My dad was an alcoholic from the get-go, from high school on. But he was like a drunk Jimmy Stewart. Sweet. There was never a nasty, mean bone in his body. He just had that disease and was the kindest, most loving man I had ever known. My mother became an alcoholic a few years later, and then my grandmother and I moved out to Hollywood to be with my mother. And we moved in the same building. She was down the hall, and Nanny and I had a one-room, pull-down-bed apartment right facing the lobby of the building. So I would see my mother. Her dreams were shattered. She never really made it. She did get to interview a few of the people. I remember that she had an interview with — she free-lanced for awhile — with Bob Hope, with Rita Hayworth, George Montgomery, people like that. But she never could hold down a job, and she was frustrated and she started drinking. But when she was sober, she was a lot of fun. She was beautiful, and my dad was handsome, and they made a gorgeous couple, and they were still friendly after the divorce. But I remember Mama coming down the hall, and Nanny and Mama and I would sit in this little kitchen, and Mama would play the ukulele and we would sing. She had a great ear for music and she could do harmony just — so I would take the lead, Nanny would do the third part harmony, and Mama would do the intricate stuff.