The Journeys That Shaped Inger

Inger Stevens poses at LaGuardia Airport
bound for Washington, D.C., October 1965.

Official records and lists may appear to be dull reading material; however, when the records involve Inger Stevens and can be paired with stories of her experiences, a warm profile of a lively woman emerges.

I've set out to match records I've discovered with anecdotes found in various articles about Inger as well as in William Patterson's book The Farmer's Daughter Remembered.

A Star is Born

On Thursday, October 18, 1934 in a Stockholm hospital, Inger Stensland was born to parents 21-year-old Per and 20-year-old Lisbet. Inger was the first child of Per and Lisbet, who were married six months prior to her birth.  According to Patterson, Inger was named for the Norse princess Ingebjørg. I've highlighted Inger's entry in the Swedish Birth Index. Listed as adöpt (döpt meaning christened or baptised), Per Stensland and Lisbet Potthoff are indexed to the right.

Inger's entry in the Swedish Birth Index in 1934

Per to America

Following a separation from Lisbet, Per traveled to America as an academic fellow in 1940. (Inger and her brother Ola would be left behind in the care of their family maid before moving in with their aunt and uncle.) That same year the American-Scandinavian Foundation of New York City released the following inquiry regarding the status of fellows stranded in the United States due to World War II. Per would not return to Sweden. In 1944, Per, with a new bride and a baby on the way, would request that his two eldest children join him in America.

Inger's father began a fellowship in America in 1940.

A Lonely Journey to America

9-year-old Inger and younger brother Ola arrived in America from Sweden in July 1944. The children were chaperoned by a family friend and traveled on the SS Margaret Johnson for six weeks before docking in New Orleans on July 15, 1944. Leaving family and country would be difficult for a person of any age, but little Inger and Ola's journey included additional challenges that would remain painful memories for Inger for the duration of her life. For example, all freighter passengers were inspected by German troops during a stop in Denmark and the freighter was even followed by a German U-boat during a portion of the journey. 

To make the experience even more frightening, Inger's father Per was not in New Orleans to meet his children. Biographer Patterson writes that Per was too busy working on a thesis paper to meet Inger and Ola, neither of whom could speak English. Instead of being reunited with the father they had not seen in four years, the Stensland siblings were met by the Travelers Aid Society and escorted by a Salvation Army representative on a train to New York City. When they reached New York City, Per was still not there to greet his children. Inger was told he was busy with his academic work in Cape Cod and the children were placed in separate rooms of a New York City hotel. The next morning Inger and Ola boarded a train for Cape Cod where they were finally reunited with their father.

Inger would later tell reporters that Per "couldn't afford to meet us." She would recall the terror she faced aboard the ship and on arrival in America. 

New York seemed to us then like a city of revolving doors. Every time we went through one, I was sure I'd lose Ola...After dinner, the Travelers Aid Society member took me to the thirteenth floor of the hotel and put Ola somewhere else; mine was a tiny green room that looked like a cell. Have you ever been on the thirteenth floor during a thunderstorm? I was sure I'd be killed before morning. 

Inger would share that she and Ola expected to see cowboys and indians on arrival. Instead:

When our freighter docked at New Orleans after being trailed by a German U-boat for almost a week, the Travelers Aid Society brought us to New York. Two days after our arrival, a hurricane struck Cape Cod and partially demolished our little house. I was terrified. I begged to go back to Sweden. I'd been prepared to face Indians, but I didn't dream life in America could be so violent.

In 1965, Inger said:

I still feel like the same girl who got off the boat from Sweden. Maybe a little taller and a little more money, that's all. But I'm not changed inside. 

Inger and Ola Stensland (highlighted) arrive in New Orleans on July 15, 1944.

Although Per is listed as the relative they will be joining in America,
it took days of lonely travel for Inger and Ola to reach their father.

