in March, Billy got an offer to move City of Girls to the Morosco Theatre. He took the offer, packed up the show, and went.”
“He packed up the show?”
“Yes, indeed.”
“He took it? He took it from the Lily?”
“Well, he wrote that play and he directed it—so technically it was his to take. That was his argument, anyway. Not that I argued with him about it. Wasn’t gonna win that one.”
“But what about—?” I couldn’t finish the question.
What about everything and everyone, is what I might have asked.
“Yes,” said Peg. “What about it? Well, that’s how Billy operates, kiddo. It was a good deal for him. You know the Morosco. It has a thousand seats, so the money is better. Edna went with him, of course. They did the show for a few months, same as always, until Edna got tired of it. Now she’s gone back to her Shakespeare. They’ve replaced her with Helen Hayes, which isn’t working, as far as I can see. I like Helen, don’t get me wrong. She’s got everything Edna’s got—except that thing that Edna’s got. Nobody’s got that thing. Gertrude Lawrence might have been able to do it justice—she’s got her own version of that thing—but she’s not in town. Really, nobody can do what Edna can do. But they’re still packing the house night after night over there, and it’s like Billy’s got a license to print money.”
I didn’t even know what to say to all this. I was appalled.
“Pick up your jaw, kiddo,” Peg said. “You look like you just fell off a turnip truck.”
“But what about the Lily? What about you and Olive?”
“Business as usual. Scrambling along. Putting on our dumb little productions again. Trying to lure back our humble neighborhood audience. It’s harder now that the war is on, and half our audience is off fighting it. It’s mostly grandmothers and children these days. That’s why I took the commission at the Navy Yard—we need the income. Olive was right all along, of course. She knew we’d be left holding the bag after Billy took his playthings and went away. I guess I knew it, too. That’s always the way it goes with Billy. Of course, he took our best performers with him, too. Gladys went with him. Jennie and Roland, too.”
She said all this so mildly. As though betrayal and ruin were the most mundane happenings you could ever imagine.
“What about Benjamin?” I asked.
“Unfortunately, Benjamin got drafted. Can’t blame Billy for that. But can you imagine Benjamin in the military? Putting a gun in those gifted hands? Such a waste. I hate it for him.”
“What about Mr. Herbert?”
“Still with me. Mr. Herbert and Olive will never leave me.”
“No sign of Celia, though?”
It wasn’t really a question. I already knew the answer.
“No sign of Celia,” Peg confirmed. “But I’m sure she’s fine. That cat has about six more lives in her, believe me. I’ll tell you what is interesting, though,” Peg went on, clearly not concerning herself with the fate of Celia Ray. “Billy was right, too. Billy said we could create a hit play together, and we actually did it. We pulled it off! Olive never believed in City of Girls. She thought it would bomb, but she was dead wrong. It was a terrific show. I was right, I believe, to take the risk with Billy. It was an awful lot of fun while it lasted.”
As she told me all this, I stared at her profile, searching for signs of disturbance or suffering—but there were none.
She turned her head, saw me staring at her, and laughed. “Try not to look so shocked, Vivian. It makes you look simple.”
“But Billy promised you the rights to the play! I was there! I heard him say it in the kitchen, the first morning he came to the Lily.”
“Billy promises a lot of things. Somehow, he never got around to putting it in writing.”
“I just can’t believe he did that to you,” I said.
“Look, kiddo, I’ve always known how Billy is, and I invited him in anyway. I don’t regret it. It was an adventure. You must learn in life to take things more lightly, my dear. The world is always changing. Learn how to allow for it. Someone makes a promise, and then they break it. A play gets good notices, and then it folds. A marriage looks strong, and then they divorce. For a while there’s no war, and then there’s another war. If you get too upset about it