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00:01From A&E, this is Biography.
00:19The film studios of the 1930s produced lavish musicals
00:24to help a discontented populace escape its troubles.
00:28Desperate for new faces, Hollywood talent scouts scoured nightclubs
00:32and dance halls across the country.
00:37Ladies and gentlemen, here she is, Miss Ann Miller,
00:39our new dancing discovery.
00:41We found this lady in a nightclub in San Francisco.
00:43It wasn't exactly a nightclub, it was downstairs.
00:46It was in a posted manhole.
00:51Her mother said your belly button is the source of your energy,
00:54so any time you start to feel a little tired or something like that,
00:57just point to your belly button,
00:59and it'll give you that extra little pizzazz that you need.
01:02Ann Miller's exuberant energy and machine gun style
01:06made her an instant hit with audiences.
01:08Ann Miller would walk on the stage,
01:10and the audience would instantly go,
01:13and the smile would happen, you know?
01:16She just makes you smile.
01:18After her standout performance in RKO's New Faces of 1937,
01:22the studio quickly offered her a seven-year contract.
01:26Hungry for a career in films and a $150 a week paycheck,
01:31Ann Miller signed on the dotted line.
01:33However, there was one minor problem.
01:36I lied and said I was 18, and I had to stick to that lie,
01:39and I just stayed 18 for like five years.
01:42With the aid of a falsified birth certificate
01:44procured by her lawyer father, Ann joined the roster of RKO stars.
01:49They quickly thrust her into the role of leading ingenue.
01:53Ann Miller was playing dress-up in a grown-up world,
01:57but she was only 13 years old.
02:01Film history books state that Ann Miller was born on April 12, 1919,
02:06in Cherino, Texas.
02:08She was not.
02:09She was born April 12, 1923, in Houston, Texas,
02:14to John Alfred Collier, a criminal defense lawyer,
02:17and his wife, Clara Emma Birdwell.
02:20She was named Johnny Lucille Collier because her father had wanted a boy.
02:26She's just a Texas girl.
02:29She says that a lot.
02:30I'm from Texas, you know.
02:33John Collier was a charming Irishman who loved to dance
02:36and had an eye for the ladies.
02:38Clara Collier was part Cherokee Indian,
02:41a devoted mother and wife, and almost completely deaf.
02:45She had a wonderful mother whom Annie looks like.
02:49Beautiful woman.
02:51She tried to make me a ballerina, and I didn't like it.
02:55Maybe it's my Indian blood.
02:56I don't know.
02:57But I like tap dancing.
02:59And the minute I heard drums, I just took off.
03:01Boom, da-da-boom, da-da-boom.
03:02I just took off.
03:04So that's the way it's been ever since.
03:07As a youngster, Lucy snuck into movie theaters
03:10to watch Astaire and Rogers dance.
03:13She thought Ginger Rogers was the most beautiful creature
03:16she'd ever seen.
03:17It was in the darkened movie theater that Lucy Collier decided
03:21to become a star.
03:22In the summer of 1934, she and her mother vacationed in Hollywood
03:27where Lucy enrolled in the famous Fanchon and Marco dancing school
03:31and registered with Central Casting.
03:34I don't know who would have stopped Ann.
03:36You know, what she did was encourage the young little girl
03:39that had all that great talent, and she was a brilliant dancer,
03:42and she sang like mad.
03:43So the mother didn't thwart that.
03:44The mother said, go ahead, baby.
03:46You know, she didn't.
03:48She wasn't not a stage mother.
03:50When the summer ended, mother and daughter returned
03:52to their Houston home and John Collier.
03:55I knew that my father was not being faithful to my mother.
03:59I just knew it by instinct.
04:00One afternoon, my mother and myself came a little earlier
04:03than we had planned, and my father was in bed with some,
04:09not a lady, some woman, and when I looked up in the window,
04:14I saw this apparition, this fanny in the window,
04:19and I pushed my mother out of the way.
04:23I didn't want her to see it, and I was the one.
04:26Here I am, nine years old, you know.
04:28But I walked in, opened the door, and I said,
04:30get out of my mother's home.
04:33Lucy and Clara piled their belongings into the car
04:36and returned to California, this time to stay.
04:39They found a tiny one-room kitchenette in Hollywood
04:42and sold the car to pay the rent.
04:44Clara's hearing impairment made it impossible
04:46for her to hold down a job.
04:50I knew I was going to take care of my mother
04:52because my father wasn't going to do it.
04:54He wouldn't even send us any money.
04:56I think that Annie became Clara's mother.
05:01I think she took care of her mother,
05:04and the roles got switched.
