- I really was very often
treated like a sex object.
(sultry jazz music)
One of the things the
publicity department
would do sometimes is
fix you up on a date
with somebody who
actually wanted arm candy.
(sultry jazz music)
- The studio would
ask contract players
to go out on pretend dates.
And every time your
picture was in a magazine,
they mentioned 20th Century
Fox, your next picture.
When you're in a contract
to a studio, they own you.
I think Rita and I, and most
of the girls then expected it.
- I was in my early twenties.
They said, "Go to this
cocktail party 'cause
there's gonna be a lot
of important people there
and this fellow that we're,
we'd like to fix you up
with is kind of well-known
and it might do you some good."
I thought, oh, okay, we'll
go to the cocktail party.
The host, the man who ran
a big whiskey distillery
comes over to me, he says,
"Come on, I'll introduce
you to people."
And he introduced
me to Harry Cohn,
the head of Columbia Studios.
A distinctly vulgar
and crude man.
And before I knew it,
he actually said to me,
"You know, I'd like
to (beep) you."
That may have been the
third time in my life
I heard that word used.
And what did I do?
I giggled like an idiot
and just backed away.
The host of the evening,
that Mr. Distillery,
Mr. Whiskey comes over
to me and he said,
"Why don't you dance with me?"
And I said, "Sure."
So we started to
dance and he began
to press against
me very, very hard.
And before I knew it, he
started to get a little bit
of sweat beads on his upper lip.
And he started to
breathe heavily.
And he was really, he
wasn't pressing against me,
he was grinding against me.
And he actually said,
"You're a sexy little
bitch, aren't you?"
And I went out into the garden
where I found the
Mexican gardeners,
'cause this was an
afternoon party,
tears again, started to
say, "I need your help.
I have to go home."
They didn't need an explanation.
They kinda knew.
And they put one of
their jackets on me
and took me home to my little
cottage in Culver City.
And those were the
first gentlemen
I had seen that whole afternoon.