The Other Side of Me

I stood up. "When you have a chance to read it, I would appreciate it if you would call me."

"No, no. Sit down," he said. "I'm going to read it now."

I watched his face as he read it. He kept smiling. That's a good sign, I thought. I was holding my breath.

He read the last page and looked up at me. "I love it," he said. "We're going to do it."

I could breathe again. It felt as though a giant weight had been lifted from my heart. "You mean it?"

"It's going to be a smash. There's been nothing like it on the air. We can still make this season," he told me. "CBS has one time slot left. Let's see if we can get it."

Chapter 27

I did not need a car to take me home. I was walking on air. Jorja was waiting for me at the door when I got home. She looked at my face and said, "Good news?"

"Great news. Desi Arnaz is going to produce Adventures of a Model."

She hugged me. "That's wonderful."

"Do you know what it means to get a successful show on television? It could go on for years."

"When will you know?"

"In the next day or two."

Two days later I got a call from Desi. "We're in," he said. "CBS has given us their last time slot."

"We're going out to celebrate tonight," I told Jorja.

Laura was listening, her face beaming. "You two have a good time," she said, and she handed me twenty dollars. "It's on me."

"I can't. You've already been - "

"Yes, you can."

I hugged her. "Thank you."

"I knew you could do it all the time."

Jorja and I went to an Italian restaurant and had a wonderful dinner.

"I can't believe it," I said. "We're on CBS. I'm going to produce the show and write the scripts."

On the way home, Jorja said, "I'm so proud of you, honey. I know what you've been through and how hard it's been, but that's all over now."

Desi called me the next morning. "Can you come to the office?"

I grinned. "Certainly." I was there thirty minutes later.

"Sit down," Desi said.

"Right. When do we start?"

He studied me a moment. "Sidney, CBS had one opening left and we got it. They canceled The Dick Van Dyke Show and put us in that time period. Danny Thomas, who owns The Dick Van Dyke Show and a few other shows on CBS, put pressure on them and insisted they give The Dick Van Dyke Show another year. The network finally agreed. They put them back in the time slot. We're out."

I sat there, not moving, unable to speak.

"I'm sorry," Desi said. "Maybe next season."

I was faced with the same choice: Give up or try again. I was damned if I was going to give up.

I needed another project, and I sat down to create one. I sat in my study for a week, discarding idea after idea. Finally, I thought of one that might work. There had been no shows on Broadway about Gypsies. I had a title, King of New York. It would be about a Gypsy family with a beautiful daughter falling in love with a non-Gypsy and the situations that that could lead to.

I knew nothing about Gypsies and I had to do research. Where could I find out about them? I called the police station and asked to speak to a detective.

"What can I do for you?"

"I would like to interview some Gypsies. Do you know where I can find some?"

He laughed. "Yeah, usually we have them locked up in the station. At the moment they're all out. I can give you the name of the man who calls himself 'the King.'"

"Perfect."

His name was Adams and the detective told me where to get in touch with him. I called Adams and told him who I was, and invited him over to the apartment. He was a tall, burly man, with black hair and a deep, gravelly voice.

"I'd like to talk to you about Gypsy customs," I said. "I want to know all about the way you live."

He sat there, silently.

"I'll pay you for it," I said. "If you talk to me and tell me everything I need to know, I'll pay you - " I hesitated " - a hundred dollars."

His face lit up. "Fine. You can give me the money now, and - "

And I knew I would never see him again. "No. I want you to come here once a week and we'll talk and I'll give you some money each time you come for an hour."

He shrugged. "Okay."

"Now, start talking."

He talked and I made notes. I wanted to know the Gypsy customs, how they lived, dressed, talked, and thought. At the end of three weeks, I knew enough about Gypsies to start writing the play. When I finished it, I showed it to Jorja.

"It's lovely," she said. "Who are you going to take it to?"

I had already decided that. "Gower Champion." He had just directed a Broadway hit called Bye Bye Birdie.

I went to see Gower. He had been a musical star at MGM, had gone on to Broadway as a director, and had become a big success.

"I have a play I'd like you to read," I told him.

"Fine. I'm leaving for New York tonight. I'll take it with me, and read it on the plane."

I had foolishly hoped that he would do what Desi Arnaz did and read it immediately. "Thank you."

When I got home, Jorja said, "What did he say?"

"He's going to read it. The problem is that I heard he has a lot of other projects in the works. Even if he's interested, it may be a long time before he does this."

Gower Champion called the next morning. "Sidney, I think it's great," he said. "It's going to make a wonderful musical. There's been nothing like it on Broadway. I'm going to call Charles Strouse and Lee Adams, who wrote the score for Bye Bye Birdie, and bring them on board."