05:07One Christmas, we didn't have anything to eat,
05:10and the landlady knocked on our door,
05:13and she brought this beautiful chocolate cake.
05:15I'll never forget this.
05:17As long as I live, she brought this gorgeous chocolate cake,
05:20and we thanked her profusely,
05:22and that's what we had for our dinner,
05:24was this chocolate cake.
05:27Help came in the form of George Morgan,
05:30owner of Morgan's Dance Shop on Sunset Boulevard.
05:33He gave Lucy a pair of white Oxfords
05:35with long taps and jingles on the heels.
05:38Lucy named them Mo and Joe.
05:41Mr. Morgan allowed Lucy to practice in the shop
05:44on his tap board.
05:45Soon, Lucy was getting jobs entertaining at luncheons
05:48for the Elks, Lions, and Rotary Clubs.
05:51One day, her pianist, Harry Field,
05:54suggested she change her name to something easy,
05:57like Ann Miller.
05:59Clara had the numerology of the name done
06:01and decided it would bring them luck.
06:03At the age of 11, Johnny Lucille Collier became Ann Miller.
06:08I think Annie always wanted to please Clara, you know.
06:13I think she wanted to please the non-existent dad, you know,
06:18the non-participating dad.
06:20Ann got a regular job performing at the Black Cat Cafe.
06:24Patrons would throw change on the stage,
06:26and with a borrowed hat, she would get down on her hands and knees
06:30to pick up the money.
06:32She's a worker, and she's too, you know, energetic and curious,
06:37and she just loves the business, you know,
06:42and loves to perform.
06:45And I think it's something that she just kind of has to do.
06:49Soon after, 12-year-old Ann won an amateur talent contest,
06:53and the prize was a two-week engagement at the Orpheum Theatre.
06:57This led to bookings at Hollywood hotspots
07:00like the Casanova Club on the Sunset Strip.
07:03But she was never out of her mother's sight.
07:07Clara was with her all the time.
07:09My mother, I used to call her Mama Cat.
07:12She was so protective of me.
07:14I was her little kitty cat.
07:16And if anybody had tried to get around her,
07:19she'd hit them with a baseball bat.
07:21She wouldn't care who they were,
07:22because I was just too young.
07:25She kept up with her education by doing lessons at home
07:28and sending them to the Hollywood Professional School.
07:32In 1936, Ann Miller uttered her first line of dialogue
07:36in the B-film Devil on Horseback,
07:39starring Lily D'Amita.
07:44Ann's big break came when she was booked for three weeks
07:47at the Bal Tabern Supper Club in San Francisco.
07:51The Bal Tabern was a real good start.
07:53It was the place to go in San Francisco.
07:56Ann's performance charmed comedian and talent scout Benny Rubin.
08:00I'm sure Benny Rubin liked Annie Miller's performance.
08:05That came with great respect,
08:07because Benny Rubin didn't waste his time.
08:11He told Ann if she could prove that she was 18 years old,
08:14he could get her a screen test for RKO Studios.
08:18Desperate for the opportunity,
08:20Ann asked for help from the one person
08:22she least wanted to approach.
08:25My father, the only really good thing he ever did for me,
08:29later on after they divorced,
08:31he got me a fake birth certificate,
08:33because I had to take it in to the head of RKO Studios,
08:37a lovely man by the name of Sam Briskin,
08:39and to prove that I was 18.
08:43Ann's mother, Clara, gave the 13-year-old advice
08:46on how to act 18.
08:49Always dress impeccably, wear makeup,
08:51and keep your mouth shut.
08:54Armed with this wisdom,
08:55Ann Miller moved from the club stage to the sound stage.
09:02In 1937, while her contemporaries
09:05busied themselves with hopscotch,
09:0814-year-old Ann Miller had signed a seven-year contract
09:11with RKO Studios.
09:14That same year, she won a small role
09:16in Gregory LaCava's Stage Door,
09:18starring Katherine Hepburn and her idol, Ginger Rogers.
09:22When I heard there was supposed to be a girl
09:24that's going to be dancing with Ginger Rogers,
09:26I said, Mr. LaCava, please let me dance with Ginger.
09:30She's my idol.
09:31And he looked at me and he said,
09:33well, aren't you too tall?
09:34And I said, well, I can wear a higher top hat
09:37and a lower heel, you know,
09:40if she could put on a little higher heel
09:42and a little lower top hat.
09:44And Ginger started to laugh.
09:46And that's when she said,
09:47okay, Stringbean, you got it.
09:49She didn't even wait for him to make the decision.
