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- My first name is Gloria,
and I have just finished a picture at Paramount
called ''Sunset Boulevard.''
SUNSET BOULEVARD
- ''Sunset Boulevard'' is one of
the greatest movies ever made.
- You're Norma Desmond?
SUNSET BOULEVARD
Used to be in silent pictures, used to be big?
- I am big.
It's the pictures that got small.
- It's a wonderful Hollywood story,
that thing about dealing with growing older
A HOLLYWOOD STORY
and being discarded, when you've once been idolized
by millions of people, and then those millions
don't show up anymore.
- All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close up.
- I don't think anyone could have played that part
but Gloria Swanson.
And ''Sunset Boulevard'' was her crowning moment.
- I wonder if I might ask you a personal question?
- Oh, you too?
You wanna know my age?
- Gloria Swanson was only 50, but that was old then.
And after ''Sunset Boulevard,''
no one was asking me to make another picture.
- She never regained a foothold after ''Sunset Boulevard,''
but she was wise enough to know
that ''Sunset Boulevard'' was her ticket.
- I will show them, I will be up there again, so help me!
- So if she could carry that out again
and in a different way, that would be fabulous.
She was ready to have that attention again.
- Now I am sure that most of you remember the story
of the film ''Sunset Boulevard.''
It has to do with Norma Desmond,
who was an aging film star, whose career has vanished,
and she's desperate to make a comeback.
The fabulous Gloria Swanson herself.
She, for some reason, developed this mad idea
to adapt her film, ''Sunset Boulevard,'' as a musical.
And she approached my writing partner and I to do this.
We were struggling songwriters,
and this was a huge break for us both.
In the movie, Norma has fallen in love
with this young screenwriter, who she hires
to write her comeback picture.
Norma, of course, has fallen in love with the young man.
Working together with Gloria Swanson,
something similar was happening.
She was becoming very captivated by my working partner,
who was also a handsome young writer.
So you had the real life story of a mature woman,
fascinated by a younger man happening both
in the ''Sunset Boulevard'' storyline,
and in the true life storyline that we were living.
- We'd all been so close
and it was such a big part of our lives.
It's a story in itself about three people's lives
and the similarity with the original film.
The whole background was really quite weird.
BOULEVARD A HOLLYWOOD STORY
- My name's Steve Wilson, I'm the curator
of the film collection at the Harry Ransom Center
at the University of Texas.
I help students, and scholars, and researchers like you
find the material that they need in our collections.
DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER
We have extensive collections in literature, art,
photography, performing arts, and film.
I take care of the film collection.
Probably the foundation of our collection
is the David O. Selznick archive.
And we also have a lot of actors.
We have Robert De Niro,
and we also have the collection of actress Gloria Swanson.
She was an early film star.
She was very well known throughout the world,
WHY CHANGE YOUR WIFE
mostly through the films of Cecil B. DeMille.
Gloria Swanson was one of the early women filmmakers
to start her own production company.
She was also into inventions,
and she sponsored immigrants from Eastern Europe
to come to the United States to invent things.
She was also into yoga.
She learned yoga from the guy who brought yoga
to the United States.
I think she was a really interesting person.
We acquired Gloria Swanson's archive
directly from her in 1980.
It's a large archive,
and she amassed quite a good collection
that covers her entire career, which is really remarkable.
- So today probably if people know her, they know her
from her most famous movie, ''Sunset Boulevard.''
- That's the role that she's best known for now.
SUNSET BOULEVARD
- I'm really curious to know if she saved any materials
relating to the musical version
of ''Sunset Boulevard'' that she was planning.
- There are materials related to ''Boulevard'' in the archive.
These materials include
correspondence with the collaborators for the musical.
There is sheet music, there are script materials.
VOICE OF GLORIA SWANSON I was rehearsing a song
from a new musical review that Dick Hughes wrote
and should you care to hear a couple amusing numbers
from the show, well, just turn over.
- I understand there are audio recordings,
reel-to-reel tapes in the collection?
- There are just a treasure trove
of reel-to-reel recordings of songs that she is singing.
What was the purpose of these recordings?
- These recordings were made to lure investors
and to impress the executives at Paramount,
but these recordings were never intended
to be seen by the public.
- I've been a record collector all my life,
PUBLICIST AND PRODUCER
so I was kind of aware of the existence of the tapes.
The entire show was written by two young writers,
Dickson Hughes, and Richard Stapley.
- We are honored to present this great personality
of both the silent screen and the movies of today
in an excerpt from her forthcoming production,
a musical version of ''Sunset Boulevard,''
written by Dick Hughes and Richard Stapley.
- Gloria actually performed the most important song
from their score on ''The Steve Allen Show'' in '57.
GLORIA SWANSON BIOGRAPHER
- Max, Max?
Well, what are you waiting for?
- Norma Desmond, this aging, sad,
GRANDDAUGHTER OF FLORIA SWANSON lonely film star.
- What you're trying to say
is you don't want me to love you.
- She traps this young screenwriter
in her web, and won't let him go.
''Sunset Boulevard'' showed how complicated love becomes.
And falling in love with this younger man, I mean, it hurt.
- The audience left 20 years ago, now face it.
- That's a lie, they still want me!
- We were very close,
and I think really had a great appreciation of one another.
This is Gloria Swanson speaking.
It so happens that that is my real name.
- So for me, the joy of being able to talk about her
is not only keeping her alive,
but maybe educating people
about some of the myths or truths of her life.
- I am not Norma Desmond, I'm Gloria Swanson.
- This was a role for her, not her life.
She wasn't, as Norma Desmond, an aging film star,
she was way beyond that.
VOICE OF GLORIA SWANSON A lot of people ask me if ''Sunset Boulevard''
was my own life, which is rather odd.
They had an idea that it was perhaps some person
or a combination of personalities out there,
but I don't actually know of anyone
who lived like Norma Desmond.
- Hey Steve, it's Jeffrey.
- Hi!
- Good morning.
- Can you see my ''Sunset Boulevard'' poster on the wall back there?
YOUTUBE'S TIRED OLD QUEEN AT THE MOVIES
I watched it twice last night.
It's just the most brilliant screenplay.
And it breaks so many taboos.
Not only throwing the lid off old Hollywood and showing it
for the gargoyle place that it was,
but also the stigma about an older woman
and a younger man, that was unheard of.
- Turn around darling, let me dry you.
- And you know how this is gonna end.
- Were you aware that Gloria Swanson
attempted to make a musical version of ''Sunset Boulevard?''
- No, I wasn't aware of that.
This is really interesting to me because these days,
every movie is made into a musical.
''Legally Blonde'' is now a singing,
dancing, mega hit musical!
- But, you know, back then in the '50s,
that was very unusual.
Well, how far along did they get with this
and how faithful were they to the screenplay,
to the dialogue?
Did they get orchestrations of this musical?
Did they do backer's auditions?
Have you talked with anybody who did
an original read-through or sing-through of this?
Who were her collaborators on this?
- Two guys named Dickson Hughes and Richard Stapley.
Have you ever heard of them?
- No.
- Here for Steve.
Thank you.
Hello, hello. - Hey, how are you?
- Good to see you.
Good to see you. - Thanks for having me.
- I'm glad you could come over.
So what is the Fred Bock Music Company actually?
Well, it's a music publishing company.
We do a lot of choir music for churches and schools,
that's the bulk of what we do.
My dad started the company 50 years ago,
so it's pretty old.
