Hold the Roses (20 page)

Bobby's mother Nan had come to California to help me with the
baby. I knew nothing about babies. I even asked, "What do you do when
they cry?" Nan loved brand-new babies and she was wonderful. I had a
great mother-in-law, and I grew to love her. She was a very beautiful woman,
and she must have been a real cut-up when she was younger.

We got ready to go to the hospital. Woke up Nan, got my suitcase,
walked to the car, got in and drove to the hospital very carefully. No rush,
nothing. We got to the hospital and I was put in a wheelchair and scooted
up to some room. After all the preparations were done, I was lying in the
bed on my side.

The nurse came in and said, "Would you like to see your husband?"

I said, "Sure," and in he came, wide-eyed and a bit confused

He asked, "Any pains?"

I said, "No. Now listen to me.... Call up everybody and cancel the
dinner. Tell your mother to put the meatballs and sausage in the refrigerator. Put the sauce..." and just then my right knee started to shake. I put
my hand on my knee to stop it and said, "Oh, I've got a little pain... not
much, just a little." My knee started to shake again. Again I put my hand
on my knee to stop it and said to Bobby, "You'd better go now," and he left.

I had some more pains, and the doctor came in and they wheeled me
someplace. I guess it was the delivery room. They put a mask on my face and I
thought, Great. Gas.... I'll be knocked out. I started to sniff like crazy-nothing.

I said to the nurse, "You'd better check this out, I don't smell anything."

She said, "It's just oxygen dear, breathe easy." The next thing I knew,
I heard the little slap and cry. They wheeled me over to the side, I opened
my eyes and Bobby said, "Well, you got your girl."

I said, "What time is it?"

He said, "10:10 A.M."

"Is she all right?"

The nurse said, "She's got five fingers on each hand and five toes on
each foot, and she's beautiful."

They wheeled me out to my room. Nan was beside me and said,
"She's going to be beautiful, her eyes are wide apart."

I was so groggy, I said, "Fine."

The next thing I knew, I was in my room and Bobby was at my
bedside looking at me. "Are you all right?" he asked.

Georgiana Marie Guy, nine months old

I said, "Fine. Go home and I'll see you later."

He came back that night and I was feeling great. He told me he had
called everyone and cancelled the dinner. Everyone was thrilled about the
baby. He said he sent telegrams to my mother and father, his sister, and Joe
Schribman. We were listening to Walter Winchell on the radio and heard
him say, "Rose Marie and Bobby Guy-she, who was Baby Rose Marienow have a baby of their own, a little girl born this morning in Hollywood." We were thrilled and wondered how he knew.

We decided on the name Georgiana Marie. Georgiana because it was
different and because it was the name of my mother's best friend. Marie
because she was born in May. Like my mother, I didn't like the name of
Mary either. Bobby liked Vicky-I didn't. I thought about Roberta, after
Bobby-he didn't like that. So it was Georgiana Marie Guy.

Dr. Krahulik sent me home after five days and ordered me to stay in
bed at least five weeks. There was nothing wrong... that was just his S.O.P.
(Standard Operating Procedure).

Nan was taking care of the baby, and I was doing fine. Nan was teaching me how to take care of our little girl. Everybody sent flowers and gifts. We got a letter from my parents, enclosing the telegrams we sent with
"We're not interested" written across them. I knew it was my father and
not my mother. She wouldn't do anything like that. I found out later she
never saw the telegram. She read about the baby's birth in the newspaper!

Bill Loeb called and said the Capitol Theater wanted me to play off
the date I owed them, so did the Mounds Club in Cleveland and the Loews
State.

I told him, "Give me a break, I don't want to do anything for at least
six months."

He said, "Okay, but keep these dates in mind."

So for six months I was with my baby and my Bobby having the
greatest time of my life. The doctor had asked me how much I wanted to
weigh after the baby was born. I told him 125 pounds.

He said, "You're gonna have to work for it."

I began to exercise and watch my diet and in six months, I weighed
125 pounds-ready to go back to work.

During all this time, Bobby and I looked at different houses. He
loved to do that, and he loved cars. He was doing The Ozzie and Harriet
Show on TV, and one of the musicians in the band was doing some real
estate on the side. He told us about a new development called Cameron
Woods, a nice section in Van Nuys. So we went over one day. It was a
lovely area. A lot of well-known people had built houses there: Audie
Murphy; Bob Russell, the songwriter; John Raitt, who had done "Oklahoma" and "Carousel"; and Jack Benny's head writer, Sam Perrin. We didn't
see a house we wanted, but we looked at the remaining lots.

To make a long story short, the builder of the entire street, Bill Bucher,
came over and we wound up buying a particular lot and having him build
our house for $25,000. That was the total for the lot and the house. I told
Bill not to put up one piece of wood until we had paid him $12,500-half
of the price. He said that we didn't have to do that. I told him we wanted
to because in the back of my mind, I knew these dates had to be played and
I would have the money for the down payment.

