RUNAWAY ROSE
Chapter Seventeen
August 18, 1912
"Where’s Nancy?" Norman’s voice
boomed through the green room, where the cast and crew of the vaudeville show were
assembled, waiting for the start of the evening’s performances. All were
present, except for Nancy Sloane, one of the chorus girls.
Norman glared at each cast member in turn, as
though they could tell him where the missing chorus girl was. No one spoke.
Norman sighed irritably. As Robert had
predicted, Norman and Alice had broken up a few days earlier, and their
relationship had promptly deteriorated to the point that they were always at
each other’s throats, and often took their irritation out on other people. Rose
and Robert had been studiously avoiding both of them.
Norman turned to glare at Robert. "You
wouldn’t happen to know anything about this, would you, Robert?"
Robert tried to look innocent. "Why are
you looking at me?"
"Because you seduce a new chorus girl
every week, and this isn’t the first time that one of your former girlfriends
has pulled a vanishing act."
"I’m not to blame this time. She turned
me down."
Alice snorted rudely. "She was smart,
then." Alice had managed to finish off an entire bottle of sherry the
night before, and was still hung over. Robert sighed, trying to ignore her. She
would be fine when she went on stage, but until then, she was more irritable
than a drenched cat.
Alice went on. "She ran off with that
guy who came to the stage door last week, the one who was looking for the
latest star for Hollywood movies."
"Him! He’s nothing but a fly-by-night
smooth operator! I told him to leave when he showed up."
"Well, he came back. I overheard him
talking to Nancy last night, and she was very eager to head off to California
with him. When I was heading for home, I saw her get into a carriage with him,
headed in the direction of the train station."
"Shit." Norman sighed and closed
his eyes for a moment, thinking. "We can do without her in most numbers,
but that opening number requires the whole cast to balance out the stage. We
can’t open without it, and we can’t do it without her."
"I told you we needed
understudies," Alice told him snidely.
"Alice, I am aware that I have made a
few mistakes. You don’t need to go on about it."
"If you’d listened to me, you wouldn’t
have this problem!" Alice retorted.
Robert suddenly spoke up, before the argument
could escalate into a full-blown shouting match. "Why don’t you put Rose
on stage?"
"Rose?"
"You know, the ticket seller. I know for
a fact that she knows the song, because I heard her singing it while she was
doing her laundry one day, and she walks so gracefully, I’m sure she could
dance, too."
"We really don’t have time to train her
or costume her. We open in fifteen minutes!"
"Without her, we won’t open at
all."
Norman rubbed his temples, conceding Robert’s
point.
"She looks like she’s about the same
size as Nancy. She could wear Nancy’s costume. And the part isn’t that big. All
she really has to do is follow what everyone else is doing. I can go get
her."
Norman shook his head. "I’ll go get her.
You get ready to go on stage." As he turned to leave, Alice raised her
middle finger at him and smirked. "We might need a new star, too."
As he left the room, he heard something smash
against the doorframe, and the sound of Robert and Alice quarreling. He had
known from the start that his relationship with Alice wouldn’t last—she was one
of the most unstable people he had ever met—but he hadn’t expected it to end
quite so badly. Alice’s behavior had been deteriorating ever since, courtesy of
her heavy drinking, and he was seriously considering replacing her. He didn’t
want to; she had been a major draw for years, and she was an excellent actress,
singer, and dancer, but she was becoming increasingly hard to deal with, and
had nearly refused to go on stage one night. Only Robert’s intervention had
convinced her to humor him and go on with the performance.
As he stepped into the ticket office, he looked
outside. The size of the audiences had been growing progressively smaller over
the last couple of weeks, and it was almost time to shut down the vaudeville
show and put on the serious theatrical production for the fall. He sighed
inwardly, not looking forward to dealing with Alice in her role of Desdemona in
Othello. He raised his eyes to the ceiling, suddenly realizing that he
had to replace Nancy as one of the prostitutes in Othello, as well.
Rose turned to look at him, wondering what he
was doing there. Shouldn’t he be getting ready to introduce the show?
One of the crew members had followed him in.
Norman directed him to work the ticket window, then escorted Rose into the
hallway.
Rose looked at him nervously. Had she done
something wrong? Had someone come looking for her?
