  Just as Peggy had expected, the producers were delighted to have Randy stay an extra week and play the Russian ballet teacher, Kolenkhov, in You Can’t Take It with You. With Randy in the cast and everyone working comfortably together, Peggy couldn’t remember ever having such fun at rehearsals! And what a cast! The play needed so many actors that everyone was pressed into service. Michael Miller and the apprentices all had small parts, Chuck Crosby played the part of Peggy’s father as well as directing, Mr. Miller brought some friends of his to fill in, and even Aunt Hetty was persuaded to play. Mary Hopkins brought a friend to try out for the part of the Grand Duchess. June Tilson was a lovely young girl who turned out to have a really fine talent. “Where have you been all summer?” Chuck asked when he heard her read for the first time. “We could have used you before!” “She’s been in hiding,” Mary laughed, “or I would have brought her long ago.” “I’ve been at the music camp, actually,” June explained. “You know—the group of folk singers who have a summer session nearby.” “Oh, yes.” Chuck nodded. “We’re giving them the auditorium one night for a benefit performance. Let’s see—it comes during the week of Guest in the House, I believe.” “Oh, will I be glad when we do that play!” Alison said. “I love the part!” “The part of Evelyn?” Chuck asked. “Yes, I’ve done it before and I can hardly wait to play it again.” “Don’t count too much on having the same part this time,” Chuck cautioned her. “I’m not sure yet how we’re going to cast the play.” Alison shrugged. “Well, of course, I’m doing Evelyn,” she commented blithely. “That was one of the reasons I came up here!” “We’ll discuss it later,” Chuck said firmly. “And now, let’s get to work. By the way, does anyone have an idea on how to handle the fireworks?” The script of You Can’t Take It with You calls for a display of fireworks onstage and an explosion offstage during the show. Michael Miller assured Chuck that he could easily take care of it. “I have a workshop, you know, and it won’t be any trouble—be fun, in fact!” “You’ll have to be very careful,” his father warned. “Naturally!” Michael said indignantly. “And don’t make it too realistic.” Peggy giggled. “Just a loud noise. We don’t want the auditorium down around our heads.” “That Michael Miller is quite a character,” Randy commented to Peggy during a lull in rehearsal. “He seems so serious and yet sometimes I catch a gleam of sheer mischief under those horn rims. You don’t think he’ll do anything silly with the explosion, do you?” “Of course not!” Peggy laughed. “Michael’s much too intelligent for that!” Rehearsals went along as smoothly as could be expected with such a large cast. It was amazing, Peggy thought, that the local people were able to work so professionally with the rest of the company. Aunt Hetty was a delight to watch. She was enjoying herself hugely in her small but important role, and took all the direction that Chuck gave her with the greatest good humor. “She’s a wonderful sport,” Peggy thought, watching her with amusement, “and I think she really loves this.” Randy was so good that it seemed as if he might steal the show. It was hard for him, too, playing late at the Manor every night and then rushing to the high school each morning. “What a schedule!” he sighed. Randy and Peggy were having a picnic lunch on the school grounds together. “But after tonight it will all be over.” It was Randy’s last night at the Manor. “For you,” Peggy said, “but not for us. Tomorrow we play For Love or Money at the Manor, then comes the dress rehearsal and opening of You Can’t Take It, and after that we start on the old-fashioned melodrama. I wish you could be here for that one, too!” “So do I—” Randy smiled affectionately—“but I really will have to get back to New York soon. Let’s not talk about it now, Peg, we still have a whole week! And you have two more nights as Janet.” For Love or Money had been the most successful play of the season. People came in droves all week and money flowed into the box office. “You think it would have happened anyway, after Mr. Birmingham’s review,” Randy told her seriously, “but that isn’t the whole story. I don’t think you realize how good you actually are in that part, Peggy. People are coming to see you—I’ve heard the comments around town!” “Oh, Randy!” Peggy beamed at the delicious compliment. Randy was very cautious with his praise, and coming from him, the words made Peggy doubly happy. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Richard and Chuck gave you another fat lead to do this summer,” Randy went on. “As a matter of fact, they’d be foolish if they didn’t.” “But there isn’t another lead I could do,” Peggy said, surprised. “There’s just the little part in the melodrama and then, I suppose, the model in Guest in the House—” “What about Evelyn?” Randy asked, looking at her intently. “Oh,” Peggy laughed, “that’s Alison’s part. She’s been waiting for it all summer!” Randy nodded and said nothing while Peggy suddenly remembered what Chuck had said to Alison—not to count on the part. Her heart skipped a beat as she wondered if Chuck had meant that he might give it to her! Oh! Peggy took a deep breath, feeling a little giddy. It just couldn’t happen, it was too