The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 113

BRNO IE KNfA3S rjOnrafl co DnanslbcairacQ Dy EDIE ADAMS KOVACS AS TOLD TO JOHN M. ROSS 4 ft three miserable days. And I spent most of that time on the transatlantic telephone, talking to Ernie. This wild episode had a happy ending, however. Shortly after I returned on September 12, 1954, to be exact we were married in Mexico City in a ceremony that was in keeping with the Kovacs flair.

Most brides can carry the beautiful words of the marriage rite encased in their memory book for the rest of their lives. But, not this girl! Our ceremony was in Spanish, which neither of us understood. For all I knew, the judge could have been sentencing us to the gallows. Only some elbow-nudging by former Ambassador Bill O'Dwyer, our host, which enabled us to respond with "Si" at the proper time, prevented the bit from becoming a comedy of errors. But in Spanish, or in any other language, I took title to a husband who is the complete antithesis of the strange and zany characters he plays before the cameras.

Gentle, kind and thoughtful, he's in love with his family and devoted to his home. There's one exception he's just as funny around the house as he is on-stage. He sees humor in almost everything, and he points it out and shares it with others. yy V(w ill. 0 Ik.

I I 3 Sometimes he'll spend weeks-searching for the perfect gag gift. Last year, I was shopping all over New York City for a leopard coat and I was unable to find exactly what I wanted. I mentioned this to Ernie in passing. The light bulb flashed in his mind. He thought it would be pretty funny to stroll into the house on my birthday with a real, live leopard on a leash and say: "Well, honey, I found a coat for you." For days this top-secret project occupied most of his time after all, he had no experience at renting leopards.

He finally located a leopard cub through the curator of the Bronx Zoo, and was about to buy it when the man warned: "I hope you don't have any children at home!" That stopped him in his tracks thank goodness. For most occasions, however, Ernie is strictly sentimental. And often it's overwhelming. Last year, on our third wedding anniversary, Ernie was in Hollywood making his first movie Columbia's Operation Mad Ball and I was playing Daisy Mae in Li'l Abner, on Broadway. It promised to be a lonely day but Ernie was 'way ahead of me.

He hired a Mexican trio long distance and dispatched them to my dressing room at the St. James Theater. They also brought along shallow vases of floating gardenias, of which I had become so fond during our Mexican honeymoon. And then they serenaded me with all our favorite tunes while I bawled. Ernie also waxes sentimental when he's on the receiving end of a gift.

On my abbreviated European jaunt, I bought him a pair of dueling pistols at the Paris Flea Market a little gag of my own. This gift was the start of his antique weapons collection, which now has expanded to the point where it threatens to turn our home into a museum. Ernie fusses over our apartment like a spirited beaver. I can't slip a new vase onto a corner table without him noticing and commenting on it. But gadgets are his passion.

He's wired our apartment with an intercom network. (Continued on pf 12) A wife's-eye view of the wacky wonder boy of TV and Hollywood Ernie kovacs is like one of those tricky, double-illusion pictures that conies in a box of candy or cereal. What you see depends on how you look at him. Meeting him for the first time on the television or movie screen, his strong features, smart-aleck manner, bold mustache and smoldering cigar might strike terror in a fair maiden's heart. With me, it's different.

My heart flutters when he walks into the room. I buy his cigars to make sure he's never without one. And on occasion I've even begged him not to shave off that mustache. But, that's love for you. I'm his wife! Of course there was a time when I tried to get away from this man by fleeing to another continent the climax to the biggest spat of our courtship days.

I told Ernie I wasn't sure about marriage and for my punch line I announced I was sailing for Europe. "Go ahead, go to Europe!" he bellowed, dramatically. "Go to Afghanistan or Hightstowh, New Jersey, if you like! Who cares?" But then he showed up at the boat loaded down with flowers, perfume, candy and all the standard peacemaking props. It was a little broad, but touching, too. My heart melted a little, and a big emotional scene followed right there in front of all my relatives.

But I clung to my plans for the trip. I figured it would be our Big Test. I found out quickly how much fonder absence can make the heart grow. Instead of staying in Europe six weeks, as planned, I remained three days Th Amaricin Wtakly July 20. 1958 10.