09:52With Ann's success in Stage Door
09:53came the lead ingenue role in Radio City Revels,
09:56at 15 years of age,
09:59she had to kiss her co-star and crush Kenny Baker.
10:03It was her first.
10:05She does romanticize.
10:08That's part of being a kid.
10:11In her next film,
10:12she played a married woman who can't dance
10:15in Frank Capra's You Can't Take It With You.
10:18There's a likability to Annie.
10:20And, you know, you can't manufacture it.
10:22You can be a great singer, great dancer, great actress,
10:25but you can't bottle or create likability.
10:30She has that likability factor.
10:33To capitalize on the success of You Can't Take It With You,
10:37the studio sent 15-year-old Ann on a cross-country tour.
10:41She danced eight shows a day at movie houses before the pictures ran,
10:46leaving her little time for play or homework.
10:50Frustrated by the overwhelming workload
10:53and the refusal of RKO to give her a raise,
10:56Ann's agents got her released from her contract
10:58and sent her to New York to star in George White's Scandals of 1939.
11:04On August 28th of that year,
11:07Ann Miller stepped out on stage to do a number called
11:09The Mexiconga, her Broadway debut.
11:14It was a caca.
11:20Mexiconga.
11:21And the Kim Lu sisters set it up.
11:23And then Ann came on.
11:25She had a hat with a little bitty costume.
11:28And they pounded the drums while I danced.
11:30And it just knocked everybody out.
11:33She was a smash and a Broadway star at age 16.
11:36Now that's incredible. Incredible.
11:39And I was on cloud nine.
11:41Here I was, a kid.
11:43All this happening and my mother was so thrilled.
11:45And I had my first taste of champagne that night.
11:48I remember Ann, backstage,
11:52I guess leaving for the evening,
11:54had the most beautiful lynx coat I had ever seen.
11:58She looked fantastic.
12:02Wealthy stage door johnnies wind and dine the new Broadway sensation.
12:07However, her mother always chaperoned.
12:10At the end of the evening, Ann would return to the hotel room
12:14and finish her school lessons.
12:18From the Columbia studios in Hollywood comes a miracle musical comedy.
12:23With top stars of stage, screen and radio topping their greatest performances.
12:28Ann Miller returned to Hollywood after two years in the scandals.
12:32Time out for rhythm with Ann Miller.
12:37During the shooting of the film, time out for rhythm,
12:40Ann Miller became an adult legally.
12:43She turned 18 years old and completed her high school education.
12:47Her appearance in the film also won the attention of Harry Cohn.
12:51In 1941, Ann Miller signed her second seven year contract.
12:56Only this time for Columbia studios.
13:01Ann established herself on the lot as the queen of the bees.
13:05Due to the success of her early wartime films with titles such as
13:09True to the Army, Hey Rookie, and Reveille with Beverly.
13:15Thumbs up!
13:19Thumbs up!
13:22Thumbs up!
13:25Thumbs up and V for victory
13:31On land or sea for victory
13:35Ten million Yangs from
13:39Kentucky to Kalamazoo to Kokomo
13:42Are ready to go
13:43Let's keep all glory in the sky
13:50A Yankee rainbow riding high
13:55Roll up your sleeves
13:57And help the gal who carries a torch to hold it high
14:01Whatever befall
14:02America call
14:04America call
14:04Thumbs up and V for victory
14:13Douglas MacArthur came home one afternoon after a lot of war
14:18And Reveille with Beverly had just finished running for the boys
14:23And he saw thumbs up and V for victory, that number
14:27And he said put that picture on again, I want to see the entire thing
14:32And the boys had to sit through that picture all over again while he sat back in the back watching
14:39it
14:39She was absolutely adorable
14:41And she was, there you saw her comedic talent and her acting talent
14:49You know it's funny, I never studied a lot of acting
14:52I just thought acting was just being me
14:55Ann Miller had won more than the hearts of servicemen and generals
14:59Her lust for fun and no-nonsense personality had won the hearts of fans, friends and co-workers alike
15:07You have to love her for it because she calls it like it is
15:11And when you're with her or away from her, you never have to guess what she thinks of you
15:18Because she'll tell you
15:21Ann began to enjoy the Hollywood nightlife
15:24As a legal adult, she dated without her mother in tow
15:28As long as she was home by midnight
15:31She is a party girl, Ann loves it
15:33She loves it
15:34Unlike her contemporaries, Ann seldom dated fellow performers
15:39She preferred wealthy playboys
15:42Annie's a very social person
15:45See, I don't think Annie likes to be alone
15:48By late 1945, Ann Miller was tiring from a decade of hard work
15:53And sought relief through marriage
15:56I wanted to be like a lot of other girls
16:01And have a husband and have a child
16:03And to be able to go to parties and wear pretty things
16:07And wear perfume and feathers in my hair or whatever
16:11I wanted to have a pretty house and everything beautiful
16:15I'm thinking like Tinkerbell