good to possibly be true! No, she simply wouldn’t let herself think about it. She looked at Randy and caught him smiling at her. “Yep,” he agreed with her unspoken thought. “Don’t think about it. You’re quite right. Put it entirely out of your mind!” They laughed happily and went back to rehearsal. Opening night of You Can’t Take It with You made a permanent place in the history of Lake Kenabeek. With so many local people in the cast, the auditorium was overflowing with relatives and friends as well as summer guests. It was the best house the theater had had. Michael Miller arrived with a little package carefully wrapped in cotton wool and asked Chuck where he should set it off. “Set what off?” Chuck demanded, distracted and intent on getting things settled backstage as well as remembering his own part. “My Kenabeek Special!” Michael answered. “You know, the explosion.” He hadn’t brought it to dress rehearsal with the explanation that there was only one firecracker. It hadn’t mattered—everyone was too busy to care. At this point, Chuck was crossing his fingers and trusting to luck that everything would turn out all right. “Is it loud?” Chuck asked hastily. “Very,” Michael assured him. “At least I hope so—I followed instructions to the letter.” “What instructions?” Chuck almost yelped. “Didn’t you just make an ordinary firecracker?” “Good heavens no! You can’t trust those things. This is very special and safe!” “Well, put it in an ashcan out on the stairs and set it off there. Be sure you’re careful!” Chuck called after him. “Don’t worry, I will be.” The play went unbelievably well. None of the props were missing, everyone came in on cue, the action zipped along, the audience was in stitches at the comedy. The end of Act Two approached and Peggy was onstage with Randy, Chris, Mr. Miller, the apprentices, and June Tilson. They had paced the show furiously, warming up to the big scene. Mr. Miller gave the cue for the explosion. A moment of silence—and then they heard it. Wham! It sounded as if the roof of the auditorium had been blown off. Huge, billowing clouds of smoke poured on stage, almost obscuring the actors as they finished the scene amid coughs and tears, with a hysterical audience laughing as if their sides would split as the curtain closed. The applause was deafening, but the actors hardly heard as they rushed backstage to see what had happened. There stood Michael Miller, black with smoke and ashes, peering at them helplessly from glasses that were absolutely opaque with grime. “I put it in the ashcan, Chuck, just like you said,” Michael offered timidly. “I think it blew the top off.” The ashcan was a crumpled mass of tin. The top had been blown across the stair well and ashes were strewn about, several inches deep. “I guess you didn’t look in the can first,” Chuck said very quietly, his eyes still smarting. “I didn’t know it would make so much smoke—” Michael whispered. “No, I guess you didn’t,” Chuck agreed softly. “I was very careful, but I guess maybe I should have just used a firecracker.” Michael sat down sorrowfully on the stairs, looking like a lump of coal in a bin. Peggy couldn’t restrain herself any longer. She burst out laughing. “Oh, Michael,” she gasped, “and you worked so hard! It couldn’t have been funnier if you’d tried!” Nobody could control himself any longer, and they all laughed until their sides hurt. The play ended without another mishap and the audience left, still talking about the “bomb.” “Your place in folklore is assured, Michael,” his father told him dryly. “But next time I suggest you take a simple little walk to the store!” The week flew by so quickly that Peggy didn’t know where the time had gone. They were rehearsing the melodrama, Love Rides the Rails, and during the day Randy would come to the theater to watch and cue the actors. “Only one more day,” Peggy said incredulously, “and then you’ll be off to New York and we’ll only have three more weeks here! Oh, the summer is going so fast!” “I’ll miss all this,” Randy admitted, “the theater and the lake—and you!” Randy decided to go back to New York on the night bus that left the Manor right after the last performance of You Can’t Take It with You. Peggy walked with him to the gates to say good-by, feeling that the nicest part of the summer was going with him. “It’s been fun, Randy,” she said shyly. “I’m awfully glad you were here—” “I am too,” he said seriously, taking her hand. “I think maybe I came along at the right time. Chris is an awfully nice guy, but—well—this is summer stock, Peggy. Funny things can happen when you act with people. If you’re really interested in him, I hope you’ll see him in a different environment—maybe back in New York.” He smiled and suddenly leaned down and kissed her. “In the meantime, don’t forget me!” Randy started to get on the bus and then paused with another thought. “And don’t forget that you’re an awfully good actress,” he said. “I have a lot of faith in you. I’d like you to remember that for the next few weeks.” The bus pulled away, leaving Peggy with a funny lump in her throat. She’d be seeing Randy again in a little while—why did she feel so strange, she wondered. She suddenly had an acute appreciation of the difference between Randy’s loyal and generous attitude and the