Crunch and Des in Bermuda

A passenger manifest dated October 27, 1955 shows Inger embarking from Bermuda on return to New York. Inger traveled to Bermuda to play the part of 'The Actress' in a Crunch and Des episode entitled Salt Water Daffy. Although filmed in 1955, Salt Water Daffy was not released on television until 1956. In his book on Inger, Patterson shares a letter that Inger wrote to a friend about her Bermuda experience:

I saw how people actually lived which is something I could never have seen if I didn't do it on my own...I wanted to be in and around the water every minute because it is so beautiful. The water wasn't blue; it was a rich green, but crystal clear and as we flew in over Bermuda the sight of the water alone was breathtaking. Under the water you could see the coral reefs, which looked like black sleeping animals, from the sky. Since I worked all the time, I didn't get to swim or enjoy it the way I would have wanted to, but Tony and I hope to go there together sometime.

(Note: Tony is Anthony Soglio, Inger's agent whom she married in summer 1955 and divorced in 1958.) 

Inger is listed on a 1955 passenger manifest. She was filming
an episode of Crunch and Des in Bermuda.

A Beauty Judges Beauty

On November 20, 1959, Inger landed in Los Angeles on a Pan Am flight. For promotional purposes, she served as a judge at the Miss Colombia Beauty Contest at the Hotel Tequendama in Bogata, Colombia, and made her way home via Panama.

Inger returns to L.A. from Colombia by way of Panama.

Traumatic Landing in Lisbon

On April 4, 1961, Inger embarked on a vacation that started in Paris and included stops in London, Madrid, and Rome with her hairstylist and friend Leslie Blanchard. After Leslie returned to America, Inger visited family in Sweden in May. In the final days of her trip, Inger boarded a Boeing 707 that stopped in Lisbon on June 15th. As it landed, the plane's nose gear collapsed creating a fire. Immediately after Inger and her fellow passengers exited the plane, it exploded. All passengers and crew were physically unhurt, but all were certainly shaken by the close call.

Source: The Star Press. June 17, 1961.

Source: Morristown Gazette. June 27, 1961.

Inger reportedly discussed the incident with columnist Cynthia Lowry in February 1963, saying:

I still hate to talk about it. The plane started burning and I thought I would be burned alive. And I put on my coat, of all things, and curled up on the floor. Somehow I escaped and now I feel as if I were on borrowed time, that the worst is over and it's clear sailing. But it is reassuring to know you continued to function under pressure and didn't give in to hysteria.

William Patterson writes that Inger was so rattled by the event that she chose to forego air travel, returning to America by boat. However, a passenger list for Pan American flight No. 153 shows Inger boarded a flight in Lisbon and arrived in New York by plane on June 20th.

Inger returns from Lisbon after a near-death experience.

Secret Honeymooners 

Six months after her widely reported Lisbon flight, Inger and her new husband Ike Jones managed to fly under the press's radar—although not for as long as we have been led to believe, but that deserves its own post on another day. On December 29, 1961, Inger arrived back home in Los Angeles after a trip to Mexico City. Browsing the flight's passenger list, I found the record for Inger's husband Ike Jones, who was also on the CMA flight on the 29th. (CMA was an affiliate of Pan American that provided non-stop flights from Los Angeles to Mexico City.)

Ike Jones in November 1959, two years before
his wedding to Inger Stevens.

Ike was a producer for Nat King Cole's Kell-Cole Productions as well as a film producer and actor. Inger and Ike met at a Hollywood party in September 1960. A little over a year later, in November 1961, Inger and Ike privately married in Tijuana. After a quiet celebration for two at a small restaurant and motel, the couple returned to Los Angeles. A month later, Inger and Ike traveled to Mexico City for a secret honeymoon. 

Although their relationship was far from the best-kept secret in Hollywood, the general public would not be fully aware of Inger's marriage to Ike until after Inger's death.

Inger returns to Los Angeles after a secret honeymoon in Mexico City.

