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Dancing to Writing Success with Lynette Bennett · WriterCon

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: This week on the writer Con podcast, Stay with It,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Stay with It. Welcome to writer Con, a gathering place
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  Speaker 1: for writers to share their knowledge about writing and the
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  Speaker 1: writing world. Your hosts are William Bernhardt, best selling novelist
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: and author of the Red Sneaker books on writing, and
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Laura Bernhardt, award winning author of the want ln Files
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  Speaker 1: book series.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Jesse Ulrich. Hey, they're writers. Thanks for joining us. Well,
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  Speaker 2: we're about two weeks or so from the Oscars on
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  Speaker 2: March two, And because of that, and because we have
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  Speaker 2: a showbiz guest on the podcast today, I've just got
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  Speaker 2: to point out once again seven of the ten nominees
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  Speaker 2: for Best Picture are adaptations of written work, which, get this,
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  Speaker 2: that's seventy percent. That's actually slightly lower than the average,
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  Speaker 2: which is that about seventy five percent of all pictures
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  Speaker 2: that have one Best Picture are based on something somebody
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  Speaker 2: wrote wrote before. Laura, this is where I was getting
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  Speaker 2: to root. Which one are you rooting for?
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  Speaker 3: Oh gosh, it's a tough one.
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  Speaker 4: Probably the Brutalist that was based on Yes, of course,
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  Speaker 4: it really stuck with me.
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  Speaker 5: It really stuck with me.
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  Speaker 3: It wasn't necessarily the easiest thing to watch but it
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  Speaker 3: was very well done, beautiful film, and the acting was superb.
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  Speaker 2: You're going to get to the whole It's three and
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  Speaker 2: a half hours long, part or it was a.
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  Speaker 3: Commitment, but it was told so well. I mean, did
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  Speaker 3: you really feel like it went on?
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  Speaker 5: Did not?
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  Speaker 2: At the time? Passed pretty quickly actually, and then.
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  Speaker 3: At intermission we got up and used the bathroom and
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  Speaker 3: got popcorn and get back for the next bit. So
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  Speaker 3: it worked well.
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  Speaker 2: Jesse, you got a favorite in this race.
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  Speaker 5: None in this one.
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  Speaker 6: I mean, I haven't been going to the movies as
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  Speaker 6: much lately, so I'm sort of really, sort of completely out.
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  Speaker 2: Because you're reading those thousand page I should.
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  Speaker 3: Point out we haven't actually managed to watch every single
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  Speaker 3: one of the Best True Picture nominees, so I'm basing
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  Speaker 3: it on the ones we've seen so far.
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  Speaker 2: They happened to all come to Chuck Tell yet, but
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  Speaker 2: they will.
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  Speaker 6: I'm just rooting for whatever categories Wicket is nominated in.
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  Speaker 6: So that was delightful.
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  Speaker 5: Like the musical I did, I did again.
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  Speaker 6: Most of the time, musicals do not benefit from a
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  Speaker 6: movie because musical settings are sparse on purpose, but the
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  Speaker 6: world of Wicket actually does get added to by having
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  Speaker 6: the sort of money that a movie can throw at it.
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  Speaker 6: So nice, that's my thought.
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  Speaker 2: Or they figured out how to do it. So what's
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  Speaker 2: the deal with all the adaptations? Can Hollywood not come
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  Speaker 2: up with ideas on its own? Why why they keep
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  Speaker 2: coming after the work of writers. It's cheaper, it's cheaper,
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  Speaker 2: I bet you.
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  Speaker 6: It's cheaper to pace one to adapt a book to
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  Speaker 6: a story, that is, to pay someone to write a
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  Speaker 6: full movie script themselves probably.
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  Speaker 3: Already got.
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  Speaker 2: The hard work.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly, you have built an audience. The hard work
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  Speaker 3: is done for you. It's already the character development should
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  Speaker 3: already be there. Surely it's the books that they're picking up.
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  Speaker 3: I assume are excellent stories, which is why they're reaching
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  Speaker 3: for those and thinking, I can I can make that
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  Speaker 3: into a film.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think having the books something, you know, it's
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  Speaker 2: hard to get a movie greenlit. I assume that's what
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  Speaker 2: I hear. Yes, although many of my books have been optioned,
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  Speaker 2: none have been made, so I believe it. But I
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  Speaker 2: think it gives a movie cred when you know it's
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  Speaker 2: based on a book, particularly if it's a book that
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  Speaker 2: sold well, because then it's like proof of concept. Looks
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  Speaker 2: see that you know, people bought the book, so must
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  Speaker 2: be a good story.
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  Speaker 6: That's That's why it's funny that, like a musical based
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  Speaker 6: on a book becomes a movie because the.
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  Speaker 5: Book itself way different than the musical. Super weird.
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  Speaker 6: I've read those books too. They were enjoyable, they were
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  Speaker 6: enjoyable in a different way. But I'm like, this is
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  Speaker 6: not what the musical is about at all, and I'm
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  Speaker 6: okay with that. I just found that. I found that
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  Speaker 6: to be funny.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, yeah, I know what you're talking about.
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  Speaker 6: Imagine Gregory maguire that the author Zom is just swimming
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  Speaker 6: in a you know, you know, a duct tails coin
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  Speaker 6: bath and it just you know, being very happy with
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  Speaker 6: all that.
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  Speaker 2: Well, for a while, his deal was doing kind of
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  Speaker 2: you know, updates and revamps of fairy tales, and then
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  Speaker 2: after the musical Wicked took off. Then then it became
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  Speaker 2: lots of sequels to Wicked and I think now a
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  Speaker 2: prequel for Alphaba and stuff like that.
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  Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, for our listeners, if you do read
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  Speaker 6: the Wicked book and its sequels about spoiler alert, Alphaba's child,
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  Speaker 6: like the book gets weird, Like, I mean a really
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  Speaker 6: good job of exploring the world of Frank Elbaum and Oz.
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  Speaker 5: But Oz is a weird ass place, so some.
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  Speaker 2: Weird things is this at Fiarah?
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, spoiler alert, Yes, like.
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  Speaker 2: The Scarecrow and the Witch. That's that's so wrong.