- Well I'm here for a reason.
- Yes, I'm sure.
- You know, and the reason is that
you were close with Richard Stapley.
- Oh, Richard Stapley, yes, I know Richard Stapley.
Knew Richard Stapley, yes.
And how did Richard Stapley come into your life?
- Fred Bock Publishing Group.
One day the phone rings in the office,
and my assistant says there's a English gentleman
on the phone named Richard Stapley,
who says that you are his publisher.
I pick up the phone and introduced myself,
and he introduced himself, and sure enough,
we're his publisher.
He had some questions about the songs that he had written
that were in our catalog, and so I made an arrangement,
PRESIDENT, FRED BOCK MUSIC COMPANY let's have coffee.
When I first met Richard,
he struck me as being a little disheveled,
in an English professorial sort of way.
And what I thought would be a 30 minute get to know ya
turned into a three hour conversation.
Richard could tell a story, there's no question about that.
And Richard had great stories to tell.
And the most fantastical story of all, of course,
is the story of his attempt to make
the first musical version of ''Sunset Boulevard.''
I did have a video made.
I had him sit down and tell his story,
and I really didn't have any plan
as to what I was gonna do with it,
I just thought somebody needs to do this.
And we sat on it for years and years and years,
and then all of a sudden you called me.
You had a gut feeling
that this story needed to be recorded.
- Absolutely.
I just knew that this was something
that was gonna bubble back up.
And if I didn't do it,
if I didn't collect this stuff,
if I didn't get Richard on camera,
the story would go away.
To me, that was wrong.
All right, so here we are, the attic.
This is it.
Somewhere in there is a Richard Stapley box.
Was there anything he didn't wanna talk
about in that interview?
- There were some things he was reluctant to talk about.
He never said, ''I won't talk about it.''
I just knew in my gut, if I didn't get Richard on camera,
it would all go away.
When we got together in Pasadena with Richard
and asked him all sorts of questions about his life,
about his career, and Richard told the whole story.
Some of it came easily, some of it did not come easily,
but he told the story.
NOVEMBER 6, 2006 - You want me to look at Tom rather than-
- Look at Jim. - Look at me.
I just, yeah, carrying a conversation.
- Richard grew up in England,
prior to and during World War II.
MGM signed him with the goal of making him
the English Clark Gable.
He's a very good looking man, he carries himself well,
he's British, and he can act.
He moves to Hollywood, and his first film
is ''The Three Musketeers.''
- She's laying on the floor.
She's all doubled up.
- Well, it was the extraordinary coming to Hollywood.
Hollywood sent all these marvelous films that were magic
and helped us get through the bad side of life
and to come and be on the same stage
with these people was really unreal.
- I love you so.
LITTLE WOMEN
And even if you don't love me now,
maybe you could learn to.
- They put him in and a number of films
opposite a number of big names
to introduce him to the American market.
- My life was meaningless until I met you.
THE STRANGE DOOR
- Well it couldn't have been going better.
I was feeling confident and completely at ease and happy,
and I was really on top of the world.
- No mortal man could endure such a paragon of virtue.
- He did work a lot, but he was never challenged
FRIEND OF RICHARD STAPLEY
as an actor in those movies at all.
- This information, in the hands of the Russians,
CHARGE OF THE LANCERS
could turn the tide of war against us.
- Ultimately, it didn't work.
He didn't become the star that everybody thought
FRIEND OF ROCHARD STAPLEY that he was going to be.
The acting didn't really work out for him at MGM,
and he was, at one point, cut loose.
- Richard was a looker.
Richard was blessed
FRIEND OF RICHARD STAPLEY
with a very photogenic face.
Very handsome, very macho, very gay.
He, like everybody else, kind of hid it.
It was so unbelievably difficult
to have been gay in the '50s.
- You hate us so.
I should think you'd be glad to get rid of us.
- No one knew, 'cause no one wanted to know.
- Richard's whole career had been one
of being the leading man.
As far as the public was concerned, he was a straight guy.
But, obviously there was more to that story.
You'd done film, you'd done stage.
Where were you at that point, when you met Dickson Hughes?
- How did I meet Dickson Hughes?
Yeah.
- He was, oh, I can't answer this, I'm sorry.
I just can't answer.
Hello?
UNEARTHED INTERWIV WITH DICKSON HUGHES Oh yes, I'm calling for Mr. Dickson Hughes.
Well it is him.
- Yes, Mr. Hughes, I'm writing a book
about the making of ''Sunset Boulevard''
from film to your musical version.
Oh my God!
Are you shocked?
What in the, what inspired you to do that?
- Dickson Hughes was a piano player
who sang and wrote songs.
And he supported himself by working bars or lounges.
- I just love Dickson Hughes.
He just naturally had a gift.
Wonderful performer, and composer, and pianist.
FRIEND OF DICKSON HUGHES He just makes it seem so easy.
Everything he does, he's so relaxed.
Richard Stapley, S-T-A-P-L-E-Y?
Right, Stapley rather than Staply.
Was my collaborator at the time,
and I was really the principle creator.
He was the idea person, and also he had, occasionally,
some good critical assessments to make.
I'm intrigued as to why Mr. Stapley vanished.
Can you tell me a bit about that?
- Richard had been married for a couple of years
and the relationship was not going well at all.
He and his wife decided
to see if they could patch up their marriage.
And so they drove up the California coast
and stopped in Monterrey.
And in the bar was a gentleman playing piano
and singing songs.
Dickson Hughes, who was the piano player at the hotel.
Richard saw him across the room.
And the moment that he saw Dickson, it was electric.
He knew his marriage was over,
and that guy at the piano was who he needed to be with.
At the time, you couldn't say, ''We're a couple,''
and so they told everybody that they were writing partners.
And that worked out conveniently
because Dickson was a very good composer,
and Richard was a very good lyricist.
And so they started writing songs.
♪ I belong to the restless breed ♪
- The musical person
who had the real musical talent, was Dickson.
And I could communicate very, very closely to him,
even though I couldn't write music.
There was something between the two of us
that did make things work.
I was always intensely interested in musicals.
We came up with an idea for a show called ''About Time.''
It was based on Time Magazine.
- The big question was who's gonna play the lead
in ''About Time,'' which was the editor,
and that was to be a woman?
And somebody said,
you really should go talk to Gloria Swanson about this.
- Tonight, we go after the profile of a legend,
THE MIKE WALLACE INTERVIEW
the story of one of Hollywood's most spectacular links
with its glamorous heyday, the story is Gloria Swanson.
This is what she looked like in the fabulous '20s,
when she made a reported million dollars a year
as a super-seductive sex symbol
in films like ''Male and Female,'' and ''Zaza.''
She was then called the most glamorous woman in the world.
Women copied her hairstyle
and her seductive, come hither look,
and she's sold more tickets than Valentino.
Today, Ms. Swanson is a legend within her own lifetime.
An opinionated woman with an unpredictable future
and a sensational past.
- What I think we need to understand
about when Gloria Swanson came to fame,
FILM HISTORIAN 95% of all Americans lived within 15 miles
of where they'd been born.
They knew nothing about the rest of the world.
When the movie theater came to town,
they could walk around the corner
and there was the world on this screen.
And then all of a sudden, walks out this gorgeous creature
with furs, and jewels,
and clearly here's a woman
who has been around the block more than once.
STAGE STRUCK
And I like to think of the young woman sitting
in that audience going,
''I've finally found my kindred soul.''
