# So, I was having brunch with Olivia de Havilland in Paris last week . . . **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 28, 2012, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-having-brunch-with-olivia-de-havilland-in-paris-last-week/623353 "2012-05-28T16:33:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Girl\_Next\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@Girl\_Next\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_Next_Door)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-having-brunch-with-olivia-de-havilland-in-paris-last-week/623353/81 "2012-06-02T01:57:17Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > OK, Lillian Gish gave me Olivia de Havilland’s address when I was writing my Jean Harlow book, and she was sweet enough to ask Irene Mayer Selznick to call me for an interview. Irene was a \*terrifying \*woman (and I am not easily terrified), but I kept in close touch with Lillian Gish till she died, and Livvie and I exchange cards and letters from time to time, so I mentioned I would be in Paris, and she e-mailed me (_Olivia de Havilland uses e-mail!!_) that she would love to have me drop by. I need a cigarette. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-having-brunch-with-olivia-de-havilland-in-paris-last-week/623353/82 "2012-06-02T22:24:25Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I waited till I got half a block away before jumping up and down and squealing “_omigod I just had lunch with Olivia de Havilland!_” Half a block,eh? I think you should be dubbed Iron-will Eve – they would have heard me in the stairwell. ---
**Author:** ![Stately\_Greek\_Automaton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@Stately\_Greek\_Automaton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stately_Greek_Automaton)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-having-brunch-with-olivia-de-havilland-in-paris-last-week/623353/83 "2012-06-03T02:13:05Z")
Wow, that’s pretty awesome. She is definitely a legend. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-having-brunch-with-olivia-de-havilland-in-paris-last-week/623353/84 "2012-06-03T02:38:18Z")
Wow. Just wow. I’m a big fan of Ms. de Havilland (and you, too, Eve) and am uber impressed with your coolness in the presence of such a grand lady. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-having-brunch-with-olivia-de-havilland-in-paris-last-week/623353/85 "2012-06-04T03:51:08Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > As for my vow to stick to my diet, it lasted about three minutes, and I wound up eating all the food in Paris. I finally had to leave, as there was _no food left for anyone else_. Oh, well, if I gained back five or ten pounds, so be it, it was worth every delicious bite. I bet you didn’t put on a pound … ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-having-brunch-with-olivia-de-havilland-in-paris-last-week/623353/86 "2012-06-04T13:24:30Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > I bet you didn’t put on a pound … I’ll find out at Weight Watchers tomorrow (I skipped a week when I got back) . . . ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-having-brunch-with-olivia-de-havilland-in-paris-last-week/623353/87 "2012-06-04T13:52:06Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > OK, Lillian Gish gave me Olivia de Havilland’s address when I was writing my Jean Harlow book, and she was sweet enough to ask Irene Mayer Selznick to call me for an interview. Irene was a \*terrifying \*woman (and I am not easily terrified), but I kept in close touch with Lillian Gish till she died, and Livvie and I exchange cards and letters from time to time, so I mentioned I would be in Paris, and she e-mailed me (_Olivia de Havilland uses e-mail!!_) that she would love to have me drop by. > > (She \*has \*a Gooch, by the way, a lovely young lady named Megan) By the way, **Eve** , may I just say that seeing posts like this simply re-inforces my initial delight in seeing you come back to the Boards a while ago. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-having-brunch-with-olivia-de-havilland-in-paris-last-week/623353/88 "2012-06-04T14:14:35Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > By the way, **Eve** , may I just say that seeing posts like this simply re-inforces my initial delight in seeing you come back to the Boards a while ago. 🙂 Whereas I suspect a lot of people are rolling their eyes and thinking up parody “Garbo and I were doing each other’s nails when Queen Elizabeth called and said she and Jesus Christ wanted me to come over and have tea with them and Bigfoot in honor of Napoleon’s bar mitzvah” threads . . . ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-having-brunch-with-olivia-de-havilland-in-paris-last-week/623353/89 "2012-06-04T14:36:45Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Whereas I suspect a lot of people are rolling their eyes and thinking up parody “Garbo and I were doing each other’s nails when Queen Elizabeth called and said she and Jesus Christ wanted me to come over and have tea with them and Bigfoot in honor of Napoleon’s bar mitzvah” threads . . . Now you’re just being silly. Everybody knows Napoleon’s bar mitzvah’s not 'til August. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-having-brunch-with-olivia-de-havilland-in-paris-last-week/623353/90 "2012-06-04T16:29:55Z")
