Eddie Fisher - Outside of Heaven

Eddie Fisher was a huge star in the US in the 50s. He sold the most singles of any artist for the first half of the decade and his Billboard figures are amazing: in that decade he had 25 top tens, 14 top twenties, 10 top forties, and another 9 in the top 100. (For the pedants: I can't be sure which of the three pre-1958 Billboard charts - record sales, jukebox plays and radio play - these figures refer to. As much as I am tempted to go through a decade's worth of results I don't think I should let myself). Fisher was also a hit on TV with Coke Time with Eddie Fisher ('53-'57) and then The Eddie Fisher Show ('57-'59).

 

If the Daily Mail online had existed in 1953 Eddie Fisher would have been all over the gossip sidebar like a bad case of scabies. Fisher's first wife was wholesome darling Debbie Reynolds, with whom he had daughter Carrie Fisher. After four years of marriage Fisher left Reynolds to marry cinematic legend and serial monogamist  Elizabeth Taylor. This was a showbiz scandal of such size that there isn't anything truly comparable in recent times. I suppose the Brangelina case has similarities but that seems small fry in comparison, both because of tame nature of celebrity in the 50s, and a few circumstances which made the whole thing a hell of a lot worse.

Prior to Fisher, Taylor was married to producer film Michael Todd. Eddie Fisher happened to be Todd's best friend - take a look at this photo of both couples double-dating. What a picture of marital bliss! Michael Todd was tragically killed in a plane crash in 1958, however his grieving widow was soon documented spending late nights in bars with Eddie Fisher. Of course, nothing untoward was going on, they were merely providing solace for one another. Or so the official line went for a while. But the truth eventually surfaced. Liz released a statement: they were together, and what's more the relationship of Eddie and Debbie, which the nation have observed from its first kiss through to marriage and children, was not what it had seemed: "Eddie is not in love with Debbie and never has been. . .You can’t break up a happy marriage". Eddie concurred. Debbie didn't: "It seems unbelievable to say that you can live happily with a man and not know that he doesn’t love you. That, as God is my witness, is the truth....I now realise when you are deeply in love how blind you can be". Jeepers, poor Debbie Reynolds. The ensuing media frenzy saw all parties forensically analysed, blame cast and defences argued. Fisher and Taylor were married in May 1959, just over a year after Todd's death. 

Taylor may have been temporarily vilified by the press and public, but in the long run it consolidated her image as sultry, desirable, and dangerous, which was key in fueling her contemporary screen success and ongoing legend. She was nominated for Oscars throughout the scandal; in '58 (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), '59 (Suddenly, Last Summer), and in '60 for BUtterfield 8 when she won the award for best actress. Watch that trailer and you'll see exactly why Taylor's success wasn't damaged by the scandal - her performances in films such as BUtterfield 8 possess an extra dimension of realism that exhilarated audiences. And yes, that is Eddie Fisher himself acting alongside Liz. They both hated the film because of its resonance with the scandal and it was only made to fulfill Taylor's studio contract.

In contrast, Fisher's career hit a low. His show was cancelled by NBC in '59 and the following year RCA dropped him from their label. He continued recording sporadically and did chart again, but not in the top 40. And what of his marriage to Taylor, the cause of his lost success? Two words: Richard Burton. Fisher and Taylor's marriage was over by '64. Well Eddie, if you're gonna play with fire....A nice note to end this discussion on comes from Carrie Fisher who, on reading some of the more lurid details in her father's autobiography, is said to have stated "That's it. I'm having my DNA fumigated".

Now reader, do not be too alarmed at my woeful neglect of the matter at hand thus far, I am quite aware that the UK's fourth number one single Outside of Heaven requires my attention. I started writing this when I was under the impression that this was a very boring song and therefore thought I would write about something infinitely more interesting. I am still partly of this opinion. The song is, frankly, a bit naff. It's nice enough, a merry tune to whistle and, once again, I'm sure would make a lovely slow dance. A perfectly inoffensive piece of easy listening if ever there was one. However I have come to realise that though the song might not be that fascinating musically it is interesting in another way: just how terribly sad it is. As a whole the song is pretty unemotional, however its subject and lyrics are painfully miserable, something I didn't even notice this until I had listened quite a few times. There are innumerable songs about lost loves, but very few of them present the issue with the harsh finality that most people experience: so often is the listener left a scrap of hope, that one day the love might return, or quite commonly the lost love is revived after the instrumental solo. But not in Outside of Heaven. Here the woman you love leaves you and doesn't return. The woman you love gets married to someone else, and though you wish her well you really want to cry out in the church. And every time you pass her house you cry again feeling that you will forever be alone.

So whilst I don't really care much for the song itself, I do think it is to be admired for its somewhat brutal presentation of love. To hell with romance. Do an Eddie Fisher and start shagging your dead mate's wife.

When: 30th January 1953
How long: 1 week