16:17I wanted everything to be beautiful
16:18Suitors besieged Ann with marriage proposals
16:22Shoe tycoon Harry Carle, Scrap Iron Heir, Reese Milner
16:26And even MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer all asked for Ann's hand
16:31Ann's mother flatly refused Mr. Mayer's proposal
16:35As Ann was 40 years his junior
16:37Ann chose 33-year-old Reese Milner
16:41He was the type that was attractive to Annie
16:45And she had every reason to think that it would be a good marriage
16:51Reese Milner told Ann that if she married him
16:55She would never have to work again
16:57Exactly what she wanted to hear
16:59After playing breadwinner for so long
17:02Ann wanted to be cared for
17:04Still under contract to Columbia Studios
17:07She had to ask Harry Cohn for her release
17:10I remember that Mr. Cohn advised me not to marry him
17:13And in fact he brought a couple of girls that this young man had dated
17:17That he had apparently been violent with
17:21And I thought Mr. Cohn had just put him up just telling me that
17:25Because he didn't want me to leave my contract
17:28Reluctantly, Harry Cohn let her go
17:30Ann eagerly looked forward to her Tinkerbell ideal of marriage
17:37Ann Miller and Reese Llewellyn Milner applied for their marriage license on Valentine's Day 1946
17:44The couple married two days later at the All Saints by the Sea Episcopal Church in Montecito, California
17:51The day of the wedding, bridesmaid Marjorie Reynolds realized that Ann had not yet heard the lesson of the birds
17:58and the bees
18:00Marjorie was the one that really took me aside and told me, you know, what boys do to girls on
18:06their wedding night
18:06And what to use and all that
18:08It just sounded so icky to me
18:11It took all the romance out of romance
18:14And consequently I didn't do it
18:16And I was pregnant after the first two months of my marriage
18:20Reese became increasingly jealous of Ann's mother Clara
18:23And forbade Ann from visiting her film industry friends
18:28But Reese unfortunately had had this bad accident
18:31A horse fell on him and she didn't know that he had a plate in his head
18:36And it's not his fault, but he was unpredictable
18:42And at times violent
18:45On June 27th, Ann wrote a letter to her mother to be read only in the event of her death
18:51The letter chronicled three months of mental and physical abuse by her husband
18:56However, as long as she was living, Ann was going to continue to put on a happy face
19:02I was very innocent, dumb really about men
19:07An argument broke out as the couple spent their 11th month of marriage at his Ojai ranch
19:13A blow from Milner hurtled Ann down a flight of stairs
19:16She was nine months pregnant
19:19On November 12th, 1946, at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles
19:24With a fractured lower back, Ann Miller gave birth to a baby girl
19:28The baby died three hours later
19:30The press reported the baby's death was due to an auto accident
19:34She was very depressed
19:36She wanted that
19:40And that, you know, is the only time that she's been pregnant
19:46Ann moved from the hospital bed to her mother's home and filed for a divorce
19:51The settlement between Ann and her multi-millionaire husband was a mere $20,000
19:57It was compensation for her medical bills and lost wages
20:01While laid up for several weeks in a traction bed, she tried to make sense of her failed marriage
20:07And the loss of her child
20:10Mothers should never say to their daughters
20:11When you get married, he's going to be your prince charming and it's going to be wonderful
20:15He comes on a white horse and swoops you up and takes you away
20:19And be happiness forever after
20:21Well, it didn't work that way for me
20:24It was awful
20:25Less than a year after her fairytale marriage, Ann needed a job
20:30She won the role of Nadine Hale in MGM's Easter Parade
20:34It had an Irving Berlin score and starred Fred Astaire and Judy Garland
20:38But Ann Miller stopped the show
20:42Shaking the blues away
20:45Unhappy news away
20:47If you were blue, it's easy to shake off your cares and troubles
20:52Telling the blues to go
20:54They may refuse to go
20:58But as a rule, they'll go if you'll shake them away
21:02Do like the voodoo's do
21:04Listen to voodoo melody
21:07They shake their bodies so
21:10To and fro
21:11With every shake
21:13A lucky break
21:14Proving that there's a way
21:16To chase your cares away
21:18If you would lose your weary blues
21:21Shake them away
21:24Shake them away
21:28Not entirely recovered from her injuries
21:31Ann had to take painkillers
21:33And dance in a steel back brace
21:42Easter Parade
21:43Easter Parade was a hit
21:44And Ann Miller was the newest member of the MGM Stable of Stars
21:48She quickly set about making herself at home
21:51The best musical of 1948, Easter Parade
21:54And with us to help the opening, to help the premiere
21:57One of the stars, dancing and singing stars from Easter Parade, Ann Miller
22:02Ann, how about a plug for our home state? Where are you from?
