“She’s not you.”
I smiled, surprised at both his charm and his eagerness.
“It is about two men who are petty thieves, and they are on the run to Switzerland when they are distracted by an incredible woman they meet on the way. The three of them go for an adventure in the mountains. I have been sitting here with my pages, trying to decide if this woman can be American. And I think she can. I think it’s more interesting that way. It is a stroke of luck. To meet you at this time. So you will do it?”
“Let me sleep on it,” I said. I knew I was going to take the part. It was the only part I could get. But you never get anywhere good by seeming amenable.
“Yes,” Max said. “Of course. You have done nudity before, yes?”
“No,” I said.
“I think you should be topless. In the film.”
If I was going to be asked to show my breasts, wouldn’t it be for a French film? And if the French were going to ask anyone, shouldn’t it be me? I knew what got me famous the first time. I knew what it could do a second time.
“Why don’t we discuss it tomorrow?” I said.
“Let’s talk tomorrow morning,” he said. “Because this other actress I have, she will show her breasts, Evelyn.”
“It’s late, Max. I’ll ring you in the morning.” And I hung up the phone.
I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply, considering both how beneath me this opportunity was and how lucky I was to be given it. It’s a hard business, reconciling what the truth used to be with what the truth is now. Luckily, I didn’t have to do it for very long.
*
TWO WEEKS LATER, I was back on a film set. And this time, I was free of all the buttoned-up, innocent-girl stuff that Sunset had pinned on me. This time, I was able to do whatever I wanted.
It was clear for the entire shoot that Max wanted nothing more than to possess me himself. I could tell by the way he looked at me in stolen glances that part of my allure to Max the director was my allure to him as a man.
When Max came to my dressing room on the second-to-last day of filming, he said, “Ma belle, aujourd’hui tu seras seins nus.” I had picked up enough French by then to know he was saying he wanted to shoot my scene coming out of the lake. When you’re an American movie star with huge boobs in a French movie, you quickly learn that when French men are saying seins nus, they are talking about you being topless.
I was fully willing to take my top off and show my assets if that was what it took to get my name back out there. But by that point, I had fallen madly in love with a woman. I had grown to desire her with every fiber of myself. I knew the pleasure of finding delight in a woman’s naked body.
So I told Max I’d shoot it however he wanted but that I had a suggestion that might make the movie even more of a sensation.
I knew my idea was a good one, because I knew how it felt to want to tear a woman’s shirt off.
And when Max heard it, he knew it was a good one, because he knew how it felt to want to tear my shirt off.
In the editing room, Max slowed down my exit from the lake to a snail’s crawl and then cut the footage a millisecond before you can see my full breasts. It simply cut to black, as if the film itself had been tampered with, as if maybe you’d just gotten a bad cut.
There was so much anticipation. And it never paid off, no matter how many times you watched it, no matter how perfectly you paused the tape.
And here’s why it worked: man, woman, gay, straight, bisexual, you name it, we all just want to be teased.
Six months after we finished shooting Boute-en-Train, I was an international sensation.
PhotoMoment September 15, 1961
SINGER MICK RIVA SWEET FOR EVELYN HUGO
Performing last night at the Trocadero, Mick Riva had a few minutes to indulge our questions. Armed with an old-fashioned that appeared not to be his first, Mick was awfully forthcoming . . .
He revealed that he’s happy to be divorced from siren Veronica Lowe because, he said, “I didn’t deserve a lady like that, and she didn’t deserve a guy like me.”
And when asked if he’s dating, he admitted he’s been seeing quite a few ladies but that he’d give them all up for one night with Evelyn Hugo.
The former Mrs. Don Adler has proven to be a very hot commodity these days. Her appearance in French director Max Girard’s newest film, Boute-en-Train, has spent the summer selling out movie houses all over Europe, and now it’s taking the good ol’ US of A by storm.
“I’ve seen Boute-en-Train three times now,” Mick told us. “And I’ll see it a fourth. I just can’t get enough of her coming out of that lake.”
So would he like to take Evelyn out on a date?
“I’d like to marry her is what I’d like to do.”
You hear that, Evelyn?
Hollywood Digest
October 2, 1961
EVELYN HUGO TO PLAY ANNA KARENINA
Talk of the town Evelyn Hugo has just signed on to play the title role in Fox’s epic Anna Karenina. She has also signed to produce the picture with Harry Cameron, formerly of Sunset Studios.
Miss Hugo and Mr. Cameron worked together at Sunset on such hits as Father and Daughter and Little Women. This will be their first project together outside of the Sunset umbrella.
Mr. Cameron, who has made a name for himself in the biz for his great taste and even greater business acumen, is said to have left Sunset over differences with none other than studio head Ari Sullivan. But it appears Fox is eager to be in business with both Miss Hugo and Mr. Cameron, as they have ponied up a substantial fee and a stake in the box office.
Everyone has been watching to see what Miss Hugo’s next project will be. Anna Karenina is an interesting choice. One thing’s for sure, if Evelyn so much as shows a bare shoulder in the flick, audiences will come running.
Sub Rosa October 23, 1961
DON ADLER AND RUBY REILLY, ENGAGED?
Mary and Roger Adler threw a party this past Saturday that was said to have grown a bit out of control! The guests who showed up were surprised to learn that it wasn’t just a party for Don Adler . . .
It was to announce the engagement of Don and none other than Sunset Studios’ reigning queen, Ruby Reilly!
Don and Ruby have become close after Don’s divorce from bombshell Evelyn Hugo almost two years ago. Apparently, Don admitted he had eyes for Ruby way back when she and Evelyn were shooting Little Women together.
We are so happy for Don and Ruby, but we can’t help but wonder how Don feels about Evelyn’s skyrocketing fame. She is the hottest thing under the sun right now, and if we had let her go, we’d be kicking ourselves.
Regardless, best wishes to Don and Ruby! Hopefully, this one sticks!
I WAS SENT AN INVITATION to see Mick Riva perform at the Hollywood Bowl that fall. I decided to go, not because I cared about seeing Mick Riva but because an evening outside sounded fun. And I wasn’t above courting the tabloids.