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  Speaker 6: I mean, I do believe they technically boned before he
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  Speaker 6: was scarecrow, so you know, just technically so okay from
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  Speaker 6: a technical standpoint. Listen, we're making the spicy as required.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're going for the big ratings this time. And
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  Speaker 2: speaking of our interview today is with Lynette Bennett. I've
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  Speaker 2: had the pleasure of knowing the multi talented Lynette for
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  Speaker 2: many years, so I couldn't be more excited about the
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  Speaker 2: fact that her book, her first book, is about to
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  Speaker 2: be released. It's a memoir of her early days on
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  Speaker 2: the Broadway stage. It's called Broadway Dreamer and boy does
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  Speaker 2: she know what she's talking about and when it comes
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  Speaker 2: to theater. We'll talk about this in the interview. The
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  Speaker 2: first chapter deals with her on Broadway with Berber streisand
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  Speaker 2: in Funny Girl, and we hear about that, and we
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  Speaker 2: also talk about the writing because she turned to writing
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  Speaker 2: later in her life after a very succe Well she
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  Speaker 2: still acts, but after a very successful career on the
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  Speaker 2: stage in New York, and then she started writing this
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  Speaker 2: memoir and other books and one hundred percent her make
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  Speaker 2: no mistake. She wrote it, no ghosts, no co writers.
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  Speaker 2: This was by Lynette Bennett, the woman who played Lady
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  Speaker 2: Larkin and Once Upon a Mattress one of my favorite musicals.
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  Speaker 2: But you're going to hear all about that later. First
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  Speaker 2: the news news story number one. Bookshop dot org now
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  Speaker 2: sells ebooks. Longtime listeners may remember about five years or
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: so ago when bookshop dot org launched. The idea was
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: to create an online presence for independent bookstores so that
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  Speaker 2: they could compete with some of the bigger chains. We
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  Speaker 2: won't mention any names, but you know what I'm talking about.
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  Speaker 2: And then the bookshop dot org would share its sales
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  Speaker 2: revenue with books stores. So your local bookstore recommends here,
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  Speaker 2: get it here, and then they do, and they share
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  Speaker 2: the profits. So you're getting the book you want, but
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  Speaker 2: you're also supporting your bookstore. Well that was physical books.
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  Speaker 2: Now bookshop is expanding into the digital realm. Bookshop dot org.
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  Speaker 2: Dot org is going to create an online platform for ebooks.
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  Speaker 2: But after you buy the ebook, you can choose which
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  Speaker 2: local bookstore you want the money to go to, and
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  Speaker 2: according to their promotional materials, all the money one hundred
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  Speaker 2: percent is then given to the local bookstore. So this
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  Speaker 2: is another attempt to allow independent bookstores to compete with
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  Speaker 2: big chains, both physical and online. It's really kind of extraordinary.
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  Speaker 2: But you know, I thought bookshop dot Org sounded like
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  Speaker 2: a dubious idea in the first place. According to their website,
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  Speaker 2: they've raised more than thirty five million dollars for local bookstores. Laura,
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  Speaker 2: explain this to me, I mean, getting an ebook sounds
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  Speaker 2: like exactly not why you go to a brick and
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  Speaker 2: mortar bookstore, right.
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  Speaker 3: I cannot explain this. I'm still trying to wrap my
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  Speaker 3: brain around that, because, like you, I wasn't one hundred
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  Speaker 3: percent sure that I thought this was really going to
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  Speaker 3: go anywhere when I first heard about it. But that
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  Speaker 3: is an amazing amount of money. And I am completely
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  Speaker 3: supportive of helping our smaller local bookstores for sure. So
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  Speaker 3: this is a anything that's going to help them out
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  Speaker 3: and keep them open, I think is a great development.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, good Jesse, what about you? You surprised or not surprised?
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  Speaker 1: I'm happy.
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  Speaker 6: I've been a big supporter of booksheve tot org for
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  Speaker 6: quite some time because one it was one of the
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  Speaker 6: few and there's one a few places you could buy
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  Speaker 6: ebook where that money would then go to a local
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  Speaker 6: you know, uh, could you tell it what local bookstore
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  Speaker 6: you want the money to go to? And like, you know,
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  Speaker 6: just like you know, doing a little bit of research
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  Speaker 6: on the nonprofit that they set up and whatnot, like
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  Speaker 6: it seemed legitimate. It seemed legitimate enough, and so you know,
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  Speaker 6: I bought it. I think I bought a couple of
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  Speaker 6: e books off there and went on support some of
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  Speaker 6: the local stories here in town. And I'm happy that
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  Speaker 6: they're also getting into audiobooks again, that's one of the
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  Speaker 6: biggest growing segments of readership in at least at least
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  Speaker 6: in America. And so I feel like this, this is
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  Speaker 6: positive and I'm happy of it.
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  Speaker 2: Okay. News story number two. Cozy fantasy an emerging genre
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  Speaker 2: like cozy mysteries, which are basically mysteries without any blood
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  Speaker 2: or overt violence. They're just I got the Christie like
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  Speaker 2: gentle mysteries. Well, now we've got cozy fantasy, which obviously
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  Speaker 2: is a reaction to romanticy or dark fantasy, both of
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  Speaker 2: which are sometimes more violent and sexually explicit. Well, now
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  Speaker 2: cozy fantasy has apparently arrived because it's got its own
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  Speaker 2: BISACK code. That's BISAC, just in case somebody doesn't know
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  Speaker 2: what I'm talking about. When books are published, the publisher
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  Speaker 2: has to choose codes the category the genres that apply.
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  Speaker 2: This is used by the Library of Congress and libraries
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  Speaker 2: in general, and also sometimes by people searching for books online.
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  Speaker 2: Here's an interesting quote about it. I got this from
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  Speaker 2: a dark fantasy writer named Amron Gowani wrote, quote, Ray,
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  Speaker 2: cozy Fantasy. I do agree it's difficult to tackle contemporary
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  Speaker 2: issues in a realistic light because of how grim the
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  Speaker 2: world feels or is. In my latest project, I'm leaning
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  Speaker 2: more into chaos and absurdity to make the medicine more palatable.
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  Speaker 2: In some ways, the work is feeling lighter and darker
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  Speaker 2: at the same time. Laura, that quote cozy fantasy. Does
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  Speaker 2: this say more about reader's tastes or more about this
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  Speaker 2: world we live in? What do you think you know?