Ike Jones, Inger's husband, listed on the same flight from Mexico City.

While this post includes a small sampling of her travel records, the documents represent major experiences—her Swedish birth, arduous immigration to the U.S., early television filming and film promotion work, dangerous Lisbon landing, and private marriage—that would shape Inger's life and worldview in significant ways.

Inger in a late-1950's travel photo.

Sources:

Documents were retrieved via Ancestry and Familysearch.

"Ex-UCLA Star Named to Belafonte's Harbel Film Co." Jet. November 5, 1959.

http://files.lib.byu.edu/family-history-library/research-outlines/Scandinavia/Sweden.pdf

Hopper, Hedda. "Inger Too Busy for Romance." The Los Angeles Times. May 18, 1958.

Lowry, Cynthia. "Not the Girl Next Door?" The Akron Beacon Journal. February 12, 1963.

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

Inger Stensland in Manhattan, Kansas

Inger in the 1950 yearbook

Inger Stensland, her father Per, stepmother Carol, brother Carl (whose name was originally Ola) and half-sister Lucy relocated to Manhattan, Kansas from New York when Per was offered the position of Assistant Professor at Kansas State University in 1948. At this time, Inger had only been in America for 4 years. She spoke very good English, but a hint of her Swedish accent remained. Living at 1200 Kearney Street until Per left Kansas for a professorship in Lubbock, Texas in the 1950s, Inger's activities and accomplishments were often noted in the local newspapers The Manhattan Mercury and The Manhattan Republic. I have compiled those local mentions into one post to give us a better look into the life of teenaged Inger.

Inger's father and stepmother photographed
at their home in Manhattan, Kansas.
Source: Manhattan Mercury. October 17, 1948.

In August 1948, the Manhattan Mercury reported:

Per G. Stensland, formerly of Sweden and now on the Teachers College faculty of Columbia University in New York has been appointed associate professor in the Institute of Citizenship at Kansas State University effective September 1...Stensland will head extensions work of the Institute in Kansas...He is married and has three children: Inger, Carl and Lucy. 

In "Stensland Family Says Manhattan is Friendly City," reporter Joann Blackwelder quoted Inger's stepmother as saying:

Big cities are exciting but we prefer to live in friendly Manhattan. Even though we arrived in Manhattan during a rainstorm, we thought the town looked wonderful. It will be a relief to have the linoleum down and the painting and papering finished. Then we can unpack and get settled...I'm a little frightened about the severe Kansas winters.

The article details that Inger's father received a fellowship to study adult education in the United States from the American-Scandinavian Foundation in the early 1940s. He met Carol in California before settling in New York for several years and requesting Inger and Carl from Sweden. In Kansas, the couple would be prominent members of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.) Blackwelder cites music and folk singing as favorite pastimes for the whole family—hobbies that Inger would enjoy for the rest of her life—and writes: 

Having attended school in Sweden and in New York City, their two older children—Inger, 14, and Carl, 12—like the junior high school. They have made many friends and think that the school activities and teachers are fine. Inger says that she is especially impressed with Teen Town. Lucy, three and a half, is the other member of the family.

Here are early 1950s directories listing the Stensland family at 1200 Kearney Street.

On the evening of September 17, 1948, Inger had to stand up and introduce herself as a new student and formally respond to a welcoming address for Manhattan Junior High School students.  Although new friends noted Inger was reserved and introspective throughout high school, Inger quickly immersed herself in the social functions expected of teens. She attended dances and parties with her classmates. On October 30th, Inger took part in a Halloween dance hosted by classmate John Stockmyer at St. Paul's Episcopal Church. With new friends, Inger danced and nibbled on sandwiches, orange-frosted donuts with fortunes in the center, candy, nuts and orange soda beverages. On November 20th, Inger was present at Donna Morine's Thanksgiving dance at the Modern Woodman Hall where she enjoyed Coca-Cola, apples, donuts and cider. She was back on the dance floor twice in December when a Christmas dance was held for junior members of the local country club and later, when her classmate Vivian Stewart led a Holiday Hop at the Wareham Hotel.

