In a year Miss Sinclair's face has been displayed in 35 TV roles, mostly in costumes which concealed her pretty legs and she also has become the first TV star to be created by television's own dramas.
A hazel-eyed beauty from San Diego, California, Miss Mary Sinclair went from modeling to simmer stock and in 1946 married Broadway producer George Abott. Now 28 (june 1951 - my annotation), she read herself into stardom by reciting a single line. It was so impressive that the CBS, hopeful that TV - like Hollywood - could create its own stars, signed her to an exclusive seven-year contract.
On three successive nights recently, she was seen in three different roles - a murderous chanteuse, a venomous flapper and a sexy virago on a rampage in the South Seas. She dominated the air so completely that one columnist procleaimed it "unofficial Mary Sinclair week". CBS also proclaimed its experiment a success and had gone to sign other stars to long term contracts.
Bemused as much by the number of men she must kiss in TV ("I average two strangers a week") as by her dizzying variety of roles ("I feel I haven't known anyone named Mary Sinclair for months now"), she finds it impossible to sleep for two nights before a telecast. Sometimes she relieves the tension by taking milk baths, sometimes by dancing in bare feet on her dining room table. In any event, the tension relieves itself and Mary finds herself dissolving in happy tears once the performance is over.
Lucky charm, a bracelet which she can't show in TV costume plays, is hidden in garter before Mary Sinclair goes on air.
A weird diet of mashed potatoes and gravy, with a Coke to wash it down is all Mary Sinclair's queasy stomach can manage on the day of the telecast.
Blowing lines under strain of hectic TV rehearsal, Mary steels herself before trying again. She rehearsed one play, performed another on the same day.
Congratulations on portrayal of a belle of the lively '20s are offered to Mary after the video show by authro Anita Loos, who was a commentator.
Tearing up costume, then refitting it helps Mary relax her strained nerves when things go wrong at rehearsal. She once ran her own dress shop.
Catching a cat nap on a hard cot improvised from studio chairs, Mary snoozes under sympathetic eye of TV co-star, Broadway actress Julie Harris.
Bursting into tears just after her performance ends, Mary sobs in a prop bed and is comforted by director. She was laughing a mometn later.
Pre-show fitting is checked by Maria Riva, who formely was Mary Sinclair's drama coach and now is her friend. Miss Riva, daughter of Marlene Dietrich, also was signed recently to a seven-year contract for CBS TV plays.
After-show hug cheers Mary. Mary and Maria realize on of the great hazards of their busy video careers is that audiences may tire of them. Maria thinks varied hairdos may avert trouble. Mary is too busy to worry about it.
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photos and documentation: LIFE Magazine (US) | Zetu Harrys collection
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