22:05I'm from Texas, sir
22:06You're from Texas
22:07She was a kick to work with
22:10If she was dating
22:11Like say she'd be dating a doctor
22:14And well, she would always
22:15She would come in in the morning
22:17And tell us all
22:18Regale us all with stories about what he tried that night
22:21You know, if he was trying to sit to us
22:23You know what he did?
22:24You know what he did last night?
22:26You know
22:26So that kind of thing
22:27And we'd all be on the floor
22:29One morning while reading the L.A. Times
22:31Ann made a discovery that would change her life
22:35I saw his picture in the paper
22:37And I held it up in front of my mother
22:39And I said, you see that man?
22:41I'm gonna be in love with him
22:42And she laughed at me
22:43I said, no, I'm gonna meet him
22:45And I'm gonna fall in love with him
22:48She met him at my house
22:50He was divorced
22:51He was very attractive
22:54And very bright
22:57Soon the gossip columns were filled with sightings
23:00Of the picture-perfect Ann Miller
23:01And her handsome new beau, William O'Connor
23:04Rumors flew about a forthcoming wedding
23:07But that would not happen
23:09It's too bad he was a very strong Catholic
23:12They had a civil divorce
23:14But in order for him to remarry
23:18The papers had to be signed by his ex-wife
23:22And for whatever reason
23:24I don't know
23:25She wouldn't sign them
23:27My mother would never let me go steady with him
23:30She said, until his wife signs those papers
23:33You're not gonna get tied to anybody
23:36Because she may never sign those papers
23:39Well, unfortunately, she never did
23:41I think he was the love of her life
23:43And it was just the wrong time
23:46The wrong situation
23:48Though her love life was uncertain
23:50The late 1940s and early 1950s
23:53Were the pinnacle of Ann's career
23:55The little Texas girl
23:57Who had dreamed of becoming a star
23:59Was now under contract
24:00To the most prestigious studio in Hollywood
24:03But unlike other stars
24:05Who tired of the constant social demands of fame
24:08Ann reveled in the world of glamour
24:10And make-believe
24:12That's where you really know
24:14Ann never forgets
24:15What her mother said to her
24:17When she was 13 years old
24:18You never walk out that front door
24:21That you are not Ann Miller
24:23And the cameras could be turning
24:25What has Gable got for me
24:27Or Mrs. Johnson's blond boy van
24:30I want a happy ape
24:32With no English drape
24:33A prehistoric man
24:35Top hats, bow ties
24:39He simply wore no ties
24:42Bare skin, bare skin
24:44He just sat around in nothing but bare skin
24:48I really love their skin
24:52Some guys care a lot for me
24:54But my excitement they can't ban
24:56Because I still await my primitive mate
25:00We've had a date since the world began
25:05My prehistoric man
25:09Gene Kelly
25:10Frank Sinatra
25:11Jules Munchen
25:12Vera Ellen
25:13And Annie
25:14And myself
25:14And Annie
25:16We all came in
25:17To rehearsals in the morning
25:18In sweatpants
25:20And whatever we were going to work in
25:22Annie always arrived
25:24With a big black hat
25:26And high heeled shoes
25:27With the ankle straps
25:28And she was always dressed to the nines
25:46MGM never used Anne in the ingenue role
25:49She was accustomed to playing
25:50But she shined playing the second female lead
25:53In films like Lovely to Look At
25:55With Katherine Grayson
25:57She has no jealousy
25:59She just really wants to energize the room
26:01And make other people happy
26:03She may not have won the love of the leading man
26:06But Anne excelled in delivering the comic quip
26:09I hear you knocking but you can't come in
26:11And she always had a show stopping number
26:17Anne Miller called her time at MGM her golden years
26:20Both personally and professionally
26:23However, she was in love with a man who could not
26:26Or would not marry her
26:27And she was working in a film genre
26:29That was about to become extinct
26:34In 1953, Anne Miller delighted in playing the role of Bianca
26:38In Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate
26:40It would be one of the last great MGM musicals
26:47During the mid 1950s, Anne traipsed around the world
26:51As an MGM goodwill ambassador
26:53And accompanied friend Conrad Hilton
26:55To his many hotel openings
26:58There's a beautiful lady at the next table
27:00And a beautiful dancer
27:02I'm sure you know her
27:02Anne Miller
27:03Yeah
27:04Would you do a couple of turns with Connie, please?
