Now by Bacall Lauren

Author:Bacall, Lauren [Bacall, Lauren]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Senior Citizens, Autobiography, Aging, Lauren Bacall, Acting, Actresses, Hollywood, Memoir, Women
Publisher: Renaissance Literary & Talent in collaboration with the Proprietor
Published: 2012-10-03T04:00:00+00:00

Some years later, my friend Leland Hayward called to offer me the lead in a play, Goodbye Charlie, written by my friend George Axelrod. Leland was a persuasive man. "You'll have every protection, eight weeks out of town, you'll start voice lessons, so projection will be automatic and there'll be no chance of your losing your voice through strain, nerves, or bad breathing. Read it; you'll love it." I was deep in the heart of Spain, filming, and, after nine months of living in London, had to decide whether to stay and keep my two children, Stephen and Leslie, in school there or to return to the United States. Either way represented a new beginning for me, the making of a life without Bogie. It was 1959. And I really liked the play, which was about two men, Charlie and George, rogues with women, who prefer the company of other men. They were macho guys to whom women meant sex-objects not to be taken too seriously. Charlie is caught in the act with someone's wife on a yacht, is shot while escaping through the porthole, and is washed up, on a beach. As punishment, he is brought back to earth as a woman. A far-out, crazy idea, but creative and funny-I thought.

As work seemed to be the decisive factor in my life at that point, at least geographically, there was nothing to do but accept. And I somehow felt it was fate-that offer told me where my future lay. New York, here I come-as Charlie, a macho ladies' man who one day finds himself reincarnated as me. And a very tricky situation it turned out to be. Of course, I was terrified. It is one thing to dream of being on the stage at the age of fifteen (when you're sure you can do anything), starting slowly, learning your craft. It is quite another to arrive on Broadway some eighteen years later, a known voice and face, and star in a play. Your first starring part. I wasn't thinking of critics or if the show would be a hit. I voiced my doubts to Leland, whom I rightfully trusted. Neither he nor George had any doubts, and the picture they painted was so positive, of such impending glory, it was impossible to resist. And with my everlasting romanticizing, fantasizing about the theater, I thought that at last my first dream had come true. It was exciting. I was excited. The start of any project is the start of a new adventure for me. I don't seem to think much about details, I just hold my nose and jump. But I wasn't quite prepared for the amount of preliminary work involved. I love to work but had forgotten-had actually never known-how much had to be thought about before acting begins onstage. Voice, body work, breathing, projection, building and sustaining stamina. Emotions. Preparation.

The first reading of the play was traumatic. It was all in the hands of George and Leland, they were the theater pros.

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