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MY HUSBAND PUSHES ME AROUND - (AND I LOVE IT!)
by Jane Kessner
Motion Picture
September 1966
"If Bill ever came out and told me what to do at home, I'd just do it without even thinking," Elizabeth says. "I hope he never tells me to jump off the roof. I'd be halfway down before I remembered that I didn't have to do it!"
And then she laughs, richly, girlishly. We're sitting in her dressing room while they set the lights for the next scene of Bewitched. Elizabeth looks absolutely radiant as she continues, "If you're lucky enough to have a director as talented as Bill, you'd certainly better pay attention to him, and I do. But actually, there's some subtle transition that takes place once we leave the set. The day's work is over...I'm not Sam any more, I'm Liz, and Bill doesn't direct me at home."
"She'd clobber me if I did," Bill says, poking his head in at the door. Bill has stopped to add a few pieces to the enormous jigsaw puzzle they keep going ad infinitum. This one is a 1,500-piece replica of the Temple of Athena in Greece. Bill studies it intently for a moment, one hand on his wife's shoulder, then he fits two minute pieces neatly in place and walks out.
"Did you ever see anything like that?" Elizabeth asks. "I can sit and labor over this, and he'll come in and fit a tiny piece like that. I guess it's his director's eye. But seriously...about taking orders from your director...the best thing that can ever happen to a performer is a director who can elicit the maximum performance. I was crazy about Bill's directing from the time we worked together in Johnny Cool. I wasn't in love with him then, but he was the best director for me that I'd ever worked with. He might not be the best for everybody, but he is for me. It might seem that he pushes me around, but I love taking orders from him."
"Because I know what you are capable of. What you can do, who the real person is," Bill says, poking his head in the door again. "And don't forget, I allow suggestions. I may be very, very firm on how something is to be approached, but once we try it that way, I'm open to suggestions."
Elizabeth's eyes are dancing as she continues. "Yes, we have discussions. If I have an idea he'll listen, the same as he would to any other performer. That doesn't mean he'll do it."
"Make her tell you about her housekeeping," Bill interjects. "She's marvelous around the house. By the time we finish a day here and get home, I'm ready to collapse. But Elizabeth goes right into the house and starts leading that life--playing with the baby, running a thousand household details. It's really kind of spooky."
"I never really did much about a house before, because I never lived with anyone who was interested enough to spur my enthusiasm," Elizabeth tells me.
"You know how it is. It's hard to enjoy something when you have no one to share it with. I just like doing things around the house. Love it. I'm not that good, but I like to cook and so does Bill. His chateaubriand is only the best you ever ate. I was brought up in a family where women ran their houses well, and isn't it amazing...when my cousin and I were kids all we were interested in was riding horses and playing games, and here we are, both with children now, and running houses just like mother and Aunt M.B.
"My cousin, incidentially, was closer to me than if we'd been sisters. "P," I called her. Her name is Amanda. But Panda was her nickname, so she was "P" and I was "E." Except to my dad. He called me Betta, unless he was angry with me. Then it was "Elizabeth."
"P and I sometimes dreamed about the kind of men we'd marry, but in my wildest dreams I never thought of someone like Bill. He's such a strong man. He's solid, considerate, honest and warm. In any kind of crisis, he's calm and capable. It gives a woman a great sense of security and comfort. It gives children a sense of security and comfort, too. Bill's older children, Brian, 13, and Liane, 11, adore him. We have a ball with his children, and I'm so glad--I'd be unhappy if it were any other way."
The weekends are devoted to the family. The kids usually come on Friday evening: there's an early dinner, and then Saturday, it's off to see the Dodgers. Elizabeth always did love baseball.
"We all just have a marvelous time," Elizabeth says. "I met the children before we were married. They're really quite dear and I'm so fond of them both. I hope they consider me a good friend."
She looks out from her dressing room, watching Bill...reflecting..."Even when Bill's standing still he seems to be moving. Like a very good sports car. He has incredible vitality, he's very masculine.
"We're both energetic and our life means so much to us. I mean our life. Our work means a lot, too, but it's second. And we love to be together.
One of the tragedies so many successful actresses have had to face is not being able to find a strong man. And these women are strong--they have to be to achieve a career. Elizabeth is one of the lucky ones.
Once upon a time she had dreams that didn't come true. But gradually her superstitions are fading, because with Bill everything is so easy. "I don't exactly know how to explain it, but Bill makes everything easy. It's not a matter of one or the other of us making decisions. Whatever comes up, we both seem to have almost the same reaction. Just being with Bill is fun because he has such enthusiasm. Sometimes I get to feeling a little guilty because he's constantly thinking of me first."
What is terribly important to the Ashers is--never to take each other for granted, to be able to share everything. "I think you have to be very protective of the time you have together because there's never enough of it. Aside from being in love with Bill, he's the best friend I've ever had," says Elizabeth. "It's as if I've known him forever."
She waves her hand, and I have to ask her about the beautiful diamond-and-emerald ring she wears on her left hand, above her wedding ring. It's a magnificent sunburst of baguette diamonds around a square-cut emerald. Bill gave it to her for both Christmas and Willie's birth in 1964. When Elizabeth got it she ws delighted, of course, started to put it on her right hand--and Bill promptly stopped her. "No, no," he said, and put it on her left hand, with the wedding ring, because somehow it means their own very special duet.
"This is the best possible life--to be in love, to have children, to have a marvelous existence and then, on top of that, to be able to do something you really want to do with someone you really want to do it with. And that includes everything from Bewitched to babies," says Elizabeth delightedly.
When it comes to having the babies and running a house--Elizabeth is top banana. When it comes to directing the show--
"All right," Bill cries..."Samantha!"