Jane Talks, Anecdotes...when our stories are not being told... What do we do when our stories are not being told?...Dance to the music of the living and dead, and you will find your way home. Jane Marsh

I was Mike Douglas’-of Philadelphia’s, Mike Douglas Show-Friday girl, as it were.

Joan Fontaine, the great lady of film, had been Mike’s weekly host and I was excited to have been invited and brought into the show as guest on Friday, and the final day, of Joan’s week with Mike.

We were acquainted only via reputation, so it was a delight to work with these big personalities the entire day, and we all enjoyed a joyous, upbeat, first name basis time together, while taping the show.

At the end of the taping, Joan very graciously asked me to join her and her driver, in her Rolls Royce, on a sojourn from Philadelphia back to New York-about a two hour trip, lengthened a bit, as we tripped along, due to it being dark. Amid our laughing and planning, Joan suddenly said, “Look, there’s a Howard Johnson’s. Let’s get double-decker ice cream cones”! So we pulled into the Howard Johnson’s parking lot, and the expressions on the on looking patrons, as the great cinema legend exited her Rolls Royce and reentered it again equipped with massive double-decker cones, indicated that their lives had been spiced up with good “story stuff” for a while.

A fun moment and a memorable trip, which sparked a beautiful rapport between Joan Fontaine and myself, during which I was a guest in her New York home for lunches and for Christmas parties, her guest for theater parties, fashion shows, pre film screenings, where I was introduced to wonderful screen stars, all caught up in an individual charisma, which had become the trademark of each one of these greats.

It was no surprise that Joan Fontaine was the great lady off stage just as she was on stage and screen. I am hugely and childishly honored to have been included into her world of friends and friendship.

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