Brownstonelit's Blog

11/3/10

She worked at the American Legions Club. A young girl, very pretty- medium brown hair, cute build. That’s where they met her- this Jessica that no one wants to remember. She was beaten. Left in the elements… ogled by one of the four in flannel who had a sick obsession with watching the flies cling to the battered flesh of her face. Holiday over… they buried her at or under the pool.

There was a dairy. A nice dairy… lots of sweet old cows that spent their days wandering the fields, eating grass, chewing their cud… and swatting flies in the unbearable heat with their leathery tails. Maybe even Jessica’s flies.

There was the pool. There was the dairy. Both the dairy and the pool were absorbed into the country club complex years ago…

How paradoxical that the hooker that no one wanted to help or search for when she went missing 44 years ago…
the young girl who was possibly raped- but most definitely beaten…
the girl, who even now in the afterlife is consumed with the ravaged and torn flesh of her face …
the girl who was most likely the first in this series of law enforcement victims that led to Charley’s murder…
the girl who wasn’t worth anyone’s time of day when she was alive…
the low class tramp who people turned up their noses at…

Is now dead… living the afterlife in Valdosta Country Club style!

Funny isn’t it? What began as a Jimmy Hoffa style burial, ultimately landed her in the last place she would have ever been welcomed back in 1966! The irony is absolutely sublime and of course as a theatre director I can only celebrate her presumed resurrection in the best way I know how… a song from a hit musical- Sweet Charity!

What are the words to that wonderful song? Oh yeah… I remember now!

“…Charity:
Tonight at eight you shoulda seen
A chauffeur pull up in a rented limousine!
My neighbors burned! They like to die!
When I tell them who is gettin’ in and goin’ out is I!
If they could see me now,
That little gang of mine,
I’m eating fancy chow
And drinking fancy wine.
I’d like those stumble bums to see for a fact
The kind of top drawer, first rate chums I attract.
All I can say is “Wow-ee!
Looka where I am.
Tonight I landed, pow!
Right in a pot of jam.
What a set up! Holy cow!
They’d never believe it,
If my friends could see me now!
If they could see me now,
My little dusty group,
Traipsin’ ’round this million dollar chicken coop.
I’d hear those thrift shop cats say:
“Brother, get her!
Draped on a bed spread made from three kinds of fur.”
All I can say is, “Wow!
Wait till the riff an’ raff
See just exactly how
He sign this autograph.”
What a build up! Holy cow!
They’d never believe it,
If my friends could see me now!
If they could see me now
Alone with Mister V.,
Who’s waiting on me like he was a maître d’
I’d hear my buddies saying:
“Crazy, what gives?
Tonight she’s living like
The other half lives!”
To think the highest brow,
Which I must say is he,
Should pick the lowest brow,
Which there’s no doubt is me!
What a step up! Holy cow!
They’d never believe it,
If my friends could see me now!
What a step up! Holy cow!
They’d never believe it…
They’d never believe it,
If my friends could see me now
Hi, girls it’s me, Charity…”*

Or, did they mean… Jessica? I know it doesn’t really rhyme, but it does have a certain kind of ring to it, don’t you think Grim?? They even mention those sweet old cows from the dairy- you know- see the line…“Holy cow!”???

So this is what they mean by, “Life imitating art… or was it art imitating life?” Hmmmmmmm…

Don’t you just love musical theatre, Grim? I do. And look! Sweet Charity came out in 1966! Wow…I couldn’t have planned that one better if I had tried!

*Sweet Charity (1966)

Sweet Charity – Broadway Revival Cast 2005
Book by Neil Simon
Based on the film Nights Of Cabiria
Lyrics by Dorothy Fields
Music by Cy Coleman)

This entry was posted on November 3, 2010 at 12:10 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.