Do you remember entertainer Edie Adams?

Muriel Cigars.

I used to think she was so glamorous when I saw her on the Muriel Cigar commercials as a kid.

Only know her for her supporting parts in The Apartment and It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World

She was the most talented of the Adams Sisters...

In the movie Lover Come Back with Doris Day and Rock Hudson.

She was in two hit musicals on Broadway in the 1950s, Li'l Abner and Wonderful Town.

R4 Really creative and cute commercial.

My late aunt used to get her hair done at a place called Edie Adam’s Cut and Curl.

WT

In later years.

R10 Let's try again.

After Ernie Kovacs died in a car accident in 1962, Edie began dating Eddie Fisher, fresh from his divorce from Elizabeth Taylor.

Unbeknownst to Edie, Eddie was also seeing Ann-Margret. Edie decided to surprise Eddie by flying to Las Vegas where he was appearing. She opened the door to his dressing room and there was Eddie sitting back in a chair while Ann-Margret was on her knees sucking his cock.

Eddie included this story in his autobiography and some who doubted if it were true, went to Edie for confirmation and she said it was true.

I did not know that Shani was the West End Eileen...

Older.

DL fans will surely remember her singing "That's All" to the Ricardos and the Mertzes on the very last Lucy/Desi Comedy Hour. Apparently tensions were running so high on the set that Lucy made Edie change her dress several times. But it didn't help, Lucy served Desi with divorce papers the following day.

Would someone cleverer than me please provide the clip of the song? Edie looks just gorgeous.

r10, Thanks, I'm perfectly content looking at footage of the young Mark Feuerstein.

Here r15...I was just about to post it

FOLLIES!

Edie could be a brilliant sketch comedienne when appearing on her hubby Ernie Kovacs' old TV show which, in its way, was a forerunner of SNL but so much wittier. She famously parodied a breathless Marilyn Monroe, who Edie greatly resembled, and who was at the height of her (MM's) fame. I've never been able to find a clip of that though.

Back when the only pre-Oscars show was hosted by Army Archerd, you could always count on Archerd interviewing Adams who would invariably be the most underdressed woman there.

And I thought, how does some crazy old lady in a bikini dress whose only claim to fame was that she was married to some dead comedian who wore a gorilla suit wind up at every single Academy Awards show?

And then I remembered, if Ernest Borgnine won an Oscar, anything's possible.

FOLLIES!

Here r19

Edie had trained operatically, and she was offered both Cunengonde in the original "Candide" (with the great "Glitter and be Gay" showcase coloratura aria) and "L'il Abner" around the same time. She called her "Wonderful Town" director George Abbott for advice and he told her "L'il Abner" was more commercial and more likely to be a hit. He was right, of course, and Edie won a Tony for Supporting Actress in 1956, probably the most golden of the Golden Age of musicals (the year of "My Fair Lady", "Bells Are RInging", "The Most Happy Fella"). Barbara Cook, of course, triumphed in the success d'estime "Candide" but it just lasted about 3 months on Broadway, but produced a classic OCR and continued to cement her status as Broadway soprano supreme, leading to a Tony in "The Music Man" the next year. Edie married Ernic Kovacs and did lots of appearances on his very innovative comedy tv show and some classic films like "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" (stuck in the fireworks factory with Sid Caesar), "Lover Come Back" and "The Apartment". She had a lot of debt after Kovacs was killed in an auto accident. I don't know if she had Broadway offers, but I think she did a lot of Vegas work to pay off his debts. Very talented lady.

Ernie, not Ernic

I saw her on stage in I do, I do, I think with Robert Preston. Summer stock

Edie was a virtuoso at the keyboards

When Wonderful Town was performed "live" in 1958 on television with many from the original Broadway cast, Rosalind Russell would not allow Edie to recreate her role and another actress was cast.

Edie was obviously pissed and reportedly never spoke to Roz again.

I was only a little kid but I remember when Kovacs died. 1962. Same year as Marylin's death.

Ah! Sweet...

R28, He died in a Corvair, the model of Chevrolet that Ralph Nader later helped to put out of production.

I remember Ernie Kovacs. I loved him when I was a kid. Haven't seen any clips of his show ever. I wonder if they're as funny as I remember.

