Nowdays the time between September and December just seems to fly by. Perhaps it's because I hate the approach of winter and well, that's sort of what those months mean to me now. But they didn't always.
In September '73, I went back to school. I'd moved away from home for the first time in my life, into an apartment near campus with my friends Debbie and Jean and it was an empowering experience! But not empowering enough to make me want to regularly attend class. I remember sleeping in on so many mornings, feeling that little tinge of guilt, but really wanting to do nothing more than wait for the afternoon mail. Those were the days of postcards from Doug, before he began writing those tomes of letters. (But I still always loved those post cards!)
Our apartment overlooked the pool. I actually don't remember ever swimming in it, or even laying by it, but it felt awesome just having it there and knowing this was our own place. I felt pretty darn grown up!
And not to infer that I NEVER attended classes or anything, I just don't REMEMBER attending. But I have a boat load of written test essays saved from that time, and they were honestly written more thoughtfully and intelligently than I could have probably written now, so obviously I wasn't slacking off THAT much. I think at the time, I was just doing what I felt I had to do, but honestly didn't care. I was on some other sort of mission.
During this time I DID land a role in the main stage production of "Cabaret". And you have to understand that "Cabaret" was a pretty big thing for me. I'd seen the movie like at least a dozen times! I was a huge fan of Liza's and enamoured with the style of Fosse, though I'm not sure if I was really even quite sure of his style at the time, I just knew I loved it. But it didn't matter, because the styling of our show was more along the lines of Mariam Tate.. who pretty much had the idea that everyone should just choreograph themselves... which wasn't a bad thing entirely. But definitely not Fosse.
I'd give anything to see video. But unfortunately this was back in the day...
How's that for subtle?...
Remember this from the movie? There's a dance number between the Emcee and a gorilla. He's obviously completely smitten with her, much to the shock of the audience. The song? "If You Could See Her Through My Eyes." The punchline? "She wouldn't look Jewish at all!"
So much wisdom there when you think about it...
Anyway. I had to walk down a huge "busby berkely type" staircase wearing this outfit!
The play wasn't exactly like the movie though as I would come to find out. For example, the song "Money, Money" was replaced by "Sitting Pretty." I played the American Buck...
How many different variations of "Cabaret" could there be? I'd end up doing two other completely different versions in my lifetime eventually...
Making Plans
It must have been around November sometime that my best friend LeeAnn and I decided we'd take Doug up on his offer. He'd promised that me and any other fun-seekers from California were more than welcome to "flop" in his apartment at any time. So we figured we'd leave in January and start there...
I'm not sure who decided it was a good idea to move to New York in January. Perhaps only "fun-seekers" from California. But anyway...
Now I had to somehow make enough money, to not only buy a plane ticket but to be able to survive there long enough to experience it. (I think I honestly thought it would all just work out somehow.)
So I got a job at Polly's Pie Palace in Tustin, I think, which served the best pies (not to mention hamburgers) in the world. And it was there on my very first night that I recieved my first tip (very cool) and my very first compliment as a waitress. "You're the best waitress we've ever had!" a woman and her daughter said. I'm still scratching my head over that one. But I'll never forget driving that 40 minutes or so to work a couple times a week with songs like "Dust in the Wind" and "Time In A Bottle" as my soundtrack.
Disneyland also came through for me once again, but this time with a leading role in the Christmas Parade!
Clarabelle Cow...
I was so ready to be gone already that I hardly remember it, except for sitting endlessly in the staging area, smelling all the "Ho Down" smells. (Even though I sometimes wish I could go back there and do it again, if only for a day.) Because in the scheme of things it went really, really quickly even though as I remember, that December seemed to last forever.
And boy did my calves hurt!
But by the middle of January I had a plane ticket in hand, my suitcases were already packed, and I'd saved up nearly $300!...
Gentle (but rude) awakening ahead...
No comments:
Post a Comment