Waiting for The Dough...

So anyway, there I was all alone again, depressed and not to mention broke!..

Except that I forgot to tell you about the part where me and Melanie had landed hostessing jobs at the newly reopened Tavern On The Green during that very long month of waiting. Unfortunately (or I guess rather fortunately for her) she didn't have the chance to work there for very long...

From 1000 Things New York
Originally built in 1870 to house the sheep that grazed in Central Park’s Sheep Meadow, Tavern on the Green has served New Yorkers, tourists, presidents, royalty, artists and actors since 1934. Having gone through several additions and renovations, it became a New York place to be seen when Warner LeRoy acquired the lease in the 1970s. He poured $10 million into the Tavern, adding the legendary Crystal Room (seen in Ghostbusters and Arthur), stained glass, etched mirrors, 45 chandeliers along with 400,000 outdoor lights in the trees so that the Tavern always looked like it was Christmas in the Park.

LeRoy reopened the doors in 1976, and the new Tavern immediately became the most popular dining and banquet spot in the city. Flamboyantly lavish, the Tavern was a place for visitors and celebs who came to be dazzled by the glitter and extravaganza of LeRoy’s new Tavern on the Green. The waiters dressed in powder blue, the captains in tuxedos, you could dance the night away on the patio and you could arrive or depart in a horse drawn carriage at the entrance.

What a very funny job that was! And to this day it's rather hard for me to believe that I actually managed to hang onto it for a couple of months without completely losing it (literally and figuratively)! Because every single person in that entire city wanted to experience that place. And they ALL wanted to be seated in the Crystal Room!... and ALL at the very same time!

*Journal Entry from September 5th... I almost quit my job 10,000 times today! The whole afternoon was the picture of mass hysteria. Everyone yelling at me, telling me what a f*cked up place this is and I couldn't agree with them more! I'm so tired of getting it from both ends. I'm mobbed by the customer's questions and then when I try to be polite to them David tells me not to chat with the customers. What in the hell am I there for? So then I stand at the desk to seat people and he tells me I need to cue people at the door, so when I do that he yells "Jannet, I need someone here at all times to seat the guests!" I can't win! Guess I gotta stop taking it all so personally and just do it. There wasn't even a 5 minute lull today and I thought I'd absolutely die. I hate every minute of this!

But there were also couple of little perks that came along with it as well, like all those free lunches. And I got to go upstairs to the back office for a few minutes every day to copy the reservations list and sit down for a bit (and smoke!) And there were also times in between the lunch and dinner rushes where I could sometimes go out and sit on the patio and just breath in all that garden air along the beautiful Central Park vistas. And once Ted Hook invited me and a guest for a free lunch at Backstage in appreciation of my getting his group a table.

But I think one of the best memories that came out of that job (and one that I still have evidence of to this day) was the time that this gentleman came up to the hostess desk after his group was finished with lunch and asked me for my address so he could send me something. (Of course this was back in the day before you didn't share private things like that, but still...) About a week later I received this in the mail.

A leatherbound copy of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" with this very sweet insert.

Sometimes it's the little things... even though I'm sure that man will never know how much that little expression of kindness meant to me, but over the years, that little book has become not only one of the very few possessions I still have from that time but also one of my all time favorite novels.

And then there were those embarrassing moments as well, like the time when I had to seat Donald Sadler, the director of "Hellzappopin."

But as happens with most good things...

First, they let a bunch of people go and my hours tripled... and then my hours suddenly got cut way back. And THEN a couple of days later I went into work to find I didn't even have a job at all! I'm still not quite sure what happened there, but I suspect it had something to do with them wanting their hosts in tuxedos...

At least the Industrial Show hadn't fallen through as they'd called to let me know we should be signing our contracts sometime within the next few days... (again). And now I also had a little more time to be able to sit on my rooftop and gaze at the skyline, still not quite believing that I was living right here in the center of the center of the world!

And then... just when I thought my self-esteem couldn't take much more of a beating, they announced another set of auditions for "Hellzappopin." The pessimist side of my said "If they didn't want me the last time why would they want me now?" While the optimist side thought "Well, they wouldn't have called me back the first time if they hadn't seen something they liked!"

