It is the end of the last day for The Donna Reed Show—after eight years, the last good-bye—and on Stage 5, Screen Gems’ studios in Hollywood, producer Tony Owen, husband of the star, is giving a farewell party.

The party is for cast and crew, but in Hollywood a star is a star, and she makes her entrance, still wearing makeup but changed from working clothes into a suit of her favorite color—pink. “Oh dear,” she says, eyes brimming, “I vowed I wouldn’t cry.”

Even when Steve Blauner, Screen Gems vice president, arrives bearing a gag gift for Owen, Donna Reed remains the center of attention. She does the unwrapping. The gag: a hockey stick. Owen had been trying to get a National Hockey League franchise. (Unsuccessfully, it turned out.) There is a popping of flash bulbs.

The party draws to a close. She says her final good-byes—to makeup man, hairdresser, grip, gaffer, fellow players. Then, on her husband’s arm, she heads for home.

Her plans for the future? “Oh, rest, travel—fun, fun, fun!” As for the others, it will be other shows, other seasons, other tearful TV end-of-production parties.