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  Speaker 3: When we were experiencing the pandemic a few years ago,
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  Speaker 3: I noticed that my women's fiction that deals with weightier
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: issues social concerns dipped, and that my supernatural suspense series
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  Speaker 3: was selling more. I think when we're facing a world
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  Speaker 3: that is a little bit scary and we are looking
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  Speaker 3: for an escape, a diversion from that, having something a
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  Speaker 3: little bit lighter to read is where we're going to
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  Speaker 3: seek our comfort. So I do think that that makes
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  Speaker 3: some sense that there's a little bit of a turn
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  Speaker 3: towards something cozier and a little bit lighter. Although Romanticy
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  Speaker 3: is still really big. I mean, there's that's pretty dark.
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  Speaker 3: We have escape to at.
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  Speaker 2: Least sometimes, right though, Jesse, you read, I believe some
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  Speaker 2: of the darker stuff as cozy fantasy, a place where
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  Speaker 2: you would ever go.
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  Speaker 6: Sure, it's like the animal crossing of books, right, And
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  Speaker 6: if you think about some of the great stories, like
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  Speaker 6: take Lord of the Rings for example, like a third
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  Speaker 6: of that book is a cozy fantasy, right. Anything in
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  Speaker 6: the Shire or anything involves food, right, is cozy. Like
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  Speaker 6: there's a part, there's a part that is enjoyable in
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  Speaker 6: that and like, I'm excited to see where this goes.
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  Speaker 6: I mean, I do think sort of stories need action
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  Speaker 6: and movement and plots. I'm curious to see how they
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  Speaker 6: Where does the conflict come in and cozy fancy. But
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  Speaker 6: if people can have cozy murder mystery, we can do
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  Speaker 6: cozy fantasy.
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  Speaker 2: So I don't see why not.
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  Speaker 3: I agree?
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: All right? Moving on today in Craft Corner, we have
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  Speaker 2: writer con friend and sponsor Desiree Duffy of Black Chateau
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: and books that make you her topic getting editorial book reviews,
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: which can be challenging but so important, So take it away, Desiree.
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  Speaker 5: Craft Corner.
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  Speaker 7: Let's talk about book reviews. There's three main types editorial,
• 14:40
  Speaker 7: author endorsements, and consumer reviews. For this episode of Craft Corner,
• 14:46
  Speaker 7: we're going to dive into editorial or trade industry focused
• 14:52
  Speaker 7: types of reviews. These are reviews that are written by
• 14:55
  Speaker 7: professional critics for trade publications and industry refocused platforms. Examples
• 15:02
  Speaker 7: and clude publishers, Weekly Kirkus Reviews, Books that make You reviews,
• 15:08
  Speaker 7: Library Journal, Idleweis, and net Galley. The purpose is what's
• 15:14
  Speaker 7: key here. These types of reviews help you build credibility
• 15:17
  Speaker 7: with booksellers, librarians, and the publishing industry as a whole.
• 15:23
  Speaker 7: You'll generate pre publication buzz and secure placement in libraries,
• 15:29
  Speaker 7: bookstores and in catalogs. How do you do this?
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  Speaker 2: Here's one of.
• 15:34
  Speaker 7: The tricks of editorial reviews. You need to submit those
• 15:39
  Speaker 7: arps you're advanced reading copies to trade publications at least
• 15:44
  Speaker 7: four to six months before publication. You want to give
• 15:48
  Speaker 7: the site enough time so that they can assign a
• 15:53
  Speaker 7: book reviewer to it, so that book reviewer can read
• 15:56
  Speaker 7: in full your manuscript, write the review, submit it back
• 16:00
  Speaker 7: to you. And you even want to give yourself just
• 16:03
  Speaker 7: a little bit of time just in case they find
• 16:06
  Speaker 7: something that your editors and beta readers might have missed.
• 16:09
  Speaker 7: That way, you might have time to fix that plot
• 16:12
  Speaker 7: hole before publication. Use platforms like net Galley and idleweis
• 16:18
  Speaker 7: to distribute arcs to librarians, the booksellers, and the reviewers.
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  Speaker 7: Even on net galy, I know there's lots of book bloggers,
• 16:28
  Speaker 7: media people, journalists, so this really can get the book
• 16:32
  Speaker 7: out there and in front of people far in advance
• 16:35
  Speaker 7: of the book's actual launch. I do encourage you to
• 16:39
  Speaker 7: research all of the different submission guidelines for publication. For example,
• 16:45
  Speaker 7: Kirkis has different publications guidelines than Library Journal does, and
• 16:50
  Speaker 7: if you wait too long, you might even have to
• 16:53
  Speaker 7: pay more money for an expedited Kirkus review. And let's
• 16:57
  Speaker 7: face it. We all want to save a little bit
• 16:59
  Speaker 7: of money and give everybody enough time in your book
• 17:03
  Speaker 7: launch process. Strong editorial book reviews have a lot of benefits.
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  Speaker 7: They can lead to bulk orders from librarians and retailers.
• 17:14
  Speaker 7: These bookstore buyers and librarians, they're often looking for the
• 17:18
  Speaker 7: books that they're going to stock on their shelves many
• 17:21
  Speaker 7: months even up to eight, nine, ten months, up to
• 17:25
  Speaker 7: a year in advance. Editorial reviews can be quoted in
• 17:29
  Speaker 7: your press release backgrounders that is submitted to a lot
• 17:34
  Speaker 7: of the industry folks, your marketing materials. You can use
• 17:38
  Speaker 7: it as a plus content on Amazon. There's actually a
• 17:41
  Speaker 7: space for editorial reviews on Amazon. You can use these
• 17:47
  Speaker 7: in your blurb or the back of the book copy.
• 17:51
  Speaker 7: Really helps get the word out to the front line.
• 17:54
  Speaker 7: Think of it this way. Editorial type reviews are the vanguard.
• 18:00
  Speaker 7: This is very much a be to be a business
• 18:02
  Speaker 7: to business marketing and book launch strategy. Thank you to
• 18:07
  Speaker 7: William Bernhardt and the entire team for making up Me
• 18:11
  Speaker 7: a part of this craft corner.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Desiree. Now let's talk to Lynette Bennett.
