johnm-dalton — 9 years ago(January 21, 2017 12:51 PM)

There was an article that has since been pulled off-line. Lucky for us, the Internet Archive captured it. This might be the most honest a co-star of a tv show has even been.
http://web.archive.org/web/20120221224346/http://www.examiner.com/classic-movie-in-new-york/from-baby-sherry-to-sherry-baby-my-memorable-afternoon-with-sherry-jackson-p
And what of the most famous child part of Sherrys career, Terry on Make Room for Daddy? What can I say? Certainly some of the unhappiest times ever in my life. Lets just say that I didnt respect Danny Thomas. I wasn't too thrilled by [director] Sheldon Leonard or [producer] Lou Edelman either. The major perk was Jean Hagen. I adored her. We had a great time. She and I were best buddies; she was my only friend from the Make Room for Daddy cast. What made me specifically want to leave the show? I had a five year contract, Jean had a three year contract. Jean was thoroughly fed up with the series and made it clear that she didnt want to come back. When she left, I was devastated. I didnt want to continue either. I wanted to break my contract. They wouldnt let me leave, but gave me less to do; thats why Im in fewer shows from ages 14-16. In order to get that, I had to have my contract renegotiated and that was a story and a half! A meeting was called at William Morris. All I had on my side was my overwhelmed agent, and he was ineffectual to a fault, no guts, no balls! On the opposite end was the Make Room from Daddy legal department - out for blood. There must have been at least seven guys there all against me! Im not joking it was like some film noir movie with me getting the third degree. Imagine a young girl surrounded by Danny Thomas, Lou Edelman and Sheldon Leonard no less! Grilling me like some murder suspect! I couldn't speak. I was shaking. Finally, Danny Thomas says OK, guys, let's hold on for a minute. Now Sherry, I don't understand why you won't tell us why you're so unhappy why you want to leave, but that's up to you. Maybe you'd rather write it down on a piece of paper? Would that be easier? So he gives me a pad and pencil. Now write it down. So I did a simple statement implicating the three of them. They weren't pleased, but I got what I wanted. Less shows. Even if the situation had been better, I was sick of working 39 episodes a year. I wanted to go to high school. I wanted to be a normal person. You have no idea of the stress. We had a live audience too. I watch these blooper outtake programs on TV where everybody laughs when they mess up. Not so with this bunch. If you dared to flub a line, Sheldon Leonard would grab a mic and, in from of 300 people, sneer, Do you think you can get it right this time?!
There was no one I could turn to no one to talk to. At home, I was told that I should be so grateful to be working on a hit seriesMy step-father wasn't writing and directing yet, so I was basically supporting my entire family. The one temporary link to sanity was Louise Beavers, who appeared in two episodes. She was great. She also opened my eyes to racism and prejudice. When we started, I was still VERY young; I had been extremely sheltered and knew nothing about what she was telling me about. One time, Louise and I were discussing Sammy Davis, Jr. I thought he was so terrific. Louise told me that he couldn't come in the front door of the studio. This confused me why, I wondered? Honey, he's a headliner in Vegas and can't eat with white people. I couldn't really grasp that how is that possible? My jaw dropped. How could grown-ups be that stupid and cruel? Considering the abuse I was feeling maybe, I thought, grown-ups could be that stupid. I was starting to show signs of stress. I so wanted out!
It wasnt just mental abuse it was physical too. They almost crippled me on one show. I had to be on a 3-legged table in one scene (and it was wobbly to begin with), and they kept telling me to move forward, move forwardyou know to hit your mark. Well the table flipped over with me taking the brunt of the hit on my elbow. I thought it was broken it was so painful that I actually passed out. They didnt even take me to a doctor; they had some local first aid guy put liniment on my arm! It gets worse Im allergic to liniment, so now I have these swelling welts on my elbow. It burned so much I was gritting my teeth just trying to finish the scene. And theyre screaming at me telling me to stop acting like a baby and just do it. I could not put my elbow down on any surface for nearly two years. I should have sued them! Today, if that happened, they'd be terrified of a lawsuit or of at least losing a valued cast member requiring hospitalization. So they put a cement block under the table and I had to get back up and finish the scene (I had to do a Shakespearean speech). Im up on the table and I start suffering from post-traumatic stress. I freeze, I cant remember my lines. It was the first