In 1965, Inger talked with Joan Barthel about a variety of topics. I cherish reading about Inger and her life from the lady herself.
On Katy and Glen's wedding on The Farmer's Daughter:
The audience has been writing in—they can't stand it any longer. The audience wants the marriage to happen. At least, the women do. I'm not so sure about the men. Anyway, we're not doing Orphan Annie, where we all stay the same for 50 years. We're both fairly intelligent people in the series, and I don't think two intelligent people could continue playing this game much longer. We'll have a chance now to show that marriage can be fun, that people can be lovers though married.
On working on a television show:
Five years is a lot out of your life. I live my whole life on television. The hours are long—5 in the morning to 8:30 at night, five days a week—and there's not much time to do anything except learn your lines and keep healthy. At first I thought a series would be one big prison, but it hasn't been, and I haven't regretted it at all.
On working on Broadway:
Every time I've opened in a Broadway play, I've had to throw up.
On people:
When I really dislike somebody, I try to find something nice about them—and generally I can't find anything.
On making art:
Working with your hands is a very satisfying thing—you forget about a lot of things that are running about in your mind. On weekends I like to paint. I like to paint faces, and people with a lot of movement. I painted a still life once and I hated it.
On overcoming early frustrations in her career:
You're so afraid to say you're wrong, to say you don't know. At a certain point in my life I was very withdrawn, and there is always at time in your career when you lose your perspective. But I think I benefited much from that unhappy period in my life. I can laugh at myself now. I can cry, too, but I laugh more often.
On her passion for working with kids who were developmentally delayed:
The only thing I can be sure I'll be doing five years from now...
Source:
Barthel, Joan. "A Sweetie from Sweden." The New York Times. July 25, 1965.
Inger was nominated for an Emmy (and completely deserved to take it home) and her costar Peter Falk won one for their performances in the "Price of Tomatoes¨ episode of The Dick Powell Theatre. This moving story in the long-running anthology show aired on January 16, 1962.
Someone has been kind enough to share the full episode on Youtube for us to enjoy! There are plot spoilers in my summary below so you may want to take 50 minutes and watch it if you haven't seen this one. You won't regret it. I decided to watch it again earlier this week and ended up watching it 2 days in a row. Peter and Inger inhabit the roles completely in this poignant story about two strangers whose lives unexpectedly intersect and impact one another.
You'll notice that in Dick Powell's introduction he refers to Peter Falk as being a "one-man hurricane" and praises him for being nominated for both an Academy Award and an Emmy the previous year, yet only refers to Inger as ¨the very lovely Miss Inger Stevens.¨ Now, I absolutely agree with Dick's assessment of the skilled Peter Falk and certainly concur on Inger being very lovely, but I find it interesting that Inger's talents go unmentioned and underpraised—both then and now. After all, in the few years leading up to this performance alone, Inger had a string of powerful starring roles in remarkable television productions. Her two performances in The Twilight Zone were enough to warrant a mention of her talent in his introduction, not to mention her work in Route 66 and Playhouse 90, among others.
If the embedded video below does not play, you can view the episode by clicking here.
Summary
Aristede Fresco (Peter Falk) is an independent trucker who, along with his dad, owns a haul truck. He and his father have pooled their money together and are concerned about their investments. They are working class and Fresco has a wife and 4 children to feed. When he bets another trucker that he can get a load of tomatoes to Cincinnati first, Fresco sets off on the drive of his life. If the tomatoes do not get to Cincinnati safely and quickly, Fresco's livelihood and independence are threatened.
Fresco enounters many setbacks during his journey. When he stops at a gas station, a pregnant woman Anna Beza (Inger Stevens) hops into the passenger seat. She pleads with him to take her as far as her sister's home. Fresco is anxious and annoyed, but takes pity on this lonely, desperate woman and agrees. He warns her that he's on an important mission and doesn't have time to deal with her but that he will drop her off at the first bus station,where he will buy her a ticket to San Francisco.
As they drive, we learn that Fresco is a hardworking family man. He has a photo of his wife and children hanging from the rearview mirror and speaks of them with care. Anna, in Inger's deft use of accents, reveals that she is a Romanian widow.
Along the route, another trucker warns Fresco that there's a road block up ahead and immigration officers are searching for a woman who crossed the Mexican border into America illegally. It's obvious that Anna is this woman, but Fresco continues to drive her to the bus station after she pleads with him to let her baby be born in America. Fresco continues to be grouchy and speak gruffly to Anna (saying that because of her he will "spend my life eating those lousy tomatoes!") but his compassion is evident when he refuses to leave her alone overnight at the bus station.
More setbacks appear. They run off the road and the truck's tire gets stuck, forcing Fresco to spend precious time wrapping it in chains to get it out. Anna's experiencing painful contractions and Fresco hands her a watch to time them. Still anxious, he barks at her when she compliments his family.
Anna (looking at a family photo): You have a fine family.
Fresco: Yeah? Well, don't worry about 'em cause they're gonna starve.
A patrol officer investigates when he sees Fresco working on the tire, but Anna is clever enough to hide. By this point, Fresco is close to giving up on this haul completely.
Anna: Why do you speak like that?
Fresco: Like what?
Anna: Like a man so angry with God.
Fresco: Look, lady...we’re stuck in it, we’re never gonna get out of it!
Anna: You’re like a child...there is no hope, always the end of the road.
Fresco: Oh, what are you, some kind of big expert or something?
Anna: For hope, yes. Every day of my life I make a miracle. And to be here now, even this place, a miracle.
