Date: Thu 02-Jan-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

Dagmar-Sadler-TV-Star

Full Text:

TV "Figure" Of The 50s: Dagmar Slept Here

BY DOROTHY EVANS

How much of a television addict are you?

Flash back in time through the constellation of late night talk show stars and

ask yourself what names come to mind.

Certainly Jay Leno, David Letterman and Johnny Carson. Maybe Jack Paar, Steve

Allen and Jonathan Winters.

But are you old enough (over 50) to remember Jerry Lester, Morey Amsterdam and

Dagmar?

Surely, you remember Dagmar. How could you forget her?

She was the original busty blond who was a "regular" on Jerry Lester's talk

show Broadway Open House , the popular female guest who continually stole the

show with her spaced out one-liners and hourglass stage presence.

Dagmar was a popular personality from television's earliest days who cast her

curvaceous shadow across those first, practically prehistoric eight-inch

television screens. She was a pioneer personality, possibly the precursor for

a whole chorus line of statuesque blondes that followed her in television and

on the movie screen, stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield and Dolly

Parton.

Dagmar ruled the medium in the late '40s and the early '50s. She was talk show

Queen and variety show host (remember "Dagmar's Canteen?") and, later on, was

a frequent sidekick of Rat Packers Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr, and Frank

Sinatra.

Unlikely as it may seem, the notorious and glamorous Dagmar was at one time a

Newtown resident.

Weekend Home

For a number of years, Dagmar, aka Jennie Lewis or Virginia Ruth Egnor, at one

time the wife of band leader Danny Dayton and a musician named Hinds,

maintained apartment residences in California and New York.

She also owned a summer home in Newtown at 12 Valley Field Road, off Walnut

Tree Hill.

"These were all summer places around here, where New York people came up for

weekends," said Pat Sadler, who has lived for the past 26 years with her

husband, Bob Sadler, in the rambling white home that is tucked at the end of a

tree-lined drive.

The Sadlers bought their home from Dagmar in 1971. By that time, Mrs Sadler

recalled, the performer had fallen into ill health and possibly hard times,

because she had closed her other residences and consolidated all her worldly

possessions in various rooms in the Valley Field Road home, as well as in the

antique barn standing nearby.

"The property was supposed to have been sold to us `broom clean' and ready for

occupancy," Mrs Sadler said of the real estate transaction.

"But we found huge amounts of Dagmar's discarded possessions after we moved

in. We couldn't even get into some of the rooms because there was so much

stuff," she recalled.

The Sadlers gave away or disposed of most of it, but Mrs Sadler did save a few

of Dagmar's prized hats, top-quality Stetsons that the star had used on her

television shows.

"I do know that she lived here off and on for a good number of years, having

bought the place from previous owner House Jameson. He was a radio soap opera

star from the 1940s," Mrs Sadler added.

Dagmar's Dentist Remembers

Though Dagmar was a bona fide resident of Newtown, she didn't spend a lot of

time mixing with local residents. Yet, there are those who remember her.

One of these is Newtown dentist Richard Goodman, who recently spoke of his

once-famous patient from his Main Street office.

Dr Goodman had seen Dagmar for several visits during the mid or late-1960s, he

thought.

"She was a big-time star. Very theatrical," Dr Goodman said.

"Once we got talking and I asked her if she had any pictures around from when

she was on TV. She gave me one that was autographed with a nice message, but I

can't find it now," he said regretfully.

Another longtime Newtown resident who remembers Dagmar is Booth Library

curator Caroline Stokes.

"Dagmar was really a very nice person, and she did things for the town,

benefits and such," Mrs Stokes recalled, adding, "We went to the same

hairdresser."

A third longtime resident, who prefers to remain nameless, has said he

remembers seeing Dagmar shopping at Grand Union.

"We used to stand behind the aisle and pray she'd lean over to pick up

something from the bottom shelf," he said with glee.

"I saw her a few times. She was a very glamorous type person," said Old Green

Road round-the-corner neighbor Doris Dickinson.

Sarah Mannix said she never really met Dagmar but knew of her.

"I used to see her pictures in the paper. It seems to me that something

finally happened to her, though," she said.

What Ever Happened To Dagmar?

Like many of the once rich and famous, Dagmar seems to have faded into

obscurity. Newtown residents who remember her like to think she is enjoying

her retirement elsewhere, but after leaving in 1971, no one seems to know what

happened to her.

Rumor has it she was headed for Southbury.

A call to Dagmar's Fabric Shop on Southford Road in Southbury, as listed in

the 1997-98 Waterbury phone book, yielded no results other than that the

present owner, also named Dagmar, had gotten lots of other calls over the

years asking if she were, indeed, The One.

Another rumor passed to the effect that Dagmar was last seen performing 20

years ago in local theatre-in-the-round productions in Waterbury.

The fact is, no one really knows.

There is no record of where Dagmar came from (though some said it was the

Midwest) and certainly no one seems to know where she has gone.

But for a brief while, she brightened the TV screens and raised a few eyebrows

while entertaining America's first late-night TV addicts.

And a few Newtowners still remember back to when she spent time in this quiet

place, doing what most residents do -- going to the dentist, having her hair

done and shopping for groceries. Perhaps living what is known as "a normal

life" for at least a little while.