Phyllis Coates: Not Just Lois Lane
Bill Cassara
*
Since receiving my copy of Sgt. Cassara’s new book, I’ve found it yes, a great read but more than that, an obsession. The first impulse on opening this wonderful biography of the first TV crush of many of us wasn’t so much “I can’t wait to find out more about her!” as “It’s about TIME somebody wrote this.” Bill is absolutely the right man for the job, not only a long-time friend of hers but a thorough researcher and talented writer; his past bios, including Edgar Kennedy, Henry Brandon, Vernon Dent, and Ted Healy are must-owns for anyone who loves classic cinema.
Miss Coates (born Gypsie Ann Stell, and forever known as Gypsie to her friends, the book’s first revelation) was born in 1927 in Wichita Falls, became somewhat of a local most-likely-to-succeed dancer and model in Abilene, where she moved with her mother following her parents’ divorce. USO programs that accentuated her charm, looks, and curves followed during the war years and led to a contract with 20th Century Fox that went nowhere. A stint at Warners led to leading lady status with George O’Hanlon in the popular and long-running “Behind the Eight Ball” Joe McDoakes short subjects. Next was the part for which she’ll forever be revered: in the summer of 1951, she filmed the quickie feature film Superman and the Mole Men for Bob Lippert, opposite George Reeves, in only 12 days, and then after a one-day break began work on the first of 26 first-season episodes of The Adventures of Superman TV show (with Jack Larson as Jimmy Olsen and John Hamilton as Perry White; neither were in the feature film). The show, surprisingly, was self-financed without a sponsor, and didn’t air until they found one, not debuting until the fall of 1952 to astounding success (Phyllis says she had to dye her hair to keep from being mobbed when she went out) but when the time came for season 2 to film, Noel Neill – Lois from the two Superman serials with Kirk Alyn – replaced her. Various reasons have been given, with Phyllis herself averring that she simply preferred doing comedy and had a chance to do a show with Jack Carson (but the pilot didn’t sell). She spent the rest of the decade making guest appearances on numerous other television shows, notably Death Valley Days, The Abbott & Costello Show, Leave it to Beaver, The Lone Ranger and many others, before landing another series, the quickly gone and forgotten This is Alice in 1958. Here in the Balcony, we can rattle off her other key appearances in cult and genre favorites; she starred in three chapterplays, notably squeezing into the old Jungle Girl costume to match stock footage for Panther Girl of the Kongo, and for some of her deliciously fun feature films, including Blues Busters with the Bowery Boys, Invasion U.S.A. (with Noel Neill, but they shared no scenes), Girls in Prison, Chicago Confidential, and I was a Teenage Frankenstein.
By the mid-1960s, she was all but retired, appearing only occasionally afterwards, and Sgt. Cassara does a wonderful job explaining how the ebb and flow of her personal life (four husbands, for one thing, one of whom as Joe McDoakes guru Richard L. Bare, who’d go on to direct several Twilight Zone and just about all Green Acres episodes) dictated much of her professional career choices. The book is chockfull of anecdotes, tidbits, reminisces, and great affection for his friend Phyllis, who was difficult to know and thus he was blessed to have the opportunity – and to drag her out of self-induced obscurity in the 1990s to experience the applause she deserved for being such a beautiful and talented icon of our childhood television experience.
Phyllis Coates: Not Just Lois Lane is our favorite new Hollywood biographical book of the year, beautifully illustrated with stills and personal photographs. Hopefully, a lot of you will find it in your stocking this Christmas.
