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KVOS Special: Girls, Glitter and Gracie
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- --over all the shows on the way, because I haven't ever
- been there before.
- And I talked with both of them.
- And of course-- [AUDIO OUT]
- Gracie, I wonder, what does it take to do what you've done?
- Does it take intelligence, or brass?
- Or does it take stupidity or foolishness?
- What does it take to come from Morton, a town of 1,100, 1,400
- people, and go to Seattle, and set up
- your own extravaganza, and not only that,
- but to do it successfully as you've done it.
- Well, Al, It takes a little bit of ignorance, you know.
- Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
- Sometimes, if you don't know that something can't be done,
- you find that it's quite easy to do because you go ahead
- and do it.
- And I think most of all, it takes singleness of purpose.
- This has always been my little inspiration to myself
- and what I try to give to other people when they ask me,
- how did you do it?
- So many people have a lot of talents.
- And they diversify themselves.
- And they do a little bit of this and a little bit of that--
- hobbies, two or three different things.
- And they never really accomplish a whole lot.
- They do these things quite well.
- But if you have singleness of purpose,
- if you concentrate on just one project, one thing
- that you're going to do, it's just
- like beating on something-- pretty soon,
- you're going to make a dent.
- Let's find out how you made your dent.
- Now, you started, as far as the entertainment business
- is concerned, with the PTA Follies in Morton.
- Is this right?
- What kind of a town is Morton?
- Well, Morton is two blocks long.
- It has 1,140 people, and quite a few of those are children.
- It's a logging community.
- And essentially, it's a logging community.
- And I suppose, it fluctuates, its prosperity fluctuates
- with the--
- Oh, with the weather.
- Well, you were here in Morton.
- And how did you get involved with the Morton Follies?
- Well, you know, it's kind of something that you do out of--
- really, as I say, I once read where the mass of men
- live lives of quiet desperation.
- And until you have lived in a little town like this,
- you will never know what desperation can be.
- And everybody is searching for something to do.
- And I think that's how I became involved in it.
- Of course, I've always been a frustrated ham and love
- to do anything connected with shows.
- And when I was a child, I wanted to be a movie star.
- You know how it goes.
- So you started the club.
- What were they?
- Well, they were a terrific show.
- I will argue with anyone who says it wasn't a good thing.
- We did them for six years.
- And they were about two hours long,
- a typical variety show using all the home talent.
- We sometimes had 100 people, most
- of the time, 100 people in the cast.
- And everybody's got a little bit of ham in them.
- And gee, those people would get up there and just give the most
- terrific performances.
- They were wonderful.
- What kind of things you do, just usual variety act?
- Well, I wrote skits.
- The thing always was written, borrowed, stolen, directed,
- and produced by Gracie Hansen [INAUDIBLE]..
- Good thing they [INAUDIBLE].
- And I was writing [INAUDIBLE] in blackouts,
- trying to use the people who I knew wanted to participate.
- And then, we always had a chorus line.
- We had 10 of the young housewives.
- I think, one time we figured up, and they had
- about 26 children between them.
- But I would get a dancing teacher
- to teach them how to dance.
- And they worked real hard.
- And they were terrific.
- They really were.
- And we had a real variety of acts.
- These were always in front of benefits.
- They were to make money for something.
- Oh, yes.
- The PTA got all the money.
- One year, they brought chairs for the auditorium.
- And then, they had a dental fund to fix teeth for children who--
- How much did you raise with these?
- Well, we used to make around $1,000.
- I'll be darned.
- In Morton?
- Yes.
- You must have drawn people from--
- Oh, we did.
- They came from Seattle and all over.
- It was terrific.
- And then, we, for the last three years,
- we were taking some of the show out on the road.
- Oh, really?
- We would go to Tacoma and perform
- for the Fifi Temple of the Shrine.
- We went to the Elks Clubs in Centralia, and Chehalis.
- And it was a lot of fun.
- Whatever happened to the Follies?
- Well, as I say, the shows get too adult in this way.
- Some of these people would get carried away.
- And they would say, gee whiz, Gracie,
- you know, I've got to have a little fortification before I
- can get up there make a fool of myself.
- And I sometimes wish I were clever enough
- to write some of the things that they came up with.
- But some of the things were just too adult for the PTA.
- And so it kind of dwindled.
- Yes.
- We kind of just stopped it.
- Well, many years, or how long before you went to Seattle
- and eventually got tied up with Century 21,
- did the Morton Follies.
- Oh, just a year.
- My last Morton Follies was in 1958.
- And you see, I used to work all winter on them.
- This was my project for the winter.
- And then, that winter, I had nothing to do.
- And I was very ill, and very broke,
- and feeling very sorry for myself.
- And I had a friend who came over and gave me this pep talk,
- you see, that--
- gee, look what you did with the Morton Follies.
- Why don't she go up to the Seattle World's Fair.
- And of course, I thought she was absolutely right.
- I was going to say, at the face of it, it sounds ridiculous.
- But you don't.