Fresco: Well, why don't you pass another miracle and get us outta this place?
Once they’re back on the road, they laugh and make light of the situation, enjoying one another's company. Fresco takes her to a doctor who turns out to be a fraud. I laughed aloud at Fresco's quick retort when the doctor asks if they are believers. Fresco responds:
Look, doc, I believe in tomatoes. She believes in American babies. That's it!
As they drive on, Anna reveals why she's an expert on hope and miracles. She has survived war, her parents' deaths, multiple escapes to multiple countries, her husband's illness and death. This woman has had the weight of the world on top of her shoulders her entire life. She speaks of how she's spent her life waiting to get to America. She will do anything to make sure her child is born in America and not have to face the trials she's endured.
They have to cross a dangerous bridge in disrepair before finally reaching a hospital, where he learns her name for the first time as she's admitted. After hearing her story, Fresco had sworn:
You're gonna have your baby in America. In a hospital. That's my promise!
Despite his eagerness to reach his final destination and deliver the tomatoes on time, Fresco cannot bear to leave Anna alone at the hospital. At the hospital, the nurse asks if he is the father and he replies that he's not even a friend, but it's obvious to us that he's become much more. These two may be strangers together for only a brief journey, but their meaningful connection will transcend their future separation.
She asks him to see her son before he leaves. As he gets to the door, Anna asks Fresco what his name is. He tells her as he walks out, hurrying to deliver his load. Anna looks down at her baby and we know that she's planning to name her baby Fresco.
Fresco's hope of being the first to deliver the tomatoes is all but dashed but he gives it one last push. As he nears his destination he drives past his competitor, stuck on the side of the road, and realizes he's done it! He's the first to deliver tomatoes and his money and business are secure.
Boxer Jimmy Polo (Paul Newman) is on top of the world. He's a celebrated boxer at the top of his sport, has a happy home life with his supportive wife Bess (Inger Stevens) and an adoring son Jackie (Dickie Belton). Then one day he runs into a former boxer and begins to question his whole outlook on the career he has chosen.
Armstrong Circle Theatre presented the episode "The Contender"on November 30, 1954 on NBC. Directed by Marc Daniels and written by Edmund Morris, the teleplay included actors Paul Newman, Inger Stevens, Frank McHugh, and Nehemiah Persoff. Armstrong Circle Theatre was a dramatic anthology that ran from 1950 to 1963, eventually switching from the NBC network to CBS network.
Luckily for us, "The Contender" has survived when many other 1950's television episodes have been lost and/or destroyed over the years. It's readily available for us to watch, as well, on Youtube (here) and on the Internet Archive (here).
Inger was just 20 years old and had only been seen in commercials and one other show ("Thunder of Silence" on Goodyear Playhouse on November 21, 1954) before "The Contender" aired. Even in this early role, however, Inger is already displaying the qualities of her later, more seasoned performances. She was a natural from day one.
In the episode, Paul Newman's character Jimmy Polo meets former boxer Jeff Gardell (Nehemiah Persoff) on the street selling handkerchiefs. Jimmy's excited to see Jeff, a former champion and hero of Jimmy's, but quickly realizes that Jeff is nothing like his former self. Jeff clearly has brain injuries from years of taking hits to the head. Jimmy is horrified to discover that Jeff's memory is gone, his language limited and his strength nonexistent.
Jimmy's status and ego have been on the rise for some time. He's even given some bold statements in interviews that he predicts he will win and that he doesn't plan on listening to his manager, only to his own instincts. Jimmy's manager and trainer are upset and troubled by Jimmy's statements to the press but when they confront him, Jimmy has just met Jeff and wants out of boxing completely.
At home, Jimmy's wife Bess (Inger Stevens) is proudly admiring the clippings in her scrapbook on Jimmy's career. She is excited about the larger home they have plans to move into soon and is clearly in love with her husband. Their son Jackie (Dickie Belton) wants to be just like his dad. When Jimmy comes home irritated and ready to get out of the profession, Bess is stunned. She cannot believe that her husband would give up a career he has always enjoyed and is skilled at and jeopardize their future in the process. Jimmy explains the feeling of being a boxer, that he's been "trained to kill" and only ends up with a beaten, scarred body. He tells Bess that she has no idea what it's like to "taste your own blood." After seeing the former boxer Jeff on the street, Jimmy says:
Now I look around, I see what it adds up to. Number 1 contender today, number 1 bartender tomorrow, if you're lucky...if you're lucky!
It is not until Bess visits backstage at a boxing event that she understands what Jimmy means. Bess is horrified to see trainers and managers disregard the feelings of the battle-worn boxers. A boxer is bruised and bloodied and the men around him treat him like a fighting robot, not like a human. Inger represents this new discovery of Bess's perfectly in the visible changes in her face as she watches helplessly.
Bess is on Jimmy's side but asks him to box just one more night so that his fans, manager, trainer and son are not let down. She wants him to face a final match with courage, not disappearing from the profession and leaving a lot of people in the lurch.
Paul Newman, a favorite of mine, already displays the fine qualities of a man torn between being true to himself and following rules that others expect of him. We would see him in roles with similar character dilemmas in films for years to come. But when Paul filmed this, he, too, had not been featured in a film yet. That moment would come a month later when The Silver Chalice would arrive in theaters across the country. Interestingly, Paul Newman was also with Inger in "Thunder of Silence" so audiences had the chance to see Paul and Inger paired on the small screen two weeks in a row!
"Thunder of Silence" also still exists! Although I don't believe the full episode is online, there is a clip on Youtube (here).
