The Silver Screen Oasis

Vecchiolarry wrote:Hi Lomm,

I knew Mercedes McCambridge through her son, who was a (semi) friend of mine. He had the same history tutor as me; and Lawrence was his second name, the same as my first. He was a strange, unruly kid, and "Mercy" thought that I would be a good influence on him.
She sometimes 'baby-sat' me with him too and we used to play cowboys & Indians together. I can safely say that I'm the only person who's ever tied her up to the kitchen chair - - she played the maiden in distress and we rescued her!!! She was lots of fun and had a wicked sense of humour.

Whenever we were misbehaving or needed to settle down, she would threaten to sing, if we didn't behave... And, she'd say, "You don't ever want to hear that, Now be good!!!!"

She took me as her date to the Oscars in 1954 - where she awarded Frank Sinatra his Oscar. Since I had no seat down front, I was taken in hand by Dale Robertson, sitting in the balconey. Phil Carey sat on the other side of me.

Mercy always cleaned her stars on the boulevard (she has 2) and I promised to clean them when she was gone.

She had had a stroke in her later years. If you watch the 70th Oscars, when lots of them are introduced; you will wonder what the delay and commotion behind the curtain was. It was Mercy, who became dishevelled and afraid and in shock; and it was Cher who calmed her down and soothed her nerves. I never was much of a Cher fan, but now I am - kind lady.

Larry