- This is a difference.
- Yeah.
- Well, sure.
- So you see, then I began to think about it.
- And I quit feeling sorry for myself.
- And got well immediately and that gave me something
- to work on.
- A little bit of Christian Science, there.
- Well, I don't know.
- I never thought of it in that way.
- Although, I am a great believer in faith.
- I have a little mustard seed that when I got it,
- it had a little card on it that said,
- "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed,
- it shall be done unto you."
- So I carry this little thing with me all the time,
- because I think you need to have a certain amount of faith,
- even if it's only faith in yourself, that you can do this.
- So you got into a battered, old Buick.
- I sure did.
- And you trundled without any money up to Seattle.
- Who did you go to first?
- Well, I went up to the fair offices,
- which were up in the top of the old civic auditorium.
- We had to wind around up there.
- And I had Morton mud on my shoes.
- And they were very amused.
- He told me now, that we were very amused with you.
- And I just when in cold and said, I want to put on a show.
- You see, everybody has a mission in life.
- And I decided that my mission must be
- to save the fair from science.
- Marvelous.
- You've succeeded.
- But I'm sure it wasn't that simple.
- Oh, no.
- What did they do?
- What was their immediate reaction?
- Oh, well, they were very amused.
- And they said, well, Miss Hansen, don't you call us.
- We'll call you.
- So I went back to Morton.
- And then, I would write letters up here.
- And I'd get a pamphlet with a picture of the Space Needle
- back on it.
- So I decided that I had to get closer to the work, you see.
- So I started to look for a job in Seattle.
- I see.
- And I found one in Savings and Loan Association,
- and moved up here, and went to work.
- And then, I made out this list, you see.
- You've got to have money before you can do anything.
- And I made out a list of all the people I'd ever heard
- of in Seattle who had money.
- And I began checking them off.
- And I would go and call on them on my lunch hour,
- or after work, or on Saturdays.
- And I would give them this pitch,
- have you ever been to the World's Fair
- or do you know anyone who has?
- And if so, what do they remember?
- And you know what they all remember?
- Miss Little Egypt, Sally Rand, Billy Rose,
- and some of those things.
- And no one can tell you about an exhibit that they saw anyplace.
- So I formulated my pet theory, you see,
- that science will never replace sex or cotton candy.
- And finally, I found someone who agreed with me.
- And you found someone or quite a few people.
- Well, I found a gentleman who agreed with me.
- And in fact, he was a Chinese gentleman
- and very prominent in the Chinese community.
- The Chinese are the greatest gamblers in the world,
- you know.
- And they do things in little pieces.
- And so he asked me how much money I needed.
- And I said, well probably $100,000.
- So he called up 28 Chinese people
- and asked them if they would each put up $5,000.
- And 18 of them said they would.
- So we had $90,000.
- So I went running back out to the fair with--
- I had money, you see.
- And they wouldn't believe me.
- So I had to get him to take the bank book down and show it
- to them.
- And of course, then, they were very interested in talking
- about this.
- Well, now, they call your show a quarter of a million dollar
- show.
- Where did the other $116,000 come from?
- Oh, absolutely.
- Well, actually, after we got into the thing--
- you know how it goes, nothing ever
- costs what do you think it will.
- It's always more.
- And of course, the Fair was very particular
- that it be a quality show.
- And of course, we wanted it to be a first class show, too.
- We started out with 300 seats.
- We increased it to 700.
- So all these things cost more money.
- And it came in in little pieces, like the original money
- investors put in.
- I see.
- All right.
- So now, you have come from Morton.
- You've got the job.
- You've got the money.
- You've got Century 21 so that they're willing to talk.
- How did following the single-mindedness of purpose--
- or single purpose-- single-mindedness.
- Singleness in purpose.
- Yes.
- There we go.
- Thank you.
- Following this, how did you go about developing
- the kind of show you wanted?
- Well, I had, as I say, in line with being a frustrated ham,
- I always read Variety, and Show Business, the papers.
- And I knew that there were two big names in the business who
- did first class shows.
- And that was Donn Arden and Barry Ashton.
- So I decided in order to do a first class Show,
- you must have one of these first class gentlemen.
- So I made a trip to Las Vegas and Los Angeles last summer.
- And I looked over all the shows on the way and in Los Angeles.
- And I talked to Donn Arden and Barry Ashton both.
- Of course, Donn Arden argument was
- committed to do the Lido shows in Paris
- and also the Lido show at the Stardust in Las Vegas.
- And Barry Ashton has a tremendous reputation
- and had just gained the right to use the Ziegfeld name.
- So I knew that either one of them
- would give us a grand show.
- And because of Donn Arden's commitments in Paris, why,
- Barry actually was the better choice for us.
- And he has given us a tremendous show.
- We're very proud of it.
- Now, your show isn't all girls?
- Oh, no.
- We have four of the very best acts in show business,
- actually.
- We have Bobby Williams and his dog,
- and Dick Weston and his Aunt Martha.