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  Speaker 2: Lynette Bennett, welcome to the podcast.
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  Speaker 5: Thank you it's lovely to be here.
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  Speaker 2: It is a great treat to have someone you've known
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: for a while, and you know it's been working on
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: a book for a while and now it's finally going
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: to happen. So this is a real pleasure. Traditional first question, though,
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  Speaker 2: if you could offer writers one piece of advice, what
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: would it be?
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  Speaker 5: Stay with it? Stay with it?
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  Speaker 2: Well, you are the testament to perseverance, aren't you. And yes,
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: we'll get into that a little bit.
• 18:57
  Speaker 5: They had two agents offered me a contract, you know,
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: and I thought, well, an agent then has to find
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: a publisher, so if I could, I'd rather go right
• 19:11
  Speaker 5: with the publisher. So so that's, you know, what I
• 19:16
  Speaker 5: was hoping for. And then Bill Bernhardt, this guy showed
• 19:22
  Speaker 5: up who's very gifted, and I've done several workshops with
• 19:26
  Speaker 5: Bill and it's just such a treat to work with him.
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  Speaker 5: So now Bill's my publisher and I'm thrilled.
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  Speaker 2: Well, thank you. Let's do you mind talking about because
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: you had speaking of perseverance, you weathered a couple of
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: previous publishers, including one that later ended up in prison.
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  Speaker 5: That's I'm talking about that all I have good taste.
• 19:52
  Speaker 5: Let's race it well the first one, and I was
• 19:59
  Speaker 5: suspicions just when he put out a newsletter claiming how
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: Christian he was. And when people claim that too much,
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: then that's that's systems.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: A red flag.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, it's a red flag. And sure enough he turned
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: out to he and his son went to prison for
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: not paying people. I had another friend who was with him,
• 20:25
  Speaker 5: and he said he didn't have enough in royalties. He
• 20:29
  Speaker 5: had several books with this guy, and he said, I
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: don't have enough in royalties to buy myself a sandwich.
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: Well that's not very good.
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  Speaker 2: I read. I'm sorry, we will move on, I promised.
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: But I read that there were more complaints to the
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: Better Business Bureau about that publishing house before it folded
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: because the principles were in prison than any other business.
• 20:53
  Speaker 2: I'm thinking, relishing house, they are doing something wrong.
• 20:59
  Speaker 5: Yeah, yes they were.
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: And then you had a second false off but start
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: But never mind, that book's coming out now.
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  Speaker 5: She just never did anything. Having promised me she'd published
• 21:10
  Speaker 5: the book, she happened to publish the book.
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: Well, real god, I don't know.
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  Speaker 5: If you want to spend any more time on that.
• 21:17
  Speaker 5: But I had lunch with a friend of mine who
• 21:21
  Speaker 5: turned out to be her copy editor, and she said
• 21:24
  Speaker 5: she can't afford your book. She does children's books and
• 21:28
  Speaker 5: leaflets and things like that. There's no way she can
• 21:32
  Speaker 5: publish your book. And she had owed this woman a
• 21:35
  Speaker 5: lot of money.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: Oh well, we're going to get that thing out because
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: it's a terrific Thank you, biout that wonderful memoir. And
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: I don't say that just because I know you or
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: because I love Broadway. It's just a wonderful book. What
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: take us to the real beginning, though? How'd you get
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: interested in writing a book, because obviously you've been working
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: as an actress for many years and now you're how
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: did that happen?
• 22:02
  Speaker 5: Well, I really don't know. My brother is a wonderful
• 22:05
  Speaker 5: writer and and so I mean he gave me some
• 22:10
  Speaker 5: clues about things. If I would write something, i'd show
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: it tournament and he would critique it for me. And
• 22:17
  Speaker 5: I loved writing. I found out it was really fun,
• 22:21
  Speaker 5: so you know, it was my next favorite thing to performing.
• 22:26
  Speaker 5: I just really loved it. So that just got me started.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: And did you still love it even after you were
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: actually doing it?
• 22:34
  Speaker 5: Oh? Yes, oh yes, yeah, loving it and writing it?
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: Well, tell us a little bit about Broadway Dreamer.
• 22:44
  Speaker 5: Well, where to start.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: From the beginning?
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: Okay, I studied studied dance from the time I was
• 22:55
  Speaker 5: a little bitty like six.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: And that's an Oklahoma rite in Tulsa.
• 23:00
  Speaker 5: Excuse me, And that's in Tulsa where you grew up
• 23:02
  Speaker 5: in Tulsa. Yeah, my mother taught piano and speech. So uh,
• 23:08
  Speaker 5: so I played the piano from the time I was
• 23:10
  Speaker 5: a little bitty as well. And uh and and mother
• 23:15
  Speaker 5: had us I have an older brother, and she had
• 23:18
  Speaker 5: us speaking from the very beginning. They called those little
• 23:22
  Speaker 5: pieces readings, and so mother had us doing readings from
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: the time we were little bitty kids. And uh, that's
• 23:30
  Speaker 5: that's wonderful for an actor. You know, if you're comfortable
• 23:33
  Speaker 5: being in front of an audience. And mother had recitals.
• 23:37
  Speaker 5: So if you're comfortable in front of an audience, you know,
• 23:40
  Speaker 5: that goes a long way giving you a career. Because
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: you joyed.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: Tulsa eventually and went to New York right, yes, after
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: you already passed most people because you've actually made the
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: plunge and committed.
• 23:55
  Speaker 5: I graduated from the University of Tulsa be an English
• 23:59
  Speaker 5: lett and went to New York to audition for Broadway. Well,
• 24:05
  Speaker 5: that first summer, though, I worked at Saint Louis Municipal Opera,
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: and that's a wonderful summer stock company. And excuse me,
• 24:17
  Speaker 5: so so I had experiences. They would bring in the
• 24:21
  Speaker 5: stars who had played the roles on Broadway, and you know,
• 24:26
  Speaker 5: there were just lots of marvelous people that I could
• 24:28
  Speaker 5: talk to. I interviewed these people. I didn't let him
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: go by. I stopped interviewed you, and I learned a
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: lot just speaking about the business. You know, I bet
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: so that was great.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: Okay, And pretty soon you're being cast in shows. For instance,
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: in chapter one, you talk about being in Funny Girl,
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: the original production with the original actress, who of course
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: is Barber streisand almost immediately kind of superstar status like
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: working with her.