Also, replacement auditions for both "Pippin" and "Chicago" were announced for that very same week! Oh My Gosh, Please!!!

Fast foward to later that week...

Axed! And I couldn't believe it! I mean, all my life I'm told that ALL I need is to audition for Bob Fosse! And then he cuts me the very first time he sees me!

I fared a little better with "Hellzappopin" or at least I stuck around to the end again where they said they'd call us... But when Mel went to talk to the producer's office on my behalf, their advice for her (for me) was to go ahead and sign the "other" contract because they still didn't know who they were going to cast and were still planning on holding (yet) another audition the following week.

So later that very same day, I trekked all the way up to 74th Street to sign my very first Actors Equity Contract. And then I bawled like a baby all the way home.

This was on October 7th 1976, the week before my 22nd birthday.

The Long(acre)est Month of My Life!...

I met Melanie at the New York Telephone Industrial Show audition and then again at the non-Equity cattle call for the upcoming Broadway show "Hellzapoppin" where we both fared really, really well. We'd scored 2 of the 15 spots (out of 125 auditionees) for the industrial show with the only downside being that it was 1) for only ONE WEEK'S work, 2) still a couple of months away.. and 3) we hadn't even signed our contracts yet!

But we were also lucky enough to be among the chosen few from the Open Call of "Hellzapoppin" who had been asked to return for the final callback on the 17th of September (almost exactly a month away!) The audition had been amazing!

*Journal entry from August 20th... "What a thrill to be dancing alone on the stage of the Winter Garden Theatre! One of the highest feelings I've had in a very long time. I mean, for a few moments there I was doing exactly what I wanted to be doing for the rest of my life!!!"

Meanwhile... Mel and her 12 bags moved into Doug's 4th floor walk up studio apartment with me.

And then, the hardest part about the rest of that long, hot August was just waiting for September!

Mel and me waiting for that phone to ring!

Me, writing in my journal...

*Journal entry from August 25th... So we went downtown to the DMV today to get our New York ID's. Never been put through more sh*t in my life!!! It cost me $10!... and with all the rude people I came out of there with tears just running down my face! Then we had no money to get home!...so we started panhandling until a cop came up and asked us if we were "soliciting!" So then of course I started crying again and he let us ride the subway for free."

Anyway, FINALLY, we heard that we had both definitely been cast in the Industrial Show... but that it had NOW been postponed until October! And so with the little time we had remaining at Doug's quickly running out we figured it was probably a good time to start looking for an apartment of our own.

*Note: Looking for an apartment with $24 to your name is pretty silly!

So after about a week of having our dreams of finding a sublet or an apartment completely DASHED we finally settled on The Longacre House - A Women's Hotel on West 45th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues, right in the heart of the Theatre District.

We each had our own room, which consisted of four walls (each), a bed, a chair, a desk and a dresser, with a communal bathroom down the hall as well as a small alcove which contained a shared sink and stove. I believe the rent was like $36 a week or something like that or at least that's what sticks in my memory. And I remember that number quite vividly, because I always had to come up with it! Fortunately, in the beginning, the refunded airline ticket really ended up coming in handy. (And yes that was back in the day when you were actually able to get one!)

Anyway, as odd as it sounds Women'a Residences were quite popular back in the day for both young theatricals and young professionals.

Who am I kidding? Melanie and I were definitely the only young "anythings" in that entire place! All the old ladies roaming the halls and peaking out of their doors really freaked me out at first, but after a while it was home. Of course it did take a couple of months to be able to afford to decorate it enough to make it comfortable, but once I had the wicker coffee table, the plants, the bamboo shade, new bedstuff, the mini fridge and the 12" TV... the place became totally mine and I loved it! (Just wish I'd ever gotten a picture of it!)

And I mean, really... Where else for less than $150 a month could one climb the stairs up to the rooftop and grab a view like this anytime they wanted?

But I'm getting WAY ahead of myself here...

One of our favorite hangouts was Joe Allen's on West 46th Street.

