With a Song in My Heart Page #8

May I? Oh, thank you.

I'm so crazy about music.

I promise to be as still as a mouse.

It's all right.

Glad to have you.

First I'm gonna play

your theme song.

This comes right after the opening number

when the artists come on.

As the curtains part,

you're sitting there...

better still, standing... if we can figure

some way to prop you up.

You're posing for this artist, the tenor...

That's you, Clancy.

Well, that's typecasting, all right.

[Don]

As it happens, you're nuts about Jane...

but there are reasons

why you can't tell her so yet.

I know one good reason.

I ain't a boy.

Well, he walks over to you,

and you have a few lines of dialogue.

You know, love stuff. You say, uh,

"Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."

And then, Clancy, you say,

"Blah, blah, blah, blah..."

Who wrote this, Eugene O'Neill?

[Don]

After which, you go into your song.

I'll play it for you.

But before I play that...

I want to do the opening for you

so you can picture the whole scene.

First we bring

the artists on like this.

% Montparnasse%

% We are the artists

of the Montparnasse%

% And though our paintings

are comme ci comme ca%

% What do we care%

% Ooh, la, la%

% We love to share our

savoir-faire in Montparnasse%

Right here we bring

the chorus on, the models.

That's you, Sister. Step back by the door.

I'll tell you when to come on.

We're gonna have about

20 of the best looking dames we can find.

Typical artist models, which means

they'll have on as little as the law allows.

This is their music.

% Montparnasse%

% We are the models

and we pose for those we love%

That's you, Sister.

Come on.

And be sure and keep in step

with the music.

- % Montparnasse We are the mo... %

- Don.

- Just a minute, if you don't mind.

- Yes?

Maybe Sister Marie

doesn't want to be a model.

What? Oh, I'm sorry, Sister.

I didn't mean to offend you. L...

Oh, I'm not offended

in the least.

Yeah, but l... You see, I sort of

got carried away in it.

- Let me get you a chair.

- You mean you're not gonna use me anymore?

Well, after all, Sister,

this is a bunch of chorus girls.

But it's the first time

I've ever been in a chorus.

And if I have to go back and tell the other sisters

I was fired, they'd never forgive me.

- But I couldn't ask you...

- Let me do it, Sister. I'm more the type.

- You can be the tenor.

- Oh, thank you.

Okay, professor.

Let's go. Swing it.

% Montparnasse%

% We are the models and we pose... % %

% % [Orchestral "Montparnasse'"]

[Clancy Narrating]

I'm here to tell the cockeyed world...

stage history

was made that night.

To be perfectly frank,

none of us knew what to expect.

Here was a girl

with a 35-pound cast on her leg...

who'd have to be carried on and off

the stage 22 times a performance...

making her first public appearance

since the accident.

The big question

in all our minds was...

would the audience

take her this way?

More important still,

could she stand the gaff?

There you are, honey.

- [Grunts]

- [Gasps]

- [Clancy] What'd you do? Are you hurt?

- No, I'm all right.

- What happened?

- I just dropped my handkerchief.

Watch your leg.

You know better than to lean over like that.

I wouldn't have caused this much excitement

if I'd ridden in on a horse like Lady Godiva.

- That's a good act too,

but your hair ain't long enough.

- Are you all right?

- Yes, of course.

- All right. Then clear. Clear the stage.

% % [Finale]

- Gee, I hope she's...

- Don't worry. She'll be fine.

% % [Orchestra Swells]

[Clancy Narrating]

Well, we had our answer.

They still wanted Froman.

But even while they were still cheering

in Boston, we had to close.

That leg had begun to act up again.

Now the really rugged days

were beginning.

Ahead lay long

dreary weeks and months...

of suffering, of uncertainty,

bitterness, despair...

more doctors, more consultations,

more X-rays, more bone grafts.

Seldom if ever out of pain...

excruciating pain.

Once or twice,

near death itself.

In and out of a dozen hospitals,

always facing another operation.

Ten, 20... So many in fact that even I

began to lose track of them.

Twenty-one, 22...

Tumors, abscesses,

nervous exhaustion...

endless hours with psychiatrists...

sometimes not caring

whether she lived or died.

And always with the threat

hanging over her head...

that next time that leg

would have to come off.

Here we are.

Mmm. That looks good.

[Sniffs]

- Smells good too.

- Hmm.

- What's the matter with you?

- I'm not hungry.

None of that now.

You've got to eat.

Why? Why do I have to eat?

I'm sick of it. I'm sick of all of it.

Why don't they just go ahead

and cut it off and be done with it?

They know I'll never walk again.

Why don't they admit it?

- Who says you'll never walk again?

- I do.

And I'm fed up with hearing

you and everybody else say that I will.

I know I'll never be

a normal woman again.

I'll never dance.

I'll never go shopping.

I'll never do any of the things

other women do.

I can't even remember what it was like

to wear a decent pair of shoes.

So why go on fighting it

and kidding myself?

I hope they do take it off.

I'll be glad to get it over with.

Now wait a minute. That's just about

enough of that kind of talk.

Sure, you've had your share of it.

Do you think I've sat around here day

after day watching you suffer...

without knowing what

you've been going through?

Why do you think

I stayed with you?

'Cause I thought you had it in you to keep on

punching without feeling sorry for yourself.

But don't you see?

I'm tired of punching.

I'm tired of fighting.

I've had enough. I'm sick of it!

You're sick of it?

Well, I've got news for you.

This has been

no picnic for me either.

But I said to myself, "This baby's got what

it takes. Nothing's gonna get her down."

And now all of a sudden

you start bellyaching.

Well, that's your business.

But let's get one thing straight right now!

Nobody feels sorry

for themselves around me.

Nobody cries on my shoulder.

And the minute they start it,

they can get themselves another girl.

Because I've got more important things

to do with my life.

And if you've got your heart set

on being a freak or an invalid...

that's okay with me.

Of course you've still

got your face and your voice.

That'd be enough for most women.

But not you.

Because you haven't got

what it takes...

guts!

[Crying]

[Clancy Narrating] Whether that bit of

ham acting did it or not, I don't know.

All I do know is that we didn't have

any more of that kind of talk.

In fact, as soon

as the doctors gave the word...

she was right in

there pitching again.

With debts mounting daily,

with doctors to be paid...

nurses, hospital bills...

it was work or else.

Under the circumstances,

New York's La Riviera was the answer.

- Good evening, Miss Froman.

- Hello, Joan.

% % [Orchestra]

Thank you.

Don, it's beginning to fill up. You know I never

like to be out front before a show.

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