It was now getting close to the time for me to return to work and
start building our house. My cousin Marie called me. She and her husband
had moved out to California. She was wonderful. She was the one who
told me the complete story about "the other family."

I was shocked. God bless my Bobby. He said, "So what? Who cares?
We're a family now, and nothing can change that." He made me feel won derful-about the biggest shock of my life. I asked Marie to go on the
dates with me. I didn't want to travel alone. It was only for five weeks. So,
we left and went to New York, to the Capitol Theater.

What I didn't know was that my father had threatened MCA and the
Capitol Theater that something would happen if I appeared there. The
manager, Mr. Mann, told me about it and said, "Don't worry, we'll take
care of things at the theater, and we'll have a guard outside your dressing
room. Please don't worry."

I said, "All right."

But I was thinking, What could my father do? Knowing him, almost
anything. When I walked on stage for that first show, there were policemen lined up on each side of the wall of the theater. You would have thought
we were being invaded! Nothing happened, and I went on to finish the
two weeks. Then the Mounds Club, in Cleveland. "The boys" again.

The minute I got into town, I called Doc Maginie and told him, "I'm
going to play the Mounds Club for two weeks and I'm inviting all of you,
with your wives, to the opening."

He said, "We'll see," which didn't sound much like Doc. He told me
he had a little bar/restaurant called the Wagon Wheel. It was on the way to
the Mounds. We could stop there. I didn't understand that-and I didn't
ask.

Every night it was the same thing. We'd stop at the Wagon Wheel
before I had to go to work, have a bite to eat, and I'd try to talk them into
coming to the club. They would always have excuses. Finally, one night
Doc said, "Make a reservation for eight people for tomorrow night, and let
me know what they say."

I said, "Okay." So I went to the club that night and spoke to Moe
Dalitz, the boss. I told him I wanted to make a reservation for eight people
for the next night. He said, "Who's coming?" Which knocked me for a
loop-they never ask that!

"Doc Maginie, Jerry Maloney, and all the Italians I know." I said,
laughing.

He said, "We're all booked up. There aren't any tables open."

Well, I almost died. I was right-something was wrong. I said, "How
about the following night?"

He said, "No, we're all booked up."

I knew then and there not to ask any more questions. I said, "Okay,
Moe, thanks."

I couldn't wait to get to the Wagon Wheel to tell Doc and the rest of
the boys." I did my two shows and we drove to the Wagon Wheel. I told
Doc what had happened and that I was so sorry. Then I said, "What's up?"

He said, "Never mind. I knew they wouldn't let us in."

I said, "Why?"

He said, "There's a little something goin' on between the Italian and
Jewish mobs.. .and that's all you need to know."

I said, "Fine with me, Doc. I just wanted you to come and see my
show."

He said, "I know. Next time. Meanwhile, we'll have a party here on
your closing night."

It was a very strange feeling-all the guys mumbling and talking to
each other. Finally one of them came over to me and said, "When you go
to the club tomorrow night, look at the check stand. There are three
bulletholes there. I put 'em there." So thats what must be wrong! I knew
that the Mounds Club had had a robbery about a month before, while
Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy were appearing there. It had been in all
the papers.

I went to work the next night, and sure enough, I looked at the check
stand and there were the three bulletholes. So that's why they're not talking
to one another. Evidently it was a big feud-even bigger than the papers
reported. That night at the Wagon Wheel, I didn't say anything about the
club, except that the shows had been good and that we had had a good
crowd.

Closing night we went to the club. I did my shows, got my check and
thanked Moe Dalitz. He said, "Thanks for doing a good job and tell your
friends we'll see them soon." I almost died! I couldn't wait to get out of
there. We drove to the Wagon Wheel and I told Doc what happened. He
just smiled and said, "Oh, I'm sure we'll see them again."

They put on a very nice closing night party for me. All of "the boys"
were there with their wives. It was fun to be with all of them. The food was
delicious-but you could feel the tension in the air!

9~mida avid th, S{2i Sdoo~

They were building our house and we were going through all kinds of
traumatic emotions. Did we forget to put in closets? Should we add another bathroom? Anyone who has built his or her first house goes through
this, I'm sure of that. I had been shopping for materials and wallpaper all
over the country-New York, Cleveland, even Vegas. I found imported
French wallpaper for the hall. I found two little antique French chairs in
Lord and Taylor. It was going to be beautiful. The builder, Bill Bucher,
even put in some extra things, like a trellis in the kitchen. All the cabinets
were hand-finished. It was our dream house. We planted Rose Marie roses
on the fence in the front, and also an orange tree. We owed $12,500 on it,
which seemed like twelve million dollars, but we were happy and both of
us were working. I worked when I wanted to, and Bobby was one of the
top hornmen in California. We moved in March