One day, the kids had been playing in their apartment and came to our family apartment for dinner. One son entered wide-eyed. "Dad," he said. "Who was that blonde in the mini-skirt and black boots who just got off the elevator?" I answered that I did not know and the subject was dropped. A few days later, the apartment manager, a German lady, with whom I spoke German on occasion, saw me in the lobby. She asked if Anita's party had kept us awake the night before. I asked Anita Who? She said, "Oh, I thought you knew that your next door neighbor was Anita Ekberg the movie actress." That was news. Anita had been in "Three Coins in the Fountain" and other movies and was renowned for her more than ample figure.
I decided to keep this newly-discovered intelligence to myself. But, during the evenings, I began spending long hours on the balcony admiring the view of Rome and puffing on my pipe. I was hoping to meet Anita when she came out to water her plants on her balcony. And then, I would invite her to dinner so the family could meet her.
One night I glanced into her bedroom, which was a couple of feet away. She was running through the room sans clothing! Some guy was chasing her and trying to grope her from behind. It all seemed to be good natured. He finally caught her. Then, they turned out the lights. Now, my "balcony time" began to increase each night.
On another evening, after lights out, I heard her grousing to her bed mate, "Give me some of the covers!" And on and on went this minor bickering. I never saw her without her clothes again, although my wife wondered why I spent so much time on the balcony admiring the view. Rome was beautiful at night.
Later, after we had moved, I read in TIME magazine (as I recall) that the Italian cops had been called to the Hilton apartments to quell an argument between Anita and her husband (?) (a German actor of little reputation). It seems that they were arguing over the hogging of the covers and he began to beat on her and made a lot of noise. The husband said that he only hit her on her butt, because he would never hit such a beautiful face. How considerate.
Many years later, I heard that Anita had gained a lot of weight and was running a truck rental service or something like that in Rome. Young people probably will not remember Anita, but you old geezers must be smiling a bit. As Telly Savalis used to say, "There are a Million Stories in the Naked City." And some of those stories involve naked people.
A ham-radio friend of mine in Rome and I were talking one day two or three years ago, and I mentioned my "Anita Ekberg story." He sent me two pages from a magazine, with one photo of Anita at age 28 and one at age 68 (that would make her 70-years-old, more or less, in 2004).
Richard Rhodes
11/25/96