27:07Oh, yes, and I'd love to
27:34Anne's charmed royalty and heads of state
27:37The Hollywood party girl
27:39The Hollywood party girl became the globe-trotting party girl
27:41But her heart remained in Los Angeles
27:43With Bill O'Connor
27:46I went out with all these glamorous people
27:49But I was in love with Bill O'Connor
27:52And I would never
27:53A lot of them asked me to marry him
27:54But I would never marry him
27:56Because I was in love with Bill O'Connor
27:58He literally more or less ruined my life
28:01Anne grew tired of waiting around for Bill O'Connor
28:04And in 1957 began dating a fun-loving Texas oil man
28:08Named William Moss
28:09He too told her that if she married him
28:12She would never have to work again
28:15One of the wildest weddings I've ever been to
28:18The wedding party arrived in La Jolla
28:20To a small, little, beautiful church
28:24And as they came down the aisle
28:26You would have thought it was laugh-in
28:28One-liners were flying from the guests
28:33On August 22, 1958
28:36While bride and groom exchanged their vows
28:38Bill O'Connor was frantically phoning Anne
28:41To stop the wedding
28:42He had decided on her wedding day
28:45That he would leave the Catholic Church for her
28:48It was too late
28:49Well, I wanted so hard, you know, to be happy
28:52Because each time I left my career
28:54And I wanted to be happy
28:57It was clear from the start
28:59That Anne and Bill Moss would not have a happy marriage
29:02He threw wild parties that would last for two or three days
29:06Anne could not keep up
29:08While in La Jolla celebrating their first anniversary
29:12Anne had a sinking feeling that something terrible was going to happen
29:16And asked Bill to return to Los Angeles
29:18It was August 27, 1959
29:21And William O'Connor, the love of her life
29:24Had died of a heart attack
29:28I've never seen her that she didn't come through the storm
29:32With all the flags flying
29:34Anne's marriage to Bill Moss lasted two more years
29:38But it really ended the day Bill O'Connor died
29:41In 1962, while traveling with friends in Mexico
29:45Anne married longtime friend Arthur Cameron
29:48He was an older man and another Texas oil man
29:53He really was a father image to me
29:55And he was a pretty good fellow
29:58But my mother liked him a lot
30:03Playing the role of Hollywood hostess
30:05Anne settled into what she hoped would be
30:08Her third and final marriage
30:10I heard all these voices down by this huge pool
30:14Singing and laughing and girls mostly
30:17And I looked at him, I said, Arthur
30:18Who are all these beautiful girls?
30:21Who are these girls?
30:22And he looked at me for a minute and he said,
30:24Darling, these are my mistresses, but you're my queen
30:28And I thought, is he crazy?
30:31I said, Arthur, either they go or I go
30:34And he looked at me for about a minute and he said,
30:38Well, pack your bags
30:42I don't know what happened, but when the annulment
30:46Or the separation occurred, Mr. Cameron said,
30:51Well, we're not even married
30:52Anne was furious and threatened Arthur
30:54With a $7 million lawsuit
30:56He admitted to the marriage and she won her divorce
31:00Instead of millions, Anne walked away
31:02With only a 20-carat diamond ring
31:05And a $50,000 trust for her mother
31:08In 1963, Anne focused on reinventing her career
31:13But her brand of vaudevillian entertainment
31:15Had long since gone out of fashion
31:18Won't you come home, Bill Bates?
31:21Won't you come home?
31:25I've cried the whole night long
31:33I'll do your cooking, baby
31:36I'll pay the rent
31:40I know I've done you wrong
31:48Remember that rainy evening
31:52I threw you out
31:54With nothing but a fine tooth hole
32:02Well, I know that I'm the blame
32:06Ain't that a dirty old shame
32:11Bailey, won't you please
32:15Bailey, won't you please
32:21Bailey, come on home
32:23I went right back into dancing again
32:29And wringing towels out with sweat
32:32And beating my head against the wall
32:34Her mother saved her money
32:35Worked very hard for Annie to be secure
32:37And Ann worked like a dog
32:46In 1969, on the strength of her performance
32:49In a Houston stage production of Can Can
32:51Ann won the lead role in the Florida production
32:54Of Jerry Herman's Mame
32:56A show enjoying huge success on Broadway
32:59She knew how important it could be to her
33:02I mean, it was a current show
33:04It wasn't as if Annie was looking to spend her life doing summer stock
33:09The Broadway production of Mame
33:11Had been a smash with Angela Lansbury
33:14The producers laughed at John Boab's suggestion of Ann Miller
33:18Until she opened in Florida
33:20She was a star
33:21She was a star
33:22There was no doubt after opening night
33:25In Florida
33:26That she would not come to New York
33:2930 years after her success in George White's scandals
33:33On May 26th, 1969
33:35Ann Miller returned to Broadway
33:38She was scared to death
33:40But she didn't
33:40I would say that she did not show it on stage
33:42When she appeared at the top of the stairs
33:45With her bugle
33:46The audience just went
33:47And the show couldn't go on
33:49It just stopped the show
33:51Ann brought something to the role of Mame
33:54That no one had before
33:55A bunch of guys are surrounding her
33:57While the chorus girls are up front doing their stuff
33:59And Ann switched shoes
34:01She switched to the tap shoes
34:03So from the upper balcony here
34:05She's gonna tap!
