Roger with Jean Muller
in "A Pin To See The Peepshow" produced in America
It was understandable enough.
I was sometimes working on two shows in one day while some
of the English community hadn't worked for some weeks. The
Actor's Guild told me if I wanted to keep working I had
to get specific permission from the Immigration Authorities.
There was still a lot of fuss and bother about getting a
Green Card - American resident's permit; more than there
should have been. Then I discovered why. I was called on
one occason to the Immigration Department. The fellow behind
the desk looked at me very pofaced and then became preoccupied
with a file in front of him. "You are Roger
Moore?" he said after a while. "Yes". "Hmm.
You ever been an alcohololic?" I thought what's this
got to do with getting into America? "I enjoy an occasional
drink," I said. "But I wouldn't say I was an alcoholic.
I don't need to drink like that. Unless ypur'e offering
me one...?" "Hmmm," he said. "You ever
been to the United States before?" This line of questionning
went on and then he said: "well, it must be somebody
else". It seems ther was another Roger Moore who had
been admitted from England. he was an alcoholic, ran up
enormous debts, had been deported and generally was not
welcome in God's country. therefore I was on their blacklist
because I was a lush! It was this that had created so much
bother. In spite od Eddy Fisher's recording of "I'm
Walking Behind You" Dorothy did very well.
But it was easier for an
unknow like me to do everthing than for an established star
like Dorothy to start struggling. She did the No.1 theatre
- The Palace - and later in Hollywood she was such a success
at the Moulin Rouge that Elvis Presley was in every night
to see her. At this time I was either in Hollywood doing
Tv plays or back in England (about 1957-58) while Dorothy
was in the States, Australia and other parts of the world.
We didn't get all that much time together.
One thing that never had
an effect on me: I was never jealous of Dorothy's star star.
And I don't think the fact I was virtually unknown had any
effect on her. I am convinced that side of things had nothing
to do with our relationship nor with our subsequent breaking
up. Our marriage was in 1953 in Jersey City before a druken
Justice of the Peace. Dorothy had bought her wedding shoes
in the bargain basement at Gimball's and they hurt her feet.
She left them in the judge's office and I had to run back
and get them while the wedding pictures were being taken.
So I didn't get to be in the wedding picture. The best man
was Joe Latona, who is now a TV producer in Australia, and
who was then part of a comedy knockabout act called Warren,
Latona and Spakes.
Roger with Jean Muller
in "A Pin To See The Peepshow" produced in America
It was a funny old wedding.
This justice, very inebriated, said something like: "Do
you, Dot, take Rodge? And Joe, will you sign here?"
It was that kind of wedding. There was no honeymoon because
Dot had to be back in England next day for a TV spectacular.
I stayed on to see what was going to happen next. It was
a play on Broadway. It opened on September 17, 1953, and
ran until late that night. There is something tragic about
rehearsing for three weeks and closing after one night.
Even amateurs in the villagehall get a longer run. The basic
problem was the producer didn't have enough money to do
more than get the curtain up. We had to open "cold"
- which means we had no out-of-town tour - and we had none
of the block ticket agency bookings office because there
was no big star name in it like, say Mary Martin. This meanthand-to-mouth
bookings via the booking office in the foyer. If you got
eigh reviews in the New York papers then it was probable
to get the financial backing to keep the show open. We had
two bad reviews, two so-so and four raves. Not enough. Next
night I arrived at the teathre and saw some of the cast
hanging about. I said: "Come on, get made up."
They showed me the notice of closure and
we all went home. Dorothy was back in New York so I rang
her and said: "Let's go to the pictures." So we
went off to see "The Robe" with me still clutching
my sad little B.O.A.C. bag full of unused make-up. My first
big break on Broadway had fallen apart.
With immense confusion my
career progressed from New York television to Hollywood
television. Remember that first TV play where I was a French
diplomat? A director called Albert McCleery was doing a
series of one-off plays for television called "Hallmark
Theatre" with Sarah Churchill. he saw my performance
and he rang M.C.A., the agents, and asked if the actor who
played the French diplomat could do an English accent as
well. They said they thought he could - because he was English...So
I did three Hallmark plays for him.
