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[0:04] Robert Bannon: Are you ready? It's the round table with me, Robert Bannon. Welcome to the round table, everybody. My name is Robert Bannon. You're listening to us on the Broadway Podcast Network, iHeartSpotify. Wherever you get your podcasts, I am so honored to be celebrating a thousand episodes. So before Rita Moreno comes out here in this incredible conversation that I had with her, I want to give a big giant thank you. This show started only on YouTube. We came on VPN later on. So there's only like 600 or 700 episodes on VPN, but all total between VPN, YouTube, and also I'm on the Broadway World website every single Friday. We've hit a thousand conversations. So from me to you, I say thank you. When I look at the numbers, because I'm a nerd, I see people who watch us every day from the United States to the UK to China, South America, all around the world.

So if you've only been here once or you come here every single day, I just want to say that I am so incredibly grateful. Thank you to Alan Seales from BPN for having me. Thank you to everybody at Broadway World. Thank you to everybody like Adrian and John who do the red carpets for me in New York, to my husband Darius, who always lets me go and do interviews in my office every single day to make this happen. It's all because of my community and you.

[1:45] Robert Bannon: Fought the fight for arts for rights, for Broadway, for movies, for television, for dance, for the amazing things that our next guest has done. She has been on the forefront of making sure we all are entertained and our voices are heard. And for our thousandth show, I could not think of someone. She was an EGOT before it was cool, everybody. Now everybody wants to be an EGOT. Rita Moreno came out here pretty much first. The one, the only, the legendary Miss Rita Moreno is here.

[2:14] Rita Moreno: Hi there, how are you?

[2:16] Robert Bannon: I'm so excited. You know, you never age, you never look a day older than ever. You have been someone who I've watched my entire life. You know, I honestly think it's the Puerto Rican genes. I do. I think the tropical genes, and I just found something outside, I found out something so amazing. Henry Gates did my story, I don't know what to call it, and it turns out that I am, this will make you laugh, it'll make you smile. I am royalty from the Canary Islands because I remember, I know that my grandmother, or my great-grandmother, I think it was, was a Spaniard. That I always knew that. And she was about, as I call big as a minute, as a tiny little woman, but that was the Spanish side of me, not the tropical side of me. And then when Henry did this, which I think won't come out till next year, I don't even know if I'm supposed to say this. Oh my lord, he'll effing kill me.

[3:35] Rita Moreno: Well, I'm excited. I think about your journey and reading about you and some information about you. Your journey here and coming from Puerto Rico and then moving to New York City, and what I'm amazed by your story is that do you ever look back to those days? Your mom was a seamstress, your dad was a farmer, and then your journey to New York to Hollywood, to the Academy Awards, to Broadway. What a remarkable journey in a time where it was, there was a lot of prejudice and pushback and sexism that you faced in your career.

[4:14] Rita Moreno: Oh my goodness, did I ever? Oh boy. It's a good thing I must, I'm stubborn. I just, I desperately, from the time I was a little girl and I knew what that meant, I wanted to be a movie star. And my idol was Elizabeth Taylor, who shared pretty much the same age with me. I think we were about the same age together.

[4:39] Robert Bannon: And you're stubborn. My husband is a Sagittarius like you.

[4:44] Rita Moreno: I live with one myself. I understand. What are we like?

[4:50] Robert Bannon: Amazing, beautiful, fun, but you mean business at the end of the day.

[4:55] Rita Moreno: So when you look at a list like Slash Film came out, and they ranked the top 30 actresses of all time, and you make that list, obviously. What's it like?

[5:15] Rita Moreno: I kept saying, What? Moi? Me? Me? I could, you know, I still, it's hard to accept because there's so many wonderful actresses around. They really are, and I love them all. And to think that some people feel that I am, oh my god, my nails look like claws. They're so good. Oh shit, I gotta cut these down. This is not pretty.

[5:50] Rita Moreno: I think it's great.