R31, One of Ernie's recurring characters was Percy Dovetonsils, a very effeminate theatre critic, which he could never get away with doing today.

The death of Ernie . . .

[quote] He died in a Corvair, the model of Chevrolet that Ralph Nader later helped to put out of production.

But that wasn't why he died. He was speeding and the police believed he was fumbling with a cigar as he took a sharp turn in a rainstorm wet road and went into a power pole. Nobody had airbags back then.

Guest starring on one of Lucy's later shows with Gale 'Mr. Mooney' Gordon.

She was a wonderful character actress and comedienne. Ernie Kovacs owed the IRS a huge sum of money; he was deeply in debt. After Kovacs died, Edie refused charity and worked hard to pay off his debts. I always admired her.

Her son is on FaceBook and often comments in posts about his mom. They seem to have had a sweet and loving relationship.

[quote]But that wasn't why he died. He was speeding and the police believed he was fumbling with a cigar as he took a sharp turn in a rainstorm wet road and went into a power pole. Nobody had airbags back then.

That is exactly what the Corvair's problem was. And what Nader wrote about in his book. The cars turning ability with it's swing-axle suspension system. And its tendency to over-steer.

These issues were corrected with the 1965 models.

Edie won the Guest-Star Triple Crown:

Murder She Wrote

Fantasy Island

Love Boat

R38- That did not solve the reliability issues which were rampant on the Corvair for it's entire 9 year run.

She does wonderful imitations of various accents as she tries to stump the panel on What's My Line, starting at 15:30. The audience was enchanted by her, along with the panelists.

It's such a relief that Ernie never drove after drinking so that people could and can focus well after the fact on the Corvair's numerous faults.

But as for those car issues, Edie was no piker when it came to calling it as she saw it. Years later, an interviewer tried to get her into blaming the accident and death on the Corvair. She demurred, saying he was fatigued from lack of rest, that he had consumed alcohol, was speeding, the road was wet and it was night.

On playing Daisy Mae...

Namely You

Edie and Ernie’s daughter, Mia, died at 23 in a car accident in 1982.

“Mia Susan Kovacs, 23 years old, the daughter of the late comedian Ernie Kovacs and the actress Edie Adams, was fatally injured early today after her car ran off the shoulder of a road and crashed.

Miss Kovacs, whose father died in a car accident in 1962, was thrown through the sunroof of her car, a friend of the family said. She died about two hours later. Her boyfriend, who was also in the car, was not injured.”

[quote] Miss Kovacs, whose father died in a car accident in 1962, was thrown through the sunroof of her car

So not wearing her seatbelt.

Edie played a young and sassy Fairy Godmother in the original TV production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella," starring Julie Andrews, in 1957. She was also playing Daisy May in "Li'l Abner" on Broadway at the time,

Edie was one of only three women featured in the large cast of comics in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Ethel Merman was the only woman allowed to be funny, as Edie and Dorothy Provine were relegated to supporting wife roles.

It's one of the reasons I find the movie a disaster.

I saw her play Miss Mona in the national tour of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

Edie Adams is vaguely on the outter reaches of my memory. Ernie Kovacs I remember very well as Sidney Redlitch in Bell Book and Candle.

[quote] That is exactly what the Corvair's problem was. And what Nader wrote about in his book. The car's turning ability with its swing-axle suspension system. And its tendency to over-steer.

R38 I recently mentioned in the Ford Pinto thread that my parents had a 1971 Pinto that my sister drove, whereas I drove their 1967 Ford Mustang. This thread reminded me that my parents also had an early-1960s Corvair that my sister also drove before I was old enough to drive. No wonder my sister has been saying for decades that our parents liked me better.

[quote] Edie played a young and sassy Fairy Godmother in the original TV production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella," starring Julie Andrews, in 1957.

R47 As others have mentioned, Edie had a beautiful voice. She had trained to be an opera singer at Juilliard. In the original cast Cinderella recording that was done in a studio, her unisons with Julie Andrews sound pitch-perfect, and they were nearly as good in the live performance. She had so much beauty and talent. As a kid, I couldn't understand why she was relegated to pitching Muriel (no relation to DL) cigars. I didn't know then about the troubles Kovacs had, including his mentally unstable ex-wife kidnapping the children and the court case it took for him to get custody.

