Fred MacMurray: Mad at a Nickel, Cause It’s Not a Dime?

[Sgt. Saunders]

I remember reading an article about parsimonious actors in Hollywood in “The National Enquirer” a number of years ago. In the article, it stated that on the set of “My Three Sons,” the television crew had coffee and donuts available for everyone to enjoy. They put a sign by the food, saying, “The coffee is free, but please pay ten cents for each donut you take.” Supposedly, Fred MacMurray took one of the donuts, broke it in half, and left a nickel for the half of a donut he actually ate.

Now, I realize that you cannot fully rely on everything printed in “The National Enquirer” as fact, but actor/comedian Bob Newhart provided another instance of Mr. MacMurray’s supposed stinginess in his autobiography, “I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This!:And Other Things That Strike Me As Funny.”

In the book, Mr. Newhart relates an incident involving his father-in-law, character actor Bill Quinn, who appeared as the bartender in “The Rifleman,” Oscar Madison’s cigarette-smoking doctor on “The Odd Couple,” and as a blind friend of Archie Bunker in “All in the Family,” among many other television appearances.

Mr. Quinn was working on a tv show with Fred MacMurray, which had to be completed on a Monday. Fred MacMurray related to Bill Quinn, that he had to call a plumber in to make an emergency repair in his home over the weekend, necessitating a double-time fee. Apparently, Mr. MacMurray was annoyed that he had to pay extra to the plumber for the emergency repair job, telling Mr. Quinn, “I tell you, Bill. We chose the wrong profession.” This coming from a man, who was one of the richest men in Hollywood, as a result of his extremely shrewd real estate investments in Southern California.

So, apparently, the frugal-minded Mr. MacMurray had “short arms,” he just did not like having to reach down into his pockets. What would the late, great Jack Benny have made of Mr. MacMurray’s alleged penny-pinching?

[GentlemanJim]

I don't doubt the story. But perhaps the motive might be a bit opaque? In times past I worked on a daily basis with people who counted their net worth in the hundreds of millions of dollars. And while they paid well, and gave really juicy annual bonuses, they could be humorously frugal in their day to day affairs, almost to the point of annoyance.

Insisting at 11 AM that everyone "pack up" for a business related field trip, and then offering to buy lunch by waltzing everyone into a grocery store deli....potato salad and cold cuts.....stuff like that.

I eventually concluded the behavior was a defense mechanism, where the wealthy often believe that everyone around them is trying to put a hand in their pocket.

So, Mr MacMurray's nickel might have been a matter of him making an editorial comment, pointed at the person charging for donuts? Just a random thought.

[PracTz]

According to Barry Livingston ('Ernie') it's true that the late Mr. MacMurray hated to part with monies. Evidently he had been a starving artist during the Depression and worked very hard to become rich and successful.

I do know that the late Bill ('Bub') Frawley once commented , "Fred MacMurray might be the cheapest man in Hollywood! I say 'might' to leave some legal doubt and I don't want to get sued. Nah, he'd never sue. He's too G__d____ cheap!"

[Sgt. Saunders]

GentlemanJim,

That former boss of yours buying everyone lunch at a deli is okay. Some bosses I’ve worked for would make everyone pay for their own lunch. Talk about “short arms”!

I read Richard Ben Cramer’s biography of the legendary Yankee Clipper, “Joe DiMaggio: The Hero’s Life.” In the book, Mr. Ben Cramer wrote that Joe D. Always expected to be paid for making a public appearance. One time, Joe D. was a guest at the White House and President George H.W. Bush asked him to autograph some baseballs for some of the local underprivileged kids present at the event. Well, Joe D. almost had an apoplectic fit in reaction to the president’s request and very begrudgingly autographed the baseballs for the kids.

I once heard the Hall of Fame pitcher “Bullet” Bob Feller criticize Joe D. For his miserliness on a tv interview. “What’s Joe D. going to do when he dies, arrange for a U-Haul to be hooked up to his hearse, so that they can bury all of his money with him?,” asked Bob Feller.

Another notorious skinflint was the revered Cary Grant; I think we’ve all heard the story that he would charge his fans, .25 cents for his autograph. On Turner Classic Movies, there was a terrific documentary on the making of “North/by/Northwest.” Eva Marie Saint and the late Martin Landau, two actors in that great Hitchcock film, provided the commentary.