[5:51] Robert Bannon: Oh, well, if you say so, but geez. Anyway, where was I? The list. You make the list, and not only does it say you've been charming audiences for eight decades, but you're vivacious in all aspects of your life. You're one of only two women to have the EGOT. And what is it? Streisand, I would guess.

[6:14] Rita Moreno: I, it says, oh, first Hispanic performer to win it. They're in pretty good company with you, is what I say.

[6:22] Robert Bannon: That's what I say. When you do you, is there moments and memories that stand out more? I mean, I watched The Electric Company. I can see you and Animal doing The Muppet Show for the eternal, the rest of my life. I can see you with wonderful together. I want to know, does he still call? I mean, you two were a match made in heaven.

[6:44] Rita Moreno: That's really, really work. But actually, it's Miss Piggy, because I played a character on Broadway named Googie Gomez. I won the Tony. My one of my favorite things is my guest appearance on The Muppet Show and doing Googie Gomez, who was very jealous of Miss Piggy. Because Piggy didn't like Googie Gomez at all. And I remember that we were doing, we were improvising some nasty stuff. You know, she was just, well, you know, with that high voice of hers. And I was playing Googie Gomez with the accent like this de Puerto Rico. And I know that she, oh, I think she said something really nasty to me. Googie Gomez, that is, and I tweaked her nose, and in order to get even, which I thought was, I'm amazed I didn't laugh, she bit my entire face.

[7:50] Rita Moreno: My face, she took that big mouth of hers and bit my face, and it was so difficult not to just, you know, scream with laughter. That was so much fun. If you have not seen it, probably watch it, you know. You can probably, it's, you know, when I was a guest star on the show, and I also did a wonderful piece in that same show where I did a French Apache dance. And Apache dance was something they did in French nightclubs cafes, where the man, a man and a woman would come out and dance, and he would mistreat her terribly. He would take her by the hair and throw her across the room, and she would scream. This was all done to music, but it was called a pash, not a patchy, a pash.

[8:44] Rita Moreno: Okay, he said, is there something you'd like to do? I said, I'd love to do a French Apache. I said, only instead of using a little dummy being the guy, I said, can we have a real person but with a Muppet outfit on him? And we, oh, you get to see this. It is so funny. I beat the shit out. This was me. This was Rita Moreno playing the role of this Apache dancer in a French cafe. And they had a life-size guy, one of the Muppeteers, who happened to be small, and not tiny, but you know, like five foot tall, no more, maybe even four foot something. And we did a French Apache where I just threw him across the room constantly. I kicked him and I bit his nose. It is so funny.

[9:43] Rita Moreno: And it's done to a tango da-da-du-du-da-da-da-da-da-dun dun dun dun dun smack. Like that. And it is actually the show that I did that I was a guest star on was one of his best ever, ever. It was so funny. Well, do you know that it says online Rita Moreno and a full-bodied Muppet perform this dance? Marina is the dominant dancer and flings her companion around like a rag doll. It's episode 105. It is streaming right now on Disney Plus.

[10:18] Robert Bannon: It's on Disney Plus!

[10:19] Rita Moreno: Oh, I've got to see it! Because I'm seeing it. And the other thing that I did on the very same show, it was a one-hour show, was do a fever. And you will piss your pants. Because the drummer, Animal the drummer, is on drums, and I'm trying to be really sexy, you know. Never know how much I love you, never know how much I can put your arms around me, you give me fever, and he goes nuts back there in back of me.

[10:57] Rita Moreno: You know, stop for a moment. When at the very end, I won't give it away because I really want people who are watching this today or tonight to see this. It is hilariously funny. You know, it was immortalized in your Kennedy Centers on Rosie Perez reenacts it with him. It has been done and it has become a part of pop culture. It's an iconic moment of The Muppet Show. So you need, it's on Disney Plus. Make sure you stream it and you watch it.