Inger showed an interest for the performing arts right away, serving as a caroler at the Annual Christmas Masque on December 10th and performing in the Congregational Church's Christmas musical "No Room at the Inn."

Before 1948 ended, Inger had even gained some job experience—she worked at Stevenson's as part of the annual social studies work program. And her father Per won praise from residents when it was reported that his handbook Guide for Group Leaders was being used in colleges across 37 states and was already in its third printing.

In 1949, Inger's dedication to singing and acting increased. Inger performed a vocal solo at a Riley County Red Cross benefit on March 3, 1949. She played the role of a witch sister named Vanilla in a play during her schools' annual art week celebration in May. Inger shined in that year's Christmas festivities once again—singing the soprano solo at Manhattan High School's Christmas concert on December 9 and, two days later, performing with the school's mixed ensemble at the First Congregational Church's Christmas play.

Inger continued to be a respected member of Manhattan High School. She was elected federal council representative for the school on February 3, 1949. She was also invited to dances to celebrate Valentine's Day (at the Wareham Green Room on February 12) and the spring season (an Episcopal Church dance hosted by Betty Kay Dietrich and Marilyn Kulp on April 30 and a party for country club juniors at the clubhouse a week later.)

Although some Manhattan natives wondered about the Stenslands due to their births in a foreign nation—pinned with the label of being "other" or "exotic," a hurdle Inger would face in Hollywood as well— Per continued to garner accolades for his work as a professor and even dropped by Inger's school on PTA night to deliver a presentation on the importance of Adult Education in January 1949.

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Although not identified, I believe Inger is serving punch at this Y-Teens event as she was the refreshments leader for the club and the hair and profile match. 

 

Inger is pictured in a group photo with the Girls' Glee Club. A close up of Inger is below.

The year 1950 started out much the same as the previous year for 15-year old Inger. She continued to be named in the local newspaper for her good grades and placement on the school's honor roll. In the spring, Inger was very active musically. On March 31, Inger competed by singing a solo at the Emporia District Music Festival. That April she was elected song leader of Y-Teens and Hi-Y organizations for the upcoming school year and, on April 26th, Inger performed two songs at an Acquaintance Club meeting at the home of Mrs. J.W. Truax.

But by summer the mentions about Inger in the local newspaper were drastically different. There was no local involvement in plays, clubs, or dances, because Inger was no longer local—she'd disappeared.

Despite all of her social involvement, Inger's friends—when interviewed by Inger biographer William Patterson—remembered her as being quite shy, with a strong sense of wrong and right, and relegated to the frumpy, outdated clothes her parents allowed her to wear. Although she walked to school for blocks in the cold each day, Inger did not have a winter coat. Per and Carol were considered by Inger's classmates to be incredibly strict and lacking in affection for their two oldest children. For example, Inger and Carl (originally Ola, but given a more American name) were not allowed to use the family record player or sewing machine, and were responsible for endless chores. One friend recalled, to Patterson, that Inger had confided that she'd even been pushed down the stairs once by Carol. Inger's social life was very controlled by her parents and though we see that she was involved in performing, she missed out on a lot of other plays and performances due to her curfew. Inger did have a boyfriend named Pat, but she usually had to sneak out to see him. Inger would say, "I witnessed an awful lot of fighting in my family. I got used to keeping things to myself and never really said what was on my mind. I was always afraid of hurting somebody." Inger may not have said anything, but she did do something.

