Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin:
The Honeymoon is Over!
This article, written by Chris Alexander, appeared in TV Mirror Magazine July 1962
"It's funny," Sandra Dee Darin admitted, "but I
thought the minute I saw the baby I would love him
and feel like a mother. And I didn't. The first time they
brought him in to me, I loved the baby. But I didn't
love this baby. I would have loved any baby they
brought in, because I didn't know him yet. It was like
I loved him more inside, because I carried him for so
long. Then when they showed him to me, it was very
hard to associate this with the baby I'd carried.
"So I didn't love Dodd Mitchell like a mother the
first time. It was about the third or fourth time I saw
him that I started to love him. Because by then I knew
what was coming. I knew the face that was going to
come down the hall, and I knew the little body. . . .
"You should have seen me the day I took the baby
home from the hospital. I told Bobby, 'Send the nurse
home.' He said, 'What?' I said, 'Send her home. I'm
taking care of the baby myself.' So I had him send the
nurse home and the maid, too—-although the maid
came back the next day to help with the cleaning.
"So there were three people in the house when we
entered—-the baby, Bobby and me. I put the baby down
and we were watching him like proud parents and, all
of a sudden, he starts crying. He was hungry. Well,
the nurse had made the formula before she left, so I
just got the bottle out and—-I can't figure out how to
put the nipple on! I'm a mother now, taking care of
my own child, and I can't figure out how to put the
nipple on the bottle.
"So I'm only home about an hour, and I'm on the
phone with my mother.
'Mother, come quickly, I don't know
how to put the nipple on the bottle!'
And she had to come over.
"By the time she arrived, I had the
nipple on, all right, but backwards, so
that it was too loose. The nipple was
rolling all around, and my baby was
getting a milk bath!
"But the funny part is this: My
mother came over and I said, 'Is this
the way the nipple goes?' And she said,
'Yes, I think so.' And we fed the baby
like that. You see, I wasn't a bottle-
fed baby, so how did she know how to
put a nipple on? The next day we were
sterilizing the bottle and reading the
directions, and suddenly I said, 'Mom
—the nipple's on wrong!' We were both
surprised."
She shook her head, "I don't know.
I look at our little boy now and I don't
know how I had the nerve—-I'd never
diapered a baby before in my life, or
even held one in my arms. And yet I
wouldn't let the nurse near him. But
when his formula wouldn't agree with
him and he had colic for a week, I
naturally called the doctor down every
day while he was sick, but I simply
wouldn't call the nurse. I had more
nerve! When I think about it now, it
frightens me."
Sandra admitted that Bobby had been
a terrific help during that first month.
"There are some people that are born
to be fathers," she beamed. "Bobby's
one. He just loves kids—-any kid. When
I brought the baby home, he used to
take over the night feedings, when he
wasn't working, and he'd even diaper
the baby. I woke up one morning terribly sleepy, and I looked and didn't
see my husband in bed. We have a
gigantic bed, you know, so I had to
sit up and look around, and all of a
sudden I saw him sleeping with the
baby in his arm and the bottle in the
baby's mouth. He is drinking his milk,
and my husband's sleeping.
For laughing out loud
"You know, the baby looks so much
like Bobby. There is nothing of me in
the baby at all. In his face, in his hair,
in his build, he's a miniature Bobby.
In fact, I sit in the audience at night
during Bobby's show, and I'll start to
laugh hysterically sometimes. And nobody knows why. They all know who
I am, and they look and wonder what's
so funny. I mean, he'll be doing a
ballad, and I can look at Bobby and
see the little baby's expressions on his
face. And I sit at the table laughing
all through 'I'm a Fool to Want You.'
"At first, I didn't want the nurse at
all. I was afraid the baby wouldn't
know its mother if somebody else took
care of it. But now I realize how really
lucky I am. Because now, when I take
that baby, it's only because I want to.