[11:35] Robert Bannon: I really will. I love watching, and now I can tell people to watch it on that. Do you like, did you like the years you worked on children's and doing Electric? Like all of the children's work you've done, the music you've done, the things like this. It was another part of the history of your career.

[11:53] Rita Moreno: Oh, absolutely. And that was The Electric Company. We're gonna turn it on, we're gonna turn on the power. What a wonderful, wonderful show that was.

[12:18] Rita Moreno: His auntie used to watch me every morning on the Electric Company, and she learned how to read from that show, which it was a reading show. She called me up one day. I can't do a Jewish accent well, but I have to do some accent because it's her. And she called me up one morning and said, Rita Dalink, I saw you this morning on the Electric Company, and she says, I learned to read something today. And I said, Really? I said, What did you learn? She says, Well, I was in the supermarket, and I looked at this can of peas and I read peas. And I read peas because of you. And it suddenly occurred to me, of course, this isn't just for children. This is for child for grown-ups, adults who don't know how to read, who don't know who are who, you know, who are it it's it was just such a wonderful thing.

And I called up Joan Gans Cooney, who ran the whole thing and whose idea this was, uh, this show, and I said, My husband's auntie learned to read today when she went to the market and I explained what what Auntie said to me, and I thought, oh, I you know, if I ever wondered why I took on this show, which was for all intents and purposes, a children's show, but it was so much more than that. And I'm really sorry that uh it doesn't exist anymore. Yes. You know, all those thousands of people who learn to read because of that show.

[14:14] Robert Bannon: There are probably millions of people who dance because of you, who sing because of you and act because of you and were represented by the work that you did. Do you even understand? Can you even process the impact your life and your body have work have meant to so many people in this business and not? You know, I I just don't think of myself that way. Uh I'm really good when someone recognizes me, and I'm very kind and and warm because it's lovely.

[14:44] Rita Moreno: Oh, can I tell you a little story? Okay, about that. I was in uh Bloomingdales one day because I lived in New York for a very long time, and uh there was a little girl in front of me, she could have been no more than five, six maybe, and she kept looking at me and looking at me, and when we both got off at the the second floor, the mom says, My little girl would like to ask you a question. And I said, Of course, because at that time little kids were recognizing me all over the place, which I adored. I thought it was, and I loved uh, you know, relating with and to them, and so the little girl said, looking up at me, she says, How did you get out? You know what she meant? How did you get out from the television set?

Out of the box, right? And I just I I just you know, it was all I could do not to just crush her in my arms. And I said, Well, let me tell you how that works. And I went into a whole story about, you know, when your mommy has a camera and she takes a picture of you, that's what started, and she's going like this, and I said, Well, I go to a special place where there's a big camera, and it takes pictures of me. And I went into this long explanation about uh the the sky and the this is and the that up, and I said, and that's how I get out, and she's just looking at me, and she finally says, But how did you get out?

[16:38] Rita Moreno: I that is I had little kitty fans, and it I I loved it. A little boy snuck into the ladies' room because he saw me go into it, and uh, and the and the toilets had uh doors that had a lot of space, so you could see feet, and you could tell that someone was there, right? And this little tiny boy dressed like a man, he had a little jacket, and he had a tie, I think it was a bow tie, and I see, and I'm sitting on the can, and I see this little person looking under that place where she could he could see me, and he says, Hi, and I'm going, hello, and he says to me, the electric cup of tea. Oh boy, and that it's just children. We're just I adore children anyway, and I said, That's right. Do you like that?

And I'm trying to, because my I was wearing pants, so they were down around my ankles. So there were bare legs there. And you know, I'm I'm putting my hands in certain areas. And I thought, how am I going to get rid of this little child so that I can leave the toilet and use paper. Thank God. I hear the door open to the bathroom, and I hear a woman say, Oh, there you are. And she said, Maxwell, that was his name. Maxwell, come. He says, the electric cup of tea. And she says, really, I know, I know, because he had spotted me before I went into the bathroom. And he had said to his mommy, the electric cup of tea. Is that divine? And he was dressed like a little tiny man. The electric cup of tea.