From Melanie's room, right across the hall, you could look out her window down onto the courtyard that backed the restaurant so it was just a quick little jaunt around the block for us. There we would sit for hours contemplating our futures. As part of the official "restaurant row" Joe Allen's has always been a very popular pre-show dinner option and an after-show gathering place for performers so we never failed to run into many of the folks we aspired to be. And with those brick walls lined with every Broadway show poster imaginable it wasn't very hard to get lost in the daydreaming.

The routine fare for us was the black bean soup WITH LOTS OF BREAD AND BUTTER (followed occassionally by a hot fudge eclair). Right? It was the cheapest thing on the menu, went down really easy and kept us full for a long time. And it really beat out the other option of heating up canned soup back in the communal kitchenette.

Another fun thing to do was to wander around inside the "Triton Gallery" right next door, where we could fill our imaginations with dreams of all the theatrical posters we hoped to be able to afford some day.

And ocassionally we'd get invited over to a friends place who actually lived in a real live apartment for dinner or something! (To be honest, we hung out with a LOT of people but mostly Mel's friends because she knew everybody!)

Vamping it up, somewhere on the Upper West Side...

In the meantime, my main priority was trying to get a song, a monologue and a headshot pulled together for the callback. I settled on "Don't Tell Mama" from "Cabaret" for my song. Can't even remember what I chose for my monologue. But I DO have this very painful reminder of my first headshot photoshoot.

What was I thinking?

Anyway...September 17th 1976 turned out to be one of the WORST days of my life up to that point (with current perspective being everything...)

I didn't get the show!

Being a tall dancer had always been a challenge for me and yet this show had specifically called for tall girls! But as it turned out "tall" in this case meant more like 5'6" to 5"8" and not 5'10"like I was. Still, Melanie, who stood inches above me, made it!

*Journal entry from September 17th... "It's hard to be happy for someone when you're feeling so very miserable at the same time. I felt so choked up as I left the theatre after watching everyone hugging and congratulating each other and talking about out of town runs. God I wanted that job so much! And it hurts because I know I did so well and was truly better than some of the girls that got it and I was just THIS CLOSE! And I know I can't blame Melanie for being so ecstatic, and I am so truly happy for her!... but would give anything to be in that position again. I just wish that somebody thought I was good besides me."
^^^Pity Party to the Max!^^^

So anyway, there I was all alone again, depressed and not to mention broke!..

But Autumn time in New York is equisite!

And for the very first September of my entire life I wasn't headed back to school!

This here was school enough for me!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Meanwhile... here are a couple of pics of Melanie with Jerry Lewis during the out of town tryouts of "Hellzapoppin" that Fall...

The Girl From Venus

Star Material Fo Sho!

In A New York State of Mind...

I've been procrastinating writing this next part for so long. Though it was a time of adventure, fun and freedom it was also a time of change and an angst-filled one in my memory for sure!

Lorna and I had muddled around with the idea for a long time, that was, heading off to New York together. I don't really remember how much thought or preparation we'd put into it. I do know that on July 21, 1976 we headed off to New York without a definite place to stay. I believe we'd had tentative plans to stay at Doug's while he was on tour, even though he had already sublet his apartment to another dancer. And we were arriving several days before he was expecting us anyway.

On Our Own

Oh to be young, spontaneous and fearless once again!

Lorna and "some" guy she dragged into the picture during a our connection at "some" airport.

Mostly all I remember on our arrival was schlepping all our suitcases across town from Grand Central to the Picadilly Hotel in Time Square (this was long before the day of roller-bags!) where we checked in for $28 a night! We enjoyed the first day or two with abandon, exploring the city, seeing shows and me sharing with Lorna this incredible town in which I felt such a personal connection!

And then we decided it was probably time to call Doug before we completely ran out of money.

*I just want to share here a very vivid memory I have of our last night at the Picadilly. I woke up in the middle of the night and could not go back to sleep for anything, and as I laid there I began having these thoughts of such utter gloom and doom that it was everything I could do to not wake Lorna up. It was probably one of the longest nights of my life and I have never again, before or since, felt anything like it. Sometimes I still think about it and wonder where that came from.

And maybe it was just a foreshadowing of the most impossibly difficult day to follow...

We tried calling Doug all morning and couldn't reach him, but since we were now at the day where he was "kind of" expecting us, we figured we'd just schelp our stuff down to E. 28th St., show up on his doorstep and most likely he'd be home soon...