Anyway, one of the film’s crew members recalled that they would all eat in a hotel restaurant, while they were filming in New York City, Chicago and at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. The man said that Cary Grant would come down to meet them for dinner every night, but Cary, with his trademark elegance, would get up and casually leave just BEFORE the check arrived. They noticed that the apparently parsimonious Mr. Grant would pull this every night during the filming of the movie and it became a running joke among the film crew.

I could go on about cheap-skate celebrities, but there’s a great thread on “Cheapest Celebrities Ever” over on www.datalounge.com. I will say that some of the most generous celebrity tippers are/were Tom Selleck, Kelly Clarkson, Rosie O’Donnell and the late Rush Limbaugh, who would routinely tip waiters and waitresses $1000.00 in NYC restaurants, The servers absolutely loved Rush Limbaugh, even if they did not agree with him politically.

As for myself, I always give a 20% tip to a server or even 30% if the service is outstanding and the server is genuinely pleasant.

As to Joe DiMaggio, Cary Grant, Scotty “No Tippin’” Pippen, Oprah Winfrey and Lauren Bacall, I say, “Bah humbug!”

[GentlemanJim]

I spent most of my life earning a good living. Because I knew I was making more than most of my friends, I derived enjoyment thru being able to be generous. Nothing huge, but also seldom asking everyone else to pitch in when going to buy beer....or taking a friend who was a little down on their luck, out to a nice restaurant, and then grabbing the check, stuff like that.
But, it did used to irk me whenever it appeared that people were trying to exploit that. And some times I looked for creative ways to express that I felt my kindness was being played as a weakness.

Which makes me think particularly about the donut story. Macmurray might very well have been thinking "I am the star here, I am the reason why this movie is gonna gross $100 million, and you want to nickel and dime me over a donut?"

As for my employer's fascination with grocery store delis, yeah you are right, nothing "wrong" with it. A free meal is afterall a free meal.

But the paradox was, that as an employer he otherwise was very generous, so the styro-food lunch was kind if a non sequitur for him....especially in consideration that he had cancelled all our lunches on short notice for "business".

We just used to joke "How do you think he got that rich in the first place"

[Sgt. Saunders]

Originally Posted by PracTz

According to Barry Livingston ('Ernie') it's true that the late Mr. MacMurray hated to part with monies. Evidently he had been a starving artist during the Depression and worked very hard to become rich and successful.

I do know that the late Bill ('Bub') Frawley once commented , "Fred MacMurray might be the cheapest man in Hollywood! I say 'might' to leave some legal doubt and I don't want to get sued. Nah, he'd never sue. He's too G__d____ cheap!"

Great story about the legendary William Frawley. I heard that he and Vivian Vance hardly got along, when they portrayed Fred and Ethel Mertz on “I Love Lucy.” Apparently, Ms. Vance thought that Mr. Frawley was way too old to portray her husband on the show.

[PracTz]

Originally Posted by Sgt. Saunders

Great story about the legendary William Frawley. I heard that he and Vivian Vance hardly got along, when they portrayed Fred and Ethel Mertz on “I Love Lucy.” Apparently, Ms. Vance thought that Mr. Frawley was way too old to portray her husband on the show.

Thanks! Although, Mr. Frawley never got comfortable with the 'shoot every single scene for a year in each room at once then edit them later' MacMurray System, it seems he DID overall value his time on 'M3S'. (and not even the MacMurray System could derail his flawless comic timing and glares). Most notably, the long-divorced, childless hard-drinking old man became his younger co-stars' surrogate grandfather (especially true of the Livingston Bros) and, after he failed his mandatory insurance physical, was very upset at having to leave the role and his de facto family. Although his health was already poor, I wouldn't be surprised if having to be forced out of that role and those bonds didn't wind up contributing to his death the next year!