And Gloria Swanson, more than anyone else,
represented that sense of possibility.
Imagine what that was like.
VOICE OF GLORIA SWANSON - And I've always believed
that the screen should be an auditorium of escape,
a dream world.
This is what I think women want.
And it was she who made the pictures
so well-known not only in America, but throughout the world.
And most of these pictures allowed people to escape
through romance and love.
And I have a hunch that romance and love are not dead.
- Gloria Swanson was certainly one of the greatest stars
FILM HISTORIAN of the silent film era.
There was something about her that was just made for films.
And she's always interesting-looking and provocative.
From the silent days to sound
in the late '20s, the talkies arrived,
did you believe that sound films were gonna take over?
Yes, I did, very much so.
Well, your first talking picture
was '' The Trespasser,'' right?
- That's correct, yes.
It's Marion!
THE TRESPASSER
Jack, it's Marion.
FILM HISTORIAN - Her silent films resonated a stardom
that could not be upheld in talkies.
GLORIA SWANSON IN INDISCREET
- Tomorrow, when I return to Budapest,
TONIGHT OR NEVER
I shall carry with me the memory of this night
and of you.
Her sound movies were not successful.
- Gloria was in that in-between stage.
She was 30-something,
but no vehicle could be found
that could use her successfully.
- I wish I had known it was going to end this way.
INDISCREET
- And at that point, no film offers were forthcoming.
And Gloria was pretty much out of work.
But Gloria still lived like a star.
She was Gloria Swanson, after all.
So she had find some way to maintain that lifestyle.
- What she did was move to New York in 1940
and sort of reinvented herself.
You know, Gloria,
seeing you in Macy's Department store the other day
with all those people flocking around you
asking for your autograph,
made me certain they would flock to see your next picture
or tune in when you broadcast.
As far as I'm concerned, you're still box office.
- Gloria Swanson was famous for being herself at that point.
Gloria Swanson became the character.
And she always had the aura of a big star,
even though she wasn't making a lot of movies.
- And she adored that.
She adored being adored.
She would do whatever she needed to do.
- The Crown Jewel is so dainty and feminine,
yet it shaves so close and fast.
THE BEAUTIFUL WORLD OF ESSENCE OF NATURE
She's got her own cosmetic line.
How do you manage
to keep such a beautiful complexion?
- She has her own clothes line.
- Once Hollywood's top of the star,
Gloria is now a top dress designer.
- She's designing these clothes,
clothes for the average woman
who really longs for couture.
She never hesitated to take the next opportunity.
Television is coming in.
- Gloria Swanson!
- She was the cover girl on the very first TV Guide.
THE GLORIA SWANSON HOUR
She agreed to do this talk show in New York.
That's what she was doing
when Billy Wilder found her for ''Sunset Boulevard.''
- You've made a rope of words and strangled this business,
SUNSET BOULEVARD
but there's a microphone right there to catch the last gurgles,
and Technicolor to photograph the red swollen tongue.
- Initially, Gloria's part was not as big,
but they became more enamored with her and her ability
and what she brought to the part.
Norma Desmond was created in process.
- Everything that's in ''Sunset Boulevard''
is mirrored in her life.
- And remember darling,
I don't work before 10 in the morning
and never after 4:30 in the afternoon.
- She put it all out there to create Norma Desmond.
She was willing to show herself
in a way that anybody with a different kind of pride
never would have allowed themselves to be characterized.
Gloria never would have thought
about how it was gonna reflect on her in real life.
- Now, I didn't know you were planning a comeback.
- I hate that word, it's a return!
A retur to the millions of people
who've never forgiven me for deserting the screen.
Gloria Swanson, one of the great personalities
of this generation, in a role
that comes to an actress once in a lifetime.
- When she finally hit the jackpot with ''Sunset Boulevard,''
it rejuvenated her career.
- Ms. Gloria Swanson!
- She got a kind of fresh start.
She really allowed herself
to become a movie star a second time.
The most famous movie star of them all,
the answer is glorious Gloria.
Hollywood is at her feet.
- She was nominated for best actress for ''Sunset Boulevard,''
and it was absolutely expected that she was gonna win.
- The nominations for the best actress are,
THE 23RD ACADEMY AWARDS MARCH 29,1951
Ms. Anne Baxter in ''All About Eve'' 20th Century Fox.
Ms. Betty Davis, ''All About Eve'' 20th Century Fox.
Ms. Judy Holliday in ''Born Yesterday,'' Columbia.
Eleanor Parker in ''Caged,'' Warner brothers.
And Ms. Gloria Swanson in ''Sunset Boulevard,'' Paramount.
The winner is Judy Holliday.
- Gloria really thought this was finally her year.
She really wanted the approval
and the acknowledgement that she was still there.
- There weren't a lot of opportunities for her in film,
because all that hit
right at the time when she was of an age,
when it would be very difficult to cast her anyway.
That was wonderful,
and it was a magic, wonderful picture.
I wept when it was over.
I sort of knew, I guess, there'd be nothing to follow it,
perhaps there never will be.
- I don't think Gloria Swanson could ever get away
from Norma Desmond the rest of her life.
She was so identified with Norma Desmond.
In the people's minds she was Norma Desmond,
to the point that she wasn't being offered other things.
Well, are you through with Hollywood?
Following Sunset-
- Now, wait a minute, am I through with Hollywood
or are they through with me?
We told her that we had this property.
A musical review called ''About Time''
that we'd like to have her listen to.
She sent us a telegram with her phone number.
Turns out that she was, at that time, house guesting in LA.
- She was staying at a friend's house on Mulholland Drive,
a very glamorous Japanese mansion.
It was 10 minutes, I suppose, before she made her entrance,
and when she did, her entrance was dramatic.
It was with a steaming cup of liquid.
We had taken the content of the review to play it for her.
Visualize the stage setting
representing open pages of a magazine.
For the moment, only one side is lighted,
and there, we see a beautiful model
posing in a brassiere ad.
She thought that sounded like a role
that she would have fun with,
but she had just recently
had a very bad experience in New York.
She had done a play called ''Nina,''
which was just blasted by the critics,
and they didn't much like her.
And she was still smarting from the wounds
of some unkind, critical response.
She said she just would never, ever
do anything on Broadway again.
- So I said, well, this is the end of that.
And then she said, ''Unless somebody could come up
''with an idea of making 'Sunset Boulevard' into a musical.''
Well, the minute she said that, of course,
we got very excited and said, oh my god, what a thought.
We said, let us think about this and get back to you.
BOULEVARD! A HOLLYWOOD STORY
Next morning, we got up, Stapley and I,
just wildly excited about this incredible project
that we might get involved with.
Felt that show needed a moment
at the very beginning to show who this woman really is,
and he had a great idea,
and that was to do this number
based on her next to last line in the film.
- There's nothing else, just us.
And the cameras.
And those wonderful people out there in the dark.
So I sat down at the piano,
and I started just noodling.
Those wonderful people out there in the dark.
It's an absolute full disclosure
of who and what this woman really is
underneath her neurosis and her madness.
Drive back up to the house the next day,
and we said, what do you think of this?
- I was on this side, and Gloria was that side,
and here is Dickson playing on his piano, our music.