R43 & R44 I hadn't realized that Edie didn't have many lines in the stage version of Li'l Abner, but she sure had great songs and musical lines to sing with her wonderful voice. Leslie Parrish may have been given more lines in the movie version.

And R44, I can never let even a visual reference to Peter Palmer go by on DL without saying that I had the hots for him as a kid before I even knew what being gay was.

Edie was a WHORE! Sucking those cigars like cocks.

Carole Cook sucked Don Knott's cock to play his wife in "The Incredible Mr. Limpet".

not even close to clever r54

I saw Edie Adams in Anything Goes at Westbury Music Fair a long time ago. By then she was married to trumpeter (?) Pete Candoli. I remember that she sang All Through the Night with his playing as a kind of duet.

I think Jack Gilford was in it, too, as Moonface. The only other thing I recall from it was that Adams gave off a vibe of lovely friendliness onstage. You could tell she was leading a great life and going around being nice to everyone.

[quote] And I thought, how does some crazy old lady in a bikini dress whose only claim to fame was that she was married to some dead comedian who wore a gorilla suit wind up at every single Academy Awards show?

R20, That was Edy Williams.

In the bikini dress every year at the Oscars, to be clear. Edy was never married to Ernie.

R57, FUN FACT: Pete Candoli was previously married to Betty Hutton.

She was a faith healer in the original "Tales of the City" PBS broadcast. Edgar Halcyon went to her when he was ill. The scene played out brilliantly. It begins as just the audio of his phone call to her. It's set up for us believe he's going to use the services of a sex worker. Then the scene unfolds. It's sad to watch. However, the two veteran actors turn what could have been shlock into a memorable step to inform the viewer of the seriousness of Edgar's medical condition.

R53 Handsome Peter Palmer as Lil Abner.

It's a bit eerie to see how much Edie still resembled Marilyn Monroe in that great 1963 What's My Line? clip at r41. Her makeup was exactly the same used on MM in the uncompleted Something's Gotta Give, a year earlier. But with all the vocal impersonations Edie pulls off to fool the panel, she probably knew not to do MM as her death was too recent.

Edie had been widowed for 18 months on that WML? appearance.

James Hurst = Palmer's U/S...

OMG R75..I did too..WMF was the go to place to see a show without schlepping into the city..I was 17 and lived in Plainview at that point

Did Candoli like Canolis?

There were some great shows there, R66. I saw also a Mame with Angela Lansbury and much of the original cast (though not Bea Arthur).

There was also a Company with, I think, George Maharis. Or maybe George Chakiris. That suburban crowd wasn't having a good Sondheim time and the second act was very busy with walkouts. The Elaine Stritch was Jane Russell or Vivian Blaine.

Or maybe George Coulouris.

The only show I ever saw at Westbury was in a new musical by Richard Maltby and David Shire called How Do You Do, I Love You which was (presciently) about speed-dating. This would have been in 1967 or 68 and starred Phyllis Newman. IIRC it was a cute show but it never made it to Broadway. I think a song or two found its way into the Maltby/Shire revue Closer Than Ever.

R46 I doubt it. Not many of us did in 1982. I recall cars were not even required to be manufactured with seatbelts until the mid 1960s. The auto industry—like tobacco and Big Pharma—was loathe to get behind safety measures. The “personal freedom” argument/choice when it came to safety (for ourselves and others) was as hollow then as it is now (masks and vaccinations.) It took an enormous amount of lobbying and public awareness to enact “seat belt laws.”

[quote]That did not solve the reliability issues which were rampant on the Corvair for it's entire 9 year run.

The Corvair did not have reliability issues. No more than other car of the time.

[quote]Not many of us did in 1982

Most of us did in '82, r70.

Edie is absolutely adorable in that WML clip.

What a splendid show that was. A classiness we'll never see again. US popular culture is so debased now.

My elderly aunt who is not a prude when she sees the cheap smutty movies and sitcoms says I'm glad I grew up when I did. Adams and Kovacs would have been the kind of people she would have been watching on TV and Lil Abner would have been the kind of Broadway show she would have gone to. In fact she might have. I know she was crazy about Babs in the stage Funny Girl.

