We Never Told by Diana Altman

Author:Diana Altman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: She Writes Press
Published: 2018-07-17T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

At first, it seemed reasonable and even frugal that Annabelle would make a wardrobe for her return to the stage but as the years went by and Maestro did not phone and the dress forms wore a continual parade of garments that were never actually finished, Annabelle lost her luster and her pose as a diva began to sag though she continued to practice, booming up and down the scale until the house shook.

Seymour’s complaints about Annabelle escalated year after year. It was as if he was helpless in the face of an inexorable force. “What does she need all that fabric for?” he said. “I told her do not buy any more fabric but she buys it anyway. Spends a fortune. Clutters the place up. Bobbins and whatnot. It’s everywhere. She doesn’t cook. She doesn’t take care of the garden.”

“Tell her to move out.”

“Can’t have an intelligent conversation. She’s a master of trivia.” He used me as a go-between. “Go ask Annabelle to join us.”

“Why should I ask her? You ask her.”

“Go on. Ask her. She’s upstairs. Go ask her.”

I stood at the foot of the stairs and screamed up, “ANNABELLE! Wanna go out for dinner?”

My father said, “Tsk!” and made a disgusted face at me as she called down, “NO!”

I dreaded going there. Annabelle was angry because now when he complained about money it was justified. He’d lost his job. The federal government agreed with independent film producers and independent theater owners that the five major studios formed a monopoly. MGM, RKO, Warner Brothers, Paramount, and 20th Century Fox were all owned by theater corporations that produced movies for their own theaters so a small place like the Strand in Woodbridge could never show a first run picture staring Clark Gable or Ava Gardner. MGM movies were shown in Loews theaters, Paramount in Paramount Theaters. The government demanded that the theater corporations divorce from the Hollywood studios so Loews was forced to cut MGM adrift. Now the Hollywood studios were on their own without the flow of money from their parent organizations. When I asked my father why he lost his job he said, “Because Metro is going to buy pictures rather than make them.” He meant that MGM could not afford to produce movies any longer and had decided to buy films from independent producers. It was the end of the studio system. My father’s job had become obsolete.

The double humiliation of losing his wife and losing his job made it impossible for him to be with his pals at the Society of American Magicians, all of them prominent in their professions as doctors, architects, and lawyers. They loved the glamour he exuded and liked to imagine him bedding the lovely young creatures who came into his office. For the annual magic show, he was able to persuade famous actors to participate. Jimmy Durante one year and Joan Crawford the next came up on stage to volunteer to be fooled. Seymour never told any of his fellow magicians that he was divorced or that he lost his job.

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