Oh! I know I said I would shut the hell up about Olivia de Havilland already, but I just now remembered another cute story she told me. I mentioned her jitterbug number in _Thank Your Lucky Stars_: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Nwf5FSuE1Xs/hqdefault.jpg "Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwf5FSuE1Xs) She told me, “I was panicked, because George Tobias and Ida Lupino were both great jitterbuggers, and I was trained in _ballet_, I couldn’t do those new dances! So I went to LeRoy Prinz [the choreographer] and he said, ‘chew gum as enthusiastically as you can, and no one will look at your dancing.’ And that’s why I am chomping away at that gum for the whole number!” She was being modest, though, she matches George and Ida step for step. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2012, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-having-brunch-with-olivia-de-havilland-in-paris-last-week/623353/91 "2012-06-04T22:41:49Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Oh! I know I said I would shut the hell up about Olivia de Havilland already, but I just now remembered another cute story she told me. I mentioned her jitterbug number in _Thank Your Lucky Stars_: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwf5FSuE1Xs](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwf5FSuE1Xs) > > She told me, “I was panicked, because George Tobias and Ida Lupino were both great jitterbuggers, and I was trained in _ballet_, I couldn’t do those new dances! So I went to LeRoy Prinz [the choreographer] and he said, ‘chew gum as enthusiastically as you can, and no one will look at your dancing.’ And that’s why I am chomping away at that gum for the whole number!” > > She was being modest, though, she matches George and Ida step for step. I love that movie - especially seeing Spike Jones and his City Slickers 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2012, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-having-brunch-with-olivia-de-havilland-in-paris-last-week/623353/92 "2012-06-06T12:44:11Z")
I thought this was some kind of cutesy fantasy thread, until I actually read the OP - when you go for lunch with Olivia de Havilland, you can talk about it as long as you damned well please. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-having-brunch-with-olivia-de-havilland-in-paris-last-week/623353/93 "2012-06-07T14:42:46Z")
“Edward Everett Horton”. That’s the narrator from _Rocky and Bullwinkle_, right? Okay, Wiki says he did some other stuff too. I’m not sure what is says about me that I only know him from a cartoon. Anyway, good for you **Eve**. Very cool post. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-having-brunch-with-olivia-de-havilland-in-paris-last-week/623353/94 "2012-06-07T16:37:38Z")
I don’t remember seeing Bigfoot at Napoleon’s Bar Mitzvah. Might it have been one of his nephews’ Bar Mitzvahs? ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-having-brunch-with-olivia-de-havilland-in-paris-last-week/623353/95 "2012-06-07T17:59:11Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Oh! I know I said I would shut the hell up about Olivia de Havilland already, but I just now remembered another cute story she told me. I mentioned her jitterbug number in _Thank Your Lucky Stars_: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwf5FSuE1Xs](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nwf5FSuE1Xs) > > She told me, “I was panicked, because George Tobias and Ida Lupino were both great jitterbuggers, and I was trained in _ballet_, I couldn’t do those new dances! So I went to LeRoy Prinz [the choreographer] and he said, ‘chew gum as enthusiastically as you can, and no one will look at your dancing.’ And that’s why I am chomping away at that gum for the whole number!” > > She was being modest, though, she matches George and Ida step for step. Not to turn this into a dry legal thread but did you ever discuss with Ms. de Havilland her lawsuit against Warner Brothers which resulted in [the De Havilland Law](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Law) and played a big role in undermining the studio system? Although it may not seem so in hindsight, taking on Warners and the big studios in the 1940s was a gutsy move that could’ve resulted in her being blacklisted from Hollywood. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-having-brunch-with-olivia-de-havilland-in-paris-last-week/623353/96 "2012-06-07T18:43:35Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > Not to turn this into a dry legal thread but did you ever discuss with Ms. de Havilland her lawsuit against Warner Brothers which resulted in [the De Havilland Law](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Law) and played a big role in undermining the studio system? Although it may not seem so in hindsight, taking on Warners and the big studios in the 1940s was a gutsy move that could’ve resulted in her being blacklisted from Hollywood. I did mention it briefly, because we were talking about John Gilbert’s contract troubles at MGM, and I added, “but that was years before you put your foot down at Warner Brothers.” Funny, even Olivia de Havilland thought John Gilbert’s “high voice” ended his career, so my book really will put paid to that myth (for the five or six people who read it . . .) ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-having-brunch-with-olivia-de-havilland-in-paris-last-week/623353/97 "2013-04-09T19:58:03Z")
I had to poke my head back in here just this once to right a wrong: I said that Miss De Havilland’s eyesight was compromised and had caused her to put a halt to her memoirs. I have heard from her that this is far from correct, and I must issue a _mea culpa_ and note that, in her own words, her eyesight is fine and “does not prevent my reading newspapers, correspondence, books, bills, etc., and working crossword puzzles. It also will not prevent me from continuing the writing of my autobiography as soon as I will have caught up with the vast amount of accumulated correspondence and other obligations which confront me. I count on you to set the record straight!” I am appalled that I misquoted her and hope to set this right–as a writer, I do not want misinformation being put out that is my fault! When I screw up, I want to set things right and not do one of those mealy-mouthed politician half-apologies, and I do hope you all–and Miss De Havilland!–will forgive me. And with that, adieu again. –Eve ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-having-brunch-with-olivia-de-havilland-in-paris-last-week/623353/98 "2013-04-09T21:53:49Z")
Eve, you are a class lady. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-having-brunch-with-olivia-de-havilland-in-paris-last-week/623353/99 "2013-04-09T22:05:14Z")
Does Miss De Havilland read the SDMB? How else could she have known what you said? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-having-brunch-with-olivia-de-havilland-in-paris-last-week/623353/100 "2013-04-09T22:08:47Z")
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