"What’s going on?" she asked,
trying to read his expression.
"One of the chorus girls ran off with
some smooth-talking movie producer. We can’t open the show without her, because
we need her to balance out the stage. I need you to go on stage tonight in her
place."
Rose didn’t know whether to shout exuberantly
at her good fortune or back away and refuse. She had wanted to be an actress
for a long time, but she was still worried that Cal would find her. New York
wasn’t that far from Philadelphia, and Cal might still be looking for her.
"I can’t."
"It’s easy. Just follow what the other
chorus girls do and sing. Robert says you know the song. Can you dance?"
"Well...yes, but—"
"Good. Hurry up and get into costume.
Nancy’s costume should fit you, and we’ll start a few minutes late so you can
get your makeup on."
Rose shook her head. "I really can’t go
on stage."
"Why?"
Rose opened her mouth and snapped it shut.
She still couldn’t talk about her ordeal.
"You’re a runaway, aren’t you?"
"Maybe."
"It’s unlikely that anyone will
recognize you. Besides, most of these people have already seen you when they
bought a ticket. You look very different now from the way you did when you
first arrived here, with your hair dyed. Also, the costume includes a feathered
headdress and heavy makeup. The likelihood of anyone recognizing you is almost
nil."
Rose hesitated. She wanted to go on stage,
but...
"I’ll pay you an extra two dollars for
the night."
Rose nodded. She could use the money. "All
right. I’ll do it."
"Good. Go backstage to the chorus girls’
dressing room. Someone will tell you what to do."
"Right." Rose dashed off.
After changing into her costume and putting
on her makeup, Rose felt more confident. She bore little resemblance to Rose
DeWitt Bukater, society girl. Instead, she was Rose Dawson, actress. Her
stomach fluttered nervously as she followed the other girls to their entrance.
She hadn’t been on stage since she was thirteen and had taken part in a ballet
recital.
The music filled the air, and Rose danced
onto the stage with the other chorus members, trying to follow what they did.
Unfortunately, she had never even seen this part of the show, and she had no
idea what was coming. As the group spread across the stage and whirled to face
the audience, Rose bumped into Robert, who steadied her and improvised a
leering grin. Embarrassed, Rose tried to follow the other chorus girls, but her
misstep had thrown her off. As she tried to glide after them, she ran into
Alice, who was making her entrance. Alice stumbled, tripping on Rose’s skirt,
and fell flat on her face. Her feet tangled in Alice’s costume, Rose fell
against a line of chorus dancers, knocking the first one over. The others soon
followed her onto the floor like dominoes. The music came to a disjointed halt.
The audience roared with laughter. Rose
slowly picked herself up, her face flaming. Norman strode out on stage, a fake
smile glued to his face. Turning the audience, he waited for them to calm down.
"I’m glad you’ve enjoyed our little
joke! Now, we will resume our regular show."
The cast quickly left the stage, and the
piano player began on the second number. Norman glowered at Rose.
"I thought you said you knew how to
dance!"
"I do. But I don’t know this dance, and
no bothered to teach it to me first!"
"Why didn’t you just follow the
others?"
"I did! But I didn’t know what they were
going to do, so I was a beat behind. It takes rehearsal to get this
right."
Norman shook his head, trying to calm his temper.
It was fortunate that the audience had responded so well. But Rose was right;
she couldn’t be expected to know the dance without rehearsing it first.
"All right. I’m sorry." It was a
rare concession for him to make. He gestured to the other chorus girls,
motioning them forward. "Rehearse the dance with Rose. You can block it
out on stage between shows. It’s only for another week and a half anyway. I
don’t want a repeat of tonight’s mistakes. The next audience may not be so
amused."
The others nodded, some looking at Rose
resentfully, envious of her sudden success, when many of them had had to
struggle for their roles. Others resented the fact that she had ruined the
opening number, no matter how unintended the ruination had been. But they
agreed, nevertheless, to train her in the dance. As Norman said, it was only
for another week and a half, and the show must go on.
Rose learned a lot that night, and by the
second performance of the evening she did well enough that no one laughed.
Despite their earlier resentment, the other chorus members respected her
efforts, and Rose found herself in a new, and pleasant, career.