TCMFF 2013--Jane Withers and Anne Jeffreys at the Vanity Fair Party

The Vanity Fair party, 2013. The big hit of the evening? When Lulu sang "To Sir, With Love." In April of 2011, I was fortunate enough to meet the late Ann Rutherford, Anne Jeffreys, and Jane Withers at the Vanity Fair party after the Gala screening of An American in Paris. Jane Withers and I chatted for quite awhile about our families and our rings, and how much fun we were having.

 This year, I found myself having an extended visit with the gal who started out taunting Shirley Temple in Bright Eyes, and had a featured role in the George Stevens epic Giant. Jane Withers' faith in God and humanity has seen her survive Hollywood, a severe bout with rheumatoid arthritis which led to her featured role as Vashti Snythe in the screen version of the popular Edna Ferber novel, and allowed her good health to attend the Vanity Fair party after the Gala screening of Funny Girl on Thursday, April 25. Withers, supportive of the effort of Turner Classic Movies to continue to broadcast films and original programming without commercial interruption, exclaimed that "I am so thrilled that these people at TCM continue to air classic films, and I want you to tell everybody how grateful I am to them for what they have done and accomplished. They are all so wonderful, and they have been so good to me."

 Miss Withers was also elated about the reissue of several of her films from the 1930s and 1940s on DVD. Her starring role opposite Shirley Temple in Bright Eyes(1934) was secured after Director David Butler had auditioned thirty young girls, but when he heard Jane Withers' imitation of a machine gun, he chose Withers to play nasty Joy Smythe. Jane's last role was as the gargoyle in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and she had to take over the part following actress Mary Wickes' death in 1996, imitating her voice exactly. She reprised the role in 2002 for the sequel. Jane Withers and Anne Jeffreys at the TCMFF 2013 Vanity Fair party, bidding each other adieu as Anne had to leave a little earlier than Jane. (PHOTO ADDED LATER)

 Jeffrey's last role was as Susanna in 2012's Sins Expiation, and she and Jane have known each other for quite a while. Jeffreys, Amanda Croft on Falconcrest , Marion Kerby in the Topper series, Irene Buchannon on Baywatch, and the Duchess of York in 2008's Richard III, has also had a busy and varied career, and has always enjoyed attending the TCMFF Vanity Fair parties. SueSueApplegate PART II.... During her introduction to Giant in The TCL Chinese Theatre with host Ben Mankiewicz, Jane Withers talked a great deal about James Dean and her activities on the set of Giant in Marfa, Texas. Evidently she had a house, and would have parties almost every night with food, cards, Monopoly, and bridge, and "almost everybody" from the crew would come and enjoy the evening. She said that Rock Hudson came most of the time, but Elizabeth Taylor only came once because she liked to go to a country club about sixty miles away. The only night she did drop by, she said how much fun it was, and why didn't she come by more often.


But Withers did seen to form a bond with James Dean. One night after almost everyone else had left, she went into her bedroom, and he was lying down with his hat over his head. "Is that you, Jimmy?" Withers asked. She wanted to know why he hadn't come through the front door, and he said he didn't want to see all those other people, that he came just to see her. Well, Withers claimed she always carried a tool kit with her, and took her hammer, and nailed the window shut while Dean was watching so that the next time he came, he had to come through the front door.

 When Withers left California for Marfa, Texas, she knew that she might be gone for over a year, so she brought lots of books to read, as well as her tool kit, and Dean would come over and read books from her makeshift "lending library," and they would read aloud to each other, many times it would be plays. One night she was reading The Bible and quoted Matthew 21:22 to him, and told him that she tried to live by that verse: And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. She repeated this verse to me during our conversation, and said that it was one of her favorites. Long before Withers ever signed a contract for Giant, she suffered a debilitating case of rheumatoid arthritis, and had to be hospitalized for a lengthy stay. While she was cared for at the hospital, she became friends with a young orderly, and he invited her to his graduation. Once Withers was well enough, she was able to attend his graduation ceremony, and after the ceremony, a man tapped her on the back, and as she turned around, director George Stevens introduced himself, and said that he had wanted to talk to her about a part in his next movie, Giant. Well, the next week, Stevens called, but Jane was busy fixing lunches for her children to take to school, and said, something like, "right, you are George Stevens. Well, I have to finish fixing these lunches. I can't talk right now." Later the next day, Stevens secretary called and told her that Stevens wanted to take her to lunch to discuss with her a part he had in mind for her. It turned out to be Vashti Snythe, the quintessential no-holds-barred Texas gal from Giant. And she again stated how she knew God had a hand in her career and her life. Part of Jane Withers' interview with Ben Mankiewicz can be viewed here under the heading 4/27: http://filmfestival.tcm.com/about/video-gallery.php