Radio and television mirror (July-Dec 1951)

Miss Chichi — " and I snapped, "Wait, wait, I'm thinking." I was being a little sorry I hadn't pounded on the desk. A funny thought was teasing me. Was it possible that Barry had made himself see Cal's voice as being not quite good enough because he — well, because he was so fond of me himself? Of course he had no right to assume there was anything personal between Cal and me, because there wasn't . . . yet. Or had Barry seen more than I saw? In the very fact that I'd bothered him on Cal's behalf, had almost forced my way in when he was so busy already. And maybe in the way Cal looked at me and bent down, so tenderly, when he talked to me. Had Barry in his quick, sensitive way, seen that Cal and I — well, that we might be falling for each other? I began to get mad. First of all, we weren't. At least not that I could put my finger on. Cal hadn't said anything to me about love ... If Barry Markham was going to let a personal thing like that stand in the way of another man's whole life, the career that meant everything to him, he was going to hear from me about it! Papa David should have been reading my mind right then, he would have given me such a lecture on dishonest thinking — one of his favorite topics — as I've never had. What could have been more dishonest than thinking like that about Barry when only half an hour before in his office I myself had known that Cal wasn't singing well? But it didn't suit me to face that, so I twisted everything around and made out a case against Barry. Isn't it terrible what you can do in your very own mind to make a hash out of a perfectly straightforward situation that you just don't happen to like? Papa David was out when we reached the Book Shop, and I remembered he was over having a bite of lunch with Father McGarry. Taking off my hat, I told Cal to sit down and I'd fix something for lunch, but my heart wasn't in it and when he looked at me with his unhappy eyes and said,. "Miss Chichi, I'm afraid I really can't swallow a bite," I had to confess I felt the same way. We agreed to settle for coffee, and I'd just got it started when the phone rang. "I won't answer it," I muttered as I went toward it. "On such a day nothing can happen but bad news." But I picked it up anyway, naturally. It was Barry. "Chichi? Glad I caught you. Look — is Duncan there?" "Yes," I answered my tone making it sound like "What's it to you?" "I've been thinking," Barry said. There was a silence during which I felt my blood pressure going right up to the roof. "I don't want to be — I'd hate you to think I hadn't given the guy a fair chance. I'm only one man, you know, I could be wrong. Does it mean a lot to you — ?" "Oh, yes, Barry! It was all wrong this morning. If you'd only heard him sing one of the right songs, you'd see — " "Well, okay," said Barry. "We'll do it all over again. Get him down here tomorrow and if I like him any better, it turns out there's a between-curtains spot in my show that I might be able to throw him into. Nothing much, but — " "Nothing much! Barry, you'd be giving him the whole world on a platter!" "Well, let's see how it goes," Barry said, and we hung up. Cal was stunned when I told him. He couldn't seem to take it in. "He just knows he didn't hear you sing the right kind of song," I said firmly. "Tomorrow you sing your own song. It'll all work out right, you'll see." I was so absolutely sure of that, I didn't go with Cal the next day. I sat home pretending to do some mending and listening for the phone, thinking sometimes, "I should have gone and helped him out," and sometimes, "No — I brought him bad luck yesterday. Today will be different." When it finally rang, I fell over a chair trying to get to it fast. It was Barry, not Cal. "So that's that," he said. "Are you happy?" "What are you talking about?" "You mean your pal didn't rush to the nearest phone and tell you the good news?" Barry chuckled. "I'm delighted he let me get to you first. He's in, Chichi. I heard him do that song you were talking about yesterday — 'There's Only One of Me' — and it was a whale of a difference." "Barry, how terrific! And he'll be in the show and everything?" "I don't know about everything. He'll have his chance, that's all I can do. Actually," Barry said, his voice very serious, "it was partly Lise Martaine that decided me. She was in the office and insisted on staying while he sang. You know her, temperament by the shovelful. When I saw her reaction to the guy I began to think maybe he's the kind who leaves men cold but has something in his voice that talks to women, if you know what I mean. She really sparked to him— to his voice. In fact she practically adopted him — carried him right off to lunch so they could talk about their art together." Barry laughed. "That's probably why he hasn't been able to get to a phone. Lise's like a bulldog when she wants her own way." "Really?" I said. "What on earth would she want with Cal? She must be a thousand years older than he is." I'd only seen pictures of Lise Martaine, outside of that glimpse the day before, but every detail of her face and figure sprang up before me. She has one of those one-in-a-million perfect figures, slim, graceful, and those legs! That was what had made her name, not her singing — Barry himself had told me that when he hired her for his show. But at least she wasn't young, not really young. That was something. Barry said, "I wouldn't know. Be seeing you, darling." He hung up before I could put Lise out of my mind long enough to thank him from the heart the way I felt it. Cal didn't call, but it wasn't long before he came home. He was almost hysterical with happiness. The only thing that bothered him was that Barry had already told me the news. "I wish I could have been the one to tell you," he said. I didn't point out that by simply going into a phone booth and putting in a nickel he could have been the one. He had already explained that Lise Martaine had practically kidnapped him from Barry's office and swept him off to lunch, during which she had told him a great deal about the profession that he'd never known. She'd been so kind to go to all that trouble, he said, that he couldn't break away to get to a phone . . . Oh well. I dismissed Lise from my world. Tonight it must be only Cal and me and the biggest, best celebration we could think of. We had so much fun that night! I hadn't seen Cal like that before, gay and laughing and full of exultant Don't be by VALDA SHERMAN Many mysterious changes take place in your body as you mature. 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