In the Fall of 1965, I was preparing to go into rehearsals for the stage drama "The Right Honourable Gentleman." I was very excited about it because the three Broadway plays I'd done before that were all comedies, and this was Serious, English Drama! Then I got a call from an agent asking if I would like to audition for "Sweet Charity," a new Broadway musical starring Gwen Verdon, directed by Bob Fosse, and written by Neil Simon with music by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields. At that point, I was only interested in my new drama, as well I should've been. It starred Coral Browne, the great English actress; was being directed by Frith Banbury, a noted English director; and had a great American cast, including Frances Sternhagen, William Roeroick, Henderson Forsythe, AND Nancy Reardon and Sylvia O'Brien, who became my dearest friends and are to this day.

Well, "Honourable" rehearsed and opened, and I had a most wonderful experience doing it, but ironically enough, it closed on January 29th of the following year -- the same night that "Sweet Charity" opened. Less than two months went by and I got a call from the same agent. It seems that the actress playing Ursula (a former Miss America) was already leaving the cast, and he asked if I wanted to audition for the part. Of course, my answer to that was, "Yes, indeed!" So, I got the script and studied it and went to the audition. The next day, my agent told me they were "very interested" but I would have to audition again, this time for Bob Fosse, but he would not be back in town for another week or two.

During this time, I had also auditioned for a role in the American Place Theatre's production of a new play titled "The Journey of the Fifth Horse," with Dustin Hoffman playing the lead role. As luck would have it, I got the part in "Fifth Horse" before the second audition for "Charity" was arranged. Well, I figured "a bird in the hand is...blah, blah, blah," so I accepted "Horse." We started rehearsals on a Tuesday, and naturally, on that same evening, I got a call that there was a final audition arranged for me at the Palace Theatre just before the Wednesday matinee. So I went to rehearsals that next morning and on the lunch break, I high-tailed it over to the Palace Theatre, met Bob Fosse, auditioned for him, and got the part! Somehow "Charity" was just meant to be in my life. I gave my closing notice to "Fifth Horse" and went on to the Palace, starting a week later, and stayed with the show until it closed about a year and a half later.

 My friend Ruth Buzzi

In almost every show I've been in, I've formed a friendship with one or more of the actors and have remained good friends forever. In "Charity," it was Ruth Buzzi. Our dressing rooms were right next to each other, and the timing of our parts seemed to coincide so that we had lots of wonderful conversations, and laughs, and of course, our sewing sessions. We where very compatible except for one thing -- I love air-conditioning, the colder the better; she likes it normally cool. But there was one air-conditioner that filtered into both dressing rooms. I wasn't aware of that and would just automatically turn it on every night (the controls were in my room). I kept that up until I went into her room one night to find her sitting at the sewing machine with her coat and hat on. She even had the vent closed up with cardboard, but that cold arctic air was coming in, in spite of it. After that, I got to be a little more considerate about the air temperature.

When one of our stage managers made a Noah's Ark as a birthday present for Nicole, Gwen and Bobby's daughter, he also brought in patterns of all the animals from the ark. Someone decided that the cast would make all those little cloth animals (two each), and Ruth and I thought that was a great idea. We got started on them, and they looked so wonderful, and no one else seemed to want to do theirs, so we ended up making ALL those little guys. I began to wonder if I was cast for my sewing abilities or my acting. It was tedious but also fun, and it was very gratifying to see Nicole's reaction (she was 2 or 3 years old) to the ark and all the animals.

 

Gwen's Birthday Party
Gwen had a birthday coming up, and we wanted to do something special at her party. We were all going to come in unique costumes and create a show, which we would do right after our performance that night. Most of us hung out at a restaurant called Gus & Andy's, which was right next door to the Palace backstage entrance on 47th Street, and that's where we had the party. I don't really remember what anyone else did except for Buzzi and me. Buzzi and Buddy Vest dressed up as Viking warriors (it was hysterical) and sang opera. She made their costumes, of course.

I found a song about a girl from Shamokin, Pennsylvania, and other far-off places. The tale goes that her mother taught here ballet ("pointe, plie, pointe, plie, second to the left and relivee"). But she, "gave it up, it didn't pay." So she ends up as a burlesque dancer. I made the costume (once again) and, if I say so myself, it was a riot. I wore a full white leotard, with huge red hearts in front of my body, and small heart on a spring on top of my head, which bobbed up and down constantly. The hearts were very fitting for "Sweet Charity," since that was the logo used for the show. The hearts slowly, or not so slowly (I think I threw them) came off to reveal a bikini outfit, the top of which I fashioned after the first costume I wore on Broadway, in "Gypsy," but more about that show at a later time....

When I came running down the stairs in that restaurant, singing that song, and doing my pionte, plies and then bump and grinds, Gwen screamed with laughter. It was so incongruous for me and the character I played, that it was even funnier than expected. We all had a great time that night, and I guess, I might add, all through the run of "Sweet Charity."

"The Dress"
I wore two different costumes in "Sweet Charity" -- and a beautiful white fur coat over both of them. One was a long sheath gown with lots of pearls and beads and really looked nifty. The other costume was a knee-length white silk dress. The material was very fine, but the style of the dress was just "okay." It had a scoop neck neither low nor high, and cap sleeves, and the skirt was gathered. I was playing a very glamourous lady -- a Hollywood starlet -- and it certainly looked good, but I was rather glad when it started to wear out and the producers said they'd like to replace it.

I went shopping with the stage manager to a number of stores, but we couldn't find anything that passed my approval. That night, back at the theatre, Gwen asked me if I'd found a nice dress. I told her what sad pickin's there were. She said, "You make such wonderful clothes, why don't you make the costume? We'll get the materials, and the wardrobe mistress will help you, and we'll even pay you to do it." (You see, Ruth Buzzi and I had rented a sewing machine and had it in Buzzi's room, and we made many of our clothes at that time, often showing them to Gwen, and she always liked them.)

I thought it would be great fun to make a costume and I said I'd do it but didn't want any money. But they insisted on paying me, and I made a GREAT dress. This one was perfect for a movie queen -- two layers of material, cut on the bias, off-white lace over silk. It had a V-neck, spaghetti straps, and was very sexy. This was more like it! The part I liked most about it (besides wearing it) is that when the production was done in London, they copied my version of the dress!!