GLORIA SWANSON SING ''WONDERFUL PEOPLE'' ♪ However they flatter ♪
♪ I'll still be out where ♪
♪ The people who matter ♪
♪ The people who care ♪
♪ Are the ones who silently give me ♪
♪ That magical spark ♪
♪ Those wonderful people ♪
♪ Out there in the dark ♪
In that song,
there was something extraordinary captured.
FROM BOULEVARD! DEMO TAPES
I just want to tell you all how happy I am to be back in the studio,
making a picture again.
You don't know how much I've missed you all.
- It was really very, very moving
because that part was everything
that she'd ever dreamed about.
If only I could do this every night.
That was the last thing when she got off the set.
She was always thinking of those people
out in the dark that never let me down.
She called Paramount.
She called her pal there was a man named DA Duran.
He was an old chum from her Paramount days
who was in a responsible position there at the studio.
She called him up, she says, ''DA, this is Gloria.
''Now listen, I want you to hear something,''
and she put the phone out to me,
and I'm there sitting at the piano
so I started to do the song.
And I could hear his voice
going like, ''Gloria, what is this?''
So after I finished the first section of the song,
she said, ''Isn't that brilliant?''
And he said, ''Well, it's very interesting, what is it?''
So then she said, well,
she met these two brilliant young men,
and we had the marvelous thought
of doing a Broadway musical based on ''Sunset Boulevard,''
and what did she need to do to get the rights?
- She decided that she and I should go down to Paramount
and meet DA Duran.
She said, ''Don't worry, you know,
''I've known DA Duran forever
''and he always gives me everything I want.''
We'd gone down to Paramount, and I was all dressed up,
and she was really dressed up
with a veil and everything else.
We got down to the studio, they opened the gates.
And we drove in in the car,
and then suddenly Gloria became really Gloria Swanson.
- And teach your friend some manners.
Tell him without me, he wouldn't have any job,
because without me, there wouldn't be any Paramount Studio.
- You're right, Ms. Desmond.
- And it was so marvelous to see this professional
take over the private in that one moment.
They certainly were most enthusiastic,
and there was an option granted for one year.
It was always her personal assurance from DA Duran.
Gloria, don't worry, it's all okay, it'll be fine.
Just a very personal reassurance.
Probably as much as anything
just not wanting to make her unhappy.
- Well, it wasn't given in per se,
I mean it was given very, very casually.
Nothing really appeared to be hard and fast signed.
It was always okay to go ahead,
as long as we approve the numbers.
We were commissioned by her
to do this adaptation.
She did have at the time a very rich boyfriend
who was madly devoted to her
and would help her in any way he could
to foot some of the bills.
- And for the next three months, they were in Palm Springs
writing ''Sunset Boulevard.''
- Well, at our age we were very impressed
to be staying in Palm Springs
in this lyrical kind of place,
which was wonderful to create in.
And she was like a child she was so happy
because she felt everything was going right.
GLORIA SWANSON'S LETTER TO FANS FEBRUARY.1955
If you haven't heard the good news, let me tell you that ''Sunset Boulevard''
is now in the throes of being written
into a musical for the stage.
I can barely contain myself.
Another wish has been granted me,
and I am truly blessed.
MAPS! MAPS! MAPS! ♪ We assure every tour ♪
♪ Shows all studios both well known and obscure ♪
UNTITLED LOVE STORY ♪ Where am I ♪
♪ In this some type of love story ♪
♪ Where's the part ♪
♪ For me ♪
STAY CLOSE ♪ Stay close ♪
♪ As a swift wave is close to the sea ♪
- Gloria did not go to Rodgers and Hammerstein
and commission this musical.
Instead, she took two unknown songwriters just starting out,
and thought she would get
a Broadway quality score out of it.
DOORS ARE CLOSED ♪ The doors are closed ♪
♪ Where's the key ♪
I first saw ''Sunset Boulevard''
when it first was released in 1950.
It was a wonderful movie experience,
but it never occurred to me that it should have songs added to it.
- There was a time in this business
when they had the eyes of the whole wide world,
but that wasn't good enough for them, oh no.
They had to have the ears of the world, too.
So they opened their big mouths,
and out came talk, talk, talk!
They once had the eyes of the world, but no,
TALK! TALK! TALK! that just wouldn't do.
But the eyes of the world are not enough
if you don't have the world's ears, too.
They all agree that talk's a thing
they could not do without,
so they opened up their big mouths
and look what came out.
♪ But you've got to have talk, talk, talk ♪
♪ Chatter, chatter, chatter ♪
♪ Talk, talk, talk ♪
♪ Frill, and sass, and patter ♪
♪ Loud, distracting, strident and rough ♪
♪ But pantomime acting isn't enough ♪
- No? - No!
♪ Talk, talk, talk ♪
''Sunset Boulevard'' doesn't immediately lent itself
to the idea of the Broadway stage
because the film itself is very dark.
The story remained the same,
but restructuring the storyline
to make it a theatrical piece rather than a film
was a tremendous amount of reworking the material.
- We didn't need dialogue, we had faces.
So the Broadway of the 1950s, you're saying,
was not as suitable, necessarily,
to this kind of dark material?
''I COULD HAVE DANCE ALL NIGHT'' FROM MY FAIR LADY
♪ I could've danced all night ♪
- The depths and madness of ''Sunset Boulevard,''
musically that really wasn't
what show tunes did at that point.
There might've been power, and passion, and yearning.
There were a lot of emotions
ETHEL MERMAN IN GYPSY
that '50s Broadway could encompass,
but Billy Wilder himself had said,
DIRECTOR, SUNSET BOULEVARD
''Oh no, it shouldn't be a musical. It should be an opera.''
A mad scene's perfectly appropriate in that.
THE TRESPASSER ♪ Lo, your magic spell is everywhere ♪
♪ Lo, I knew you well and found you fair ♪
Ms. Swanson, how important to you is music?
Oh, I can't live without it.
LOVE YOUR SPELL IS EVERYWHERE
I don't know one note from another.
I don't even know which key I sing in.
I wanted to be an opera singer,
but somehow I got waylaid
and I got on the merry-go-round of the picture business,
and couldn't get off.
♪ Way ♪
- Everything was going beautifully
when we went to Palm Springs.
It was fun, it was hilarious, it was a joy.
She was very, very friendly,
and basically she had this sweet quality.
She laughed easily, if you told something amusing.
She was an extraordinary person.
She was interested in so many things in life.
I remembered really the sweetness of Gloria,
and the understanding of humanity.
But as soon as she knew there was a chance
of doing Norma Desmond every night,
she became more and more Norma Desmond.
And less and less Gloria Swanson.
One day I can remember that she was on her knees,
and she had all the photographs of her past
spread on the floor.
When friends came round, she'd show her old films.
You know, they must've seen it 100 times.
Gloria said to me this one day,
''Let's go out someplace.''
And I said, ''Well, where do you want to go?''
And she said, ''Indio.''
So we went to Indio.
We might've had a date milkshake on the way,
'cause they do have good ones.
INDIO FEED & GENERAL
And we got into Indio,
and we went past one of those feeding stores.
And she said, ''Oh my god, look!''
And I said, ''What?''
She said, ''Those baby chicks, they're so cute.''
CHICKS FOR SALE
She said, ''Let's buy three.
''One for you, one for Dick, one for me.''
So she went in and had three chicks bagged to take home.
I said, ''Gloria, what are we gonna do with 'em?''
So, we got back, she made her entrance for dinner.
And when she did, it was dramatic.
There was Gloria in her Balenciaga gown,
and stiletto shoes, and looking magnificent.