It's a real pleasure—-it's not a job anymore. By the end of that first month,
I was taking care of him alone, when
he'd wake up crying for his bottle, I
couldn't wait to give it to him and have
him go back to sleep, because I was
so tired. I wasn't seeing enough of
Bobby, either. The minute he'd come
home from work, the baby would start
to cry for his bottle, and Bobby would
have to eat dinner alone while I fed
the baby. Now I want to see the baby
awake, and I want to play with it.
"On the other hand," Sandra added,
"if I hadn't taken care of the baby
by myself that first month, I wouldn't
have the self-confidence to turn it over
to the nurse now. Because if I felt I
couldn't take care of the baby as well
as the nurse, I wouldn't feel happy.
"As it is, I've gone through sickness
with the little baby, and I've taken
care of it myself, and now you should
see me carry him! I'm so casual I
carry him slung over my shoulder!
The movie-star mother
"You should have seen the sight the
other day. I was doing fittings for my
new picture, If a Man Answers, and
I had to go to Jean Louis' for them.
Well, in this picture, I have thirty-two
of the most gorgeous outfits you ever
saw. Ostrich feather dresses and mink
lined coats, and one dress is solid gold
—-well, all gold beads. Anyway, I'm
standing there with the four fitters and
Jean Louis, and I'm in this beautiful
dress and they're pinning me up, and
on the couch is my son. He's lying there
with his bottle.
"So there's "the movie star, getting
herself fitted and pinned up and all,
and all of a sudden you hear me shout:
'Hold it, folks! The baby's bottle fell
out!' And I run over to the couch and
put the bottle back in his mouth. Then
the fitting continues.
"The baby's going to come to the
studio with me, every day," she said
determinedly. "I have a dressing room
bungalow with four rooms, and I'm going to have them bring him in every day
about noon. And he'll stay with me the
rest of the afternoon. I have a little
porch, and I'll put him out on the porch
in the sun when I have to work, and the
nurse will be there with him. Then I
can see him all the time between scenes.
He's a very good baby and I know it'll
work out fine."
The baby has already attended his
father's rehearsals. "You see, he loves
music!" she said proudly. "He's crazy
about it. The day we brought him home
from the hospital, whenever he'd start
to cry, Bobby would play the guitar for
him and he'd stop immediately. So
when the band would come over to the
house to rehearse with Bobby, I'd wheel
the baby into the rehearsal room to
listen. When the band was playing, my
boy would sleep. But the minute the
band stopped, he'd start to cry until
the music came on again.
"In fact, now he lies in his crib and
listens to a little radio of his own—-
it's shaped like a baseball. At night we
hang it up in the crib and he listens
to it for hours. Why, he even knows the
Top Ten! He can tell his father which
is going to be a hit and which will be
a miss. When he starts to cry, that
record is out.
"But he's not impressed by his
father's records—-I tell you!" she
laughed. "So far, his favorite record
has been 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight.'
When the high part comes on, he starts
to smile. The doctor saw him and didn't
believe it!
"When he grows up, I'd like him to
go to military school," Sandra went on
with a smile, "because the uniform's
so cute. But Bobby says, 'The boy is
going to a public school, and he's going
to play in the street like every other
boy, and he's going to get hit on the
fanny.' I keep saying, 'Military school,'
and Bobby keeps saying, 'Public!'
"And then Bobby says, 'I grew up in
a public school, and I didn't do so bad!'
And I say, 'But I grew up in a private
school, and I didn't do so bad, either!'
But, you know, I think his father's going
to win out."
Would Sandra object if Dodd wanted
to go into show business?
"No," she said firmly. "I'm happy in
it and Bobby's happy in it, and if this
is going to make the baby happy, fine.
You know, there's nothing about this
business that I regret. It's not done anything to me that I'm ashamed of, or
that I wouldn't want the baby to know.
It's brought me nothing but happiness
so far—-knock wood!" And she rapped
on the table.
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