• 25:02
  Speaker 5: Oh, she was wonderful. She was lovely to me. I
• 25:05
  Speaker 5: was a replacement in the show, and the final night
• 25:11
  Speaker 5: she invited me to her dressing room and she gave
• 25:14
  Speaker 5: me her second album, which was entitled People, and we
• 25:19
  Speaker 5: just had a lovely visit. She just couldn't have been kinder.
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: So I can't say enough good about Barbara Streisand.
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: You also knew Barry Manilow, Yes, Beryl Ba. Then how
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: did you meet him? This was before he became the
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: well known name that he is.
• 25:40
  Speaker 5: Yeah, now right. He was my pianist and musical director.
• 25:45
  Speaker 5: And Barry was terrific. He was so much fun and
• 25:48
  Speaker 5: he's very kind. He just gave ten thousand dollars to
• 25:51
  Speaker 5: a music teacher in Tulsa because he saw that the
• 25:55
  Speaker 5: kids were using broken instruments. He's been here several times
• 26:01
  Speaker 5: and so I was able to have a chat with
• 26:04
  Speaker 5: him and that was really fun. It's nice.
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: How did you happen to meet him? Back back all
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: those years ago?
• 26:11
  Speaker 5: Mamber? Somebody another friend recommended Barry to me, okay, and
• 26:17
  Speaker 5: I was wanting to make a demo record. A musical
• 26:20
  Speaker 5: director friend and said, oh, you've got to make a
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: demo record. So I said, well, how do I do that?
• 26:25
  Speaker 5: And who pays for it? He said, you do, honey,
• 26:28
  Speaker 5: but it's not that bad. So Honey took the bait
• 26:35
  Speaker 5: and so so he selected the songs for me. He
• 26:40
  Speaker 5: was my musical director, and so we did three songs
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: on the demo and the first time one of the
• 26:48
  Speaker 5: things we did was a Basanova Layah Ledaya Brazil sixty six.
• 26:53
  Speaker 5: I don't know if you remember their their albums, but.
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: Is so good?
• 27:04
  Speaker 5: So anyway one was but beautiful if you remember that
• 27:08
  Speaker 5: lovely ballad that was the favorite of mine and one
• 27:12
  Speaker 5: uh the Donovan Uh singer and writer. He's a Scotsman
• 27:19
  Speaker 5: and uh. And so he had a song called where
• 27:23
  Speaker 5: Your Love Like Heaven, which is a strange, strange title,
• 27:28
  Speaker 5: but it's a very pretty song. And Barry knew I
• 27:30
  Speaker 5: love it, which I did, and uh, and we overdubbed it,
• 27:35
  Speaker 5: which I thought would be fun and it was so
• 27:39
  Speaker 5: so Barry wrote. So, so we did the basic recording
• 27:42
  Speaker 5: and then Barry wrote out three additional vocal lines for
• 27:47
  Speaker 5: me to use. Wow, And so then we just overdubbed it,
• 27:52
  Speaker 5: you know, three more times.
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: You're your own backup singer. Excuse me, you were your
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: own backup singer, Yes, exactly when I was.
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: When I was reading the book, I was surprised but
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: also delighted. You talk about meeting a very young Meryl
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: Street and working in the show Meryl Street.
• 28:17
  Speaker 5: Oh yes, and you said we're in a show teacher.
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: Sorry, yeah, Well, and you were also in a show
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: with John Travolta's sister, I think, And you talk about
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: him kind of showing up at some of the rehearsals.
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: So you were meeting a lot of people back then.
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: What did you think could you could you tell back
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: then that they were going to.
• 28:39
  Speaker 5: Be no incredible? I d know that. You know, Ellen
• 28:46
  Speaker 5: Travolta has has done quite a few things and she's
• 28:52
  Speaker 5: she's really fun. They were a show bized family. Their
• 28:55
  Speaker 5: mother was a director and so they both have said
• 29:00
  Speaker 5: Volda and Ellen Tivolden that their mother had them over acting,
• 29:04
  Speaker 5: so they had to learn not to act. That's so
• 29:10
  Speaker 5: it was a show biz family. There were five kids
• 29:14
  Speaker 5: and they're just They were a lovely family.
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: And you and Meryl Streep had the same vocal coach.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: Did I hear that right?
• 29:21
  Speaker 5: Yes? Yes, our teacher a coach works on material with you.
• 29:27
  Speaker 5: A teacher teaches you how to sing, how to produce
• 29:30
  Speaker 5: a tone. So this was our teacher, A Stelle Labeling,
• 29:34
  Speaker 5: and she was quite famous in New York. She's published
• 29:37
  Speaker 5: books for Colora tourist sopranos, which I am, and she
• 29:42
  Speaker 5: would would have material, especially in color tour work, you
• 29:47
  Speaker 5: do a lot of cadensas, and so miss Leebling would
• 29:51
  Speaker 5: write the cadensas which you're fabulous. So I just loved
• 29:55
  Speaker 5: studying with her. I just I couldn't believe it. I
• 29:57
  Speaker 5: was just in heaven when I walked into studio.
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: So this was music, vocal court like singing right, not
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: somewhere Meryl Streep must have and apparently every accent known
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: to mand But that wasn't dear right, No.
• 30:13
  Speaker 5: This was music. But she and I waited for our lessons,
• 30:16
  Speaker 5: and so we had a nice chat.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: And while we're name checking people people, some of our
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: viewers may have noticed that there's a picture hovering over
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: my head, and that's you on the Tonight Show with
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: Johnny Carson. Right, Yes, how did that come about?
• 30:34
  Speaker 5: Oh my goodness. I don't know if you remember the
• 30:37
  Speaker 5: group for girls, the Campfire Girls, and I'm afraid they're
• 30:41
  Speaker 5: fading out a little bit, but it was a wonderful
• 30:43
  Speaker 5: group for girls. The Supreme Court took care of that
• 30:47
  Speaker 5: for us because they said we had to have boys.