And then suddenly, a sort of screech and a yell from her.
She had trodden on one of the chickens
with her stiletto shoes.
And it was dead.
She said, ''Oh my god, why do I kill everything I love?''
She said, ''Well, we're gonna have to bury it.''
Indeed, she put on a veil,
and we sort of formed a procession.
What anyone might've thought
to see this procession going down to the end of the garden,
and ceremoniously burying this chick.
So then we started to be really a little edgy, I think.
I was a bit concerned, you know, I mean I really was.
I thought, this is just weird.
- As the writing and the development
of ''Sunset Boulevard'' the musical happened,
the tension is starting to build between the three of them.
And she was fully aware
that Dickson and Richard were in a relationship.
- There was no mystery
that Richard and Dickson were a couple.
Gloria knew that the moment
that they walked into her house on Mulholland.
What was happening at this time, though,
was that Gloria was starting
to have romantic inclinations towards Richard,
who she knew was in a relationship with Dickson.
It was all very queer,
but queerer things were yet to come.
- Romance has to do with moonlight,
it has to do with poetry,
it has to do with dancing,
it has to do with things
that are away from that quick business
of ''Darling, I love you, goodbye.
''I'm off to make that dollar.''
- Grandma was romantic.
HUSBAND NO1
She liked men very much.
HUSBAND NO2
She fell in love easily,
HUSBAND NO3
and met terrific men,
HUSBAND NO4
but didn't stay married very long.
HUSBAND NO5
She was very independent,
and just kind of wanted things her way,
so I'm not sure that worked well
in a male-female relationship.
- She loved the idea of being in love,
but I don't know how often she really was.
She spent so much time portraying characters,
and so little time living real life.
She'd made a lot of movies where the boy and the girl
get together, and they live happily ever after.
And that just never seemed to work for her in real life.
- At the end of the three months in Palm Springs,
they had basically written the show.
They had written about 20 or 25 songs.
They had reshaped the script to make it work on the stage,
and they felt like they really had something to show.
And so what they determined
was they really needed to go to New York
to find financial backing,
to find a producer, to find a director,
if they were gonna get this thing done.
And so, the troupe moved to New York from Los Angeles
with hopes of putting the show on Broadway.
Gloria was already there.
She was in her apartment on Park Avenue,
and Dickson and Richard stayed with her.
- Coming in contact really with Gloria Swanson,
it was complicated.
Unexplained, unintended matters become uncontrollable.
Of course, she was an attractive woman.
I just thought, what would happen if I took her in my arms,
and, you know, where would that lead?
- Happy New Year, darling.
- And so click, then I thought how dangerous.
Oh, it would've been disaster.
So it didn't happen?
- No.
But it was in her mind, and in my mind.
- Clearly she wanted more
than what Richard was willing to give,
and because she's Gloria Swanson,
she was used to getting what she wanted.
- Richard was very handsome.
He was used to working people to get what he wanted.
FRIEND OF RICHARD STAPLEY I think that was the way he lived.
Dickson saw what was going on,
so it must have been very strange.
- By this time, I just wanted to get out.
It was awkward staying at home,
and it was affecting my own private life,
and I was beginning to not know me.
It was affecting the relationship with Dickson.
He was a sort of level person.
I mean, he wasn't a rebel like I tend to be.
I remember the time that angered her
when I just had to get out of the house, and be myself.
I just literally disappeared into New York.
I didn't want to go anywhere,
I just wanted to be with human beings.
And that was rebellion.
I was gone for quite a long time,
and I came back like about three o'clock in the morning.
And there was Gloria.
It was like icicles were hanging down.
She was very upset.
It was at that time that I thought
the show is not gonna go on.
- Gloria lost interest if it was unrequited,
and Stapley rejecting her,
that started the loss of interest,
not necessarily in the project, but in him.
- Richard and Dickson had been there for a couple of weeks,
and they'd been working this show out,
and they'd been pitching it around,
and they're getting interest in the show.
They've got some financial backers that are very interested
in talking to Gloria.
They finally got Robert Fryer,
who was one of the biggest producers at the time.
She proceeded to call Paramount,
and spoke to somebody there,
but they weren't taken seriously.
And they told her that she couldn't get the rights
to do the musical.
- They just said no.
And she said, ''Paramount told me
''I had not renewed the rights.''
And funny enough, there never really were any rights.
It was all kind of wishy-washy.
I mean, I supposed I should have been caring enough
to say well, let's see the contracts,
but you feel if she waves a wand that it's safe.
It was the end of the world.
It all blew up.
- Was it the thing that had her attention
for a period of time?
Yes, and when you had Gloria's attention,
you had her attention.
And she would be very much into
making this into an actuality.
But, she lived a multitude of lives in those years.
''WHAT'S THE ANSWER'' FROM BOULEVARD!
♪ The lovely things that fate invents ♪
♪ Have puzzled me before ♪
I don't know how much she would've
thought about it after it was over.
If it didn't happen, she was onto something else.
♪ He walked in here without a warning ♪
♪ Flashing his charming boyish grin ♪
♪ And suddenly the twilight seems bright as morning ♪
♪ How did this all begin ♪
- Dickson and I, we were hardly speaking.
The laughter and the closeness we'd had was all gone,
and I said, ''Dickson, this is separation and giving up
''the collaboration, and the whole thing is sunk.''
♪ What's the answer ♪
♪ I feel like falling ♪
♪ But then my mind tells me ♪
♪ I'll have to pay ♪
♪ I know I should resist ♪
♪ But he's all I'm dreaming of ♪
♪ So what's the answer ♪
♪ It's love ♪
So did you lose contact then
with Hughes and with Swanson in this period?
- Well, let's say...
This was the beginning of the bad times.
We're now at cruising altitude, 35,000 feet.
Indications are that our arrival at London Airport
may be ahead of schedule.
- I went back to England, and I disappeared.
What am I doing now?
I haven't acted a film, my agent doesn't know where I am.
I had to get back into my own stratosphere, my own life,
my own career, I mean a lot of damage was done to it.
And then, an extraordinary thing happened.
I was signed to do a leading part
in a television series, ''Man from Interpol.''
And this is a story
of the ''Man from Interpol.''
- I was really quite thrilled about it.
My name is Smith, I'm with Interpol.
Just try something like that again
and I'll put a bullet through your leg.
He's committed murder.
That's what I want him for.
I don't think I've ever had an assignment
I've wanted more to solve.
- And all of a sudden, for the next 25 years,
he works consistently under the name Richard Wyler.
And Richard Stapley ceases to exist.
He did a number of movies in Europe,
a lot of spaghetti westerns,
and he also became a professional motorcycle driver,
and won championships.
Richard first raced in the United States,
but the tracks of England
have seen most of his driving skills.
He'll be soon racing off to the film studios
to outwit the international crooks.
But you'll agree with us, no doubt,
that no one can say of Richard Wyler,
''I bet he's a softy in real life.''
Now that the guest on our show tonight
is somebody who struts your screens
as the man from Interpol, Mr. Richard Wyler.
- I'm going to call Elizabeth Wyler.
She was married to Richard for quite some time,
and I don't know really what to expect out of this call.
NO MUTUAL CONTACTS
SAY HI
Hey Elizabeth, it's Jeffrey, can you hear me okay?
Yeah, I heard that, I heard,
I can hear ya now.
You're crystal clear right now, perfect.
Okay, yeah.
