One of the more satisfying aspects of posting columns on the internet involves contact from authors curious about my takes on their subjects. Such a person is Eugene B. Bergmann. His Excelsior, You Fathead: The Art and Enigma of Jean Shepherd is about the radio raconteur who easily qualifies as one of America's great wits. When Bergmann reached me, he was in the midst of doing a re-write of his published book. He had, and continues to have, an odd problem. The highly-imaginative Shepherd offered a great many variations on stories of his life. What to believe? I welcomed Bergmann to the use of anything I had written about a weekend I had spent with Shepherd in search of an ice fishing hut for use in an American Sportsman TV show (see Sidebars Jean Shepherd). The locale of our shoot was the Lake Geneva (Wisconsin) Playboy Club-Hotel and that's where I came in. I worked for Playboy.
It was my telling of the highly unusual details set in motion by Hugh Hefner's decision to fly an ape from Baltimore to Phoenix in the name of simian cohabitation that produced an e-mail from another author. It was early spring this year when I heard from Beckey Burgoyne, a Covington, Indiana schoolteacher then in the final stages of Perfectly Amanda: Gunsmoke's "Miss Kitty" To Dodge and Beyond. She wanted more about my ape story.
For those unfamiliar with the Hefner ape tale (see Sidebars Hugh Hefner and a Flying Ape), I was press information manager for Playboy Enterprises when I stoked media coverage of what may still be the only plane flight by a great ape. The story's cast included, in addition to a DC-9 named Big Bunny, a heavily-sedated (courtesy of John Hopkins Hospital) Baltimore Jack, Jet Bunnies and an armed doctor (a .45 calibre handgun) who accompanied the comatose primate in Hefner's airborne bedroom complete with a round bed. Waiting at flight's end was Phoenix Hazel, soon to lose her mate-less status, in addition to a huge media phalanx, a vehicle with a sign proclaiming it to be an Ape Ambulance, and the Zebra Ladies of the Phoenix Zoological Society. The author requested permission to use my story of the aviation breakthrough and I agreed.
The Zebra Ladies, who dressed uniformly on state occasions, were led by Amanda Blake whose appearances as "Miss Kitty" in the CBS mega hit, Gunsmoke, covered 19 of the show's 20 years. Indicating she was nearing completion of her book, Burgoyne asked for further details about Blake and a dinner party held to celebrate the ape's arrival.
Perfectly Amanda has been published and Burgoyne has done an excellent job of telling the complex story of Buffalo-born Beverly Louise Neill who paid her dues in Hollywood before landing the role of Kitty Russell, owner of the Long Branch Saloon and whose sideline gig as a hooker was apparent to alert viewers.
Over the course of its lengthy run, there were 633 episodes of Gunsmoke filmed. Amanda Blake appeared in 400. That's a lot of programming and Burgoyne's interviews include Director Andrew McLaglen who filmed 95 shows. Now living on San Juan Island in the waters beyond Puget Sound, McLaglen speaks of Blake's professionalism while working under his direction. "I can tell you I think she loved playing the part of Kitty. She was always there and always on time and Amanda always knew her lines...I liked it when she would come down the stairs in the saloon to meet Matt (Jim Arness). I always felt good about that because everybody, of course, was waiting for Matt and Kitty to become close friends and it never really happened. I think that was partly what made Gunsmoke interesting...Amanda was a very professional actress."
All the Gunsmoke regulars are in the book with lots of attention, on-camera and off, paid Matt, Doc, Chester, and Kitty who was particularly close to Doc (Milburn Stone). Asked in 1974 by TV host Mike Douglas who was her favorite on the show, Blake replied: "That's a tough question...To be perfectly honest I would have to say Milburn Stone was really my favorite on the show...Milburn was so good to me. I could always go to Milburn with my problems; if I had troubles or problems, he was kind of like a father image for me."
Blake's involvement with animals is detailed by Burgoyne who writes of the actress's trips to Africa with millionaire third husband, Frank Gilbert, whom she married in 1967 prior to moving to his Phoenix home. It was there that she took on the role of celebrity supporter of good causes including the Phoenix Zoo and it was there that I met her after catching up with a by-then coming-out-of-the-murk Baltimore Jack, the subject of a photo op I had organized.
I recall dining with Blake and others involved in the event. I sat across a table from her and, as described in Perfectly Amanda, found her "radiant." With four years to go before the announcement that the actress would not return for the 20th year of the series, Blake was comfortable in her role as social doyen.
According to Burgoyne's account, Blake had set the ape flight in motion by going directly to Hefner thus making possible my adventures in Phoenix. This version, based on family lore, suggests Playboy asked the actress in the mid-80s to pose for pictures with Blake imposing geographical limitations: from the waist up. Blake turned down a $5,000 offer as the story goes. That could very well be and who knows what might have ensued given the persuasive charm of Playboy photographers? Of historical note is Terry Moore's having become the oldest Playmate when the actress appeared in the August, 1984 edition of the magazine. Moore and Blake were both born in 1929, 20 days apart with Moore arriving January 9. If the family's slant on matters photographic is true, Blake could have claimed the title (and received $15,000 for her efforts) had pictures of additional interest been published after Moore. Such is the capriciousness of fame.
Perfectly Amanda is an ideal Christmas gift for those who enjoy reading about a determined and feisty actress and a TV series that became an American institution. More than 100 photographs, half never before published, bring back a lot of memories of Amanda Blake and Gunsmoke.
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