[Juliana 02.0] Olympus Nights on the Square

by Vanda

  “I wasn’t a good daughter to her—wild, unthinking. You should’ve seen her when I performed on stage. She’d sit in the front row on the edge of her seat, mouthing the words I sang like she was up on that stage with me. In a way, she was. She had a beautiful voice. When she was young, she sang opera in Paris and Milan, and the stage-door Johnnies would line up to kiss her hand. Only, her stage-door Johnnies were princes, and dukes, and the sons of earls. She gave it all up for me, and I’ve squandered her gift, and I don’t know how I’ll live if …”

  I thought she might actually cry. I hurried toward her, but she put a hand up. “No.”

  I stopped. “I won’t. I wish …” I could see in her eyes she didn’t want to hear what I wished, so I let my wish sink back into my heart. “Don’t worry. Richard and I are going to talk. We’ll figure something out.”

  “You’re going to work with Richard?”

  “I guess so.”

  “You don’t mind?”

  “Of course I mind. But you’re going to be the star you were meant to be, and I’m going to do whatever it takes to make that happen. There’s a couple of things I want.”

  “Anything.”

  “First, you and Richard have to listen to me. Really listen. And do what I say.”

  “Fine.”

  “Make sure you both don’t forget that. And—”

  “You want a fee, a percentage? Of course. We can—”

  “I haven’t thought that far ahead yet. What I want is …” I was breathing too fast. “There’s something I have to say to you.”

  “Say it.”

  “And I don’t want to hear any of your cockamamie theories about why I can’t or why I shouldn’t.”

  “What is it?”

  “I—Just a minute.” I walked back to close the door.

  “My goodness, what—”

  I exhaled the words on a breath and closed my eyes. “I’m in love with you.”

  I opened my eyes. I couldn’t read anything on her face. “Okay, you didn’t fall over or turn into a pillar of salt. That’s a start. I’m in love with you in all the ways I’m not supposed to be; I’m in love with you in all the ways you say I can’t be.”

  Her lips moved to speak. I raised my hand. “Don’t say anything. I need to say it out loud, and I need you to hear it. I may say it again sometime. I will never say it front of other people, and you don’t have to say anything back. All you have to do is listen to it. Do we have a deal?”

  She took in a deep, uncomfortable breath. “All right. If that’s you want.”

  “Good. I’ll get started.”

  Chapter 18

  IT WAS NOON as I jaunted down the street toward the Mt. Olympus, floating like a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day balloon. I’d said it right to her. It wasn’t an accident, or a “reflex” that slipped out in a moment of passion. It’d been building for years, and now I’d said it right to her face. I’m in love with you, Juliana. In love with you.

  I practically slid down the center carpet into the main dining room of the club, then turned to go into Max’s office.

  “Where have you been?” Max asked. “You’re usually here early.”

  “I was here. Then I went out.” Shirl and Mercy sat near Max’s desk. “Did I miss some meeting I didn’t know about?”

  “Impromptu. Sit. Shirl and I have been discussing—”

  “Where’s Virginia?” I asked. “If we’re having a business meeting shouldn’t she be here?”

  “She’s a woman.”

  “Excuse me?” Shirl said.

  “You know what I mean. Virginia has no head for business. Sit, Al. I’ve been going over our numbers, and we’ve been down for the last few months on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. I’m worried.”

  “That’s not exactly bankruptcy,” Shirl said. “Are the other times up? Is it only Tuesday at eight?”

  “I know it’s strange, but we’re too new to absorb even a slight shortfall. Not this early in the game,” Max said. “We’ve got to figure out why this is happening and fix it.”

  “It sounds serious,” I said, concerned that I’d be out of work and out of a dream.

  “It is,” Max said.

  “Not that serious,” Shirl said. “Don’t scare the kid.”

  “Of course your business is off at that time,” Mercy confidently announced.

  We swiveled in our seats toward her. Mercy never had an opinion at business meetings; she came to keep Shirl company. “Nobody’s gonna come here Tuesday at eight,” she said matter-of-factly. “Everyone’s home watching Milton Berle.”

