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After this, did you ever try modeling for animation again?
“They called me in to do the mermaids, you know. I'm the redheaded mermaid in the movie. I'm the reference model and I did voices for the mermaid. But no, I went off to do voiceover work. I did about 600 cartoons. I did Clutch Cargo, the New Three Stooges, Captain Fathom, Space Angels… Then I've been working on the radio. I've worked on the radio for 12 years so I had my own radio show for 11 years. I liked being on microphone. You don't have to get makeup on and of course I did The Andy Griffith Show during that time.”
Are you still working or retired?
“I am working as an independent contractor with KTLA, Salem Communications here in Los Angeles out of Glendale. I go over when they need me for a voiceover, but I'm not under contract to them anymore. I travel so much. We're traveling to London. We're going to talk to people over there about the new Peter Pan movie.”
Did you participate in the DVD?
“Yes, you'll see me on there. It was fun talking about it because this was a fun time of my life. The DVD that they have done is remarkable. ¾ of the things I did not know and to watch the problems that they had putting the story together. They were going to take Nana to Neverland. They were going to leave John and Michael back at the nursery. But the interesting part if you watch this is that they never mention that they had problems with Tinker Bell. She really wasn't that important in the story. She was, but she wasn't. Now I'm told by a Disney executive a couple of years ago, that Tinker Bell is recognized in Outer Mongolia. She is an icon along with Mickey Mouse. These are the two.
You know, the little children who dress up like Tinker Bell, at Halloween. They don't know where Tinker Bell comes from. When you get them the DVD or you take them to see the movie, or both, that's Tinker Bell, where she came from. They don't know and it's like watching children see something, an old friend and they go, 'Oh' and laugh and have fun. How else are they going to know where their favorite came from?”
They've probably seen her more in commercials?
“Exactly. So it's important, I think, as Tinker Bell to give them that joy. I say that when you watch the movie, think of it as a happy magic movie. There's a lot of dark magic movies out and that's fine. I have no problem with it. But here's one of the vintage Disneys, the best animation that was ever put on the screen, and it's so happy. It gives you a great feeling as you leave the theater. You're smiling and you're remembering the songs. It's really, really terrific.”
What do you think of the live-action Tinker Bells?
“Well, I loved Hook. I thought that was neat, all except the food fight. I'm a mother and I didn't like that (laughing). I love Julia Roberts as an actress, but I thought they didn't get the idea that Tinker Bell is about 13-years-old. They had a problem because, of course, it was Peter Pan who grew up. I don't think that the director really knew what he wanted to do with Tinker Bell. In some of the sequences she was today's woman, with smart aleck cracks and indifference and all the rest. And then another time she was this romantic creature. Then another time she was something else.
I think the director told her what he wanted and she came through with it because she would. She's just a consummate professional. But I think that he could have positioned Tinker Bell differently in that film. The dark film, the Peter Pan from England, it's the way I think the Europeans see Peter Pan. So I was surprised. I was carried away with the story. That was fine. But the love interest that happened between Peter and Wendy surprised me. I never read that in the book.”
That was controversial.
“I suppose they thought that's the way we can get the movie made because nowadays, if you don't do something controversial, nobody talks about you. But remember, Return to Neverland? Well done movie. And Tink and Jane save the day. Didn't break my heart. Peter was all tied up on the anchor (laughing). So I look at all of these things, but I still hold to that Disney was a genius, that put the whole thing together. It is such a wonderful movie and I want everybody to see it because it's just one of those special things, now that Tinker Bell is acceptable really in our culture today. In 1953, she was not acceptable. Wendy was the role model. Cinderella was the role model. Snow White was the role model. Donna Reed was a role model, Beaver's mother. Certainly not Tinker Bell who was her own woman. They loved it, but they didn't know quite what to do with it. Well, she's today's woman, no question about it.”
Where did the rumor that it was Marilyn Monroe come from?
“I've asked several people about that and they think that what happened was an executive or a producer, let's put it that way, from Disney was being interviewed either on television but probably on radio, and they got to talking about different characters and he said something like, 'Well, she's curvy like Marilyn Monroe,' and someone picked that up and put it in print. We figured it was around 1966. That's the best we can do.”
That’s not a bad comparison.
“No, and I worked with Marilyn and I thought she was absolutely fabulous. All the girls that were working with her, we loved her. She was adorable. But she was not a dancer. You had to be a dancer to do Tinker Bell and to give her all the movements and the flexibility that they needed for her. So she wouldn't have been in the running even. Nobody knew her at that time either. She had just been put under contract at Fox.”
