Young at Heart Page #8

Thank you.

[ Bob ]

It doesn't just stop there.

- Happy birthday.

- [ Bob ] What's going on?

Lenny, you're being

attacked by women.

[Applause ]

[ Stephen ]

My exposure's all wrong.

- [ Lenny ] Its a little dark in here.

- Its a little dark in here.

I'm gonna-

Just give me a second, yeah?

Ill give you

whatever you want, dear.

[ Lenny]

Wow. There you go. What an offer!

Yes!

That's got Lenny excited.

[ Laughter]

- [ Chuckling ]

- [ Stephen ] Happy birthday, Lenny.

Oh, you already said-

That's enough "Happy birthdays."

[ Eileen ]

We wanna keep saying it.

[ Stephen ] Yeah. So what's the problem

with birthdays then?

Nothing, except when

you reach this level of age...

you figure you don't need

to celebrate anymore.

[ Stephen Narrating ] The next morning

brings some worrying news.

After experiencing

breathing problems...

Joe went to see

his doctor yesterday.

He was told that

his white blood cell count...

had sunk to dangerously low levels...

making him extremely

vulnerable to infection.

Given his history of cancer...

hes been brought to hospital

for an immediate blood transfusion.

So what happens if there's some extra blood?

Where does that go?

- [ Laughing ]

- Does it come out here or what?

- No, no.

- It doesn't?

You just call me.

Im right here.

[Joe ]

What do you want me to call you?

Any itching, chills, okay?

- If you're not feeling good,

You just let me know.

- Okay.

I'll be checking your blood pressure

in another 1 5 minutes.

[ Stephen ]

Are you, um-

A t the back of your mind,

are you worried about whether...

the cancer might be coming back?

Not really.

It doesn't bother me a bit.

Ive forgotten about it.

Im just happy...

to be up and around

and doing some singing.

That's- That's what my life is now.

You know, singing.

Helping my son and the family,

you know.

I don't think about it at all.

[ Scoffs ]

Don't bother me one bit.

The Lord knows how long

you're gonna be here, right?

You can push it

a little bit, but, uh...

your time is pretty well marked.

But I don't feel that it's here yet,

not for a long time.

I'm not worried about it at all.

Did I convince you?

- [ Stephen ] No.

- [ Chuckling ]

[ Stephen Narrating]

Over a period of four years...

Joe went through

six bouts of chemotherapy...

enough, according to his doctors,

to kill most people.

But in all that time,

he barely missed a single show.

You gonna keep on singing?

I think that's the key.

Keep on singing,

going to these countries.

And the people

appreciate you so much...

it kinda gives you

an uplift, you know.

Makes you feel great, you know.

I love it...

especially when you

go out on stage there.

They start clapping and everything else.

Oh, God.

That's really something.

[ Woman On P.A., Indistinct ]

Here we go.

- One more time, Ed.

I gotta get through a lot here.

- -- [ Pop ]

-- [ Vocalizing ]

[ Stephen Narrating]

Despite Joe's absence, Bob presses on.

Of all the songs, "Schizophrenia" seems

to have made the biggest leap forward...

almost unrecognizable from

what it was just six weeks ago.

- Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah

ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah -

- Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah

ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah -

It is great! It's great.

It's our song, right?

It's the kind of song

we need to make us-

"pow," you know, with the audience.

That's us.

That's us, baby. That's us.

- [ Stamps Foot Down ]

- You got it.

- When I hold you in my arms -

[ Stephen Narrating ] But there's one song

which just never changes.

After more than 15 rehearsals...

Stan is still stuck

on the same two lines.

- - I won't do you-you no harm- -

- -- [ Stops ]

What, do you want me to

put more oomph into it?

- Well, just- Yeah.

- Alright.

Like you know it. Right now,

it looks like you're thinking about it.

- Okay. Okay.

- It's just two lines.

- Yeah.

- And the more energy

you put into it, the better.

- - I know I won't do you no harm -

- Right.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- I'm nervous about it.

- You're nervous? Why?

Huh? Well, just the, uh-

- just the impending performance.

- Oh.

But I'll get over that.

- Don't worry about that.

- No, I get it.

[ Phone Line Ringing ]

- [ Ringing Continues ]

- [Joe ] Hello?

[ Bob ]

Yeah, hi, Joe. How are ya?

- [Joe ] Bob, I just came back from the doctor's.

- Yeah.

How is- How's your breathing?

- Not- Not that great.

- Yeah.

Yeah, it's not very good.

- So what you need to do, Joe,

is stay home tomorrow.

- Yeah.

- And, uh-

- I was afraid to tell you that.

No, don't be afraid.

We just-

- I didn't think you'd like it.

- No, no, I don't mind at all.

You do the best you can, you know?

The only thing we care about, Joe,

is you getting better.

- Yeah, well, me too.

- And that's all.

- I wanna be around for another 1 0 years anyway.

- I know. I know.

We got, uh-

We got-

We gotta cross the seas pretty soon,

so we need you healthy for that.

- Yeah.

- All right?

- I realize that.

- Yeah.

So do whatever you need to do

to take care of yourself.

- I will.

- All right.

- Thank you.

- Okay. We'll talk to you later.

- Adios, amigo.

- Adios to you too.

- Take care.

- Bye-bye.

[ Replaces Handset In Cradle ]

[ Stephen Narrating ] With everything

that's happened, Fred's wife Barbara...

is now becoming concerned

about Fred performing in the show.

But nothing will

s top Fred from going ahead...

despite the fact his doctor

gave him just two years to live...

after his last heart attack...

a deadline that ran out

four months ago.

You don't get out of this world alive,

that's for dam n sure.

But this, it doesn't bother me.

Ive already written my eulogy

in poetry form.

"If you're hearing this now,

you'll know that...

"I have gone to that

development office in the sky.

"But don't feel bad.

I've had a good life.

"I had a wonderful family

and a wonderful wife.

"And then, of course,

there have been all you folks.

"You've abided my kidding,

you've laughed at my jokes.

"You've heard them all,

even my little dog Rover.

You've heard them

all over and over."

That's already been written,

my eulogy...

at the end of which,

by the way, my nephew-

We were always kidding him

about being out of the will.

At the end of which I say,

"And if I go either to hell or heaven...

make sure Terry gets $1.87."

-- [ "Stayin' Alive"]

- Now you can tell by the way

I use my walk -

- I'm a woman's man

no time for talk -

- Music loud and women warm -

- Ive been kicked around

since I was born -

- But it's all right

It's okay -

- You can look the other way -

- We can try to understand -

- The New York Times ' effect on man -

- Whether you're a brother

or whether you're a mother -

- You're staying alive

staying alive -

- See the city breaking

and everybody shaking -

- We're staying alive

staying alive -

- Life's going nowhere -

- Somebody help me -

- Somebody help me, yeah -

- Life's going nowhere -

- Somebody help me -

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