Several hours later (after exhausting every other possibility) we were dragging our bags back up to Grand Central Station to deposit them in lockers in order to be able to explore our possible options "bagless."

The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out at Brew Burger, calling every 15 minutes and having a major con·nip·tion. Then we walked 50 blogs to the Baronette to see "Murder By Death" because we couldn't figure out anything else do to...

Later, after calling again and again and again, we headed back to Grand Central.

... Where we got a busy signal! And then finally, an answer! Off to grab suitcases from lockers!

Lorna's locker was empty!

Sheer panic! All of her earthly possessions gone!.. (or at least all the ones she had brought to New York!) We called a policeman over while Lorna continued turning whiter and whiter!... only to discover that while she'd stashed all her belongings in one locker, she'd taken the key from the locker above. All that time her suitcases had been sitting in an open locker, unguarded in Grand Central Station!

Finally, it was off to Doug's!

On Our Own Again

A few days later Doug left for tour with Paul Sanasardo leaving Lorna and I alone with his place for the rest of the summer. Or at least until Piper Pickeral would arrive the next week to join us... To this day I still don't remember how we managed to fit 3 girls into that (tiny) one bedroom (no closet space) apartment. Again, oh to be young!

The things that stick out in my mind the most during that hot summer month in New York I can probably count on one hand:

• Seeing "Pal Joey" at the Circle in the Square Theatre with a cast I was so impressed with!.. (many of which would several years later become my peers of sorts.)
• Playing Backgammon.
• Taking ballet and jazz classes at Morelli's on 14th Street.
• Listening to "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris".. (If "Pippin" had been the soundtrack of the Winter of 1974 this was definitely Summer of 1976's)
• Seeing "A Chorus Line" for a second time with Sandahl Bergman as Judy and suddenly having my eye on that role!!!
• Oh and also (moving onto the second hand) waiting for the audition listings to come out in "Backstage" every Wednesday...

Meanwhile we did alot of hanging out around town as well...

About three weeks into it Lorna decided to head back home. I remember at the time thinking she was a "quitter" but in retrospect now I realize she knew what she was doing. She'd end up in only a few short years having quite the television career!

Anyway, I'd given myself a month (July 21st to August 21st) to land a job and if I didn't I was prepared to head back home as well... and back to school.

On August 13th I had exactly $3 in my pocket... (I don't really remember how I managed to fix that. Most likely my mom fixed it. :)

During that final week I had 5 auditions with callbacks for most of them. At the "New York Telephone Industrial Show" auditions I snagged one of the five non-equity callback spots (which means since it was an Equity union show, non-union dancers didn't usually stand much of a chance.) And then, I also grabbed one of the eight non-union callback slots for the upcoming new Broadway show "Hellzapoppin!" Unfortunately both of these callbacks were scheduled to happen sometime in late September! And keep in mind, I also had no idea how many official Equity members might be up for these shows!

So putting on the most colorful "brave girl" hat I could find, I cancelled my return plane ticket and scratched this on Douglas's kitchen chalkboard!

By the way, Piper Pickeral was long gone by now as well...

Then I found Melanie...

Happy Endings (or at least a pretty good beginning!)...

Journal exerpts from May 24th 1976:

Oh my God!... I just made the 2nd cut for Ron Field's movie "New York, New York" starring Liza Minnelli! And she's here!!!" (Yes, back in the day I carried my journal with me everywhere!)

Later that evening I wrote...

I want to scream it out the window to the world and yet I don't dare tell even my closest friends. I'm very superstitious that way!

I went to the Disney Studio auditions with Jimmy, Skip and Monica this morning. Guys only! I think they were looking for acrobats and neither of them made it. Then Jimmy had to drag me to the MGM audition for the new movie "New York, New York." It was actually a closed audition for SEG members only, but somehow we got in anyway. I don't know exactly how many girls were there or how many were cast, but I know I was, and he liked me! I keep wondering whether Liza had anything to do with it because it seemed that she looked at me alot.. but then I'm nearsighted. Ron came up to me and asked how tall I was, then started looking around the room for someone who matched my height. Anyway, he smiled at me alot!