When everyone was occupied by a flood that came through Manhattan in July 1950, 15-year-old Inger packed her bags and ran away to live with relatives in Chicago. William Patterson writes that this was actually the second time Inger had run off to Lennert and Helen Samuelson, her father's aunt and uncle. Determined to make her own way and not be a burden to anyone, Inger immediately got a factory job in Chicago. A month later, in August, Inger was planning to return to her parents but at the last minute, boarded a train to Kansas City instead. She needed a job in Kansas City and sought work in the box office of the Folly Theatre, but ended up performing under the name of Kay Palmer in a burlesque chorus line at the theatre instead. Although afraid she would be arrested for being underage, Inger was remembered by Ed Ross, theatre manager as being a "pleasant girl, but always eager."

In December, the now 16-year-old Inger was horrified to look out in the audience and see her disapproving father Per, having been notified by someone of her whereabouts, watching her burlesque routine. Inger was swiftly packed up and returned to Manhattan with her father where she went back to being a dedicated, hardworking student and an active member in organizations and social obligations as if no trauma had ever happened—something we would see the resilient Inger do many times in response to traumatic events in her life, most notably after her suicide attempt in 1959. Inger was not the only unhappy Stensland at 1200 Kearney Street. Facing the same pressure as his older sister who had always been his protector, brother Carl ran away—to Dallas—following Inger's disappearance and only returned after Inger came back.

Inger is returned home days before Christmas.

Inger's father and stepmother, of course, made no mention of the true details surrounding Per's discovery of Inger when the Manhattan Mercury published a story on her return. The December 27, 1950 article read:

Inger Stensland, 16-year-old high school girl missing since September, returned Friday to the home of her father and stepmother, Mr. and Mrs. Per G. Stensland, 1200 Kearney. Her brother, Carl Stensland, 14, who disappeared Dec. 9, still is missing.

Mrs. Stensland said she and her husband met Inger in Kansas City after Inger had called them from Chicago. She said Inger had told them she had been working in Chicago and "had her fill" of being on her own. 

Inger brought some Christmas presents with her and she and the family did a lot of hurried shopping in Kansas City after the reunion. 

Inger was relieved to learn her father had sent a Christmas package from the family to a younger brother, Peter, who lives in Sweden with his mother and her husband.

After some biographical details about the family's background, the article concludes:

The family hopes that news of the return of Inger will reach Carl. Stensland said he was sure Carl had been upset at Inger's absence and he believed the boy would return when he learned his sister was home. Inger said she had not known Carl was gone and had not heard from him.

Mrs. Stensland said she and her husband did not intend to ask Inger a lot of questions about her activities. She said they were satisfied to have her home and were sure she was sincere in telling them she had enough of being on her own. 

Inger's brother also ran away in 1950, but returned shortly after Inger.

Inger in the 1951 yearbook

Inger settled back into life in Manhattan in 1951 and continued to receive notice for her performances and involvement. On March 16, 1951 Inger acted in "The Balcony Scene" with other students in competition at the District Speech and Play Festival at Clay Center. She served as head of refreshments for Teen Town Student Council and sang at the Hi-Y and Y-Teens program on September 12th. On November 28th, Inger participated in the "Voice of Democracy" speech contest sponsored by the National Junior Chamber of Commerce and the National Broadcasting Association. Along with fellow finalists Diane Saunders and Bill Wareham, Inger delivered her speech in a local radio broadcast—how I'd love to listen to that recording! Bill Wareham was later announced the contest winner.

Inger competes for Blue M Queen in 1952.

The Blue M Queen candidate in the Manhattan Mercury

As pictured above, Inger competed for the title of Blue M Queen in February 1952 but lost to classmate Joyce Steele. She is noted as being interested in music, dramatics and art. On February 1, Inger performed the songs, "Three Queens," "Eight Spades," "Three Hits and a Miss," "The Showboat Ensemble," and the "Deep South Dixieland Band" with an ensemble at the high school to raise money for the Sunset Fund.

