European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 5, 1980, Darmstadt, Hesse In _ new Yor to Mali / Joseph t havoc age 64 tired of to Tell the truth. At the end of the Rainbow by Michiko Kakutani new York times St s one of those Small conc Cikut town where people drive i920 s Rolls royces on sunday afternoons and go browsing at stores thai sell expensive reproductions of new England Antiques a Tow where even the animals arc named after characters in Shakespeare s i Days. The name of the Community is Cancun crossing and for the actress june havoc. Wio recently restored pan of the Village it is her Home. After nil those years in Vaude Ville Broadway and l loll j Wood it ii also her singe. Inside or Vic b House on the Norwalk River the unt Liqun Are All genuine. The victorian lamps and the Tasse led cushions the Glass peacocks and the candles held aloft by Golden cherubs seem like some sort of stage setting out of Tennessee Williams. There is an insistent sense there that the past is somehow always present. As she flips through old scrapbooks filled with sepia toned photos and newspaper clippings gone yellow havoc talk about her latest Book More havoc recently published by Harper & Row As a sequel to her first Memoir Early havoc and about her memories of growing up with her famous sister the late Gypsy Rose Lee and their infamous Mother. Thai Story of course was dramatized a Long time ago by the Broadway show Gypsy b musical fable but Hlavoc says that she wanted to set Down her own account because she was tired of fables and anxious to Tell the truth As clearly As i she is afflicted she says by total recall. For years 1 was silent because the musical Gypsy was very important for my Lister it was her Monument say havoc who at 64 can still radiate the theatrical Glamour of vaudeville even when she is dressed like a Connecticut suburbanite in jeans and an Oxford shirt. But her motto was always write anything about me Ai Long As you spelt my name right and that musical was filled with distortions there jul never an Amateur con teat Gypsy and i were never part of a team 1 did l marry the boy she loved. That was Loo pal too slut was really Lavod our says havoc was considerably less Lovely but just As remarkable. Al the age of 2, Buby june the pocket sized Pavlova was dancing on stage at 4 she wan appearing in films. By age 7, the Darling of vaudeville was a Star on the with Slater. Gypsy Rose Lee. In 1958. Keith orpheus circuit making 11,500 a week. She had a nervous breakdown when she win 10 _ being 10 was hell i was convinced 1 was stuck in a Muddy track going nowhere and during the dession while her sister survived by stripping under a Blue spotlight she worked on the dance Marathon Cir Cuit dancing up to 3.600 hours at a Home hunger makes anything possible. Havoc Rafii to me the Marathon was a fair game 1 was getting 12 Rocah every 24 hours As Long As i stayed on my feet and i m not sad about my childhood in vaudeville. Woj should i be think How wonderful it was to be a Little us on stage with All that love from the audience. It Ali special world i remember the signs at the theater. No hell s no Damn a no mention of the deity and Alv Rayi Wear silk stocking All the Way up. Keep your acl clean bul loud that was religion for me. Looking Back on her career now. Havoc says she feels a kind of satisfaction. There were years when her bade around made her feel like a social Leper but the ii proud nonetheless. Ever since her 1941 Broadway Triumph in pal Joey she worked on earning citizenship to one studied Shakespeare and Sheridan she wrote and directed plays and now she is also an author who books Are reviewed in All the Slickest periodicals. She Hai won acceptance it last she thinks and most of All he he kept her act clean. Still the process of writing More havoc was a painful one for it brought Back memories of her family. According to havoc her Mother was not the aggressive Good a parted lady portrayed by Ethel Merman in Gypsy but a steely mendacious and probably emotionally disturbed woman the kind of woman who could Intro Duce her 10-year old daughter by saying this ii my baby she used to be she struck or Daugh ters threatened their boyfriends with loaded guns and sole everything from television sets to electric blankets. Al the Ige of 5,1 Lute there is to nutrition la Mother s company is Miyoc. She was a terrifying presence but i Don t think it was Ever a mortal wound because i never believed a thing she said i have no love in retrospect for her i think i Nave to escape her Mother havoc ran away from Home and got married at Trie ape of 13. Her Mother s death in 1954, havoc recalls was a gothic horror. Dying of cancer she Lay on her bed in a cold room angry it dying and angry at How everything had turned out. Her last words were a curse. This Sinh the end she told her two daughters. Wherever you go As Long us either of you lives i la be right there and i swear before god you re always going to know for years havoc said she and her Siiter shared the fear the constant fear that they would somehow end being like All the women of their family after All had a common Strain of ambition and strength and bitter Independence they married Early divorced quickly and in the end succumbed to alcohol or drugs or mad Ness. They wanted total Freedom and since they did l know How too about achieving it they were hideously ," says havoc. Men were a convenience to them they had an inability to enjoy ivc or reciprocate. It was kind of a negative education in a Way. Gypsy and i were terrified of becoming like that. A Mutual horror of what they were Drew us the divisive influence of their Mother gone june havoc and Gypsy Rose a became the closest of friends and confidants. For n time they lived and travelled to gather and they dreamed of growing old together in la Ury Ridden fashion dressed majestically in yellowing Ermine and Dusty diamonds a must see at All firs after Gypsy Rose Lee s death in 1970 put an end to that drum. Havoc came to Cannon crossing to keep House in that a juice Connecticut town with her animals and her memories without Mother really i would never have the world i have she says. She was the one who first put me on stage and for that i will be forever grateful. The Audi ence hat always been my real family their applause my nutrition. Have been following that All my life she walks out of the House into the hot summer air and As she wanders among the antique shops of Cannon crossing a Man in a sport shirt stops her. I be seen All your pictures he says hesitating a moment. Do you think i could take a picture she flashes a smile tosses her Blond hair Back Over her shoulder and for a moment she is a Star again. See t told you to audience he never failed by she Uyi to incl her ils Tor. They be always been there he people who come Here the Telephone operators who recognize my voice when i make a Long distance Call. This ii the end of the Rainbow for me the land of of. It s my theater and i feel j am Center stage. The people the animals that is my audience now. It s the Molt Page 14 the stars and stripes