When he finally lined us up and told us we were the ones he wanted, I felt the most magical moment of my life. Now I'm just confused. He WANTS to use all of us but doeesn't know if he can. He can! He can! Anyway, I then went to wardrobe for my measurements and a hair sample.

None of my other friends made it which made me feel really special but I know how I'd have felt like if I hadn't and Jimmy took it really hard! It was nice to go to (Charity) rehearsal but I didn't want to tell anyone because I'm afraid of something going wrong. Ok, I did tell a few people ~ I HAD to! I have so much inside of me I feel like I could burst!

Exerpt from May 25th 1976:

Haven't heard anything yet. I stayed home all day and not a call. I should have gone to work (Disneyland) but then I'd never know for sure. It all seems like a dream now - and maybe it was.
*Note ~ This was back in the day before cellphones or even answering machines. If you didn't want to sit by the phone you had to hire a professional answering service (where a real person actually took messages and relayed them to you...)

Exerpt from May 27th 1976:

Oh Heavens to Murgatroid! I swear I'm gonna spend the rest of my life waiting for this phone call! I've felt like throwing up the past day or so I've been so nervous. Toni (cast member from Charity and one in the know) gave me the assistant chorographer's number so I finally called her this morning. She's suppose to call me back. What a fool I'll feel like if I don't get this job!

May 28th 1976:

I was feeling SO happy just 4 days ago and now I'm back to this rotten "nothing!" I've tried calling the assistant choreographer again but keep getting her service. This is probably the hardest thing I've ever gone through!

May 29th 1976:

I MADE IT!!!!!

It seems so terribly anti-climatic. More than anything I feel like I can breath again. I don't know why I wasn't contacted, unless I just wasn't home at the time, but I finally got a hold of Charlene and she said "Yes, you're definitely on my list, I don't know what happened." Anyway, I'm really glad took the initiative. I have to call her back on Tuesday to see when to go in to fit my shoes! Had a long talk with Toni last night about unions and such. It's still all so confusing, but terribly interesting. I wonder if I've done something unusual by breaking into this movie without being in SAG.

June 2nd 1976:

I went down to MGM for my costume fitting yesterday. It's so thrilling! I got my own pair of white capezios and a box labeled with my name and set on the same shelf along side Liza's! Then I got fitted for a long pleated skirt and sweater for the "Rooftop Sequence!" Oy Vay!

Anyway, Pauline from Independent Casting called me before I left for the theatre and told me my first rehearsal in Monday at 9:00 a.m. on Stage 29. So I guess it's a GO!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sometimes I'm still so very impressed by all the energy (not to mention navigational savviness) I must have had on any given day at the age of 21!

A = Home
B = Disneyland
C = Long Beach Civic Light Opera
D = MGM Studios

So I performed in "Sweet Charity" on Sunday night and started work at MGM on Monday morning!

June 7th 1976:

What an incredible day! I got to the studio so early. Everyone spent the first half-hour socializing. I didn't know anyone at all. I met Dom's roomate Stan, who is a super nice guy. How does he live with Dom? I felt terribly out of place, but I guess everyone must have their first time. He broke us up in 5 groups and everyone learned different combinations, which approximate maybe 30 seconds. That's all we did all day. Liza was there. We got put on the set and after being shifted around for what seemed like hours, I finally landed about 3 feet away from Liza! But because of the angles I don't know how much I'll be seen. Who cares! This is so amazing! We also set a little part where Liza is singing on stage and we're all sitting and swaying. Tommorrow the girls learn the next section. I hope I'm in it!

June 8th 1976:

Today we did the girls section of "Happy Endings." I'm in the back but I'm sure I'll get a few shots. The dance is really short but so hard and so fast. And SO nerve wracking! What pressure! We did about twenty takes and of course it's all about Liza being perfect in the shot (of course) so as the went on you certainly didn't want to be the one to screw something up, especially if it was a good take for HER, if you know what I mean. Plus, they have to have the crew come in and sweep up all the popcorn between every single take!

June 9th 1976:

The days get better and better. I don't want it to ever end! It'll be over in a little more than a week. I never want to do anything else for a living. I can't believe I'm getting paid for this!
*Note ~ About $50 a day. But in 1976 that was a lot!