[18:40] Robert Bannon: You know, I well, I was thinking about interviewing you and talking to you. I was reading about you and the way you stand up for people. And we all need Rita Moreno's in our life and out here on the streets. And you could be a Rita Moreno in your life right now, too, and stand up for rights and vote and the fight for democracy. Because back in a time when it was not popular, and back in a time when you already were famous and already winning awards, you marched with Dr. King. You march recall rights.

[19:12] Rita Moreno: I have a beautiful black husband. I was at that march on Washington, DC. I will never forget that. Oh, I'll tell you a wonderful little anecdote about Dr. King.

[19:21] Robert Bannon: Oh, please.

[19:22] Rita Moreno: This is something nobody seems to know. He was sitting down with his good friend. Who was the lady who who is it Mahalia Jackson? Mahalia. They're sitting in front of me, about 10 feet away, along with all of the people from Hollywood whom Harry Belafonte invited. And he invited them and us because he wanted to be sure that Dr. Cain understood that there were people in show business who cared more about, you know, who cared a lot about people and and uh uh and just wonderful stuff. Anyway, so I'm sitting there looking at the two of them, and finally his name is announced, and they are no more than 12 feet from my folding chair, and in the background is Lincoln's statue. I mean, this was well, what an amazing day.

And he got up and uh he started a speech, and Mahalia tugged on his jacket, and she sang, Martin, Martin, tell him that because he did not start the I Had a Dream speech. He started another speech, and uh and that was on paper. And uh she said, Martin, tugging on his jacket, tell him about the dream. Tell him about the dream, Martin. And apparently he had done that speech at one of the churches. I'm guessing this, but she'd heard it before and she wanted that one, and he did. He completely put away that paper. I mean, I think he had a piece of paper and started the I Had a Dream speech. And I witnessed that.

[21:24] Robert Bannon: So I can get married to my husband, a man of color, because people like you marched. And I can have the freedom of color. Man of color. Wow. Because of you. You're both very brave. You're very brave, Rita Moreno. You didn't have to do this, Rita Moreno.

[21:40] Rita Moreno: Do what?

[21:40] Robert Bannon: You didn't have to stand up and fight for the rights of Oh boy.

[21:49] Rita Moreno: Yeah. But you did it because of Actually, I did have to. I mean, I really had to. I uh when whenever um I was invited to speak or you know, do something like that. I always didn't want to because I thought I would never work again. That was that was the big thing then. I'll never do another movie again if I do this, maybe. And uh I did it. So that was courageous at that time.

[22:19] Robert Bannon: It was. And I thank you for it. And now you get to get doctorates and awards and do a speaking tour, and you're getting another graduated from high school, which is kind of delicious. You're having a doctorate this year in San Francisco, and you are on being asked to speak all around the world, all around the country about your career and the advocacy that you've done and the work you've done for the arts. And um it there's not a better person in the you got one of the top 30 actresses of all time, everybody. E got superstar.

[22:54] Rita Moreno: I was included in that. I just don't. I'm um aghast.

[23:00] Robert Bannon: When you were astonished. Your career. West Side Story, the new West Side Story, you know, the Broadway shows, everything that you've done. Is there something that stands out that you're proud of? Is there something that you feel like is the pinnacle quintessential Rita Moreno moment?

[23:21] Rita Moreno: I think I think that uh when uh having the Oscar is pretty spectacular for someone who you know up to then I'd done you know mov some movies and uh TV, but that that came because of West Side's story. So I owe that movie and the writers and the directors uh everything because that's I was astonished when my name was called, believe it or not, because I knew that Judy Garland was up in the same category, best supporting actress, and and she was in the hospital, and they had a television camera there and all that, and I thought, oh, I don't have a chance. And I was in Manila, the Philippines at the time, making it yet another crappy movie playing Sisa, a Philippina girl. And uh to my astonishment, I was nominated, and uh I came to America thinking there isn't a chance in hell I'm going to win with Judy Garland, having played the first dramatic role of her life, which she did in Nuremberg, judgment at Nuremberg.

