Monthly Archives: October 2011

Allen Charges Dinner at Chasen’s

25 Tuesday Oct 2011

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Here’s Allen’s card from the rolodex at Chasen’s Restaurant in West Hollywood. If the staff needed to verify that a diner had a charge account at the restaurant, this is what they checked.

Please observe:

  • The account was opened in May 1962. Allen took Betty to dinner and a performance of “Critic’s Choice,” the play they were to co-star in during the summer of 1962. Did Allen open the account specifically for the very first date/”business meeting”?
  • On the reverse of the the card, you’ll also note that Allen charged a meal on September 23rd of 1962; likely this was one of his many courting trips to the West Coast prior to their April 1963 engagement.
  • Betty’s 51st, 54th, 56th and 57th birthdays appear to have been celebrated at Chasen’s; as there are stamps for January 17th in those years.

A Courtship Article with the Betty Seal of Approval

21 Friday Oct 2011

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From TV Radio Mirror, August 1963:

Click on the image to download a PDF of the article!

Here we have a very detailed account of the Allen-Betty courtship, written just after the wedding.

You have to love the cheesy line at the bottom of page 2:

A self-confessed “old maid”…a widower who though love was over…a marriage that started out as a game and ended up for keeps!

Paging movie-trailer-voiceover guy!

A thank-you note written to the author, Paul Denis, presumably regarding this very article, is listed on eBay at the moment (with a minimum bid of $699.95 — ouch!). Betty seems very pleased with the job he did!

How Much Did Allen & Betty Spend on Parking in 1963?

20 Thursday Oct 2011

Posted by in Allen & Betty Together, Ephemera

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Don’t we all lie awake each night pondering that very question?

Click on the image to enlarge!

A few observations:

The firm of Edward Traubner & Co. managed the business interests of many performers.  The company filed its articles of incorporation on Friday, February 17, 1956.

The couple estimated that they spent $400 on “business parking” in 1963.  In 2011 dollars, that’s about $2825.  That’s a lot of parking at a time when the average annual wage in the United States was $4,397. Where were they parking?!

Finally, this is the only example I’ve ever seen of Betty signing as Betty Ludden, rather than Betty White (personally or professionally) or Betty White Ludden (for documents & contracts).

Betty Shares Her Needlepoint

20 Thursday Oct 2011

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From Good Housekeeping Needlecraft, Spring/Summer 1979:

Click on the image to download a PDF of the article!

It’s nice to see an article with some out-of-the-ordinary pictures.

I’m also impressed that she spent four years on a single needlepoint rug — I can’t imagine staying with one thing that long!

The article describes a director’s chair she stitched for Allen: “The chair, done in Allen’s favorite marigold colors, has his name and motif on the back.” What do you suppose Allen’s motif was?  Perhaps a little Allen head in caricature?

“You’re Great, Dad, But You’re No Bud Collyer!”

20 Thursday Oct 2011

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mailboxFrom TV Radio Mirror, June 1962:

Click on the image to download a PDF of the article!

What strikes me most about this article (written before his marriage to Betty) is that it provides an inside look at Allen’s family life without mentioning that his beloved first wife, Margaret, had died less than a year before. Margaret is mentioned multiple times, but there’s no indication that she wasn’t alive and well at the time. Strange.

Favorite line in the article?  “Admittedly an egghead, Allen is also an egghead who swings.” He manages to criticize beatniks, though. Poor Allen — wait until you get a load of the hippies in a few years!

Betty’s Banana Loaf… Not Likely!

18 Tuesday Oct 2011

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Here’s a interesting item I found on eBay. Someone was selling a beat-up plain wood recipe box with this recipe card inside it. Bidding started at $50 and there were no takers. I love how people think their junk is worth a ton!

Anyway. I digress… The rare “Betty White recipes” (I’ve only seen one other example – for “Chicken Wings Pacifica”) are amusing, as Betty is a self-admitted klutz in the kitchen. And was the public really to believe she cared what brand of flour she allegedly used? I wonder if there were other variations of this card?

I would date it at about 1954. All in all, an interesting piece.

And Our First Item Is… The Marriage Certificate

18 Tuesday Oct 2011

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Fittingly, we’ll start with the marriage certificate. Betty and Allen were married in Las Vegas at the Sands on Friday, June 14, 1963. The judge, David Zenoff, is the same one that married Allen’s BFF, Grant Tinker, to wife Mary Tyler Moore. Betty’s parents served as the witnesses.

Please observe:

  • Betty’s father, Horace White, had a signature that was quite similar to that of his daughter.
  • See the address written at the top? That’s likely Allen’s mailing address at the time; though the newlyweds and family would move into a different home within two months of the marriage.