Brigid Bazlen

In 1958, Bazlen won the starring role in the children's program The Blue Fairy, broadcast by the independent station WGN-TV in Chicago on Monday nights (7.30 pm–8.00 pm). It was one of the earliest children's shows to be produced in color. The producer of the show had spotted Bazlen playing hopscotch outside of Bazlen's Chicago home and told Bazlen's mother that "your little girl is just right for my TV series".[3] In the show, the Blue Fairy, played by Bazlen, lived in the "Blue Forest." Dressed in a blue gown and diamond tiara, she also clasped a silver wand. At the beginning of each show, Bazlen, suspended by wires, would fly (as if on elfin wings) across the stage saying "I'm the Blue Fairy, I'll grant you a wish to make all your dreams come true." She would then sit on an oversized mushroom visited by creatures such as Tugnacious R. Jones, Myrtle Flower, and an old nasal voiced wizard (which were puppets designed by George Nelle and writer-director Don Kane), and introduced stories enacted by the Rufus Rose Marionettes. They also engaged in various projects which included constructing a popcorn machine that would not stop popping and making a sewing machine that turned out marbles. Bazlen won enormous critical praise for her performance (one critic describing it as "beguiling" and "mesmerising" and Hedda Hopper declared Bazlen "the Celtic Alice in Wonderland") and the show was recognised as the top children's program of 1958 winning a Peabody Award. Bazlen herself said of her role that she "flew around and had a wonderful time."[4] Although The Blue Fairy could only be seen locally in Chicago on Channel 9, the Peabody Award it won brought it and Bazlen to national attention. Furthermore, the show also inspired Ernie Kovacs into doing one of his notorious comedy sketches where Kovacs (wearing a mustache, chewing a cigar, dressed in a blue gown and blonde wig, and holding a silver wand) flew across a stage, slammed head first into a wall on the opposite side, and was then left dangling lifelessly (in mock fashion) in mid-air.

As a result of her performances in The Blue Fairy, offers poured in for Bazlen. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein wanted her to co-star with Mary Martin in the theatrical production of The Sound of Music, Otto Preminger wanted her for his upcoming production of Exodus, and Paddy Chayefsky wanted her for his Broadway play The Dybbuk of Woodlawn. Bazlen's mother, however, turned these down and instead allowed her to take a part in the NBC TV comedy drama Too Young to Go Steady. The series starred Joan Bennett, and Bazlen played her daughter Pamela Blake. Martin Huston, then 18, was cast as Johnny Blake.

Bazlen portrays Salome, seen here performing an erotic dance in order to incite King Herod with lust into giving her "anything [she] wants" – in other words, the head of John the Baptist.

Through her role in Too Young to Go Steady and because she was "precociously attractive" (as one critic put it[5]) in a very similar way to Elizabeth Taylor at the same age, Bazlen came to be dubbed "the next Elizabeth Taylor" and was signed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (who started promoting her as "the new American Bardot"). The first film she did for MGM was King of Kings, which also starred Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus. Bazlen played the role of Salome. Bazlen won the part when she met the film's producer, Samuel Bronston, at a party to which Bazlen's mother had taken her. Bazlen said of the offer, that "It was like [being spotted] all over again, for Mr Bronston offered me the Salome part straight away."[3] Nevertheless, Bazlen's performance as Salome came in for especially hostile criticism at the time, the ferocity of it being partly inspired by the fact that Bazlen's selection for the role was viewed as MGM dictated. Nevertheless, just as the film itself is now highly regarded[6][7][8][9] Bazlen's performance has likewise been re-evaluated down the years as being superb (her voluptuous seduction of a drunken lascivious Herod winning her especially rave reviews.[6][7][8][9]) Indeed, in her review for Rotten Tomatoes, Kimberly Heinrichs, states that: "This 1961 version of..[King of Kings]..gives historical context to the best-known Biblical tale and features many memorable moments, such as a moving Sermon on the Mount and a vixenish Salome [i.e. Bazlen] dancing for her stepfather in a performance that rivals today's MTV video offerings".[10] Hunter's performance as Jesus, especially in the Sermon on the Mount scene, has also won much acclaim, as have the performances of Robert Ryan as John the Baptist and Frank Thring as Herod Antipas – the film is included in Danny Peary's list of "must see" films in his book Guide for the Film Fanatic). In its review of the film, Film Fanatic states: "My favorite "Roman scene" shows the infamous Salome (played by Brigid Bazlen as a sexy teenage hussy) tempting her stepfather, King Herod (Thring), into decapitating John the Baptist (a shaggy-headed Robert Ryan) and bringing her his head on a platter; while this vignette may not be substantiated by biblical scholars, it plays well on the screen!". Accordingly, Bazlen's performance as Salome is regarded as her best performance.[11] Bazlen said of her role as Salome: "A fantastic amount of research went into King of Kings and it seems that Salome was in her teens when she demanded the head of John the Baptist. She may well be the first juvenile delinquent on record. Some people are surprised that I used no veils in my dance, but it is a false assumption that Salome did a strip tease. I had to form my seductive charming of Herod with a pure Oriental-African dance movement of the period."[3] According to Bazlen's daughter Marguerite, despite the unfair criticism Bazlen received at the time of the film's release, Bazlen was very proud of her performance.[11] Furthermore, shortly after making the film, Bazlen said that "I was a little overwhelmed to have such an important role for my first film part, but I found Nicholas Ray to be a most considerate director."[3]

Bazlen's next film for MGM was The Honeymoon Machine alongside Steve McQueen, Jim Hutton, and Paula Prentiss. Although the film was made after King of Kings, it was released before it, thus becoming Bazlen's first Hollywood movie to be shown. In The Honeymoon Machine, Bazlen stars as Julie Fitch, girlfriend of Lieutenant Fergie Howard (played by Steve McQueen) and daughter of Admiral Fitch (played by Dean Jagger). According to Christopher Sandford in his biography on Steve McQueen, Bazlen briefly became involved with McQueen while making The Honeymoon Machine, although McQueen fought "Bazlen nonstop" over issues relating to the film.[12] Nevertheless, Peter Haigh in ABC Film Review said of her performance in the film that Bazlen "displayed a nice sense of comedy", and Bazlen said that she found making the film "less of a strain" than the making of King of Kings.[3] As with King of Kings, however, the film critics of the time were scathing in their assessment of Bazlen's performance, with one's stating that Bazlen was "Incapable of anything but looking pretty."[4] Nonetheless, just as with her performance in King of Kings, her performance in The Honeymoon Machine has been re-evaluated down the years as being of a very high standard.[11] Moreover, Bazlen responded to the overly harsh criticism by simply stating that she was "a hard worker."[4]

Bazlen's final film role was as Dora Hawkins, daughter of Jeb Hawkins, a river pirate played by Walter Brennan in How the West Was Won, a film about the history of the western expansion in the United States as told from the perspective of one pioneer family. She appears in only one sequence, coaxing fur trapper Linus Rawlings (James Stewart) into a trap, stabbing him and sending him falling into a lake. Presumed dead, Stewart crawls out of a trap, just in time to save the Prescott family (played by Karl Malden, Agnes Moorehead, Debbie Reynolds and Carroll Baker), whom he had befriended before, from being robbed and possibly murdered. The fight that follows results in the complete destruction of the Hawkins clan when Rawlings sets off some gun powder.