  “Oh, come now,” Max said. “Everyone?”

  “Haven’t you seen that show? Uncle Milty is like a religion to some people. Didn’t you read this week’s Newsweek and Time?”

  Now everyone swiveled toward me. “Well …” I said, trying to shrink. I didn’t want to tell them I’d spent the weekend with Juliana. “They’re probably on my desk under a pile of dailies, weeklies, and monthlies I haven’t gotten to yet.”

  “Milton Berle is on the cover of both at the same time,” Mercy said. “Not even a president has done that. They’re calling him Mr. Television.”

  “Al, you should know this,” Max told me.

  “I don’t own a TV.”

  “Get one. Today. Here. Take this.” Max handed me some large bills. “The club will pay. And read those articles. I want a full report. Then we’ll meet again to discuss what to do.” He stood, ready to leave his office.

  Mercy broke into peels of laughter and we all stared at her. Gasping for air she said, “You mean you’ve never seen Milton Berle in a dress?”

  “We know lots of men who wear dresses,” Shirl said. “It’s not that funny.” She got up and signaled Mercy to follow her out of the room.

  “Max, can I talk to you?” I asked.

  He unbuttoned his suit jacket and sat behind his desk, swiveling his chair toward me. “Have a seat.”

  “I can’t. I have to pace. I need your help.” I sat down.

  “Are you in trouble?”

  “I have an idea, and I need you to help me.”

  “Shoot.”

  “What?”

  “Tell me the idea.”

  “Oh.”

  He pushed a cigarette into the holder and lit it.

  “I want to manage—Don’t say no before you’ve heard me out.”

  “Okay. You want to manage what?”

  “Juliana.”

  “No.”

  “Max.”

  “I can’t let you do it. You don’t know enough to manage anyone by yourself, and Juliana is way over your head.”

  “I know.”

  “Well, then?”

  “She’s not over your head.”

  “Are you out of your mind? You know how I feel about Juliana.”

  “No, actually, I don’t. I know the two of you haven’t spoken in years.”

  “She’s trouble. There’s no way I’m going to manage her.”

  “Oh, she wouldn’t let you. She feels the same way about you.”

  “Of all the damn nerve. After all I did for her.”

  “Richard has to be her manager, but he’s an idiot.”

  “Bingo. You have the makings of a great manager.”

  “He’s going to ruin her career, and I can’t let that happen, but I don’t know enough about the business yet. I don’t know enough people to make the right calls, and Richard’s a man. People would rather do business with a man. He also has some contacts through his bank. Money people. So his involvement could be useful, but not till her act is right. That’s where you and I come in. Please help me to help her.”

  “Let me get this straight. You want me to help you help Richard help Juliana?”

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s nuts.”

  “I know, but say you’ll do it anyway.”

  “She chose Richard over me. It was her choice. Why should I now help to make him look good in her eyes?”

  “Because I’m
asking you to.”

  “You know I have plans for you, kid. I want you to run the new place all by yourself. Take over the entire operation.”

  “Yes! Yes!”

  “I was even thinking of having you take a look at a few new singers I’ve been hearing about. See if you want to manage any of them. Get your feet wet.”

  “Yes!”

  “This work with Juliana could distract you from building a solid, lucrative career.”

  “It won’t. Please Max.”

  “Aren’t you worried that, besides Richard, there are other girls? I’ve heard rumors about her and that French girl.”

  “Margaritte.”

  “That might be the name. And then there was this other person, a he/she.”

  “Andy.”

  “Maybe. I don’t know what she’d be doing with a man-woman. What do you do with one of those?”

  “People make up stories about beautiful women. That doesn’t mean she’s … Besides, I’m going to keep her so busy with her career, which is more important to her than Richard, me, or any other girl, she won’t have time to even think of anyone else. The only girl she’s going to see day in and day out will be me. So? Will you help me?”

  “Quite an interesting plan you’ve got there.”

  He leaned way back in his chair, his two hands pressed against each other and held to his lips. He was silent for so long, I wanted to jump over the desk and choke him.