34:06She's gonna tap!
34:07And they were going nuts
34:09And it was so fabulous
34:11Ann had single-handedly revived interest in a show
34:14That looked as if it would close just weeks before
34:18Ann brought back the pizzazz
34:20The star quality
34:22There would be 300 or 400 people a night
34:25Waiting outside the stage show
34:27We had mounted police out there to try to control them
34:30You know?
34:31And I think that Ann tapped into
34:34Every frustrated chorus boy in New York
34:37I mean, they came out in droves
34:41As New York celebrated the arrival of 1970
34:44Ann Miller, her company, a menagerie of stuffed animals
34:48Suffered from a serious case of pneumonia
34:51She would leave Mame two days later
34:53And without her, the show closed
34:55At 47 years of age
34:58Ann returned to her mother's home in Los Angeles
35:01Tired, sick, and heartbroken
35:05Boy, am I hungry
35:06What kind of soup is that?
35:08Make way for the great American soup
35:10Can you give me that again?
35:13Up at the Ritz, they pass the word
35:15To 42nd Street
35:17Make way for the great American soup
35:23Hey, mister, have you tried the soup?
35:25That's good enough to eat
35:27Shake hands with the great American soup
35:33Feel that river
35:34Guide your feet on the soupy road to romance
35:37We shot this in two days
35:39And she danced from morning till night
35:41And I wondered, you know, rest her legs or something
35:44She said, no, honey, I gotta keep moving
35:46Gotta keep moving
35:46Let's face the chicken gumbo and dance
35:51Who's got its noodles up in lights
35:54From Broadway to the loop
35:56It's the great
35:58I said the great
36:01It's the great, great, great
36:04American soup
36:08Emily, why do you always have to make such a big production out of everything?
36:13In the 1970s, when Ann was in Hawking Soup, she was on stage hoofing
36:18She performed in summer stock, regional theaters, and television specials
36:23The 50-something Ann Miller strove to maintain the glamour of Hollywood
36:27And never looked anything less than a walking 8x10 glossy
36:31She is like a kabuki dancer
36:36It's all the whole makeup of the black wigs and the blue eyelids
36:41And it's really a creation for the stage
36:46And it's very effective
36:48Ann, I can hardly wait to do the show
36:50You'll be great, Nick
36:52I love the music
36:53You'll be great, Nick
36:54I love the sketches with you
36:55You'll be great, Nick
36:57In 1979, Ann joined up with MGM alum Mickey Rooney to do a national tour of a burlesque revival
37:04The critics were not kind, but audiences loved it
37:08It dazzled people because they all grew up with both of those performers
37:13As Ann triumphed, Clara Miller suffered a stroke
37:17She required constant medical care and was placed in a nursing home
37:22Annie was doing Sugar Babies at the time
37:26But she was in constant touch with her
37:30And, of course, when she was home, she was there most of the time
37:35And that was
37:37It was a very hard break for her
37:41In 1981, after two years of schlepping across the country
37:45Sugar Babies opened on Broadway
37:47That same year, Clara Miller passed away at the age of 89
37:53It was wonderful to see her and her mother together
37:56Clara was so funny, too
37:58Annie, you're calm and you always were and always will be
38:01She'd punish you, like, for smoking a cigarette
38:03Annie said, oh, ma
38:04I mean, it was just like that
38:06They hadn't grown up
38:0858-year-old Ann had spent nearly her entire life living with and caring for her mother
38:14Without Clara's love and protection
38:16Ann Miller had to grow up
38:21She dealt with her grief by channeling her energies
38:24Into the one thing that had seen her through every rough spot in her life
38:28Her work
38:29When she came in at night, she would come in early
38:31Get into her red zip suit, put on her tap shoes
38:34And come out on stage and work her buns off
38:37As she danced around the stage, she would maybe find a little screw loose
38:40Or a little piece of plywood would have chipped off
38:42And she had a pocket full of Kleenex
38:43And she would drop the Kleenex wherever the spot was it needed taken care of
38:47And the stagehands knew exactly what it was
