Christmastime for Inger

 

Handwritten holiday note from Inger.
Source: my collection.

Happy Holidays! Today's post is a collection of references I've found to Inger's Christmas celebrations. The photo above is of a Briggs, Ltd. gift card hand signed in red by Inger that is proudly displayed on my mantle at the moment. The signed card comes with an envelope and the gift attached was for friend Abe Lincoln, Jr., son of jazz trombonist Abram Lincoln. I'm not sure what the gift was, but I also have a photograph of Inger inscribed to Abe from the Lincoln estate.

Discovering the Magic of Performance in Sweden

Inger first got bit by the acting bug when she watched her father perform in a local Swedish production of "A Christmas Carol." In Patterson's biography, Inger is quoted as saying:

I watched my father play Scrooge. As Scrooge he was gray-haired and bent over. I couldn't imagine what happened to his lovely chestnut hair. He told me what I had seen on stage was part of the magic of the theatre. I was spellbound. Years later I found the wig he had worn, but then it was too late; I had already made up my mind to be an actress someday and participate in the magic of the theatre.

Patterson also reveals that Inger was thrilled to be selected as Saint Lucia as a young girl in Mora, Sweden. Saint Lucia Day (December 13) is large celebration and the tradition is based on a martyr who wore candles to light her path and secretly delivered food to persecuted Christians. Inger wore a crown of seven white candles, a long white dress with bold red sash and walked to local businesses and schools singing carols. This honor and the performative play it required strengthened Inger's wish to be an actress.

Alone at Christmas

While I'm sure Inger had other fond holiday memories with family and friends throughout the years, many of Inger's Christmases seem to have been spent alone in hotels on film shoots or rehearsals. For example, in 1962, when Inger was rehearsing for her Christmas Eve opening of the play "Mary, Mary", she wrote to her aunt about how depressed she felt being alone and working over the holiday. Inger made sure to mix work with festive cheer during the years she worked on The Farmer's Daughter (1963-66). Inger helped plan the annual Christmas party for the cast and crew. 

Tragically, Patterson writes that on Inger's final Christmas, she phoned her father but he would not interrupt his dinner to talk to her and never returned her call. Due to a lot of childhood and adolescent trauma, Inger had complicated relationships with both her father and mother. Despite this, Inger always reached out, making a big effort to regularly visit her mother in Sweden (whom she viewed more as a friend) and to phone and write her father. Although they abandoned her as a child and again at various times in her life, Inger never abandoned the hope that her familial relationships would grow stronger. 

Source: Manhattan Mercury. December 17, 1958.

In December 1958, Inger was on a whirlwind multi-city publicity tour for the film The Buccaneer. At a stop in St. Louis, Inger posed smiling beside a Christmas tree with a large sign that read "Merry Christmas to ALL my friends of MANHATTAN. Inger Stevens." This generous gesture was made for friends back in Manhattan, Kansas, where Inger spent her formative, teenage years. The smile and work ethic that Inger displayed on that publicity tour belied the fragility and depression she was facing. Less than a month after this happy photo was taken, Inger attempted to take her own life and required a lengthy recovery.

Re-gifting Cleverness

Inger was hurt when lover Bing Crosby gifted her an impersonal certificate in lieu of a gift on Christmas. When it was time for Inger to send Bing a wedding present a mere 10 months later, she made use of it. She said:

After he married Kathy, I sent it back as a wedding present.

Thoughts on the Commercialism and Rush of Christmas

As related in Patterson's biography, in a personal letter dated 1955, Inger wrote to a friend:

I can never understand why everyone rushes Christmas. Thanksgiving isn't here yet and already stores are decked out in their finery and the Yule bells are pealing and thank God I haven't seen a Santa Claus yet. Why must everything be so prepared and rushed? It makes me ill. And that reminds me, I have to make out the Christmas card list and start shopping. See? We all get caught up in it.

Inger Stevens, handy with a needle,
makes gifts for friends.
Source: Photoplay. December 1957.

How ironic that the acting life that was made magical through the holiday performances of her childhood led to so many lonely Christmases as an adult. I hope that Inger had more personal, happier Christmases during her years than have been reported. She was such a generous, open-hearted person that I envision her embracing Christmas day with meaningful gifts, preparing a warm, delicious meal and engaging in long conversations and fits of laughter with her close friends. I like to believe that there were years in which she experienced the magic of Christmas and the love she dearly deserved from others.

Thank you all for reading. Merry Christmas!

Sources:

Patterson, William T. The Farmer's Daughter Remembered. Xlibris. 2000.

"Young Ideas: Needle News. Photoplay. December 1957.

"Greetings from Inger." Manhattan Mercury. December 17, 1958.