BTW, according to Barry Livingston, Mr. Frawley wasn't as friendly to Mr. MacMurray off-camera as he was the boys but they stayed professionally cordial until Mr. Frawley's ouster. Of course, it turned out that he and Mr. Demerest had long loathed each other to the point that not only did this rule out Bub passing on the 'manny' torch to Uncle Charley on air (instead of Bub walking up an airplane's steps to fly to Ireland to help his ancient Aunt Katey celebrate her 104th birthday and NEVER return or even be referred to again after Uncle Charley inviting himself to Casa Douglas the next episode to visit Bub then wound up permanently living in Bub's old room) but Mr. Frawley made his objections so clear that they barred him from the set from that point on. However, it seems one factor that worked in Mr. Demerest's favor was that he WAS one of Fred MacMurray's besties and, oddly enough, Steve and Uncle Charley did have a warmer chemistry than he had had with Bub.

[Hazel Anyday]

I've seen at least 2 different films (one I'm sure of) where Fred & Demarest worked together before Sons was ever a reality. As for Frawley being barred I heard it was because after being fired he'd come back to the set to watch the series being filmed with Demarest and he'd be making comments out loud, "I'd never do the scene that way" and grousing how Demarest wasn't playing the scene right. That's when Bub got the ax and was barred from the studio.

I also agree Bub should never have been fired as he was still in fine enough form to continue. Though to be fair I have read that he would forget his lines a lot in the last year. And I also bet that Bub would have lived longer if he still had a TV series to go to each day.

As for he and Ethel not getting along, I read he couldn't stand her voice, esp. her singing as it was too loud and shrill. He really hated having to sing with her and her loud shrill in his ear. He didn't think she could sing at all and ruined their singing scenes.

[PracTz]

Originally Posted by Hazel Anyday

As for he and Ethel not getting along, I read he couldn't stand her voice, esp. her singing as it was too loud and shrill. He really hated having to sing with her and her loud shrill in his ear. He didn't think she could sing at all and ruined their singing scenes.

She also claimed he broke wind when their characters had to get close to each other. Mr. Frawley often recruited the Livingston Bros to help him do practical jokes on her during M3S- his fave dropping empty film cans when Viv would make her entrances 'The Lucy Show'. To Lucy's credit, though, if she ever got upset with his stunts delaying production, she didn't hold it against him. In fact, his very last acting gig was to appear in a cameo (after Viv was no longer a regular) carrying a broom in a stable to help retrieve a race horse for Lucy's pal the Countess with the live studio audience applauding his Mertz-like delivery while Lucy silently enjoyed sharing the stage with him again one last time before Lucy (in character) remarked 'He reminds me of someone I used to know!'. Coolest of all, she uniquely had him billed as 'Our Own Bill Frawley as The Trainer' !

[Duster76]

Originally Posted by Sgt. Saunders

Great story about the legendary William Frawley. I heard that he and Vivian Vance hardly got along, when they portrayed Fred and Ethel Mertz on “I Love Lucy.” Apparently, Ms. Vance thought that Mr. Frawley was way too old to portray her husband on the show.

It's a great credit to both that they were able to make Fred and Ethel a believable couple. On the surface it was an illogical coupling of stars, she was attractive, in her early 40's, while he was bald, potbellied, sagging skin grouch. I read a story that she was in a restaurant when she heard the news that Frawley had died, she bought everyone in the place a drink to celebrate the news. Arnaz wanted to create the first spinoff which would have featured Fred and Ethel, Frawley accepted she turned the offer down on the spot.

[Duster76]

Hazel Anyday Commented:

"I also agree Bub should never have been fired as he was still in fine enough form to continue. Though to be fair I have read that he would forget his lines a lot in the last year. And I also bet that Bub would have lived longer if he still had a TV series to go to each day".

You're not connecting the dots here, as PracTz pointed out the show filmed out of sequence, the MacMurray scenes were filmed first and the rest of the scenes for the episodes filmed at a later time as per the stipulations in MacMurray's contract. The production company was unable to get insurance on Frawley because of his declining health, he was in his late 70's, what were they going to do if Frawley suddenly keeled over and was unable to shoot the rest of the scenes needed to complete these episodes. Maybe they could have reworked some of the episodes but not all, it would have cost the network and the production company a great deal of money. It just wasn't worth it to them. It was easier to let him go and find a replacement. From the business standpoint it didn't hurt the series, it turned into one of the longest running sitcoms of all time.