  “She needs her own material. I’ve looked in on a few rehearsals from time to time. That jerk has her singing songs that everyone sings. Stupid move.”

  “Where can I get her new material?”

  “She needs her own composer. Someone fresh, exciting. Maybe unknown.” He got up and rummaged through a file. “Give her these three songs. Her accompanist, Johnny, wrote them.”

  I took the sheet music into my hands. “He did? Why didn’t he say he could write for her? He’s there listening to that fiasco every day.”

  “He’s drunk. If you can keep him off the sauce, he can write her some terrific songs, but she still needs a better act. I haven’t thought about that in years—”

  “I have. When I get something on paper I’ll show you.”

  “If you can sharpen up her act—hire a good musical director—and she does the material you’re holding, I can set her up with some career-moving visible gigs. But that act better be good. I’ll be putting my recently revived reputation on the line.”

  “It won’t be good, Max; it’ll be great.” If only I was as confident as I sounded.

  “Then, if all goes well, she gets some great reviews, in a year or so she’ll be playing the Copa.” Max sighed. “It should have happened long ago. She’d better not find out that I have anything to do with this.”

  “She’ll think Richard did most of it.”

  “Don’t you want her to know that it’s mostly you?”

  “Yeah. But she’d still be stuck with Richard, and if she’s forced to face what a dope he is, she’ll feel ashamed for the choice she made. That would affect her career. Juliana takes her whole self up on that stage.” I couldn’t tell Max that I knew Juliana would divorce Richard once I make her a star.

  “You’re right,” Max said. “She does takes all of herself on stage. I’m glad you know it. Get everything in writing. Here, take this.” He handed me a card. “This is my lawyer. Have him draw up the papers, and be sure he includes your percentage.”

  “I can’t take money from Juliana.”

  “You darn well better. This is business. Don’t go soft on me now, kid. You call him. Make it all legal and contractual.”

  “Okay, okay.”

  I held the new music tightly to my chest. My dream was gonna happen. “Max, why are you doing this for her?” I asked.

  “I’m not doing it for her,” he said. “Now quit wasting time, and go make Juliana a star.”

  Chapter 19

  “YOU THINK THEY’LL be here soon?” I couldn’t believe Virginia was as excited as me. We leaned over the balcony outside my Milligan Place apartment, waiting. A slight breeze before the day’s August heat ruffled our skirts.

  “They said noon,” I told her. “It’s almost that now. It feels like Christmas night waiting for Santa when I was a kid. You know, I never even wanted one, but when Max told me I had to get one … You don’t have one yet, do you?”

  “I have no use for a television set. What would I do with it?”

  “Watch it.”

  “I like listening to my concert records on the Victrola in the evening, but it’s thrilling you’re getting one. I’ve only passed by them in Klein’s radio section, but I never actually watched a whole program.”

  “You shop at Klein’s?”

  “Even I can appreciate a good bargain.”

  “Oh. Well, you’ll watch mine.”

  “Could I? Oh, you. You’re never home.”

  “Max says I have to watch it, so now it’s part of my job. Juliana has one!”

  “Well, I would expect her to have one. Where’d you buy yours?”

  “Leonard’s Radio Store down on Radio Row. Oh, look! They’re coming.”

  I waved my arms at the truck as it navigated through the gate I’d left open. The two guys living in the apartment next to mine, NYU students, ran onto the balcony with us. They wore dark slacks with white shirts, open at the collar. “You getting a TV?” Harold asked.

  “Yes!” I said proudly, like I’d accomplished something important.

  “Jeepers, a TV!” Philip said, “I can’t wait to finish school so I can get one, too. What kind did you get?”

  “An RCA!”

  “Oh, they’re good,” Harold said.

  “How big?” Philip asked.

  “Sixteen inches! As big as a magazine page, the man in the store said.”

  “A sixteen-inch screen!” Philip jumped up. “That’s enormous! You are so lucky. Can I come over and watch it sometime?”

  “Sure. Both of you. Bring your girls. We’ll make a party of it.”