In early March, Inger's father Per was appointed the chairman of the Public Affairs Committee of the Adult Education Association of the United States. Per's duties included conducting surveys and recommending changes for adult education institutions around the county. On April 27, Per moderated a panel for the state CIOI legislative conference and the following month he was selected by radio station WOI-TV at Iowa State College to participate in a work session of "The Role of Mass Communication in Social Action." Later that year, Per would accept a position at Texas Technical College and relocate, with wife Carol and daughter Lucy, to Lubbock, Texas. Inger and Carl would opt to remain in Manhattan, Kansas.                

Inger's father in 1957 in Lubbock, Texas

Inger's father in 1955 in Lubbock, Texas

Inger's brother Carl in the 1952 yearbook

Inger finished out her final year at Manhattan High School showing off her dramatic and vocal skills. On March 25, 1952, Inger played the role of a daughter in the play, "Sweethearts." On April 14, Inger competed in the vocal competition at the District Musical Contest in Emporia, Kansas, where she scored a grade of II—relative to a "B" letter score. On May 12, Inger is awarded a dramatics award at Manhattan High School's Senior Award Night. Four days later, Inger gave an impression of Betty Hutton at the MHS Final Senior Assembly. As a senior, Inger earned honors (a blue felt pendant decorated with a white M felt script and chevrons) for attaining good grades consistently over three years. She'd earned honors her junior year as well.

Inger in the 1952 yearbook

Inger's activities listed in the 1952 yearbook

By 1953, Inger was working as a model in New York City. She'd get her first break, in a Vel detergent commercial, the following year.

Screen capture of Inger in an early Vel commercial

In 2007, Inger was inducted into the Manhattan High School Wall of Fame. Click here to view Inger's Wall of Fame page on the Manhattan High School Alumni Association's website.

Except for the details about Inger's relationship with her family and time in Chicago and Kansas City which were provided in Patterson's biography of Inger, I found all information shared in this post within the archived pages of The Manhattan Mercury, The Manhattan Republic, and the Manhattan High School yearbooks. I spent many happy days getting to know the gifted and driven teenaged Inger as I sifted through online newspaper archives and content.

You can find a timeline of Inger's life, which is compiled from Patterson's book and various newspapers, by clicking here.

Sources:

Manhattan Mercury:

1948: August 26; September 19; October 17; September 22; November 3; November 9; December 1; December 8; December 26; December 29.

1949: January 5; January 23; February 1; February 17;  March 3; May 4; May 8; May 11

1950: February 1; March 14; March 31; April 12, April 21; April 26; September 20; December 17; December 27; December 31.

1951: March 16; May 13; September 12; November 28; 

1952: February 1; February 3;  February 11; February 13; March 2; March 19; April 4; April 7; April 25 

Manhattan High School Yearbooks, 1950-1952. Ancestry Library Edition.

Texas Technical College, 1955-1957. Ancestry Library Edition.

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

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.

Inger Stevens in her High School Yearbook

As a teen Inger Stevens (then Inger Stensland) attended Manhattan High School in Manhattan, Kansas. Her high school yearbook photos show a young, smiling Inger who, by the time her senior photo was taken, is clearly poised for a future in acting and modeling.

Inger Stensland, Sophomore, 1950

Inger Stensland, Junior, 1951

Inger Stensland, Senior, 1952

According to her senior list of activities, Inger was involved in the following at Manhattan High School:

• Y-Teens as a sophomore, junior, and senior
• Glee Club as a sophomore
• Robed choir as a senior
• Mixed ensemble as a senior
• "Red Mill" play as a junior
• District Music Festival as a sophomore
• District-State Dramatic Festival as a junior
• Music Club as a sophomore and junior
• Pigskin Committee as a sophomore and senior

Sources:
"U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012"; School Name: Manhattan High School; Year: 1950. www.ancestry.com
"U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012"; School Name: Manhattan High School; Year: 1951. www.ancestry.com
"U.S., School Yearbooks, 1880-2012"; School Name: Manhattan High School; Year: 1952. www.ancestry.com