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"I've lost a shoe," cried a nervous apparition, rushing past in veils of pink chiffon and little else.
"Move those flowers, you'll have to move those damned flowers!" The stage manager again, trying to push a way through.
A small nervous man with acrobatic eyebrows and a tall loose-limbed Negro stood together cracking jokes, trying to swallow stage fright. The little buffoon who would go out in a few minutes and panic the audience with his crazy inventions, his nervous monologue punctuated with giggles, lisps and chuckles was Ed Wynn, former vaudeville headliner, now a musical-comedy hit. The tall dark man was "the one and only" Bert Williams, song and dance comedian, expert pantomimist, the man famous for his song "Nobody" and his catch line, "It's a bear." These two comedians had both appeared in the Follies the year before ; in fact, this was Bert Williams' fifth show for Ziegfeld. (He was the first Negro entertainer to appear in an all-white show across the country.) Yet they both had opening-night jitters in the midst of all the confusion backstage, the sounds of activity out front. Musicians were entering the pit, tuning up.
Jenny opened the door again and Mae caught a glimpse of "Mr. Icewater" himself. In the midst of chaos, Ziegfeld was the calm, the unperturbed one. He leaned against a stepladder as if he were alone, chewing an unlit cigar. Pink light passed slowly over him, illuminating his brown shoes, gray suit, soft lavender shirt, the collar nicked neatly with a gold pin, gray tie, soft gray felt hat. The hawklike nose scented the atmosphere; hearing the music, his face took on its quick, engaging smile. He touched his hat and left, to catch the show from out front. Ed Wynn had told her that he'd lean unperturbed against the onyx stairway leading to the balcony, and decide which bit of scenery should be discarded and rebuilt, regardless of expense, which prop or costume or skit should be changed. Sometimes Goldie would stand with him, sometimes
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