Some lucky things have happened that I am so thankful for. They called in twenty more girls today for the staircase scene. THOSE were all the girls I auditioned with! I wondered why I didn't recognize anyone on Monday! I'm doing all these other numbers with the girls he's worked with in the past!

Aside from that, after he set the staircase scene, he pulled out about 10 girls, half of them it being their only number. I stayed in and got placed right next to Liza at the top of the stairs doing all these turns and lunges which scares me to death!

I loved rehearsal today. We heard the tape of the title song "New York, New York" from Liza's cassette recorder. She just recorded it last night and we all sat right there watching her listen to it.
*Note ~ Never imagining it would be New York City's OFFICIAL SONG several years later!

It was so embarrassing today! I didn't know they were going to run the combination, I thought they were just working out Liza's bit. So I just stood there staring at Charlene doing the part and all of a sudden Ron says "Jannet, why are you the only one not dancing?" Then outloud to everyone... "I guess she was wondering what it would be like to be front and center." Haha. True! True!

Fred Ebb has been here the past few days!

Some more journal exerpts and things I want to remember:

I am going to write this right now. I've been putting it off for days and its been weighing heavily on my mind. I guess I've been partly afraid of saying how much this means to me. I feel I should be saying all sorts of incredible things. In other words, things that will be worthy of my best selling biography one day, but the truth is I really don't feel any different! A bit more happy and secure about everything and now I know what I want to do with my life. Only I want to be a STAR! There's just too too much to say! I see Liza 8 or more hours a day and what can I say?... I've gotten over it... But she's a dear! As concerned as possible for everyone around her and an A-1 pro all the way. Working with her has definitely been a dream!

I've learned so much, met so many people. I can't believe that Susie Donovan once kicked Thom and I out of Liza's dressing room when we tried to sneak backstage at the Riviera and now I'm friends with her! I've seen Vincent Minnelli, Jack Haley Jr and some more of the greatest people this week. The dance segments are over today but I'll do some extra work on the film next week. It's sad. I just want more and more!

Laszlo Kovacs our camera man. What a sweetie!

On The Set

Rebel...

Here's the "Happy Endings" number (which was actually a "movie" within a movie.) You'll understand once you watch it. If you were me you'd be able to spot me right away in all the sections, but since you're not... hope you have lots of fun trying!

And here are some journal exerpts while doing extra work the last two weeks of June:

I never want to do extra work ever again! The difference between this week and last is like Le Jardin on a Saturday night compared to a Sunday afternoon tea for two...

There is a comfort though in having the production staff smile at you when you walk by. Haven't gotten close enough to Liza this week to even see her face. Last week I stood next to her 8 hours a day!

I enjoyed yesterday when Charlene bought a little cake for John (Calverts) birthday and the few of us dancers left & Ron went into Liza's trailer to sing him Happy Birthday! It was something at least.

I hate doing extra work! Isn't it funny how everything is relative? But I want to keep working on this job simply because it keeps this life in my reality. The day it's over, my film career terminates too! Chris, one of the director's assistants has told me that I can maybe work on the film when they shoot in New York. Ron and Liza were talking about me the other day... ???

I think I've gained like 20 lbs since this job began. It doesn't show but I can feel it. Must be all those free Egg McMuffins and donuts from the food cart every morning!

I've made a vow to write every day that I'm on the set from now on ~ it's just too amusing to pass up. Today marks the fifth day on this one scene. Five days of confetti throwing, lacquered hair and wierd, wierd people! I wish I could write everything down but I can't possibly, there's just too much!

I'd fall apart if it weren't for the little group the dancers have wound down to. The troupers! We'll probably all stay until the jobs done. But we have a ball. We have to or go crazy. I haven't giggled as much as I have the past few days. Yesterday we made a G-String out of streamers for David Nichols. He loved it! The crew is getting to be more and more familiar with us and we with them. It's like family! I wish Ron was still here!

Me and my old dance partner Gene taking a break outside from the confetti.

Michael, the A.D. is driving me nuts! I don't think I can listen to his voice for another hour. Everyone's a little irritable. We were in until after 11:00 last night after 16 hours and then back again this morning. Today will probably be the same. I can only imagine how silly we'll be by the end of the night. I've already ingested way too much confetti, convetti & spaghetti!

