“Mr Boynton” loves “Connie Brooks” — Then Leaves Her!

When “Our Miss Brooks” made the transition from radio to television, Eve Arden says there was no problem with the supply of scripts. She says they had a backlog which could easily be translated to the new visual medium.

But there was a problem with the cast.

At the time, Jeff Chandler, who played the role of Mr. Boynton–Connie Brooks’ timid love interest– was becoming a major movie star. Although, Ms. Arden says he was sentimental and hated to leave the show his time could stretch only so far.

Ms Arden tells also of an unexpected incident which occurred when she and Mr Chandler parted.

“One day after a radio taping of ‘Miss Brooks,’ Jeff Chandler took my hand and pulled me back into the studio as the others left. I looked at him questioningly, as Brooks {Arden’s husband] was outside waiting for me. Jeff had been seeing Annie Sheridan since he’d broken up with his wife. I was fond of both of them, and with my matchmaking tendencies, I’d been very happy for them.

“Only in pictures am I prepared for the unexpected, and when Jeff kept holding my hand and said that he had to tell me that he was very much in love with me, I’m sure I stood there with my mouth wide open. Maybe that’s why I was always the girlfriend of the heroine. I’m sure that heroines, even if they’re married, have hormones that quicken and react properly when told that someone is ‘in love’ with them. Not Evie the one-man-on-her-mind-at-a-time girl. I think I mumbled something about ‘not knowing what to say’ and left poor Jeff feeling foolish, but somehow we parted friends–why was it only in the movies that I said all those clever things?” ( from Three Phases of Eve: An Autobiography )

Hey, that’s what puts the “show” in “Show Business.”