathetic shoulder. In any tragedy, the best way to cure grief is by involvement and distraction--anything to take your mind off what has happened.

This is why Sandra Dee Darin understood when her husband went "on with the show."

But no matter what their reason for courage, all of us should be thankful that, come any sort of catastrophe, the stars will keep their promise to us: The show will always go on.



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