• 30:50
  Speaker 5: You know, there are boy scouts and then there are
• 30:52
  Speaker 5: girl scouts. So they tried having Campfire boys and girls,
• 30:58
  Speaker 5: and I think that just didn't work. You know, it
• 31:01
  Speaker 5: wasn't a boy's program. It was a girl's program, and
• 31:04
  Speaker 5: it was based on Indian lore. So that's why I'm
• 31:07
  Speaker 5: wearing the Indian What.
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: Everybody it looks like is in some kind of probably
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: wouldn't be approved of today headdress or something like that.
• 31:16
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 31:16
  Speaker 5: Well, the first thing I did when I was went
• 31:19
  Speaker 5: onto the show was was award Johnny with a pair
• 31:25
  Speaker 5: of Indian feathers to wear a headband and the Indian
• 31:30
  Speaker 5: feathers sticking up with the back of his head. So
• 31:33
  Speaker 5: that got a good laugh itself, and he could use
• 31:36
  Speaker 5: that and make something of it, you know.
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: Well, the thing I noticed looking at this photograph and
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: we have others as well, but everybody's smiling, They're love
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: having you on the show.
• 31:48
  Speaker 5: We had a lot of fun. It really worked out
• 31:50
  Speaker 5: so well. And on the subway that morning, this was
• 31:54
  Speaker 5: a gift I was. I was looking over a guy's
• 31:58
  Speaker 5: shoulder the New York Post and there was a story
• 32:04
  Speaker 5: about Sinatra proposing to Juliet Prows and the headline said
• 32:11
  Speaker 5: something about Sinatra proposing to his his his Julia you know,
• 32:16
  Speaker 5: and so and and she said crazy. Yeah. And so
• 32:22
  Speaker 5: when we were on the show, I was lashing. You
• 32:26
  Speaker 5: know what lashing is, rope lashing, and I was going
• 32:30
  Speaker 5: to do Johnny's legs. But he said, well, let's do legs.
• 32:34
  Speaker 5: Let's do Ed's legs, and so, which is a good
• 32:39
  Speaker 5: thing to do. And so when he suggested that let's
• 32:42
  Speaker 5: do eggs, Ed's legs, and I said crazy and that
• 32:47
  Speaker 5: kind of big laugh, he could do his Jack Benny
• 32:50
  Speaker 5: look to the audience, right, you know. So he loved
• 32:55
  Speaker 5: me after that.
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: Oh wonderful. We were also in Remind me, I think
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: it's a musical version of the Yearling, is that right?
• 33:03
  Speaker 5: Yes? Yeah?
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: And you were maybe toured in Once Upon a.
• 33:08
  Speaker 5: Mattress, Yes, with Immagy and Coca.
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: And you played Lady Larkin.
• 33:14
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: And I've told you this before and it doesn't relate
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: to your book. But tell me again. I did the
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: same play when I was in the eighth grade.
• 33:21
  Speaker 5: Oh I do remember, and I was Sir Harry.
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: I was Sir Harry and your Lady Larkin. So we're
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: practically a couple, you see.
• 33:28
  Speaker 5: That's right, exactly, we're a pair.
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: Yes, we sing the same love songs, just at different times.
• 33:35
  Speaker 5: That's right. And it was a beautiful song. Harry Rogers,
• 33:40
  Speaker 5: Richard Rogers's daughter was the composer.
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: Now we're really digressing, but she did her memoir or
• 33:48
  Speaker 2: whatever you want to call it, last year called Shy,
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: obviously a reference to Mattress, and I thought that was
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: really a trip. Let's get back to your book. One
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: of the nice things about this book, you know, of
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: course we're talking about all your shows and the singing
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: and dancing and acting and appearances, but the centerpiece of
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: the book, at least in my mind, is your relationship
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: with your now husband, Warren, who, like I said, you're
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: still married to after how many years? Fifty four fifty four?
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: Holy smokes, tell us that story. How did you two
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: get together? Oh?
• 34:26
  Speaker 5: My goodness. Warren had been traveling for six months. He'd
• 34:31
  Speaker 5: been a missionary in Brazil. He speaks Portuguese, so when
• 34:36
  Speaker 5: he finished his responsibilities in Brazil, he traveled for six
• 34:41
  Speaker 5: months around the world. And this was his first day
• 34:45
  Speaker 5: back in the country and he didn't want to go out.
• 34:48
  Speaker 5: He didn't want to do anything. He was just exhausted.
• 34:51
  Speaker 5: But he had been at this church, christ Church Methodist
• 34:56
  Speaker 5: on United Methodists on Park Avenue in sixty uh. He'd
• 35:01
  Speaker 5: been the youth director before. You know, while he was
• 35:05
  Speaker 5: in seminary those three seminary years he was he was
• 35:08
  Speaker 5: the youth director and uh and by that time I
• 35:12
  Speaker 5: had joined the church. I was singing in the choir.
• 35:15
  Speaker 5: So I was really involved with the church. I grew
• 35:17
  Speaker 5: up at Boston Avenue United Methodist here in Tulsa and uh,
• 35:22
  Speaker 5: so I'm from a about Christian family and and so
• 35:29
  Speaker 5: I was there and I was joining the Yagadel group
• 35:33
  Speaker 5: and they went to lunch on summer Sundays. Well, this
• 35:37
  Speaker 5: was the summer Sunday, and so they meet in the
• 35:41
  Speaker 5: courtyard of the church and then walked to a neighborhood restaurant.
• 35:45
  Speaker 5: And so I came out of the choir and he
• 35:50
  Speaker 5: saw me recessing, you know, down the aisle to the
• 35:53
  Speaker 5: hymn and uh. And I saw him just coming out
• 35:59
  Speaker 5: of a church walk into an exit and I said, wow,
• 36:05
  Speaker 5: who is that. I've never seen him before. And so
• 36:08
  Speaker 5: we both were in the courtyard and then we went
• 36:11
  Speaker 5: to a restaurant and this was just marvelous. Everybody sat
• 36:17
  Speaker 5: down and I realized they were sitting down at the table.
• 36:20
  Speaker 5: But I thought, I have a rehearsal penciled in with
• 36:24
  Speaker 5: Barry Manilow. We were working on this demo record, and
• 36:28
  Speaker 5: so I thought, well, I can't sit down till I've
• 36:30
  Speaker 5: called him to say are we on or off? And
• 36:34
  Speaker 5: I wanted us to be on. I mean I wanted
• 36:36
  Speaker 5: us to be off with Barry so I could meet
• 36:39
  Speaker 5: this new guy. So I went to the front of
• 36:41
  Speaker 5: the restaurant, made the phone call, came back to the table,
• 36:45
  Speaker 5: and the only empty chair was next to this new guy.
