The Hidden Hollywood TC

As a small boy, I was frequently in the care of my much loved ‘Mamaw’- and grandmother always kept boarders. One boarder was a Mr Don Varassey (spelling it as it sounds), and one day, Mr Varassey drove up in his new car, an MG TD (it could have been a TC). Well, Mr Varassey was employed by Karl’s Shoes. The owner of the chain stores, Karl had just married actress and MGM star, Debbie Reynolds. This had been her car. I remember it being a Maroon/Reddish shade, of somewhere between the ages of three and four I believe. I remember the family saying Miss Reynolds purchased the car from a friend, actor Peter Lawford, who brought it to the US in 1948/49 I believe.

“My grandparents Loiles and Bertha Henry resided on the 300 block of Geneva Street in Claremont, California. Perhaps Mr Varassey had it registered at that address? This would be around 1962-1964. Find out what year Debbie Reynolds married the Karl’s Shoes magnet and you’ll know. His business failed soon after and she lost everything.

“Mr Varassey was a bit deaf and used a hearing aid. His son was struck by a car soon after and became mentally challenged, as they say now. I don’t think he kept that car too long.

“With the MGM stars as owners, and Lawford then connected to both the Kennedys and the Las Vegas Rat Pack, as well as Marilyn Monroe, this little car is somewhere, and I’m sure her history is quite forgotten.

This letter was received by the MGOC from Scott Leslie Shaw of Rancho Cucamonga in California, in July ‘07. Intrigued by the mysteries of this elusive MG, perhaps hidden under dustsheets or perhaps being driven on the roads by a new owner entirely unaware of its golden Hollywood past, we started hunting for more information on the little red TC, favourite of celebrity myth.

The Forgotten Rat Packer

One of the legendary Rat Pack, brother-in-law to John F Kennedy and reportedly the last person to see Marilyn Monroe alive, actor and socialite Peter Lawford’s life was the stuff of Hollywood movies but his personal life brought him even more recognition. His films were successful, with a string of acclaimed productions to his name including ‘The White Cliffs of Dover’ (1944), ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ (1945) and ‘Good News’ (1947) among many others.

The British-born actor began his Hollywood career in the 1930s when he gained a contract position with MGM Studios. At that time Hollywood was infatuated with British heroes and war movies consequently Peter found his suave English qualities a boon for success. By an ironic twist of fate, Lawford had been exempted from joining the forces due to a serious childhood injury, and had to put his acting talents to work playing the part of many a wartime hero. In 1942 while Europe was still engaged in hideous conflict, Lawford starred in his first production, ‘A Yank at Eton’. The film was a smash hit, and his performance led to other star roles- ‘The White Cliffs of Dover’, ‘Son of Lassie’ and ‘Two Sisters from Boston’, among many others. His fan mail jumped to thousands of letters a week, and with stars Clark Gable and Jimmy Stewart off to war, Lawford was recognised as the MGM romantic lead. In 1947, Lawford received rave reviews for his role opposite Frank Sinatra in ‘It Happened in Brooklyn’, and during the late 1940s starred in many another hit movie, Rat Pack film or stage act. It was in the 1951 musical ‘Royal Wedding’ (or ‘Wedding Bells’, as it was dubbed in the UK) starring Fred Astaire and Jane Powell alongside Peter Lawford, that Lawford drove a red MG TC, a vehicle speculated to be his own car and possibly the very one described in Scott Shaw’s letter to the MGOC, later sold to Debbie Reynolds and thence to Mr Varassey.

Lawford’s personal life, meanwhile, received much attention. Through his first marriage in 1954 to Patricia Kennedy, sister of John F Kennedy, Lawford and the Rat Pack helped successfully campaign for the presidency of JFK and the Democratic Party. His reputation as a ladies’ man also gained him notoriety, and his supposed affairs include such golden Hollywood names as Ava Gardner, Lana Turner, Rita Hayworth, Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor. In May of 1962, it was Lawford that introduced Marilyn Monroe as she stepped out to sing ‘Happy Birthday, Mr President’ to Kennedy; and along with Robert Kennedy, he was the last to see Monroe on the day she died, August 5th 1962.

A destructive character, in his later years Peter Lawford resorted to drug abuse and alcoholism, and along with strained relationships (he married four times) and financial difficulties, he was under a great deal of stress. A falling star reduced to guest appearances on TV shows; the guilt-ridden Peter Lawford died from liver and kidney disease on Christmas Eve of 1984 at the age of 61. None of the Rat Pack attended his funeral, although a number of the Lawfords and Kennedys came.

Beauty and Bankruptcy on Broadway

Peter Lawford in Royal Wedding

An MGM star of the 1950s, Debbie Reynolds began her career by winning a Miss Burbank beauty pageant in 1948. After a couple of small-time movies, in 1952 she was cast opposite Gene Kelly in ‘Singin’ in the Rain’, and earned an Academy Award nomination for her performance in ‘The Unsinkable Molly Brown’ in 1964.

In 1956 Reynolds gave birth to Carrie Fisher, later of Star Wars fame, and Todd Fisher in 1958; shortly after which her marriage to Eddie Fisher began to fall apart. It was then that Mike Todd, Elizabeth Taylor’s husband and Eddie Fisher’s best friend, died in a plane crash. In comforting Elizabeth, her and Eddie fell in love, and Eddie and Debbie divorced in 1959.

Debbie’s star now waning, she worked Broadway and the nightclub circuit; eventually opening a hotel, casino and Hollywood memorabilia museum in Las Vegas. Her second marriage to millionaire businessman Harry Karl of Karl’s Shoes, the largest privately owned shoe chain of the time, lasted from 1960-1973. Only three hours after the announcement of their engagement, the surprise wedding took place in Beverley Hills, Reynolds looking more for a father for her children than a husband, but he not a success in either role. Karl started drinking and gambling away their fortune, and their relationship ended in divorce in 1973, with Reynolds claiming that he had spent all of her money. She married real estate developer Richard Hamlett in 1984, and together they opened a small Vegas hotel and casino. It was not a success, and Reynolds was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1997.

The Red TC

With such connections of legendary names of screen and politics surrounding it, those celebrities who may have travelled in it over the decades, and the joys, sorrows and betrayals it would undoubtedly have been witness to; it is a wonder the little Red TC has not been given more prominence in classic car circles, but appears to have faded into obscurity. Perhaps its past remains a mystery to its current owner, or perhaps the names on the registration documents will mean little- until now.

If anyone has any information on the whereabouts of the Hollywood-starring TC, please write or e-mail Richard Ladds, Editor of Enjoying MG. mgmagazine@mgownersclub.co.uk