Gene Arceri - Rocking Horse: A Personal Biography of Betty Hutton

Rocking Horse:

A Personal Biography of Betty Hutton

By Gene Arceri

Rocking Horse: A Personal Biography of Betty Hutton

2009 Gene Arceri. All Rights Reserved.

All illustrations are copyright of their respective owners, and are also reproduced here in the spirit of publicity. Whilst we have made every effort to acknowledge specific credits whenever possible, we apologize for any omissions, and will undertake every effort to make any appropriate changes in future editions of this book if necessary.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopying or recording, except for the inclusion in a review, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published in the USA by:

BearManor Media

P O Box 71426

Albany, Georgia 31708

www.bearmanormedia.com

ISBN 1-59393-321-5

Printed in the United States of America.

Book and cover design by Darlene Swanson of Van-garde Imagery, Inc.

Acknowledgments

The heart and soul of this book belongs to one only,....Betty Hutton, who never before or after revealed herself so uncompromisingly. The force behind the mythical ROCKING HORSE that gave it its last ride are Bettys loyal loving fans: the indominatible George Moffatt,...artist Edmund Arredondo,...Richard Tay of Sepia Records, U.K.,...and Lloyd K.Jessen, Editor of the International Betty Hutton Appreciation Society, among others; Jim Kason, without whose talent and imagination, it would have been inconceivable. To Laurie Harper for a lot of things and Ginger Sims whose nimble fingers put the text on the computer. The spirit of the book,... patience, encouragement and persistence belongs to Diana Adams. And the creative power who brought Rocking Horse to the goal post is Ben Ohmart, without whose faith in this project, it would have rode off into oblivion.

Dedicated to My Guardian Angel

Thomas Frances Cornelius Sticklmyer - (1927-2003)

Contents

Prologue

S omewhere in between her fall from grace and Gods will in 1977 I met Betty Hutton. During the months that we spent together, Betty wanted me to know and understand her side of the story; behind the scandalous headlines of her life. Even the best and most intimate of the articles written had been unable, for lack of a close personal contact, to capture its subject. Not one of them could give an honest picture of the human being buried inside. She knew I had no desire to pass any moral judgment, as she spoke with me, about the flood of gossip. This is her story, her long hidden feelings; her heart and soul.

During the time we spent together, she telephoned me every day and we usually met later that evening. Thus began a relationship which would lead me, and those I involved, into a drama one could not foresee.

Throughout, there was a trustful exchange. I arranged a reunion with Ginger Rogers. Betty introduced me to the mystery man in her life; the man she planned to marry. When their engagement was broken, she turned to me, unbelievably, and asked me to marry her! Yet to come was a series of events, inconceivable at the start, as the story of her life unraveled. And because of this, Betty would be on the cover of the National Enquirer , read by millions, within the next several weeks.

Betty Hutton is not a broken relic of a dead era, gathering dust on a shelf. Her story charts the primrose path of so many young people of our time who have used drugs, alcohol and sex as a fast ticket to overnight fame and quicksand riches. However, best of all, it has a happy ending. A few months from her 66 th birthday, a new Betty Hutton emerged as a college professor and active volunteer speaker on drug abuse in the New England area.

Her life and career could well have been a Faustian pact to win success. Many in her profession have compromised their soul to win it. She is the rare exception reclaiming it before it was too late.

Introduction

O nce upon a time, Hollywood lived within a glass playpen, inhabited by beauty and talent that grew older but never matured. Fate cast stones of time and world changes destroyed the daydreams and brought nightmares to its offspring left naked to the fans who, wishing to shield themselves from reality, wanted their idols immortal forever young and beautiful.

The studio treasures were unlocked and sold and the nebulous stars screamed in the wilderness, reaching out for escape in drugs (Judy Garland), alcohol (William Holden), perversion (Rock Hudson), or, for some, the Final Take, suicide (Marilyn Monroe). For Betty Hutton, the symbolic rocking horse ran away.

At age twenty-one, in 1942, Betty Hutton won instant stardom. She was earning $250,000 a year, pre-inflation. As if to make all of her dreams come true, she fell in love. Paramount Studios lined up top pictures for her opposite their biggest stars. Songs were especially written for her. One of them, My Rocking Horse Ran Away, became so identified with her that whenever she appeared at an Army Camp, Navy base, Hollywood canteen or anywhere else, audiences demanded Rocking Horse, and the way Betty sang it was as if she lifted it off the ground and gave it wings.

Ten years later the beautiful, painted, jeweled, shiny champion that rode her to fame and fortune was now rotting wood, mutilated, its paint peeling, its glass eyes blinded, its springs broken. It couldnt transport her anymore. It had reached a shadowy dead-end.

A sad, lonely end to a life that had once become so like a fairy tale, only to have itself played out in despair. It was, she believed, the end of everything; career, ambition, the material world.

Hers was a soul in darkness and when baptized by fire, reached out for help at the last desolate moment. Then, her spirit soared into the lighta light that led the way to a kindly priest and the patron saint of the lost.

Chapter 1

I t was a cold September afternoon in 1977 in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, when the telephone rang in the local parish house. One of the house workers, a small middle-aged blonde, vigorously scrubbing the kitchen floor, stopped for a moment then resumed work when the phone was answered by the church pastor. It was a long distance call from a theatrical producer. He revealed his plan to the priest as if he were a showbiz agent. During the lengthy conversation, the producer detailed his offer to send his domestic a round-trip ticket, with all expenses paid, to discuss the project. As the conversation ended, the priest put the receiver down, thought for a while, and then walked into the kitchen.