The Millionaire: The Betty Perkins Story (1956)

Inger Stevens in The Betty Perkins Story, 1956.

At the age of 22, Inger starred as Betty Perkins in The Betty Perkins Story episode of The Millionaire. The episode aired on CBS on December 26, 1956. The 30-minute anthology show ran from 1955 to 1960 and was a popular hit among viewers. Occasionally, reruns of The Millionaire have cropped up on Decades, Heroes and Icons and TV Land stations.

Although each episode contains a different storyline, the show always begins with character Michael Anthony (Marvin Miller) introducing himself:

My name is Michael Anthony. For many years, I was executive secretary to a remarkable man, John Beresford Tipton...

Then viewers see Mr. Anthony approach Tipton (Paul Frees), but the camera never reveals the man's face.  Tipton would hand papers that reveal his selected person to be rewarded one million dollars along with a check to Mr. Anthony. In The Betty Perkins Story, Tipton is glass blowing when Anthony arrives. As he hands over the information, Tipton states:

Here's our next millionaire, Mike. Let's give her the tools she needs to change herself.

Mike explains to viewers that the recipient is Betty Perkins, a small town girl who chased romance down to Miami but ended up alone running a switchboard. Betty (Inger Stevens) is shown managing a switchboard as Anthony enters the office. Worried that he's a salesman and her boss will grow angry for allowing him to stay, Betty anxiously shoos Anthony away. He presents her with a check and a list of conditions (including that she cannot reveal the source or the exact amount of the check), but Betty is so inundated with work calls and skeptical of his intentions that she barely hears any of this exchange. He wants to stay and explain the terms, but Betty begs him to leave so that her employer does not catch him.

It is not until Betty arrives on a business errand to the country club that her endowment becomes a reality for her. As she waits to hand deliver papers to a client, Betty decides to order a champagne cocktail. It's clear that this is not a beverage she is accustomed to ordering since she immediately and demurely asks the waiter, "Well, is that alright?" When the drink arrives, Betty fully takes in the moment. As Betty, Inger smiles to herself as she realizes this drink may signal the beginning of her new life.

At the country club, Betty meets Donna and Bob McKeever (Amzie Strickland and Preston Hanson, respectively) and their bachelor friend John Baxter (Phillip Reed). They all assume she's at the club waiting for her husband and that she must be wealthy to be a club member. Because she's a bit on the shy side and in a most unusual situation, Betty is not able to speak up to correct them. Her new friends always interrupt her and she's too gracious to break up the conversation. When she tells him her last name is Perkins and that she's not originally from Miami, the handsome bachelor John Baxter assumes her husband owns the Perkins Cable Company near St. Louis and must be relocating his office. Again, Betty is interrupted before she can tell Baxter the truth. 

John is quickly smitten with Betty and the foursome go dining and dancing. Easily the most beautiful woman in the room but completely modest, Betty asks:

Could I...no, maybe I should say could the champagne ask you a very rude question, because I wouldn't dare?

Betty asks him why he's never married and he replies that he hasn't found the right woman. The next day Donna visits Betty's new apartment and is surprised to find the closet empty. Betty finally gets up the courage to tell Donna the truth when Donna shares that John only goes after married women because they are safe. Donna shares that if Betty wasn't married, John simply would lose interest. Betty decides to keep her mouth shut and play along, never having experienced a lifestyle or a wooing like this. 

In a funny scene, Betty is in a department store buying multiple pants and shoes for her husband "Peter" as well as 31 striped ties and the salesman's "old chewed-up pipe." Betty is totally engrossed in this fairytale now and spends her money on the new apartment, her make believe husband's wardrobe and even buys an office and supplies for the Perkins Cable Company she's opened in town. 

It is a zany storyline, to be sure, but Inger's emotive yet disciplined acting style make it more down to earth and the character completely empathetic for me. Inger is always able to handle comedic scenes with a certain control that makes even the silliest scenarios realistic for me. We see it from her in The Farmer's Daughter, absolutely, but all through her work. She embraces humorous scenes, like the department store part in Betty Perkins, but she never ever overacts or "hams" it up. I appreciate and enjoy that about her performances.

In the end, the gossip surrounding John Baxter's involvement with a married woman begins to hurt his reputation and the kind and ever generous Betty disappears so as not to cause harm. After days of searching, he finds her. Betty, with tears in her eyes, confesses all.

I thought I could buy belonging...to life, John. Don't you see? If you're someone who doesn't like to be mean or selfish or nervy, it won't work no matter how much money you have!

Betty Perkins gets her happy ending, though, because John has fallen in love with her as she truly is. 

Bonus note: Twenty-two year old Inger has the sweetest, cutest little face with the most adorable cheeks in this show. She's so endearing at every age and in each changing style of the fifties and sixties.

For links to more summaries and screenshots of Inger's movie and tv work, please visit my Films, Shows and Television page on this site.