- These acts have all been on "Ed Sullivan",
- the "Garry Moore Show".
- They're terrific.
- Fat Louie steals the show every night.
- That's Bobby Williams' dog.
- How many shows do you have a day?
- We do four every night--
- except Sunday, we're closed.
- What times do you do them?
- Well, we do them at 6:15, 8:00, 10:00, and 11:45.
- And we've talked about the show.
- I don't think, yet, we've identified it--
- "Gracie Hansen's Paradise".
- How did you come by that name, "Paradise"?
- Well, I was looking for a name, you see,
- that would mean like Shangri-La or something like that.
- And of course, paradise is a natural for it-- a
- place where everybody could go and enjoy themselves and see
- good entertainment.
- Now, is this strictly a theater, or is it a dinner?
- No.
- It's a theater restaurant.
- We serve dinners.
- We have very, very good dinners.
- And we serve beverages.
- And you can eat while you watch the show, or before,
- or after, whichever you like.
- I see.
- What's the best way to get there?
- By that, I mean, can you make reservations?
- Yes.
- You bet you can.
- You just call us up.
- We're four different ways in the telephone book.
- It's under Gracie.
- And it's under Paradise, and Seattle World's Fair.
- And we'd be happy to take reservations.
- I see.
- It's a good idea to hit it on weekdays, I suppose.
- Yes.
- Well, the lines are always on weekends.
- People object to waiting in lines,
- but we do have lines on weekends.
- I see.
- Let's get to something-- and I suppose this was Barry Ashton's
- department, but I'm sure that you had thoughts on it-- that
- is, how do you make sex to be in good taste?
- Well, that is a hard question to answer.
- As you know, some of our show girls
- are nude from the waist up.
- It's not thrust upon you.
- In fact, sometimes you have to look for them in there.
- And as yet, no one has objected and found it distasteful.
- So I guess it's the manner of presentation.
- I do know, while I have not, as yet, seen the show-- though,
- I do intend to--
- I have talked with some friends, in particular the wives
- of the friends who saw the show and were in no way
- embarrassed, and enjoyed it thoroughly.
- Oh, no.
- In fact, the ladies enjoy this show as much as the men do.
- One of the reasons they do is because
- of the fabulous wardrobe.
- Lloyd Lambert made all of the costumes in Hollywood.
- And they're gorgeous.
- And they should be.
- They cost us around $46,000.
- That's half of your $90,000 right there.
- The fashion show, now, is this--
- you also have a regular fashion show during the daytime,
- don't you?
- Well, yes.
- Now, we're doing it only on special occasions.
- We do a fashion show and a luncheon at special request.
- I know we've had some things of your fashion
- show here on our women's program that Elaine Horne took
- when she visited the Fair and did a program on it.
- Gracie, Barry Ashton, and the girls,
- and the comedians that go with the show-- this
- is your singleness of purpose come true, right?
- Absolutely.
- I'm living proof, Al, that you can come out
- of the hills, as I did, or you can come from anywhere,
- and do what you really want to do if you
- have singleness of purpose.
- OK, now, this question interests me.
- You've had singleness of purpose.
- But the purpose has been achieved.
- What are you going to focus in on and go
- after with all your might next?
- Oh, golly, this is what I'm in the throes of trying to decide,
- because it's unlimited.
- I might go to the New York World's Fair.
- Nobody thought that I could make the Seattle World's
- Fair but me.
- And I'm sure that if I wanted to go to the New York World's
- Fair, I could do it.
- And I'm also thinking about perhaps
- doing some just presentations here in Seattle.
- I love Seattle.
- And I could bring in some shows from the Orient,
- bring in some Las Vegas shows for two weeks runs now
- and then.
- And I'm getting some very interesting offers for, well,
- restaurants with little shows that may be interesting.
- Except I don't want to end up running a restaurant someplace.
- But one very, very interesting offer
- is for a chain in Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco.
- Now, I would love this hopping around.
- So I haven't made up my mind yet.
- As soon as the Fair is over, I'm going
- to go back to New York and nose around for two or three weeks.
- Well, is the name Gracie Hansen, in the future,
- going to necessarily mean girls and glitter?
- Is this your trademark?
- Oh, not necessarily girls and glitter,
- but I would like to have it mean some kind of entertainment,
- good entertainment.
- I'm still ham.
- I'm still stage-struck, you see.
- One last question, have you ever been back to Morton?
- Not yet.
- But you know what?
- I'm going back to Morton August the 12th for the Jubilee.
- And I'm going to be the Grand Marshal of the Loggers Jubilee
- Parade.
- And it's kind of a homecoming for me.
- And they're presenting me with the keys to the city.
- And so I'm taking two busloads, and I
- don't know how many cars, full of people to Morton
- because nobody believes Morton, you see.
- And I want them to see it.
- Everyone's invited.
- Well, Gracie.
- Good luck in New York, or San Francisco,
- or wherever it may be, and also in Morton.
- Oh, thank you, Al.