By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — Can you imagine, it has been almost 50 years since two Jews were involved in what was Hollywood's most celebrated love triangle? People followed the news of the breakup of singer Eddie Fisher and actress Debbie Reynolds intently, some taking Reynolds' side, others arguing in Fisher's behalf that anyone would be powerless to resist the "other woman," actress Elizabeth Taylor.

On the Turner Classic Movies (TCM) network on Tuesday, a Robert Osborne interview with Debbie Reynolds probed once again the story of her divorce from Fisher—made all the more ironic by the fact that today Taylor and Reynolds are friends, and neither of them has much use for the ex-singer.

I was just a lad of Cub Scout age in the years when Fisher was making such recordings as "Oh My Pa Pa," and Reynolds was singing "Tammy," and they were performing together in the movie, Bundle of Joy.  The couple also collaborated on another important project, conceiving Carrie Fisher, who grew up to become the actress best remembered for her part as Princess Leah in Star Wars.  Another of their children, Todd Fisher, was named for Mike Todd, who figures indirectly in the story of the famous Hollywood break-up.

In the interview, Reynolds recalled that when they were teenagers, she and Taylor went to school together on the Metro Goldwyn Mayer lot. They had other important experiences together, as well.  When Taylor was taking Todd as her third husband, Reynolds served as matron of honor and  "washed her hair, set her hair, got her all dressed for her wedding."

Reynolds said her own whirlwind romance with Fisher began when he was brought onto the movie set of  Hit the Deck, which she made in 1955 when she was 21.  "He had about 20 gold albums, you know, and he called me for a date. I went out with him two nights and on the third date he proposed to me and I said 'yes.'"

Frank Sinatra, with whom she made Tender Trap, later took her to lunch to try to warn her against marriage to a "singer," whose life, he could testify from experience, could be "unsteady." The crooner told her euphemistically that "singers have a lot of people around."  However, Reynolds' mind was made up.  "I didn't listen to him."

After their marriages, Mike Todd and Elizabeth Taylor socialized with Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds.  About this time, Taylor decided to convert from Christian Science to Judaism—which was the religion of both Todd (born Avrom Hirsch Goldbogen) and Fisher.   Reynolds was a member of the Church of the Nazarene.

Todd was killed in 1958 on his private airplane named for his wife, "The Lucky Liz," on a flight to the East Coast.  Fisher and Reynolds immediately went over to Taylor's house to comfort her.  Reynolds took Taylor's children to her home, to get them away from the media, which was camped outside.   Fisher stayed to comfort Taylor.  When later Taylor had to fly to New York, Fisher told Reynolds he too had business in New York.  That's when she figured out their affair had started.

She told interviewer Osborne that initially she wasn't going to give Fisher a divorce—that as a Nazarene she had been brought up to believe that divorce was a sin.  She said that she assumed that Fisher would have his fling with Taylor and then come back to her. In fact, Fisher and Taylor were married only two years but when Taylor dumped him for actor Richard Burton—whom she would later marry twice—Fisher did not return to Reynolds.  Instead his next wife was Connie Stevens.   

Reynolds went on to marry another Jewish husband,  Harry Karl, owner of the Karl's Shoe Store chain.  She said he was so addicted to gambling, he not only lost his money, but hers as well.  Her third and last husband was Richard Hamlett, with whom she suffered financial setbacks in the Las Vegas hotel business,

Concerning their friendship today, Reynolds said of Taylor: "She has changed a lot , she works very hard for AIDS, and she has a different attitude..."

Would Reynolds marry again?  "No more problems, no more husbands!" she declared.