- If you have some time to talk with me, I just have lots of questions.
I'll answer as best I can, Jeffrey.
I'll just spill the beans.
Can we start from the beginning?
After I came to England,
I decided I really liked it here,
and really wanted to live here.
I was in my early thirties,
and I thought, well it's time to get married
so I could stay in England.
He was the only person I knew in London,
and so we decided to get married.
He was devastatingly attractive,
and I thought, uh-oh, this is dangerous.
He was gorgeous, and people were envious
of my handsome husband,
and so we lived quite little glamorous lives.
I was going off with Richard when he was making films.
I went to Rio with him when he made
the first one he made down there,
''Dick Smart,'' I think it was called.
The second film he made in Brazil was ''The Girl from Rio.''
- Don't be nasty.
Daddy doesn't like it.
THE GIRL FROM RIO
It was not a first rate movie
by any stretch of the imagination,
but in Rio, they vied for our company.
Down there, he was a movie star.
In the '70s, by this time he was no spring chicken,
so he had bit parts.
One in an Alfred Hitchcock movie,
FRENZY
And one in a Michael Winner movie.
SCORPIO
CONNECTING ROOMS - Excuse me, please.
He could've gone on working comfortably,
doing small roles,
and been okay, made a living.
But he didn't want to play bit parts.
They weren't good enough for him.
He just ended up, unfortunately,
in the place where youth and good looks are so important,
when you become old, it doesn't work out that way anymore.
He presented himself as a very macho man.
MAN FROM INTERPOL FINS A BRIDE
But, there was always Richard's sexuality to consider.
Which was never discussed.
I'm a Scorpio, and we're very intuitive.
I didn't question Richard.
He knew that I knew.
There were a hell of a lot of married gay men around,
as you must well know.
It was more of a friendship than a deep love affair.
- Richard never confessed to having
a homosexual relationship with anyone other than Dickson.
In fact, if one were to ask him,
''Are you gay, Richard?''
He would say, ''No.''
He had a way of reinventing himself.
He invented himself as this no-name kid, Richard Stapley,
into Richard Stapley the actor.
He then reinvented Richard Stapley into Richard Wyler,
and then he reinvented Richard Wyler
back into Richard Stapley.
His mind was able to compartmentalize that
and just put it away.
We had some good times together
VOICE OF ELIZABETH WYLER in the early days,
but the last few encounters with Richard
had not been that pleasant.
I couldn't go on like we were going on.
We weren't living together anymore,
and it was never a right, that's it, we're finished.
I said, ''Richard, if you want a divorce,
''you just send me the papers and I'll sign them.''
Nothing ever came of it,
so we never divorced.
- Hello? - Hello, Dickson?
Oh, how are you?
Is this a good time to chat for a little while?
Sure.
Is there anything else that comes to mind
about Gloria Swanson, or about your years working with her?
I realize I've pumped you absolutely dry
for every detail.
Yeah, of course, because it was
such a major event in my life.
You know, I scarcely, I'm hardly likely to forget anything.
Yes, what's the next episode in this long saga?
Then came the invitation for her
to do the song on ''The Steven Allen Show.''
I was living in Malibu at the time, and she called me.
She said she was gonna do the song,
''Those Wonderful People Out There in the Dark,''
and would I come to New York
and supervise the staging of the number?
And I said of course I will.
- And the story, as most of you know, I suppose,
of Norma Desmond, the great star of silent films
who tries to make a comeback,
and she is coached, you remember the story,
by her former director, Max, who's now her butler.
When we got the number on its feet,
the actor that they had hired to play Max
was not getting the lines right,
and finally she, and again movie star temperament,
said, ''Well, he's not getting it
''and Dickson knows all the lines,
''so why don't we just have him do the lines off camera?''
So she had the guy fired,
so they had me play Max.
- Oh it's no use, Max, I loathe the scene.
It's too long, far too many words!
Here.
Now Norma, be reasonable.
You want to be back there again, don't you?
- Of course I want to.
Well then, stop fighting it.
- Oh Max, it's all those words.
I used to be able to express every expression with my face.
What did you do
with all the pages of music and lyrics?
What did I do with it?
I put it in a file folder and put it away.
I had to get on with my life and my career.
After we did ''The Steve Allen Show,''
she suggested that I leave California
to come and relocate to New York, so I did.
TONIGHT A MUSICAL CARNIVAL
♪ Let it be known, I'm a native ♪
♪ I found my home, I'm a native ♪
When I got to New York, I had various jobs
playing in various supper clubs and hotel cocktails lounges.
♪ Stay close ♪
♪ Every moment ♪
I'd become music director for a show called ''Talent 59,''
and that led to my whole career as a musical conductor
for stock companies, and touring companies, and so on.
♪ Stay close ♪
So I was busy.
♪ Stay close ♪
I stayed in New York until 1983.
By that time, New York had changed.
It was a much more abrasive place
than it had been when I first arrived.
I could not see myself getting to be
a really old person living in that dreadful climate.
And so, I moved back to Los Angeles.
♪ That wonderful silence ♪
GLORIA SWANSON SINGS ''WONDERFUL PEOPLE''
♪ Comes over the sets ♪
♪ And there are those faces ♪
♪ I'll never forget ♪
She really kept it alive in her head
and in her emotion.
She had the master copy,
and I know that she used to get it out
almost every time she would have anybody over
for dinner or cocktails to play it for them.
It's really rather heartbreaking.
It never died for her.
That's right, it never did, absolutely.
- There was a wonderful era
in the world of entertainment
before television, before talkies, a magic world.
I'd love to have you enjoy it with me
as it comes again to life in my memory.
- Our very special guest star this evening
is Ms. Gloria Swanson.
- Here's a lovely lady, Ms. Gloria Swanson.
- One thing about my grandma that I loved so much,
she was always in the present, always forward-thinking.
- The election is coming up, you know,
and really and truly this is important.
- She was just active.
She was able to move through life so well.
She was a wonderful role model.
- Today, now, this is all we have.
This is eternity.
- That curiosity, that spark in her,
her mind just never stopped.
- There is nothing practically in a tin can
that doesn't have sugar in it.
- She was current on absolutely everything.
- Ms. Swanson, what is the secret of your eternal youth?
AIRPORT 1975
- Well, I just take natural food.
I will not have poison food, I don't like it.
- And she was so gracious to her fans.
She was extremely appreciative of her audience.
- I certainly am beholden to the public
who've given me a wonderful life.
I have no complaints,
and I don't understand why I'm so blessed.
Thank you, Gloria Swanson.
Goodbye, and lots of love
to all of you wonderful people out there in the dark.
- Grandma was in the hospital and was sick,
and almost at her end.
It was Easter Sunday night,
and Grandma was asleep.
She woke up and I said,
''Oh Grams, it's Brooke and I'm here to see you.
And she said, ''I love you so much.''
And that was the last words she ever said.
I had that moment, and it meant so much to me.
TEN YEARS LATER...
In London tonight,
Andrew Lloyd Weber's newest musical,
''Sunset Boulevard,'' premiered to rapturous applause.
When it was first announced
that Lloyd Weber was gonna do this,
I thought, wait a minute!
GLENN CLOSE AS NORMA DESMOND - I am big.
It's the pictures that got small!
I really didn't want to see the show,
because I had been so close to the property
for such a long time that to see
what somebody else had done
was just more than I was prepared to cope with.