38:49They would wait until Annie left and they would go around and fix it up
38:51So the floor was always perfect for her
38:54Anyway, she came in one night
38:55And she went in and the guys decided to play a joke on her
38:59They covered the entire stage
39:01The entire stage with Kleenex
39:03And Annie came out to this ocean of stuff on the floor
39:07And got hysterical
39:08Annie's humor
39:10I cannot, I don't know where it came from
39:12One day after the second week
39:14I said, Annie, we're off Tuesday
39:15Because it's Passover
39:16She says, honey, I don't do game shows
39:20Just for fun, come on over to the Mark Ellinger Theater
39:22And see Sugar Babies
39:24I'll dance for you
39:25And Mickey will try to grow
39:29After three years on Broadway
39:31Sugar Babies went back on the road
39:33And much to the surprise of everyone involved
39:35The Rooney-Miller partnership
39:37Lasted for nine and a half years
39:40Sugar Babies earned Ann millions of dollars
39:43Finally, she had the security her mother wished for
39:47But it came with a huge physical toll
39:50The dancing that she does
39:52Is very rigorous
39:54And it's very hard on her feet in particular
39:58Ann began to take it easier in the late 80s and 90s
40:02She bought a piece of property in Sedona, Arizona
40:05To build her dream home
40:06And spent more time socializing with friends
40:09In 1998, Ann joined an all-star cast
40:13In the long-awaited revival of Stephen Sondheim's Follies
40:18Stephen Sondheim was very much involved with our production
40:22And so he would come in
40:25And listen to each member of the company
40:28Do their song and tweak it for them
40:31Give them ideas and things
40:32And so this was Ann's day
40:34Then Ann had to deliver, you know, this huge number
40:37With all those lyrics
40:39And none of us could breathe
40:41Because we wanted her to get through it
40:43And be good
40:49Good times and good times
40:52I've seen a lot in my dear
40:55I'm still here
40:58Crushed velvet sometimes
41:01Sometimes just wrestle for me
41:04But I'm here
41:07I've stuck the dailies
41:10In my shoes
41:12Strong lupa ladies
41:15Sung the blues
41:17Seen all my dreams disappear
41:20But I'm here
41:23He just, like, cried, you know
41:26And got up and gave her a big hug
41:27And said, you're authentic
41:29I have no note
41:30You know, you're it
41:32You're the person I wrote it for
41:33I've been through Reno
41:35I've been through Beverly Hills
41:38And I'm here
41:42Reefers and vino
41:43Rescuers, religion and pills
41:46And I'm here
41:48Been called a pinko
41:51Commie tool
41:53Got through a stinko
41:55By my pool
41:56I should have gone
41:59To an acting school
42:00That seems clear
42:04Still someone said
42:06She's sincere
42:07The lyrics in that song
42:09More or less
42:10Were my
42:11Was my life
42:12Except I never went on drugs
42:14As I'm an athlete
42:15And I was never a commie
42:17But other than those two things
42:20It literally was my life
42:22In 1999
42:24Ann Miller shot a pilot
42:25For David Lynch
42:26Director of such cult favorites
42:28As Blue Velvet
42:29And Twin Peaks
42:31This is the great David Lynch
42:33Producer, director, writer
42:35And I'm thrilled
42:36To be working with him
42:36I don't think anything
42:38Would disturb her
42:38You know
42:39She's
42:39She always is
42:40Seeing the big picture
42:42And rolling with the flow
42:44She's so young at heart
42:46Acting in a straight role
42:48Opposite a cast
42:49Of young unknowns
42:5076 year old
42:51Ann Miller
42:52Fit in
42:53Just as she did
42:54When a 13 year old child
42:55Pretended to be an adult
42:57There's nothing better
42:58Than you know
42:59Hearing about
43:00Kind of the history
43:02Of film
43:04Through her eyes
43:05I just feel so lonely
43:06Sometime
43:07I think about all these people
43:08They're all gone
43:08Well
43:09I'm still here
43:10I'm here
43:11Oh I'm so pleased
43:12To be here
43:13I've runnin' the gamut
43:16A to Z
43:17Preaches and dammit
43:19C'est la vie
43:20I got through all of last year
43:24And I'm here
43:28Lord knows at least I've been there
43:31And I'm here
43:35And I'm here
43:36With my horse hair
43:37I'm still here
44:02I'm here
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