There's More to Marlo

[Zoneboy]

Here's the problem with interviewing Marlo Thomas: She's so sharp and has such eclectic interests that it is hard to stay on topic. That topic: Her appearance in Arizona Theatre Company's production of Elaine May's comedy "George Is Dead," which opens in previews Saturday.

Thomas has written books (including the classic "Free to Be . . . You and Me" and the more recent best-seller "The Right Words at the Right Time"); she was an early mover and shaker in the women's movement; she was the power behind Take Your Daughter to Work Day; she was one of the first women to produce and star in her own television show, "That Girl," a hit that ran from 1966 to 1971.

And then there is her work with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the hospital that her late father, comedian Danny Thomas, founded. She is the international face of the hospital and works feverishly to raise money and awareness about its work with children with cancer.

Is it any wonder any conversation with her would be far- reaching?

We sat down to talk to Thomas at her Tucson hotel. Here's what she had to say about many things - even the ATC production:

Marlo Thomas on acting:

"I absolutely love being an actor. There is nothing more exciting than being on stage and hearing the audience laugh, and gasp, and hearing them be quiet. It's very exciting. . . .

"(When doing a play) every day, you are with the same group of people. And it's sort of like the Flying Wallendas - everybody is totally dependent on each other. . . .

"It's a bond between what's on stage and who's in the audience. I like to put the sound on in the dressing room when the audience is coming in. There's something very ancient about it. They did this in Rome, in Greece, the Indians did this around the fire. They would gather and sit down and tell their stories. And everybody is quiet and they let the story unfold. And they see themselves in the story. It's very touching to me, audiences, how open they are."

On doing comedy versus drama

"It's a lot of fun to hear laughter, and it makes you feel better afterwards. When you do a drama, I feel a little blue afterwards.

"I played a schizophrenic in 'Nobody's Child' (1985 TV movie for which she won an Emmy). It was a very hard movie to do. My husband (former talk-show host Phil Donahue) said he couldn't wait until the movie was over. I'd wake up in the middle of the night and go, 'Arghhhhh.' "

On producing the hit TV show "That Girl" (1966-71), in which she also starred

"I was a producer in my 20s; it was very rough going. Men really didn't want to listen to me or deal with me. They either wanted to make fun of me or go to bed with me, but they sure as heck didn't want me to be their boss. It was very hard. I had to be so focused so as not to let any of them undermine what I wanted. They would lie to me and not tell me things. It took a couple of years before they realized I meant business."

On writing books

" 'Right Words at the Right Time' (2002) was 106 famous Americans. The fan mail was different for that because people wrote in and said, 'I have a right word story,' and I thought, 'Wow.' So I said to my publisher, 'Why don't we do the second book on people who aren't famous?' That could be even more inspiring, I thought. So we ran a contest and asked people to write in. ... I loved the fact that we did those books. (The second was 'The Right Words at the Right Time: Your Turn!') ...

"I'm writing a new book now. It's called 'Growing Up Laughing'. . . . And it's the first one that's sort of a memoir. It is a memoir about how I grew up with a comedian father, and all the comedians I grew up with and how that influenced my life. . . ."

On St. Jude's

"I meet mothers and fathers that tell me they were in another very good hospital and they were told to take their child and photograph him because he's only got 6 months left to live. I met a father who told me just recently that they were already making the funeral arrangements; his child had no chance.

"Then they came to St. Jude and we saved his life.

"Every child who comes in has a scientist and a doctor, so they are working on cases that are pretty much hopeless in other places. We continually customize the research for the child.

"If they have insurance, we are happy to take it, but my father made a promise that no child would ever be turned away if a family doesn't have the ability to pay. ... We provide their travel and their housing, and all the meals.

"It stokes my passion. You visit St. Jude and you meet a child that's going home - a child you met two years ago that came with a death sentence and now the parents are taking them home, and you'll understand what it means to make a difference."

And finally, on "George Is Dead"

"(Elaine May and I) have been friends a long time, and she called me and said, 'I've written a play I'd like you to read, and I think you'll just be great for it.' I read it and I didn't right away see myself in it. But I've grown to love this character. She's very sweet and very protected. She's married to a man, George, who is old money - the kind of person that we read about but we really don't know anyone like that. His family came over on the Mayflower and they built all the railroads or something like that. He's someone who never, ever thinks about money. There's probably nobody in the audience like that, and certainly there's nobody on the stage like that.

"He's just given her (his wife, whom Thomas plays) this wonderful life. So she's very protected and he's taken care of her in every single way - and now he's gone.

"It's about how she behaves. It's a lot about the rich and the poor. The other major character in the play was the daughter of a servant in my (character's) household - so there are these different classes of people and how those bonds are made. And it's very funny. . . .

"Everybody grows in the play, everybody realizes something new, and that, I think, is inspiring."


http://www.californiachronicle.com/a...s/yb/136594071