- The best new musical of 1995 goes to
1995 TONY AWARDS
''Sunset Boulevard.''
I don't want to sound like a sore loser,
but I felt, oh well, just one more disappointment
in this whole long saga.
♪ With one look ♪
♪ I can break your heart ♪
♪ With one look ♪
♪ I play every part ♪
- ''Sunset Boulevard'' was gonna be opening
at the Shubert in Los Angeles with Glenn Close.
And the Times did a huge feature story
on Andrew Lloyd Weber, and how brilliant he was
to come up with this idea,
as if nobody had ever thought of it before.
''WITH ONE LOOK'' BY ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER
So I wrote a short letter to the editor
saying that it had been done before,
that Gloria Swanson herself had commissioned a version
with Dickson Hughes and Richard Stapley.
And they printed the letter,
and about a week or so later I got a phone call
from Dickson Hughes, saying that he had read my letter
and he'd called information and got my number.
So we arranged to have lunch.
When I met Dickson, he started telling me the story
about the triangle, and how it all unfolded.
As Dickson was telling me all this,
a light bulb went off in my head.
I started thinking, gee,
maybe we could do something with this.
And I said to him, let's make the real story
of he, and Gloria Swanson, and Richard as a musical.
And we'll use the songs from the show,
and make it about the writing of the musical.
The Andrew Lloyd Weber version hadn't opened yet,
and I thought gee, wouldn't it be great
if we could get this version on first,
and beat the other one?
SWANSON ON SUNSET A MUSICAL MEMOIR
BY DICKSON HUGHES
And I thought that was such a great idea
that I went ahead and did it.
That was how we came to produce ''Swanson on Sunset.''
- God smiled on us, and beckoned us to play our parts.
I'm in Lucasville, Ohio visiting my mother.
The phone was ringing when I got there, it was Dickson.
He said, ''Remember when I mentioned
''Swanson on Sunset'' to you?
I think you could do that.
He said, ''I've got some money now, and we're gonna start.''
It's going to be Norma Desmond's salary,
a Norma Desmond production starring Norma Desmond!
I enjoyed doing it very, very much.
- Miss Swanson, this is Richard Stapley.
- The role was going to be that of Richard Stapley.
I auditioned for it.
I waited for a call, I got a call,
and they said yeah, we'd love to have ya in the show.
- Good evening, and welcome.
I performed in it playing myself 30 years ago.
- He was obviously too old to be playing himself,
but I thought since he's the real person,
that would justify it.
- How do you do mister-
- Hughes, Dickson Hughes.
- It was a little odd that Dickson
is probably pushing 60 at this point.
And this guy who's playing his former boyfriend
is nowhere near his contemporary,
so it was sort of like a vanity production
of a vanity production of a vanity production.
- Who could resist?
All they have to do is look at you.
To tell the truth, the first time I saw you.
- There was an age difference there
when we played some of the scenes.
But, he really wanted to tell the story
from his own eyes, voice, and vantage point.
- ''Sunset Boulevard'' as a musical?
Said it would never happen.
I wasn't in contact
with Stapley at all at this point.
VOICE OF DICKSON HUGHES
He just pulled away from our relationship.
He just withdrew,
and how many years, it's been 25 or 30 years
I guess since I've seen him.
- I never thought about Richard.
He was like a name in the script.
It didn't occur to me that there was a real person,
but on opening night at the Cinegrill, he showed up.
He came storming in.
He was tearing into the place.
He felt that Dickson was doing this behind his back.
And was he?
- Yeah.
- It was a very unpleasant confrontation.
I was really angered
that he didn't get in touch and tell me.
There was a relationship between Dickson and I
which was unusual,
and came at an extraordinary time in my life.
I'd always been a very private person,
and then suddenly the truth came out.
I was just mad, I was ready to sue.
And I said, well that has to go,
that has to go, that has to go.
- How did that happen?
Wasn't he married when you first met?
- Yes, it's a long story.
- His entire life is now being put out there
on public display, including the fact
that he was involved in a gay relationship.
He comes from an era where you don't talk about that,
and to acknowledge that he has affections for men
would destroy his entire public persona
and the only way he knows how to make money.
When a relationship ends,
and it ends contentiously, as this one did,
there's anger, and a lot of hurt feelings,
and because of this show, they were forced to reconcile.
And they were able to reconcile to the point
where they could sit down and talk,
and put the show together in a way
that both of them felt comfortable,
and felt like it was a true representation of what happened.
- Now you're changing the title to ''Swanson on Sunset.''
Is that what you're calling it now?
- This is Dickson Hughes getting his own back.
- It was at the Cinegrill.
SWANSON ON SUNSET A MUSICAL MEMOIR
Wonderful supper club, cabaret room,
right in the heart of Hollywood,
across from the Chinese Theatre.
We had like a three or four week run.
There were a few reviews that were not that strong.
So the audiences were kinda weak.
- There was talk of recasting.
Recasting Dickson, maybe recasting me.
There were names that were bantered about.
Faye Dunaway was one of 'em.
- We tried to get a star.
I went to every older actress that I could get to,
but everybody turned me down.
- And that, my dear Dickson, I'm sorry to say, is that.
- I know that he wanted ''Swanson on Sunset''
to be successful,
and I know he was very disappointed when it was not.
There was just no money to go on and do any more,
so that was it.
- It's 2003, and I'm living in West Hollywood,
just off Melrose Place,
and working as a screenwriter,
and so I'm home most of the time.
And I noticed this
click click clickety clack of a typewriter next door,
SCREENWRITER
and I love the sound.
And I kept peering next door to see who it was.
You know, a couple weeks go by,
and then I finally saw this elderly gentleman
come out a couple times.
And finally, I knock on the door,
and I said to him, ''Hi, I'm Barbara, I live right there,
and I really love listening
to the sound of the typewriter.''
He started laughing, and then invited me in for a drink,
and the friendship started from there.
- Richard was a very hard worker,
and when I knew him in his later years,
he was very busy writing books and screenplays.
He was always trying to make it.
He never kind of gave up trying to make it.
- He felt like he had a lot more to say,
and a lot more to give.
And that's why he was always working on his stories.
He felt like his star had waned dramatically, and it had,
and he really felt like he needed to redeem himself,
and leave that perfect legacy of hey, this is what I've got.
TO SLIP & FALL IN LA A MEMOIR BY RICHARD STANLEY
- By the time he wrote his autobiography,
I think he had come to terms
with who he was, and his identity.
- Richard. - Richard?
- Stapley.
- Well, he told me a lot of his other escapades,
but he never mentioned men.
- There was an individual
who was complicated like anybody in the arts.
It was fascinating when I did my work on Gloria,
because in her archives
held at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas,
I found letters between the two men.
And you can tell in Richard's writing
that Richard was deeply in love with Dickson.
Dearest Dickson, I see at one and the same time
my first sight of the United States,
and the very road we used to take so often to the beach.
Little did I know, I'd be driving along it so frequently.
I remember as if it were yesterday,
and I said I love you for the first time.
They were, and are tender, sweet things.
I do miss you.
I remember the Christmas at the beach,
when we were so poor, yet so rich in spirit.
It isn't so much a morbid remembrance of things past,
as a sadness of the frailty of human nature.
I wish we hadn't drifted so far away, Dick.
Always, Richard.
- He was a very sophisticated gentleman.
He'd been there and back, and everybody loved him.
He was always on top of things,
looking forward to the next project.