impulsive, surface interest of Chris Hill. That was it, she realized. She was a little ashamed of herself for having been swept up in a current by a dashing leading man, nice as he was. She watched Randy’s bus turn the corner and disappear, knowing that nobody could quite take his place. The annex seemed strangely quiet the morning of the day Love Rides the Rails was to open. Rita and Gus were down first as usual, having coffee and relaxing on the patio before rehearsals started. Peggy joined them, having hastily dressed in pedal pushers and a halter. “It’s getting hotter and hotter,” she remarked, looking for a shady place to sit down and have her breakfast. “But so peaceful after that hectic show,” Rita said lazily. “Really cozy! Will you ever forget Michael’s bomb?” “I thought my hair would stand on end.” Gus laughed. “But it turned out to be a wonderful show. Your friend Randy certainly did a remarkable job!” “I’m hoping that at last I get to play a nice young woman my own age.” Rita stretched out luxuriously on the wicker couch. “It doesn’t happen to me very often, you know!” “You mean the wife in Guest in the House?” Peggy asked. Rita nodded. “The wife to Chris Hill’s husband.” She grinned mischievously at Gus. “That is, if Gus approves!” “Oh, certainly certainly.” Gus smiled and rumpled her hair as he rose. “Chris may be the Kenabeek heart throb, but I think my place is assured at home. See you all later—I have to go build a house!” “He must really love his work,” Peggy sighed as she watched him go. “I think he’s worked harder than any of us this summer.” “Except maybe Richard and Chuck,” Rita agreed. “I’m going to make him take a vacation after we’re through here, whether he likes it or not!” One by one, the other actors appeared, and after breakfast Chuck started to hand out the sides for Guest in the House. Peggy felt unusually nervous. She had promised herself not to think of the possibility of playing Evelyn, but as the moment approached when her part was to be handed her, Peggy’s heart beat faster and her hand trembled. Chuck gave her the sides without a word, and after closing her eyes for a moment, Peggy took a deep breath and looked. Evelyn! He had given it to her! She hugged the little pamphlet as if it were a long-lost friend. Here it was at last—a wonderful, rich, dramatic role, far, far different from all the ingÉnues she had played all summer! Rita noticed her ecstatic expression and peeked at the sides. “Well,” she breathed softly, “I kind of thought so. I’m awfully glad, Peggy. You should play it!” “Just a minute!” Alison’s voice was shrill in the quiet patio. “I’m not playing the model, Chuck. You gave me the wrong part!” “No,” Chuck said firmly. “Peggy is going to do Evelyn and I want you to play Miriam Blake. You’re right for it, Alison, just as Peggy is right for Evelyn. It’s the only way to cast this show.” “That’s true,” Rita whispered to Peggy. “Well, I’m not going to do it!” Alison interrupted. “I’ve played Evelyn before and this just doesn’t make sense.” “She did play it,” Chris broke in cautiously with a concerned look at Peggy. “We were both in the play last summer—” “And who did the model?” Chuck asked. “A girl we got from New York. We had to job the part,” Chris replied. “Yes, you had to job the part, and we can’t afford to do that. I’m sorry, Alison,” Chuck said gently, “I know you’d like to do it again and I’m sure you were wonderful. But you yourself can see that with our company this is the only possible casting. Peggy is too young and unsophisticated to play the model. It just wouldn’t work out.” “Well, then, get somebody else to play the model,” Alison said impatiently. “Why not get that June Tilson—what’s the matter with her?” “Because audiences want to see Peggy again in a good part.” Chuck was adamant. “They want to see you, too. That’s part of stock, Alison. Your summer audiences grow fond of their actors and are interested in seeing them in varied roles. The model is a perfect part for you, Alison, and you’ll be good in it. Now let’s start the reading!” Peggy had listened anxiously, almost without breathing. Now, as she looked at Alison, who was obviously seething as she opened her sides, Peggy wondered if this casting wouldn’t create too many difficulties. She knew that Chuck was right, though. His explanation made perfect sense. It was best for the play. But how was Alison going to react? How would rehearsals go if Alison remained as hostile as she was now? Peggy watched her worriedly and was shocked to see the hateful glance that Alison returned. Peggy grew more and more nervous as the time approached for her to read. She hadn’t considered this before, but Alison was a very good actress with a fine technique. Would Peggy be able to do as well in this part? Her mouth was dry and she was terribly tense. She stumbled over her first lines as she felt everyone watching her—Chuck hopefully, Chris and Danny curiously, Rita with calm compassion, and Alison with a spiteful expression that said, “All right—let’s see you try and do it!” No audience could ever be as critical as this small group of professional actors. And even though she had a week to work, Peggy knew that she was being severely judged on this first reading. |
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