• 36:50
  Speaker 5: Oh what could I do?
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: I have seen me.
• 36:54
  Speaker 5: And so I sat.
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: Down after after standing up very medlow right, I'm standing
• 37:02
  Speaker 3: up very man called to cancel with him.
• 37:07
  Speaker 5: That's fabulous. So that's how it started. And we we
• 37:13
  Speaker 5: say now that we made the deal. Over lunch, we
• 37:20
  Speaker 5: had so much fun talking. We just laughed. I was
• 37:24
  Speaker 5: just giddy. And Warren was just back in the country.
• 37:27
  Speaker 5: You know, he was exhausted. He didn't even want to
• 37:29
  Speaker 5: come to church that day, but fortunately he did.
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: Well, what does a typical writing day look like for you?
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: Can you tell us a little bit about your writing process?
• 37:46
  Speaker 5: Oh that's a good idea. Uh, I get done what
• 37:51
  Speaker 5: has to what has to get done? And uh, for instance,
• 37:55
  Speaker 5: I get dressed in case the doorbell rings, you know,
• 38:00
  Speaker 5: I'm ready to go to the door and h And
• 38:03
  Speaker 5: then I go to the computer and I figure out
• 38:07
  Speaker 5: what it is. I need to work on that day,
• 38:10
  Speaker 5: all right, so but I have a specific, you know,
• 38:14
  Speaker 5: goal to make that day. So yeah, and I just
• 38:20
  Speaker 5: love it.
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: And you're working on another book too, well, you're probably
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: you're working on several.
• 38:25
  Speaker 5: It's truth.
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: Do you think is going to be next?
• 38:28
  Speaker 5: Oh? London? M hm?
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: So volume two of your memoir?
• 38:32
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm taking it chronologically because.
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: After you left New York, you and Warren now married,
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: I think, went.
• 38:39
  Speaker 5: To London, right, went to London, yes.
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and you continued with your fabulous show bized success there.
• 38:47
  Speaker 5: Yeah. And have you been to the show Chicago, the
• 38:50
  Speaker 5: musical Chicago. It's wonderful. I have seen it, yes, yeah,
• 38:54
  Speaker 5: so I was in that in London. So that was fun. Noah,
• 39:00
  Speaker 5: so I can't wait. Fortunately for me, my pianist from
• 39:04
  Speaker 5: New York, Richard uh was able to give me some
• 39:09
  Speaker 5: background on Chicago because, as I said, I'm a coloratura soprano.
• 39:14
  Speaker 5: So so he said, they're having auditions, candor and abb,
• 39:19
  Speaker 5: the writers are having auditions for Chicago, and he said
• 39:24
  Speaker 5: I think you should go, And I said, oh, good,
• 39:27
  Speaker 5: you know, will you play for me? He said yeah,
• 39:29
  Speaker 5: sure as always, so so I said, well, tell me
• 39:32
  Speaker 5: about it. And he said, well, this character, she's a
• 39:35
  Speaker 5: reporter and she you know, she relates to oh I
• 39:42
  Speaker 5: forget the leading, the leading, go Roxy Roxy art. And
• 39:48
  Speaker 5: that's a true story. It was a movie with Ginger Rogers.
• 39:52
  Speaker 5: And so I said, okay, you know what, what's the
• 39:56
  Speaker 5: deal with the with the with the reporter. Her name
• 40:01
  Speaker 5: is Mary Sunshine and her song is There's a little
• 40:05
  Speaker 5: Bit of Good in Everyone. Yeah, And so that was
• 40:10
  Speaker 5: really fun and it was nice and high and so
• 40:13
  Speaker 5: we went to the to the audition and they talked
• 40:17
  Speaker 5: to me afterwards, which is good. If they're not interested
• 40:20
  Speaker 5: in you, they don't talk to you. Okay, thank you,
• 40:23
  Speaker 5: thank you. Oh I shouldn't have said thank you because
• 40:25
  Speaker 5: they were interested. Thank you means you didn't get the job,
• 40:29
  Speaker 5: so they did not say thank you. Wow, So you
• 40:34
  Speaker 5: don't You don't want to hear thank you when you
• 40:36
  Speaker 5: go to a Broadway or an east End. East End
• 40:41
  Speaker 5: is what they call their Broadway. It's a neighborhood, just
• 40:43
  Speaker 5: like broadways. A neighborhood. Yeah yeah, so excuse go ahead.
• 40:51
  Speaker 5: So so then then I got a call and they
• 40:54
  Speaker 5: wanted me to come back. So that's good. You have
• 40:57
  Speaker 5: a callback that's called a callback. And so Richard and
• 41:02
  Speaker 5: I went again, but he was able to give me
• 41:06
  Speaker 5: the background from the Broadway situation, and that is this.
• 41:15
  Speaker 5: It was written for a woman. I mean, it's a
• 41:17
  Speaker 5: high soprano. It's written for a woman, very sunshine. And
• 41:22
  Speaker 5: this man came to the audition and sang and they thought,
• 41:27
  Speaker 5: good grief. They fell in love with his voice. And
• 41:31
  Speaker 5: they said that guy could do Mary Sunshine. And the
• 41:34
  Speaker 5: other partner said, well, what do you mean that. What
• 41:37
  Speaker 5: are we going to do about the about the soprano voice?
• 41:41
  Speaker 5: And he said, well, he'll just sing it. He'll sing
• 41:43
  Speaker 5: it in his voice. And so that is what they did.
• 41:47
  Speaker 5: And the understudy, though they couldn't find anybody else with
• 41:50
  Speaker 5: that type of voice, and the other man with that
• 41:52
  Speaker 5: type of voice, and so the understudy was a woman.
• 41:57
  Speaker 5: So that's what Richard was talking about, would be auditioning
• 42:01
  Speaker 5: for the understudy the Power a tour role. So we
• 42:05
  Speaker 5: went and they offered me the job. What a deal.
