The great Deanna Durbin, star of many Universal Pictures and Anne Frank’s favorite actress. Deanna and I were quite close in the 1980’s.
Basically she would call me at the studio to ask when to expect her next royalty check but we would chat each time.
Soon, she would just call, wanting to talk. Even though she was on the other side of the world I think she liked talking with me even though I was young.
I think also that she realized I was the only person at the company who knew who the hell she was.
Deanna and I never, ever talked about the old days. In other words, I never asked about her career, only in terms of what Decca songs would she like to see on a compilation. Mostly we chatted about simple things.
Second, it was a thrill for me when she would call because the switchboard (if I wasn’t in my office) would chime in over the PA, “Steve Hoffman, Deanna Durbin is on the line.”
That gave me a real charge.. Even though she realized that I was the only person there who knew her films, she made it clear that she didn’t want to talk about them. But it was also obvious that she was glad that I knew about them. We didn’t speak of it but it was obvious..
She would always call in the early morning due to the time difference.. I miss her.