♪ Happy days are here again ♪
♪ Those skies above are clear again ♪
- Dickson always had gigs.
People hired him for weddings, and parties.
He had students, and I was one of 'em.
Dickson was humble.
He was very kind of cool and laid back,
and he let other people shine.
DICKSON HUGHES SINGS AND PLAYS!
He had that little studio apartment up the hill,
I think it was under rent control.
He had his nice Cadillac he always took care of,
and he always managed.
Then he got that good, steady job
at the Ritz-Carlton in Pasadena.
He'd wear his tuxedo.
He always looked perfect for whatever he had to do.
- Not only was he a passionate person,
but he was a very spiritual person.
He was constantly working with people
on an empathetic level.
- Marianne Williamson, she lectures on a book
called ''A Course in Miracles.''
Dickson read that book, it was dog-eared next to his bed.
He knew it chapter and verse, and he lived it.
He was one of the very first people
that would go to study with Marianne Williamson,
long before she became famous.
She started Project Angel Food
at the height of the AIDS crisis.
It supplied one hot meal a day to people
that had life-challenging illnesses.
The first fundraiser they ever had
was in her apartment in West Hollywood,
and Dickson played piano for her.
- This is really a super evening,
and I'm honored to be here.
- I don't think it all was happy ever after.
He just got older, and he got weaker.
- Dickson was in a nursing home in Palm Springs.
He was battling Alzheimer's.
VOICE OF ELIZABETH WYLER Richard never discussed
Dickson Hughes with me.
I never discussed it with him.
But then Richard said that he and Dickson Hughes,
at the last few years of his life,
they saw a lot of one another.
- Stapley was there, and he put Dickson on the phone
to say hello to me.
And I said hello to him,
but I'm not sure that Dickson
was sure sometimes who he was talking to.
- Dickson said to me, he said,
''Death came from the hand of the same creator
that gave you life.''
Birth, life, death, so it can't be bad.
Death can't be bad.
''WHEN YOU LOVE'' FROM BOULEVARD! ♪ When you love ♪
♪ And truly love ♪
♪ You'll never ♪
♪ Ask for more ♪
- Richard Stapley was not having an easy time of it.
He was not being sought after,
and he couldn't get an agent.
- He got a motorcycle, and he was delivering scripts
to the studios as a messenger.
And for a little while, he had this little business going,
but it didn't last, and pretty soon that era changed.
- He had not prepared for the latter part of his life,
and he found himself getting deeper into debt,
and having a difficult time surviving.
- He was writing a screenplay that he felt very strongly
would be a real blockbuster.
He wrote almost every day,
but we just never got anywhere with it,
so it was a very frustrating and difficult time for him.
- Hello, Richard. - Well, hello.
- How are you today? - Oh I'm all right.
- But, he was a fighter.
He kept saying, ''Tomorrow it's gonna get better.
''Tomorrow something good's gonna happen for me.''
- The biggest thing is never to give up.
- I guess we all believed in him,
and didn't like to see him in the situation he was in,
and so we tried to do what we could to help.
But, I was pretty sure that it was a lost cause
because he was living in another time.
- I felt like I had done what a friend should do,
in being realistic with him
about his options as an older man with no money.
And that's when I suggested that we do these autograph shows
filled with old movie stars,
and people that never quite became movie stars.
You're sitting there with a bunch of photographs of you
40 years ago, and the people look at them
and they look up, is this you?
- Richard Stapley. - Oh, okay.
And Richard Wyler. - Yeah.
- The only reason they're interested is what you used to be.
- I'd like to play a very good part
in ''Desperate Housewives.''
''Desperate Housewives?'' - Yes.
Like a desperate guy on ''Desperate Housewives?''
- A desperate guy, yes.
- He finally had to come to terms
with not being the person that he was on the screen.
It was an amazing moment
to confront his career as it really was.
'Cause we couldn't lie about it at that point.
I had to just say, well it's over.
- As his financial situation continued to decline,
the status of the places where he was living
declined in like measure.
He was living in a fairly rundown motel
on a very bad street in Palm Springs.
He has no money,
he's threatened with eviction almost on a daily basis,
and essentially begging for anyone to give him sustenance.
And he was growing wildly despondent by the end.
- Yesterday was a very difficult day,
and let me know how can I start out of this?
- He also was not feeling well,
and I think he knew that he had cancer.
And I think he did not want to admit it,
and so the last few months of his life,
he spent all his days writing
because he had things in his head
and he wanted to get them out.
And so he was writing constantly,
until he simply could not go on anymore,
and the unwellness just became overwhelming
and he had to go to the hospital and ultimately passed away.
- I went there about two weeks after he died,
and one of the nurses told me that he was sitting in bed,
and ''Sunset Boulevard'' was on television,
two nights before he died.
And he was looking up there,
and the nurse comes in to take his vitals,
and he says, ''You see that woman, Gloria Swanson?
''She was so in love with me, you couldn't imagine.
''I was the love of her life.''
So if I hadn't come along and contacted you,
what would've happened to this story?
- You know, maybe nothing.
Somebody had to come and knock on the door and say, hey,
this is interesting.
But if you hadn't done it, and if nobody else would've,
then it would all sit in a box,
and to get left behind, that's sad.
Richard would be very pleased with this film
that he's being remembered.
And I think Dickson would be very pleased
that his story's being remembered,
that his music is being remembered.
And I'm sure Gloria would be pleased to know
that her legend lives on.
At the end of the day, I think that's all we want
is just to be remembered.
- At the age of 80,
Gloria Swanson wrote ''Swanson on Swanson.''
It truly is one of the best,
most candid autobiographies ever written.
But, she did not write about the ''Sunset Boulevard'' musical.
Gloria was always keen to talk about her triumphs,
but this was a failure,
and Gloria never acknowledged failures.
- I'm wondering why that was sort of left out.
I think she put it behind her.
She never seemed to live in any regret.
She did not live in the past.
She just kept living her life the way it was.
The opposite of Norma Desmond.
- The opposite of Norma Desmond, yes.
♪ However they flatter ♪
BOULEVARD A NEW MUSICAL PLAY ♪ I'll still be where ♪
♪ The people who matter ♪
♪ The people who care ♪
♪ Are the ones who silently give me ♪
♪ That magical spark ♪
♪ Those wonderful people ♪
♪ Out there ♪
♪ In the dark ♪
♪ The lovely things that fate invents ♪
♪ Have puzzled me before ♪
♪ I've had my share of incidents ♪
♪ I just want something more ♪
♪ He walked in here without a warning ♪
♪ Flashing his charming boyish grin ♪
♪ And suddenly the twilight seems bright as morning ♪
♪ How did this all begin ♪
♪ What's the answer ♪
♪ When love comes calling ♪
♪ Should count or might point out the play ♪
♪ My heart's a dancer ♪
♪ And changeable it's true ♪
♪ And oh, the things it's led me to ♪
♪ What's the answer ♪
♪ I feel like falling ♪
♪ And then my mind tells me ♪
♪ I'll have to pay ♪
♪ But how can I resist ♪
♪ What my heart's been dreaming of ♪
♪ So what's the answer ♪
♪ It's love ♪
♪ What's the answer ♪
♪ I feel like falling ♪
♪ And then my mind tells me ♪
♪ I'll have to pay ♪
♪ But how can I resist ♪
♪ What my heart's been dreaming of ♪
♪ So what's the answer ♪
♪ It's love ♪