Crusader: The Girl Across the Hall (1956)

CBS aired the dramatic series Crusader starring Brian Keith in 1955 and 1956. In the first season, Matt Anders travels all around the world to combat Communism and oppression and as each episode's title card suggests:

Crusader records the struggle of democratic people against the enemies of freedom and justice at home and abroad. These are the stories of the people who have been helped by the many great organisations which are dedicated to bringing truth to those who are fed lies, light to those who live in darkness, protection to those who live in fear.

In its second season, Matt involves himself more in criminal stories that take place in America.  There are still international intrigue episodes, but Inger's episode is an example of how the show turned to more domestic issues, such as murder and organized crime.

Martin Kroll is murdered as he enters a residence. Two men, assumed to be in the mob, quickly flee the scene. After the murder is featured in the newspaper, the sole eyewitness comes forward. She is a young dancer named Alicia Devar (Inger) and her picture and personal details are splashed on the front page of the newspaper. For Alicia's protection, Matt and the local police post themselves in the boarding house where Alicia lives with a grouchy old landlord and a middle-aged diner cook. Matt is perplexed that Alicia has come forward as the witness and subjected herself to the media, but has yet to agree to be a witness in the trial.

The police have asked the landlord and other tenant to leave, but they refuse. The landlord refuses because he "wanna see what happens. It's part of being old. You don't get scared anymore." The old man is not fond of Alicia at all because she's three weeks late on her rent and he feels:

She coulda got a job waitressing but, oh, no, she's gotta be this high and mighty dancer!

Fred, the other tenant in the house, feels differently. He brings Alicia nightly dinners from the diner and coddles her. It is clear he's smitten.

Alicia seems amused by the attention but not as frightened as you would expect a woman in danger to be. She stays up late sharing her life story with Matt over a cup of coffee. She tells him she's from Iowa and that she's been struggling in the city but does not want to return home a failure. When Matt talks to another officer in the house about it, the officer says the story is slightly different than the one she was told. She chalks it up to a crush Alicia may have for Matt and remarks:

She's a kid...It's all part of the game.

Matt replies that it is impossible not to like Alicia because "she's like a lost kitten." He interviews Fred about his housemate and Fred mentions that he finds it strange Alicia didn't mention that she witnessed the murder while they were watching television on the night in question. In fact, Alicia never mentioned anything about the murder at all until she went to the police. Instantly suspicious, Matt questions Alicia about what she saw. Alicia recalls that she was walking when she saw the car go by and she remembers the elm trees. But when Matt asks Alicia the color of the car, she cannot answer. Elm trees were mentioned in the newspaper article. Car color was not. 

It's obvious that Alicia lied about witnessing the murder. She took information from the article and used it in order to gain publicity. The trick works. Publicity agents call Alicia after seeing her photo in the paper wanting to represent and audition her. She is elated.

Matt accuses Alicia:

You were gonna go before the grand jury in court to swear a lie for what you could get out of it!

Desperate to be a famous dancer, Alicia says:

Why shouldn't I? I'm tired of being a nobody! And, anyway, what difference would it make? Everybody knows they did it.

Outraged, Matt counters:

And you picked yourself to sit in judgement, eh? I hope the judge and jury you get are less prejudiced.

Alicia's publicity stunt has dire consequences.  Innocent people are murdered as the killers hunt for her. And yet, Alicia has no feeling whatsoever over the madness she causes. She only thinks of herself. When confronted with all the damage she has caused, Alicia's only response to Matt is:

You don't care for me at all, do you?

Inger typically played what she wrote to her brother were "good girl" roles so it is a departure to see her ultimately play an unsympathetic character here. Inger manages to balance the part so that you see Alicia is acting out of ignorance, adolescence and the desperation to succeed. Most of Inger's characters seemed wiser than their age (to me) yet Alicia is too immature to see the predicament she's created. In less than a half hour, Inger's character switches from a lovely, down-on-her-luck dancer to a selfish, manipulative young woman. Alicia is a character so completely wrapped up in her own needs and wants that she is unable to understand or feel guilty for the damage her actions have. 

Inger Stevens Models Designs by Dominique

Inger modeled dresses by California designer Dominique in the May 25, 1963 issue of TV Guide. It is not surprising that Inger would be drawn to a designer whose clothes had "a simple, uncluttered look with a touch of newness" as Inger defined her fashion choices as simple and timeless over the years. According to the article, Dominique was inclined to use a lot of crepe and jersey in her designs, fabrics that led to a more flowing feel and led Inger to say that the dresses "happily reflect the carefree life of California."

Source:

My scans from TV Guide dated May 25, 1963.