was a small speaking part open in
South Pacific
and I could also be in the chorus if I was interested.
I didn’t have to think about it. I jumped at the offer.
The hard part was telling Sinjin, but he magnanimously let me go, saying mine would
be hard shoes to fill. Indeed, he was going to have to pay at least three additional
people to do the work I did. But knowing Sinjin, I felt confident he’d find another
sucker.
Chapter Eight
M other, Richard, Heller, and I sailed to Southampton from New York on the
Media,
a small passenger liner belonging to the White Star Lines. During the voyage, I met
an air force Catholic chaplain, Captain O’Rourke, who was on his way to his post at
the U.S. base at Bushy Park, England. We drank and joked all the way across the ocean
and that connection would prove to be a great help to me a short time later.
The sailing was not as smooth during the brief family vacation we took before starting
rehearsals. At one point we were at Castle Combe, a fine countryside hotel, and once
again Richard was on my case. He saw me vault onto a horse in the stable area and
ride bareback. This sort of riding was apparently too wild for the proper form around
the stable and caused quite a stir. At dinner, Richard informed my mother that I’d
been misbehaving as usual, and it became an issue between us.
“The woman at the stables says you are harming the horses,” he said.
“I didn’t know that,” I said. “I learned to do that back in Vermont and I’ve seen
it in every Western movie ever made.”
“I don’t care how many Western movies you’ve seen. You’re here now and there are very
different customs.”
Things got very heated and I went to my room. It must’ve been embarrassing to them
in front of the other diners, but I was beyond caring. About three o’clock in the
morning, I started down the back stairs, trying to sneak out quietly, except I kept
knocking the walls with my heavy leather suitcase. I was like a bull in a china shop.
Mother was waiting for me when I got to the bottom and asked what I was doing. I told
her that I was getting away from
him.
Mother convinced me to stay. She wouldn’t admit Richard was a son of a bitch to me,
but she emphasized that having me in the play was very important to her. Though she
didn’t say it outright, it was a way for us to have a relationship. I know she wanted
me to see her in London, the scene of many triumphs, and I have to admit it felt like
a homecoming when we checked into the Savoy Hotel a few days later.
Once rehearsals began, Mother was quickly drawn into her own world. She was so focused,
so consumed with breaking in a completely new cast, doing interviews, and she was
just plain remarkable when it came to handling the pressure of getting things together
in less than a month. It was the first time I’d ever watched her this closely and
I saw how much she loved it.
Richard was also busy, planning her schedule, dealing with the producer and the press,
and generally getting on everybody’s nerves.
For some reason, he brought up the Castle Combe horse-vaulting episode again and this
time I couldn’t take it and left. I was on the street again, looking for a place to
stay, when I got an offer from Archie Savage, the show’s lead dancer. He was the only
other American in the company besides Mother, Wilbur, and me. Archie had a great place
on Belgrave Square and said I could stay there. I knew Archie from New York, where
I’d once rented his Third Avenue apartment. He was a gay black man with impeccable
taste. I remember him saying that he’d been turned away by several hotels in London,
so he’d found a beautiful twenty-room mansion to rent, and heopened it up to an array of guys, some of whom were in the show, others who he met
in town.
The night I arrived Archie called everyone together for a meeting. He introduced me
to the group. They were a
South Pacific
and I could also be in the chorus if I was interested.
I didn’t have to think about it. I jumped at the offer.
The hard part was telling Sinjin, but he magnanimously let me go, saying mine would
be hard shoes to fill. Indeed, he was going to have to pay at least three additional
people to do the work I did. But knowing Sinjin, I felt confident he’d find another
sucker.
Chapter Eight
M other, Richard, Heller, and I sailed to Southampton from New York on the
Media,
a small passenger liner belonging to the White Star Lines. During the voyage, I met
an air force Catholic chaplain, Captain O’Rourke, who was on his way to his post at
the U.S. base at Bushy Park, England. We drank and joked all the way across the ocean
and that connection would prove to be a great help to me a short time later.
The sailing was not as smooth during the brief family vacation we took before starting
rehearsals. At one point we were at Castle Combe, a fine countryside hotel, and once
again Richard was on my case. He saw me vault onto a horse in the stable area and
ride bareback. This sort of riding was apparently too wild for the proper form around
the stable and caused quite a stir. At dinner, Richard informed my mother that I’d
been misbehaving as usual, and it became an issue between us.
“The woman at the stables says you are harming the horses,” he said.
“I didn’t know that,” I said. “I learned to do that back in Vermont and I’ve seen
it in every Western movie ever made.”
“I don’t care how many Western movies you’ve seen. You’re here now and there are very
different customs.”
Things got very heated and I went to my room. It must’ve been embarrassing to them
in front of the other diners, but I was beyond caring. About three o’clock in the
morning, I started down the back stairs, trying to sneak out quietly, except I kept
knocking the walls with my heavy leather suitcase. I was like a bull in a china shop.
Mother was waiting for me when I got to the bottom and asked what I was doing. I told
her that I was getting away from
him.
Mother convinced me to stay. She wouldn’t admit Richard was a son of a bitch to me,
but she emphasized that having me in the play was very important to her. Though she
didn’t say it outright, it was a way for us to have a relationship. I know she wanted
me to see her in London, the scene of many triumphs, and I have to admit it felt like
a homecoming when we checked into the Savoy Hotel a few days later.
Once rehearsals began, Mother was quickly drawn into her own world. She was so focused,
so consumed with breaking in a completely new cast, doing interviews, and she was
just plain remarkable when it came to handling the pressure of getting things together
in less than a month. It was the first time I’d ever watched her this closely and
I saw how much she loved it.
Richard was also busy, planning her schedule, dealing with the producer and the press,
and generally getting on everybody’s nerves.
For some reason, he brought up the Castle Combe horse-vaulting episode again and this
time I couldn’t take it and left. I was on the street again, looking for a place to
stay, when I got an offer from Archie Savage, the show’s lead dancer. He was the only
other American in the company besides Mother, Wilbur, and me. Archie had a great place
on Belgrave Square and said I could stay there. I knew Archie from New York, where
I’d once rented his Third Avenue apartment. He was a gay black man with impeccable
taste. I remember him saying that he’d been turned away by several hotels in London,
so he’d found a beautiful twenty-room mansion to rent, and heopened it up to an array of guys, some of whom were in the show, others who he met
in town.
The night I arrived Archie called everyone together for a meeting. He introduced me
to the group. They were a
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