  The truck driver did some fancy maneuvering around the cement bench and the little tree, stopping in front of the stairs that led up to my apartment.

  “Al,” Virginia squealed. “You’re getting a TV! A TV!”

  The deliverymen waved as they jumped out of the truck. “Which one of youse is Alice Huffman?”

  “That’s me! I’ll be right down.”

  “Sit tight, hon. We gonna bring it up to youse. By duh by, I’m Dan and dis here’s my partner, Mickey.”

  We waved at the two smiling men with big shoulders. “I love dis job,” I heard Dan say to Mickey. “Folks are always glad to see us.”

  They threw open the back doors of the truck and slid my TV down a wood plank onto a dollie.

  “Oh, Al, it’s so big,” Virginia exclaimed. “It’s going to make a beautiful piece of furniture.”

  “And it has Golden Throat,” I told her. “That’s why I got an RCA instead of a Dumont.”

  “Really?” Virginia sounded impressed. “What’s Golden Throat?”

  “I don’t know, but it sounded important.”

  The men were pulling my TV toward the stairs.

  “Al!” The two girls who lived in the third apartment down, a secretary and an elementary school teacher, came hurrying out to the balcony, their dresses swishing around their calves. “You got a TV! How pretty.”

  “Isn’t it?” Virginia said.

  “The cabinet is made of Maplewood,” I told them. “Modern.”

  The men pulled and pushed my TV up the stairs, onto the balcony, and into my apartment with my neighbors following. Virginia and I had to squeeze by everybody to get into the living room. Once inside, the neighbors watched from the doorsill.

  “So, where ya wan’ it?” Dan asked.

  “Next to that window across from the couch.”

  They rolled the TV to where I directed and bent to unwrap it from its casings.

  “Oh, Al,” Virginia exclaimed, as t
he TV was revealed. “It’s simply gorgeous!”

  “It is, it is,” came the chorus of my neighbors pressing against the open door.

  “I have a lovely old lamp that will look perfect on top of it,” Virginia said. “It’s an antique. Used to belong to my grandmother. Let me give it to you.”

  “I can’t accept something like that.”

  “Please take it. I want to help you celebrate your new TV.”

  “Well—I’ve never had an antique before.”

  “And now you do. I’m sure you want to be alone with your TV, so I’ll go.”

  “No. I want you to be with me for my first time. Let’s watch it now.”

  “Could we?” Virginia absolutely glowed with excitement.

  “Why not? It’s mine.” I ran toward it, my hand ready to turn one of the knobs. “Is this the right one?” I asked Dan.

  “Don’t touch dat!” He sounded like the voice of Oz.

  I jumped back, wondering if Dan had stopped me from blowing us all up.

  “Ya can’t go round grabbin’ at knobs. Dis is a complex piece of machin’ry,” Dan explained. “Youse ain’t been taught prop’ly to operate her, yet. Now, sit yerselves down while I splain the intricacies of operatin’ yer new TV.”

  “I’ll wait for ya out in the truck, Dan,” Mickey said. “Looks like yer gonna have yer hands filled up with dem. Good a’ternoon, ladies.” He nodded in our direction. “Excuse me,” he said to the neighbors who still pressed against my door. “Youse can’t stay here. Alice needs to think.” He herded the neighbors out of the doorway and closed the door.

  “Would you like me to go too, Dan?” Virginia asked.

  “Ya can stay if ya wanna, but ya gotta sit quiet.”

  “Of course.”

  Virginia and I sat dutifully on the couch.

  “Youse can follow along with dis here manual.” Dan handed us a thick book, opened to the page where we would begin. He stood by the TV and patted the top of it with his hand. “Dis here baby is no toy. Ya gotta respect her. Dis knob here—” He touched one of the round dials. “Dis is yer On-Off Sound button. Ya turn it halfway like dis, and wait fifteen to twenty seconds while it’s warmin’ up. While yer waitin’ for dat ya pulls out the Selector Light here and dat begins yer ‘lumination. Then ya come over here to dis dial, the Station Selector. Dis one ya turn to the number of da channel ya wanna watch.