From the Tiger Beat Archives, April 1968
Paul Newman (sigh) is her favorite actor, but she’s never met him; her Yorkshire terrier is named Knichi; she collects antiques and lives in the Hollywood Hills in a house which she decorated herself.
That’s Marlo Thomas–or Anne-Marie or That Girl if you prefer! She is usually described as a bouncy, peppy… Well, kind of cookie girl-next-door-type that is if you’re lucky enough to live next door to Danny Thomas.
And if you’re out to describe That Girl, you shouldn’t forget to include “talented.” That’s not just our opinion. Ask any of the magazines, press associations, etc. which have bestowed awards on the petite brunette after only one TV season.
PERSONAL VISIT
Well, when a girl has that much going for her does it go to her head? Not Marlo. At least that’s my opinion after a morning’s visit and luncheon interview with That Girl which began on the Desilu set while the cameras were grinding.
I went through the agony of watching Marlo reshoot scene after scene and experience the triumph when the director at long last announced, “Great! Print it.”
“I’ll meet you in my dining room,” Marlo told me when the crew broke for lunch.
Leaving Marlo at her dressing room door I managed to peek inside to see moss green walls flocked with white daisies, Marlo’s special flower, symbolic of her Daisy Production Company.
DAISY LOVER
Her private apartment-like dining room turned out to be as ultra feminine is its occupant. The table was set with the Daisy centerpiece and China also embellished with the same flower.
Then Marlo bounced in, having changed from a lime green suit to blue jeans and white tennis shoes and a striped shirt with the tails out. Her eyes got big like a little girl at Christmas when she spotted dessert on the table. “Oooh, chocolate pudding, my favorite!” She said.
Our conversation started out quite un-interview like with girl talk and finally turned to Marlo’s wardrobe selections for “That Girl.”
GROOVY DRESSES
“I pick out about hundred and twenty outfits to last the season, and I’m allowed to keep twenty of them for myself at the end of the year, but…eyuk! By that time I’m so sick of working in them I don’t even want to look at them.”
“Besides,” she added, “the outfits for TV have to be colorful, but for my personal wardrobe I usually buy black, browns and beiges.”
While we were on the subject of clothes I reminded Marlo of a certain humorous but embarrassing experience.
According to her it went like this; “a man in trouble, my father says, is a funny man, so we’d always say ‘What trouble?’ Well, when I was fourteen he took me to a White House dinner. I was the only girl.”
LOST HER SLIP
“When I went to put on my dress I ran into Daddy’s room crying, ‘Daddy, I forgot my crinoline slip.’ We managed to get another, but it was too big. And right when we were walking in it fell down. ‘Daddy,’ I whispered, ‘my slip fell down! ‘What slip?’ he said. And we walked right on.”
Marlo’s working day often runs from 5:30 AM to 7 or 8 PM so like most actresses she treasures her weekends. Yet when it comes to spending time with fans she’s not stingy. She’s just starting to fathom the scope of her popularity.
In fact, the reality of personal stardom single (rather than her former fame as Danny’s daughter) didn’t really hit Marlo until she commentated a fashion show in Philadelphia and suddenly found herself mobbed for autographs.
GIBBS AUTOGRAPHS
“I never mind signing autographs,” she said. “When I was little I’d go out with my dad and we get caught by autograph hunters. I’d stand on the corner with him for forty minutes while he signed them. I’d say, ‘why do you do it?’ He’d say, ‘anyone who has the courage to ask for an autograph should get one.'”
Lately Marlo’s involved herself in a number of benefit appearances for worthy causes usually those connected with youngsters.
“I have to have someone read through all the benefit requests for me,” she said, “otherwise I’d be doing them all… I’m a sucker for a touching story, especially about children.”
Although Marlo is in her late 20s she could easily pass for a coed.
“In fact,” she laughed, “people seem to want to mother me and give me advice. Like this one lady I was buying candy at the airport, and she walked up to me. I thought she was going to ask for an autograph but instead she said, ‘Now! NOW you look pretty, NOT when you’re making all those funny faces!’ Then she walked away. People do that because they see on TV and feel like they know you. That’s just how I felt about Johnny Carson when I was on his show the first time.”
NO BEAUTY SECRETS
Although there are likely thousands of girls who give up dates for year to look like Marlo, That Girl contends she’s not “that” special in the beauty department.
“I mean if I were to stand in line with a bunch of Hollywood beauties I don’t think they’d picked me out as being the prettiest,” she said.
But most of her fans want to know is; just how much of Marlo Thomas is really That Girl, and how much of That Girl is Marlo?
As far as I could tell there wasn’t much of a difference–Marlo AND That Girl were both super.
Marlo, however, disagreed on one phase of her dual personality. “Anne-Marie is kind of naïve. I don’t think I’m as much of a Pollyanna as she is. You can’t be if you expect to make it in this business.” Enough said.
Jeannie Simons was a freelance writer who wrote for movie magazines in the 60s.
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