Around 1956,
Eddie Fisher and his agent
Lew Wasserman were discussing roles for Fisher's acting debut. A project being discussed at the time was "What Makes Sammy Run?" by
Budd Schulberg and
Stuart Schulberg. Fisher wanted to play aggressive Producer Sammy Glick, "the ultimate Jewish hustler. I knew a lot of real Sammy Glicks, and I felt confident that was a character I could play."
Lew Wasserman decided that the character was too much of a classic negative Jewish stereotype, and that it would be bad for Fisher to play it. So Fisher went in the complete opposite direction (in retrospect, perhaps too far) with then-wife
Debbie Reynolds in the squeaky clean comedy that Fisher hated,
Na, na, Fräulein Mutti! (1956), a film made to capitalize on the birth of their daughter, future "Princess Leia"
Carrie Fisher. The Schulberg project "What Makes Sammy Run?" was eventually produced in two parts for this show, episodes #1.2 and #1.3.
