PINKY AND ME

Meadowbrook again.....Pinky Lee (remember him?)  Nice man.  As the "Technical Assistant" on this show, one of my duties was to drive him (and usually his wife) to rehearsals....(They always were supplied a limo during the run.)  I picked them up regularly during this period at the Beverly Hotel on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan and drove them into the "wilds" of  New Jersey.  During the trip, they were always very talkative and inquisitive about me. (He may have been impressed that I knew he had been in "Lady of Burlesque" with Barbara Stanwyck which was based on a Gypsy Rose Lee 1941 novel called "The G-String Murders.")


There is not much to tell about the Meadowbrook production.  We did have a swimming pool/tank at one end of the stage which was a requirement for this look at "summer camp" and Pinky was very funny as the camp counselor, incorporating some of his "vaudeville shtick" into the script.

Pinky thanked me at the end of the run for all my help and presented me with a gift.  A ring.  With the letter L, written in cursive "rhinestones" and surrounded by "garnets."

He was quick to inform me that it was my first initial.   L for LaRue.   .I am being kind, however, it was a very gaudy piece of jewelry and one I've lost over the years.  But hey, it's the thought that counts.  Perhaps that is why it only occurred to me weeks later that it may well have been a re-gift with the L standing for his last initial...Lee.  I must add that it also occurred to me that this gentle man wanted to do something for me and I treasure that.  He was one of the best human beings I ever came across.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BERNADETTE

Image
I first met Bernadette Peters when we were both in a production of "The Boy Friend" (With Yvonne de Carlo) at the Wedgewood Dinner Theater in Glen Cove, Long Island. She had previously been a child performer starting at the age of three on the TV show "Juvenile Jury" and went on to many other venues of the day  (She did "Name that Tune" when she was five.)  And there are many other credits, I could relate. So, she  was a seasoned performer when we met. Almost every night, after the performance of "The Boy Friend," and before we started the trek back into the city, a bunch of us would retire into the bar, where Bernadette would usually sing a number or two with the pianist.   She was remarkable.  She would turn a song like "You made me love you" into a soulful agony with tears streaming down her face as she neared the end.   Just remarkable. Soon after she was doing "George M" on Broadway and "Dames at Sea'  of
Read more

PUZZLES, CONTESTS AND SUCH

Image
I have always been intrigued by puzzles of all sorts starting out with jigsaws in my youth and eventually graduating to Crosswords, Jumbles, Sudokus, Cyphers, Word Searches and a myriad of other types of posers.   And I do my fair share...….the New York Times Sunday Crossword is by far my favorite and I am proud to say that I can now solve it in ink!  (After many years with the no.2 and an eraser) On the contest side, I've entered here and there...……..New York magazine ran a weekly challenge back in the day and had numerous types of things to do.   For instance (and a classic)….Make up a name using other names (the old "if so-and-so married so-and-so" game). If Anna Maria Alberghetti married producer David Merrick, divorced him and married comedian Jackie Cannon, divorced him and married composer Norman Paris, her name would be Anna Merrick Cannon Paris.   You get the picture? Well, after a few honorable mentions in the New York contest, I finally won one.   The cha
Read more

THE BEAR

Image
I have found one wonderful way of combatting the "blues," i.e. those days when you are overwhelmed with loneliness.  It is the bear.  And that is his name....."Bear."  He hails from an upstate New York department store called Newberry's in the town of Warwick.  He came into our lives for no particular reason.....he just looked like he needed some love.  So we took him in.  He resided with us up north among other assorted stuffed kin. And now in Florida, many years later, he sits beside me, fairly near, he - on the sofa, me - in my chair.  He's been there for quite some time now and watches me with his ebony black eyes, snuggled and cozy in his best (and only) sweater.  He did venture forth to sit beneath the Christmas tree last December,  but usually he is happy on the sofa (which I know he thinks belongs to him.)  And perhaps it does. He never bothers anyone and is most tolerant of the cat should she come sniffing around.  He seems to like the same tele
Read more