• 42:10
  Speaker 5: Crazily it meant. You know, when we do out of
• 42:14
  Speaker 5: town tryouts in New York, we go to a nearby place,
• 42:18
  Speaker 5: New Haven, Connecticut, Boston, Massachusetts, a nearby place to New York. Well,
• 42:24
  Speaker 5: they were going way up north and I'd be away
• 42:28
  Speaker 5: from Warren and the church for six weeks and I
• 42:32
  Speaker 5: didn't want to do that. So I said, come talk
• 42:36
  Speaker 5: to me when you get back to town, and I
• 42:39
  Speaker 5: would love to play to do the understudy. Okay, crazy,
• 42:43
  Speaker 5: well yes, but anyway, that's what I did. So when
• 42:48
  Speaker 5: they got back to town, they called me and they said,
• 42:51
  Speaker 5: this girl's leaving the understudy and will you come and
• 42:54
  Speaker 5: do it? And I said, well, yes, I think I will,
• 43:00
  Speaker 5: And so I did, and I had a wonderful experience. Yeah,
• 43:04
  Speaker 5: and then when the person when the man left permanently,
• 43:08
  Speaker 5: then I played the role permanently. So that was really wonderful.
• 43:13
  Speaker 5: What an opportunity.
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: We're running out of time, but I don't want to
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: wrap this up in it until you've had a chance.
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: Would you indulge uce and tell the story of your
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: I think possibly the world's only shoeless tap dance.
• 43:28
  Speaker 5: Yes. Oh my. So I had a really fast change
• 43:38
  Speaker 5: as this is funny girl now as my funny Girl character.
• 43:42
  Speaker 5: I had a really fast change, and I had a
• 43:45
  Speaker 5: dresser to help me because I never could have done
• 43:48
  Speaker 5: that by myself. So I had on a discard costume
• 43:55
  Speaker 5: of Barber's. It was so horrible she wouldn't wear it,
• 43:57
  Speaker 5: and I inherited it. It was a tap shorts outfit,
• 44:02
  Speaker 5: one piece outfit, and the bottom part the shorts were
• 44:07
  Speaker 5: a maroon color and the top was pink with maroon trim. Okay, So,
• 44:13
  Speaker 5: and I was I was underdressed in green tights because
• 44:20
  Speaker 5: the next thing was a tap dance, and I went
• 44:23
  Speaker 5: right in to being the lead dancer in the tap dance.
• 44:26
  Speaker 5: And so so Alice, my dresser, helped me, helped me
• 44:31
  Speaker 5: get out of it. So I'm in this horrible tap
• 44:35
  Speaker 5: shorts outfit and I tap over to Alice in the
• 44:38
  Speaker 5: side that was that was a duet, okay. So I
• 44:42
  Speaker 5: tap over to Alice and I'm under under underdressed. So
• 44:48
  Speaker 5: I scrunched down the maroon tights and of course the
• 44:53
  Speaker 5: boots are high topped, high top, so I managed to
• 44:57
  Speaker 5: kick off the maroon tap shoes. I pull on the
• 45:01
  Speaker 5: high topped green boots for the military for the military number,
• 45:07
  Speaker 5: zip up the boots. Alice has my jacket, slip my
• 45:11
  Speaker 5: arms in, scrunch the jacket down on velcrow. She hands
• 45:19
  Speaker 5: me my military hat. I pin it in as I
• 45:23
  Speaker 5: run all the way around. This is a very wide stage.
• 45:26
  Speaker 5: I run all the way around the back of the stage.
• 45:29
  Speaker 5: When I get over to the other side, then two
• 45:32
  Speaker 5: boys come tap. We were boys and girls in two
• 45:36
  Speaker 5: dancing boys boy dancers come tapping over to me and
• 45:40
  Speaker 5: I tap back out with them. We're a trio now,
• 45:44
  Speaker 5: so okay, So Saturday matinee. The house is packed. So
• 45:50
  Speaker 5: I'm underdressed maroon on top of green ties. Okay, So
• 45:57
  Speaker 5: I tap over my duet and on the other side
• 46:00
  Speaker 5: here's Alice and I pulled down the maroon tis. I
• 46:08
  Speaker 5: have on the green tights. Only I didn't tell that right,
• 46:12
  Speaker 5: I have on the green ties. I put my arms out, oh,
• 46:17
  Speaker 5: and zip up the high top green boots. Put my
• 46:21
  Speaker 5: arms out. Alice has my jacket, pushed the velcrow down,
• 46:25
  Speaker 5: grabbed the hat officer's hat. Run around the whole back
• 46:29
  Speaker 5: of the stage to the other side of the stage.
• 46:31
  Speaker 5: I looked down and for the military tap, in which
• 46:35
  Speaker 5: I must have green tights and I've got high top
• 46:38
  Speaker 5: green boots. I look down and I have maroon legs
• 46:45
  Speaker 5: into green boots. Okay, so there's nothing to do. So
• 46:50
  Speaker 5: the stage manager's standing there giving light cues and he said,
• 46:54
  Speaker 5: you can't change no time go on like that, and
• 46:57
  Speaker 5: I just couldn't. I unzipped each kicked it off, unzipped
• 47:02
  Speaker 5: each boot, kicked it off. Here come the two boys,
• 47:05
  Speaker 5: and we three have to go out tapping. And I'm
• 47:10
  Speaker 5: out there dancing away and I have maroon tights with
• 47:15
  Speaker 5: the green costumes, with two boys in green so and
• 47:20
  Speaker 5: no shoes, shoe less tap dance. It's ever been done
• 47:24
  Speaker 5: in Broadway history.
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: That's a great story. The book is called Broadway Dreamer. Lynnette,
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: thanks so much for being on the podcast.
• 47:34
  Speaker 5: Thank you, it's been fun.
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: Let's see you soon. Just a few parting words. You've
• 47:47
  Speaker 2: heard me say this before, but the writer Con cruise
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: is coming up at the end of May, and the
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: retreats after that, and the conference is Labor Day weekend,
• 47:56
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• 47:59
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• 48:03
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• 48:06
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• 48:09
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• 48:17
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• 48:21
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• 48:24
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• 48:28
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• 48:31
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• 48:34
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• 49:02
  Speaker 2: All right, until next time, keep writing and remember you
• 49:07
  Speaker 2: cannot fail if you refuse to quit. See you next time.