“Not very good, I’m afraid, Doctor.”
No other studio would touch her. It would be her last job. It would be the end of everything, her whole world.
The doctor said, “I want this man put in intensive care immediately.”
“Good!” the director called. “Cut and print.”
Jill was hardly aware of the people rushing past her, starting to dismantle the set to make room for the next one. She had done her first scene—and she had been thinking about something else. She could not believe it was over. She wondered whether she should find the director and thank him for the opportunity, but he was at the other end of the stage talking to a group of people. The second assistant director came up to her and squeezed her arm and said, “You did okay, kid. Only next time, learn your lines.”
There was film on her; she had her first credit.
From now on, Jill thought, I’ll be working all the time.
Jill’s next acting job was thirteen months later, when she did a bit part at MGM. In the meantime, she held a series of civilian jobs. She became the local Avon lady, she worked behind a soda fountain and—briefly—she drove a taxi.
With her money running low, Jill decided to share an apartment with Harriet Marcus. It was a two-bedroom apartment and Harriet kept her bedroom working overtime. Harriet worked at a downtown department store as a model. She was an attractive girl with short dark hair, black eyes, a model’s boyish figure and a sense of humor.
“When you come from Hoboken,” she told Jill, “you’d better have a sense of humor.”
In the beginning, Jill had been a bit daunted by Harriet’s cool self-sufficiency, but she soon learned that underneath that sophisticated facade, Harriet was a warm, frightened child. She was in love constantly. The first time Jill met her, Harriet said, “I want you to meet Ralph. We’re getting married next month.”
A week later, Ralph had left for parts unknown, taking with him Harriet’s car.
A few days after Ralph had departed, Harriet met Tony. He was in import-export and Harriet was head-over-heels in love with him.
“He’s very important,” Harriet confided to Jill. But someone obviously did not think so, because a month later, Tony was found floating in the Los Angeles River with an apple stuffed in his mouth.
Alex was Harriet’s next love.
“He’s the best-looking thing you’ve ever seen,” Harriet confided to Jill.
Alex was handsome. He dressed in expensive clothes, drove a flashy convertible and spent a lot of time at the racetracks. The romance lasted until Harriet started running out of money. It angered Jill that Harriet had so little sense about men.
“I can’t help it,” Harriet confessed. “I’m attracted to guys who are in trouble. I think it’s my mother instinct.” She grinned and added, “My mother was an idiot.”
Jill watched a procession of Harriet’s fiancés come and go. There was Nick and Bobby and John and Raymond, until finally Jill could no longer keep track of them.
A few months after they had moved in together, Harriet announced that she was pregnant.
“I think it’s Leonard,” she quipped, “but you know—they all look alike in the dark.”
“Where is Leonard?”
“He’s either in Omaha or Okinawa. I always was lousy at geography.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to have my baby.”
Because of her slight figure, Harriet’s pregnancy became obvious in a matter of weeks and she had to give up her modeling job. Jill found a job in a supermarket so that she could support the two of them.
One afternoon when Jill returned home from work, she found a note from Harriet. It read: “I’ve always wanted my baby to be born in Hoboken. Have gone back home to my folks. I’ll bet there’s a wonderful guy there, waiting for me. Thanks for everything.” It was signed: “Harriet, The Nun.”
The apartment had suddenly become a lonely place.
21
It was a heady time for Toby Temple. He was forty-two years old and owned the world. He joked with kings and golfed with Presidents, but his millions of beer-drinking fans did not mind because they knew Toby was one of them, their champion who milked all the sacred cows, ridiculed the high and the mighty, shattered the shibboleths of the Establishment. They loved Toby, just as they knew that Toby loved them.