[24:37] Rita Moreno: And she was in the hospital at the time, so I thought, you know, there's no, but I have to be there just in case. And when my name was called, I was truly, truly astonished. And I came at the very end of the evening. So George had already won, George Chakiras won his Oscar. The movie had swept the Oscars. And I thought, just because of that, I'm not going to, because I don't have that kind of life. Well, guess what? I said to myself, and then my name was called. And my mom was in back of me. If you watch it on YouTube, you'll see this lady hug me. And it was my mommy. And I, as I went down the aisle, I remember saying to myself, don't run. It's not dignified. Don't run. So I took a lot of quick tiny steps, but I didn't run.

Why? I'll tell the audience something they don't know. Because what you don't want to happen is that the applause will cease before you get on the stage. It's a question of timing. And I remember knowing that because a lot of actresses would sometimes do so much like hugging their parents or whoever or their spouses. And by the time they would get up to the stage, the applause had, you know, kind of wound down. And I said to myself, don't let that happen. Go up on that stage. Well, there's still a lot of applause. And then I couldn't think of anything to say. I'm famous. You can show that if you wish at some point. I said something like, I don't believe it. Good lord. I leave you with that. That was it.

That's what I said. And then I get I get boy have I got a story for you. Then I get into the wings. And Joan Crawford, who was the mistress of ceremony for the Oscars that night, was in the wings. First of all, I have to say that she was married to Mr. Pepsi Coli. I don't remember his name. So she had a Pepsi cooler in her dressing room off stage. And when she came to hug me, she smelled of alcohol. And I couldn't tell what it was, but it was alcohol. It turned out to be vodka. So nobody would know. And she's hugging me. And this man who's supposed to escort me to the room where all the reporters are, you know, to do a little interview about how does it feel? Could you pose with the Oscar and all that kind of stuff?

She just hug me like this and wouldn't let me go. Wouldn't I? And the man is on my face, it's smashed against her chest. And you know, she was built like a linebacker. And he's saying, Oh, Miss Crawford, I can't even see her face. Oh, but she's so upset. And I'm saying, I'm not upset. I'm not sure. What a great story, huh? That is finally literally wrests me out of her grip because she saw this man there, and a photographer was there. And he finally literally wrested me out of her grip and took me to the room where the all the reporters were. A week later, I'm in back in the Philippines where I was doing this crappy World War II movie, playing a character named Sisa, Filipina girl, and it was the loveliest thing because the first day on the set after the Oscars, and it was a World War II movie.

I heard a lot of noise. I'm walking up this mountainside to shoot a scene, and I hear all this noise and a whistle, somebody's blowing a whistle constantly, and drums were banging, and I look across at another hillside, and it's the entire crew, and it's and their signs read Mabuhai Sisa. Mambuhai means congratulations in Tagalog. And Sisa was the character I was playing. I mean, is that lovely? Yeah. Look, I have to come to where you if I ever see you in person and I find you somewhere, I owe you dinner, I owe you lunch, but I'm taking a picture with that Oscar. I'm gonna, that's my request. I need that selfie that. Everybody always wants to hold it. Of course. Feel it. And they always say, oh, it's everybody says the same thing. It's so heavy. It's pretty great. I love having it. I'm very proud of it.

[29:53] Robert Bannon: Well, I'm very proud. This is the cherry, the icing, the moment of a thousand conversations that I've been so grateful and lucky to have. What is this for? What are we doing this for? We're on Broadway World, Broadway Podcast Network, iHeart, Spotify, so we are a theater show that does art and talks to artists about art and what we do and theater. You know, your theater career and your Broadway career and your Tony award, what an incredible, what a risky role that was for, I mean, that's the Gomez. Yes, that's a vivacious role.