No I sure as hell dont

R 72- Watch this.

Why, r76?

The Edie Adams Show

r72 If by “most of us” you mean “educated homos” (like me and, presumably, you): yes, we wore seatbelts in 1982. But if by “most of us” you mean “all Americans,” then a resounding “no, we did not wear seatbelts.” 11% in 1980 is not even close.

Now, go ahead and get to it Melissa-Ann: feel free to unbunch your panties and begin to bicker with a stranger.

All I know, r79, is that my family and friends buckled up in 1982.

She'd show up at our cul-de-sac parties in her widow wear. Never brought a damn thing but her appetite and would steal pieces of Nana's silverware after using our bathroom. She never flushed.

[quote]There was also a Company with, I think, George Maharis. Or maybe George Chakiris. That suburban crowd wasn't having a good Sondheim time and the second act was very busy with walkouts. The Elaine Stritch was Jane Russell or Vivian Blaine.

I saw that production at a theater in Massachusetts. George Maharis played Bobby, and Vivian Blaine played Joanne. Both Blaine and Jane Russell had been Joanne replacements on Broadway.

Fun fact: George Maharis and William Daniels were the original stars of Edward Albee's "Zoo Story" off-Broadway.

R62 In the groundbreaking 1980s Showtime sitcom Brothers that had two out gay male characters, Peter Palmer played a gay Russian defector in one of the episodes. I was surprised that he took that role, but he acknowledged later in his life that he had trouble getting enough work after Li'l Abner, so he may have taken the role simply to be seen acting again.

It's kind of funny that someone would actually ask on DataLounge: "Do you remember entertainer Edie Adams?"

The entire room raised its hand.

R48 And did poor Barrie Chase even get one line?

Barrie Chase and Dick Shawn didn't need lines - they were there to provide a little sexual stimulation to the young hetero/homo-sexualists.

R85, If it's any consolation, she's still alive.

And so dewy and youthful, r87!

Danton danced?

R89, In his autobiography, Robert Wagner said he watched Ray Danton in a threesome with two young women from the next hotel room through a one-way mirror while on location for "The Longest Day".

I can only imagine, r90!

[quote]Robert Wagner said he watched Ray Danton in a threesome with two young women

Of course he was watching Ray.

She looks more like a blonde Roseanne (pre- surgeries) than Marylin in that clip

R86 I read in an interview that she had recently had a baby and felt she was fat and out of shape during filming.

Barrie is the last one of them still living

R68, you saw the first (and only) national tour of the original production of Company.

Meanwhile, Edie Adams and Ernie Kovacs were both supreme in their niches of the Biz and totally, totally adored each other, even after they married. She was devastated on his premature and unexpected death.

I retract my statement at r96. George Maharis and Vivian Blaine did Company together in stock in 1972.

But George Chakiris did play Bobby in the national tour of Company. The cast of the tour changed often and Jane Russell, Vivien Blaine and Julie Wilson all took turns as Joanne.

^ Vivian

The major thing I knew and remembered about her was that she was left a mountain of debt by her husband and that she worked hard to pay it off. I always admired her for that.

I was obsessed with TV Movies about celebrities when I was in junior high. Jeff Goldblum played Ernie in this one.

R94 I remember when I was a kid my brother had told me about seeing "Mad, Mad... World" when it had been out of circulation for a number of years, and he substituted Jethro (Max Baer, Jr.) for Dick Shawn in the retelling of the plot. Actually Baer would have been great, too in the role!

Russell took over for Stritch on Broadway, r97 and Elaine started the tour.

I read the only person Chakiris trashes in his auto bio is Harold Prince. LuPone said she had a chapter dedicated to ripping Prince to shreds but cut it out and now regrets it. She wishes she had left it in. Why did people hate Prince?

time to pull out my copy....

she knew how to shine and stil support the top banana.....not easy

The best moment of her career was singing “That’s All” on the Lucy Desi Comedy hour as Lucille sat behind her tearfully rueing the end of her marriage to Desi. Edie later said when the song was over everyone was emotional and she regretted such a moving song for a comedy show

She certainly looks like Marilyn on that album cover at R105.