Hold the Roses (14 page)

Bobby went back to New York, and I finished the two weeks. They
got Mary Healy to replace me. She and her husband, Peter Lind Hayes,
were very well known and had played all the top clubs, so Mary was very
good. I went back home, and Spring in Brazil went on to Baltimore and
God knows what other towns. It never opened on Broadway.

I'ountStip it tkee

Bobby and I were able to spend a good deal of time together once I left
Spring in Brazil. I had two weeks off before my next engagement. By this
time, everyone was asking, "When are ya gonna get married?"

I kept saying, "As soon as Bobby gets out of the army."

I tried talking to my mother about inviting Bobby over for dinner. I
couldn't budge her, because my father threatened to leave the house if Bobby
were ever to visit. Christmas was only a few days away and I told my mother,
"I want Bobby to come over for Christmas Eve."

She said, "Okay." Then she told my father. Sure enough, he did not
come home for Christmas Eve. (I bet the "other" family was happy, anyway.) My mother liked Bobby from the minute she met him.

They talked and talked. She asked him, "Are you Catholic?"

"No," Bobby answered, "I'm nothing. When I was a kid, we used to
go to all the different churches we knew were serving food."

I laughed, but my mother didn't think that was funny. Bobby said, "We
have a priest at camp. I'll talk to him and maybe I can become Catholic."

I told him, "You don't have to do that."

"I want to," Bobby answered.

Then my mother said, "Why can't you stay here instead of going to
California?"

Bobby said, "Because I don't know anyone in the East who could give
me what I have in California."

My mother said, "I'm sure you could get work here, and Rose Marie
can go on with her career; she doesn't have any contacts in California."

At this point, I spoke up: "With the way Daddy feels, he would make
sure Bobby wouldn't get a job and would try in every way to make me
think Bobby was no good."

Bobby spoke up. "Let me tell you something. Rose Marie doesn't
have to work if she doesn't want to. I'm well known in California and am
sure I will have a job shortly after we arrive there. I'll take care of her. I love
her very much and I want to make her happy."

We finally sat down to dinner. My mother had really outdone herself-and she was one helluva cook. Bobby, my brother, my mother and I
had a beautiful evening together. My brother and Bobby hit it off very
well. Shortly after dinner, Bobby went back to Schrib's apartment.

My mother said, "He seems like a nice guy, I just don't want you to
make a mistake."

I said, "Mother, I know he's a good man and we have a lot in common. We have so much fun together."

She got a funny look in her eyes, so I said, "No, mother, I have not
gone to bed with him."

She smiled and said, "That's good."

I was so happy that mother seemed to like Bobby and that she believed the things I had told her about him. The next day, my father came
home and my mother told him about meeting Bobby, that he seemed like
a nice guy who truly loved me.

Always the one to say something unkind, my father said, "Oh, he
fooled you too, eh?" I could see it was going to be necessary to keep quiet
about our plans and my happiness for a while-or at least long enough to
calm my father down... again.

I opened at the Copacabana in New York. Lee Schubert and Monte
Prosner produced Spring in Brazil. Julie Podell, the boss, booked me to
play there as soon as he learned I was leaving the show. It was one of the
best places to play and it was a great date. I was booked for four weeks as
the headline act. We did three shows a night, and in between shows, I was
doing the Perry Como Chesterfield radio show, as well as a couple ofTexaco
shows with Berle. I think I did about eight of those shows with Milton
back when he was "Mr. Television." I was the only one who would talk
back to him. Everybody was afraid of him. I still say Milton was a geniushe just didn't know how to explain himself. I'm grateful for all his
teachings... and there were many.

Bobby started sending me a rose every night at the Copa. Some nights I'd meet him between shows. I would do my first show at the Copa, go to
NBC-a short distance from the club-and do the fifteen-minute Como
radio show for the East Coast, go back to the Copa and do my second
show, and return to NBC for the Como show for the West Coast. Then I
would return to the Copa for the last show.

A cherished telegram from Jimmy Durante

Many nights, Bobby would pick me up after the first show at the
Copa and we'd walk down Madison Avenue and do some window shopping, go to NBC so I could do the Como show, and stop on our way back
to the Copa to have a soda or something.

One night in February-it was 1946-he picked me up, we walked
to NBC and he said, "You go on up and do the show. I'll wait down here
for you."