The next thing I'm going say is gonna sound really silly, but dammit, she looks at me! Liza looks at me ALL THE TIME and I don't think it's my imagination. Maybe it's because I look at her all the time. But I don't think so. I love to watch her, yes. She amazes and amuses me. She has a style of acting that is so uniquely her own, something I could never copy or would ever want to copy, but by just watching her I think I can learn so much. The scene they're doing right now is mostley ad-libbish and different every time and yet each time so fresh. I wish I could watch every little thing she does but I can't because every time she glances away from Bob (Robert DiNero.. yes first names now haha!) her eyes go directly to ME. It's embarrassing! I change positions and it STILL happens! Maybe I'm cuckoo! Or maybe she just thinks I'm really weird for some reason!

I worked Friday on the new set and we're back today but all the confetti is gone, Hallelujah! We just get to sit (or stand) and watch Liza perfrom the title song (and brilliantly I might add!) What an experience this has been and how much fun will it be to see her do this song in her nightclub act years from now!

Here's "New York, New York" from the Starlight Terrace scene. You'll definitely want to focus on Liza here of course!.. but you can still see me for a couple of seconds directly in the front (meaning the back) wearing the light beige dress with the coral waistband and my hair in a bun. I'm also somewhere down near the stage later on at the end of the number, but I've never been able to spot myself...

^^click on it anyway^^

July 15th 1976:

Last night we shot the V-J Day opening scene on New York Street at Warner Brothers. It was incredible! So exciting watching all the hundreds of people, flags waving, ticker tap falling, lights flashing and the camera boom soaring above it all. I worked from 6 in the evening until 6 in the morning after going out to dinner with my little group but have to admit I spent most of that time off camera napping on the little blanket we'd set up...

After 6 weeks of filming this is rather like falling off a ledge. I don't think I can wait until this movie comes out. I feel like such a part of it! It's going to be too much to have to sit quietly in a theatre and watch it, I'm going to be so overwhelmed by it all. How thankful I am to have had this opportunity! Not many people get the chance to be a part of something like this in their lifetime.

Heading off to New York with Lorna for the rest of the summer in less than a week! Anxious to see what adventures my travels will bring me this time around!

Things Were Finally Looking Up...

In the spring of '76 I finally got my first big break. (Or at least it felt like it at the time.) Long Beach Civic Light Opera was kind of a big thing in LA at the time and I was cast in a production of "Sweet Charity" along with my friend Jimmy Maxwell and sister Jeanne Alison (yes, not too many people know that she's always been a very talented dancer!)

I'm not really sure what I was doing at the time to be able to afford a full-time non-paying theatre job. Maybe working another jaunt at Polly's Pies.. or still doing America On Parade? I really should have kept better records. But Long Beach was about an hour drive from Hacienda Heights down the 605 freeway and we rehearsed every night for many weeks, which makes me kind of laugh now that I only feel comfortable taking side streets...

But back to the show.

It was a star-studded cast! Or at least the most star-studded I'd ever worked with. Toni Kaye, Brenda Thompson (Charity) and Lise Mills were the three female leads and I was so in awe of them! Toni had been one of the original Ernie Flatt dancers on the Carol Burnett Show and had also had a leading dance role in the movie "Funny Lady." I'm not sure what Brenda had done but she was dating Ken Berry (also from the Carol Burnett Show and Mayberry RFD) and so we saw him all the time. Lisa was one of the prima dancers at Disneyland and had done alot of other stuff too.

Toni, Brenda and Lise

Dom Salinero (what a mean ole geez!) was the choreographer, but he was really good! He made us work! And somehow during the audition must have impressed him enough to have been blessed with the lead dance role in "The Rich Man's Frug" which I'm not sure was a blessing or a curse.. But since this took place nearly 40 years ago I can now probably say it was a blessing, although it was a killer for sure! The six minute dance number, which stuck very closely to Fosse's original, consisted of three sections "The Aloof", "The HeavyWeight" and "The Big Finish." And by the end of that thing the only thing that wasn't drenched in sweat was my... well, ok, pretty much every inch of me was drenched in sweat! But grateful sweat...