[29:54] Rita Moreno: Well, it was something written for me because Terrence McNally saw me do this character that I invented and I sang a showbiz song. I had the ding and the ding about you baby is gonna come through baby and he fell on the floor. I was doing a play with Jimmy Coco at the time and Jimmy at that point at his apartment said, Rita do that crazy Puerto Rican you do and he loved this character that I did and she thought, you know, she has no talent whatsoever but she thinks she's God's gift to show business and I sang there's no business like show business in that accent and he I sang it really specifically for the playwright and at the end of the evening he said I am going to write a part for that character you've invented and I thought, yeah, yeah, sure. And about six months later, it was called the tubs, the play, which is which is what the gay guys used to call steam room.

[31:46] Robert Bannon: Yeah. Is this what you talk about when you go on the road? Are these the conversations you have? Do you give lectures? Do you talk about the world? What do you go on the road and talk about?

[31:59] Rita Moreno: I mean, yes. No, here's what we do. Somebody interviews me, but it's not an interview because I want it, I always want it to be a conversation. So it's called a conversation with Rita Moreno. And you know, I tell stories on myself, and some are very funny, some are touching, and you know, the struggle with being Puerto Rican and all that is pretty touching, and there's always a lot of Hispanic women in the audience when I speak, and a lot of teary faces when I describe some of the dreadful embarrassments that occurred in my life because of what I was so. I love doing that because it I also tell very funny stories on myself. I love telling stories on myself. The thing with the children is so delicious, isn't that adorable? Well the electric cup, I'm never gonna forget that forever.

[33:06] Robert Bannon: The more dates, the more I hope you come to my neck of the woods. I'm gonna audition to do the interview because you give good conversation, Miss Moreno. You give great, incredible conversation.

[33:17] Rita Moreno: Well, you know, I'm not 74 for nothing. I've lived a very long life, so a lot has happened in my life.

[33:26] Robert Bannon: Before I let you go, because you've been so generous and so kind to be here with us. What you went through, a lot of people in this country feel like they're going through. A lot of people feel lost or don't feel hope. What is, is there any silver lining? Do you have any words? How do we persevere through these days?

[33:44] Rita Moreno: I think the only thing to do is to persevere and hope that certain people get really sick. You know, I don't want to I hear you. But it's a very difficult time right now, really difficult. And a lot of people who are not Hispanic are getting some of that stuff thrown at them, and they are now understanding maybe better what that's like, and it's scary, it's so frightening, and you just have to hang on to your dignity as well as you can and remind people that you have value. You have value, you persevere. It took me a long time to learn that because I was, you know, maligned so much in my childhood in America when I left Puerto Rico. It took me a very long time in therapy to understand that I did have value. It was it's been a rough life.

[34:54] Robert Bannon: Oh yeah. And you are the a poster of perseverance and a poster of strength. And you are, and that's why you're such an inspiration to so many people all around the world.

[35:07] Rita Moreno: Well, that's lovely of you. Thank you.

[35:10] Robert Bannon: I want to say a big giant thank you. Please read the article right now, the link is below where you can see the top 30 actresses of all time, movie stars of all time who said that, by the way, this is slasher films. Slasher film is a company that ranks movies and ranks movie stars and they did a big giant 30 greatest actresses of all time, Rita Moreno, I mean of all there and I almost I almost paid my bloomers I couldn't believe it I said what's who else are they going to put on the list that's a great actress but I'm a fan of hers I accept I'm such a fan of yours I'm so grateful to spend time with you. We'll be watching West Side Story in my house this weekend. We'll be having a whole Rita Moreno party to celebrate you being here with us and listening to your music and your work and I can't wait for the best is yet to come. I can't wait to see what you got up your sleeve because you're full of surprises. I know we got a lot of work left to do Rita Moreno.

[35:12] Rita Moreno: Yeah, you never know. You never know. Thank you so much for being here.

[35:12] Robert Bannon: Oh, it's been a pleasure. I love speaking with you.