I said, "Okay," and went to do the show, which took about 25 minutes. I came down to meet Bobby. He was up at the corner, with his arms
around the signal light. I walked up to him and said, "What's wrong?" He
was white around his mouth and he was sort of pale.

He said, "Your father was driving around the block and when you
went up to do the show, he parked the car and started walking toward me
and yelling, `You S.O.B....You stay away from my daughter. You no-good
bum, stay away from her, or I'll kill you!' I was backing right up to the
signal light and by now a crowd was forming. The crowd kept saying,
"`Hit him, soldier. Don't let him talk to you that way.... Hit him!"'

With Frank Sinatra and Rocky Graziano at the Copacabana, New York

Bobby said he put his arms around the signal light and kept saying to
himself, He's her father, I can't hit him. What he did say out loud was, "I
love her and want to marry her and make her happy."

He continued, "Your father kept raving and pointing his finger at me
saying, `Keep away from her, you whoremaster, or so help me God, I'll kill
you.' With that, your father turned away, went back to the car and drove
away.

What could I say? I started to cry and apologize to Bobby. I really
didn't know what to do. I had to get back to the Copa and do my second
show. I didn't know how I was going to do the show without crying. I wondered how much more poor Bobby could-or would-take. I guess I wouldn't
have blamed him if he just called it quits. What the hell could I do? It just
seemed so hopeless.

Bobby walked me back to the Copa and said, "I'll talk to you tomorrow" I knew it was over. What was I going to do? Somehow I managed to do my two shows and drive home. I went in to talk to my mother, but she
was asleep, so I just cried and went to bed.

The next day, Bobby called about one o'clock and said he had to go
to Shanks and at least make an appearance.

I said, "Will I see you tonight at the club?"

He said he was going to stay at Shanks for a few days. I just knew that
was it. He said he'd call me from Shanks.

I said, "Okay, please, please call me. We'll work this out, honest we
will."

He said, "I know, but it's rough to be called all those names, just
because you love someone."

I said, "Please trust me, I'll make it work."

He said, "Okay, remember I love you," and hung up.

I went into my mother's bedroom and said, "I've got to talk to you,
Mother, and you've got to help me." I told her what my father had done.

She couldn't believe it. She said, "He would never do anything like that."

I said, "He did, and I swear if he causes any more trouble and I lose
Bobby, I'll leave this house and never come back."

She hugged me and said, "Don't say things like that, we'll work it

I said, "I hope so, because he and I can't take any more of this and I
think I'm old enough to know what I want."

Bobby didn't call the next day. I left a message at Schrib's and asked
him to please call me. Schrib said he was at Camp Shanks. I didn't see
Bobby for three days, and it was driving me crazy. He finally called the
next day and said he wanted to see me. He sounded okay, but I was scared
stiff. I knew he was going to call it quits. I told him to come to the Copa
for a bite to eat between shows (there was no Perry Como show that night).

I did my first show and Bobby was waiting out front. We kissed and
hugged and I said, "I've missed you so."

He said, "I missed you too. Come on, let's get something to eat. I've
got some news for you." Uh-oh! I thought, Here it comes.

We went to Schraf is on Fifth Avenue. It was near the Copa. We
ordered and Bobby started talking. He said, "I've got a lot to tell you. First
of all, I love you with all my heart and I would never let you go. Second, I
think I'm getting out of the army in June, and we're gonna get married, go
to California and leave all this crap behind us. We'll elope and that's it! Are
you with me?"

I said, "Oh yes, yes, yes! I love you too and I want to be with you. I'll
leave the gowns and the music here, so they don't think you're going to live
off of me...like my father has done all these years."

It was only February, and June was three months away, so we had
time to make all of our plans carefully. I would get my clothes together. I
would bring my gowns to Max. He would hold them for me. I would leave
my music at the house. I called my friend Scotty Murphy and asked if she
and her husband would stand up for us. They said they'd love to. Scotty
and I had been friends for years, and she knew what we had been going
through.

The next few days went fine. Bobby came to the Copa and brought
me my single rose. We were so happy, but still careful. I was to close at the
Copa in two days. The night we closed, I drove into the city alone. My
father was playing cat and mouse. Some nights he would come down to
the Copa, and some nights he wouldn't. He was trying to catch Bobby and
me so he could start something.

I packed up my gowns and did the three shows. While I was packing,
Julie Podell, the boss, knocked on the door. He said, "Here's your check,
and thanks for doing such a good job." He hugged me and left.