ALL THAT AND A HOTEL, TOO

Last fall, Steve came with me to LA for a class I was taking. I made the airline reservations. I always make the reservations. But for the first time, this time I noticed some hotels pop up along with my flight options. It’s probably happened every time I’ve made our reservations, I’m guessing. But this time I noticed because one of the hotel names caught my eye: Beverly Garland’s Holiday Inn. The Beverly Garland? I used to love Beverly Garland! She has a hotel? How odd, and how cool.

She's so cool

In case you don’t know (I didn’t), Beverly Garland played the lead in the first TV police series starring a female cop (in her show Decoy), she was among the first actresses to star in her own TV drama, and she was also one of the first actresses to star in both movies and TV. Man, this gal got around! (I thought that was a new phenomenon—you know, all those people like Glenn Close and John Goodman and James Woods going from movies to TV and back again. Nope, looks like Bev pioneered that one way back when.) I learned all that info on the TV in our hotel room at Beverly’s Holiday Inn—which of course we stayed at--where one entire channel is dedicated to running a general but interesting biography of her.

But really, I grew to know and love Beverly Garland through My Three Sons.

My Three Sons  The First Family

My Three Sons  The Second Family

I just loved My Three Sons. I loved Steve (played very lovably by Fred MacMurray) and Uncle Charley and Robbie and Chip and Ernie. Even Tramp (the dog). I don’t remember it very well before that, when Tim Considine played the eldest of the Three Sons. After the first few seasons, though, he left the show, leaving a sticky wicket for the producers. Hello—my THREE sons!! But crafty heads prevailed, and Tim Considine was replaced via a clever plot twist that resulted in widower MacMurray adopting one of Chip’s friends just as eldest son Tim Considine left home to do something or other that would not involve him being a son any more--thereby avoiding the need to change the name of the show to "My Two Sons."

My Three Sons The Final Family

Anyway, later on in the series, after Robbie grew up and became Rob and got married to Katie (played by Tina Cole, who in real life is married to Beverly Garland’s stepson--and was a member of the King Family singers, if you can follow all that), I’m guessing they could kind of see that it didn’t make sense for a cool, eligible bachelor like Steve to still be single after all those years. So he started dating, and voila, enter Barbara (Beverly Garland), the classiest and nicest and most fun gal a man could ask for. She very soon became Mrs. Steve. And another year or three of the show was born.

And a fan was born, too! (That would be me.) After My Three Sons had run its course, Beverly remained a fixture on TV, usually playing a mother or mother-in-law or sometimes just a mother figure in many shows. I bet you’ve watched her and don’t even know it. Remember Scarecrow and Mrs. King? If you don’t, I’ll refresh you. It had the perfectly reasonable premise of a divorced single suburban mom (Kate Jackson, post Charlie’s Angels) accidentally becoming a suburban mom turned spy partner to the very hunky Bruce Boxleitner (code name: Scarecrow).

The perfect 80's hunk

He was an absolutely adorable hunk in my opinion. But that opinion was dashed on the rocks when he later married Melissa Gilbert. Not because that meant that he was off the market, but because—well, Melissa Gilbert? Really? He came down a few pegs in my book, after that one, I have to admit. I mean, I’m sure Melissa is a fine gal, I hear she’s even the head of the actors’ union or something. But a match for Bruce Boxleitner she ain’t. I wish he had consulted me; I would have come up with a better match for him. And no, it would not have been me. Perhaps Beverly Garland would have been a better fit!  (And by the way: the two are now split up.  Enough said.  Once again, just my humble, but always correct, opinion.)

Still cool and cute in the 80's

Beverly played Mrs. King’s live-in mother. Who, despite the fact that she lived in the same house as Mrs. King, never had a clue dear daughter was anything other than a single, divorced suburban mom. She went about her business, hanging out in the house with her daughter (international spy), babysitting her grandkids, and never knew anything was up. She was always entering the room just as the bad guy leapt out the window, or just after a bullet had flown through the kitchen (“Dear, did you leave something on the stove?  There's a burning smell …”), or pulling up just as a car disappeared around the corner, tires squealing, guns blazing ("Boys!  Would you turn that TV down!  Honestly, those cops and robbers shows are so ridiculous.") And yet, class act that she was, she always came off as smart and on the ball. Now that’s talent! It was one of those great shows that flourished in the early 80s, along with Hart to Hart, Murder, She Wrote, Remington Steele, and about a zillion others, that were like comic books come to life: ordinary people becoming involved in madcap capers and international intrigue, complete with real guns and, usually, love. And lots of good-looking, but fun, people. Wearing great clothes.  I loved them all.

And just as a little aside, here, I recall Boxleitner was Scarecrow, but I don’t recall Kate Jackson having a code name. Just Mrs. King. Amanda. I wonder why? Is it my faulty memory, or was it that she just didn’t have one?

But really, who cares?

Beverly Garland’s TV career didn’t end with Scarecrow and Mrs. King. No, ma’am. No, sir. In fact, she played mom to Lois Lane (Teri Hatcher) in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (Superman: the role that Dean Cain was born to play!  And the one that made him a household name. He was so great!  Too bad that was his last--his only--big hurrah.  So sad.)

Born to be Superman!

 Mom to Laura Holt (Stephanie Zimbalist) in Remington Steele (perhaps your first introduction to Pierce Brosnan?).  And even a stepmom, I think it was, on 7th Heaven. And my own mom remembers her well from the 50’s/60’s shows Pantomime Quiz and Stump the Stars. That’s a lot of mom-dom!

So that's it for my little tribute to Beverly Garland:  down-to-earth, gorgeous, fun, talented, adaptable, smart, girl next door, and glamour girl, all rolled into one.  And let's not forget hotelier!   Wow.

And oh yeah, the hotel was pretty neat, too! So if you’re looking for a hotel near Hollywood and want to be reminded of the old hey days of TV and movies, I suggest the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn. You gotta love Beverly.

The Beverly Garland Holiday Inn

And I’ll even give you a review of her hotel soon.