Again, due to my unfortunate luck of having had a theatre career prior to the big video boom, I guess this rendition will have to do...

The Frug "Fosse" - 1986

(And if you're a serious Fosse fan like me... please take a moment (or six) to take in the incredible underworldly movie version! Just wow.

Anyway, I have to say that it was the closest I'd come to professional theatre at that point... and to this day I still hold it in pretty high regard.

Rehearsal shot

Photo Shoot for Program

In front of the marquee...

Dress Rehearsing "Big Spender"

I remember one night, a night or two nights before dress rehearsal... (because we'd been given the assignment of finding our own costumes for "The Rhythm of Life" number)... Jimmy came back to our house late after rehearsal, where we poured through all the "dress up clothes" my mom had hanging in a closet. So much fun!

In the end, I went as a hippy of sorts, Jimmy as a one-eyed Submissive (lol) and my little sister Alison outdid us both with her rendition of a pregnant Girl Scout...

It was a great show with so many great memories of all those quick changes!.. and attaching hair pieces securely enough that they wouldn't go flying out into the audiance when you twirled them around **see above Frug**

But I think the most fortuitous part of this experience (which actually happened sometime during the rehearsal process) was being given a heads up from Toni Kaye about an audition coming up for the movie "New York, New York" starring Liza Minelli and Robert DiNero. Yes, really.

But that's another story entirely...

Posing outside the theatre with attitude...

But First, D R N...

I'm not even really sure how to define this relationship (friendship?) that spanned those seven years from 1973 to 1980 and in some ways even beyond.

I remember talking to him on the phone one day, shortly after splitting from Brad and asking how he thought it was that WE were still able to remain such good friends, even after all that had transpired. And he answered me in a way that didn't really make sense, but it sort of does now. He said that it was because we had never totally crossed that fine line of no return. And I guess that's the truth. There'd never been any major committments or promises made and how could you ever fault someone for simply being a co-conspiritor to your fantasies? But still, at the time I think that his saying that must have hurt a little bit.

In 1977 I was living in his apartment in New York City with my friend Todd (D was again on the road)... when Todd told me that he thought it would make a really great story if I could publish all the letters that Doug and I had written back and forth to each other over the years... sort of in the vein of "Your Isadora."

You laugh..

And still, to this day, I think they would make for a really great story! But I have only so much blog space... so if you're interested in ever reading them, they're in this transparent file folder in the third drawer down in the antique file cabinet. And I don't think there's anything in there that I wouldn't want my children or grandchildren to read, which in a way sort of makes me feel really happy yet sort of sad at the same time. But still, amazing and poetic!... and if I were to slip any one of those postcards or letters out from that perfectly preserved shroud right now in order to read them, I'd probably most assuredly shed at least a tear or two.

Here's just a sample:

Front of card

Back of card

And ok, I lied. I just read a couple more of them and they are not all entirely G-rated. But this one is probably still ok...

Card

Insert

Always perfect...

Mercifully, I don't have the time to read the rest of them because there are literally thousands! So instead, I'll just enjoy this little pictorial journey and for a moment try to remember the way things actually were as opposed to the way I probably only imagined them being at the time...

Please exuse this little mini (moon)-trip...

Anyway, I think I can honestly say that he probably ranks at least #2 on the list of men I've been smitten with in my lifetime. :) Or maybe even #1, if only because of his love of letter writing... And also, he cried like a baby and mine and Brad's wedding, so I'll give him a couple of points for that as well.

Always Love... Forever... I Love You... Your Douglas...

Loved that. And if it's written down, well, it has to be true, right?

Ok, searching frantically now for that one letter he wrote that said something to the effect of "With enough trust, a relationship can last a lifetime." But like I said, there would be at least a thousand to sort through in order to find the exact one and I can't really remember if he wrote it towards the beginning or more towards the end.

But anyway, on THIS your 64th Birthday, A Very Happy Birthday to You D!

(Even though, I can't make sense of how that could even be possible.)

Still, this picture makes me smile bigger than you can even imagine...

Miss you.

And guess I'll just wait to hear plans for our next "rendevouz" via USPS then.

Because this Facebook thing just doesn't seem to be working out for us very well...

:)