The Property of a Lady - Elizabeth Adler [208]
“Zev was surprised, but he agreed to read it. It wasn’t wonderful, just a vehicle for her to dance and sing some pretty songs—Jakey had Irving Berlin in mind or Cole Porter, nothing but the best. He had bought the play for a few thousand dollars and he said he wanted to give it to Azaylee as an engagement present. How could Zev refuse to back it?
“Jakey did the rewrite and produced. Azaylee asked Dick to direct—his first stage job, as it was hers, but she trusted him. A theater was found for a March opening and Jakey set up an office on Broadway and found a co-star, Will Hunter, good-looking and talented enough to support Azaylee without stealing her thunder. When she was working she was always absolutely professional, but now she was devoted to her task and to Jakey. She put all her faith in him and I have to say that he did not let her down. After six turbulent weeks out of town, Hollywood Girl opened on Broadway on an icy March night. The audience didn’t seem to mind the cold. They applauded every number and at the end they gave Ava a standing ovation. I couldn’t help remembering my own little success in the Follies, though poor Ziegfeld was long since dead, and I knew how she must feel. I just sat there with tears streaming down my face. I was so proud of her. And of how far she had come—not only in her career, but in struggling back from never-never land. Tonight she was a whole person, Ava Adair, and she was beautiful and a success.
“We went on to Sardi’s for the party afterward, waiting nervously for the first editions of the newspapers. When they came we all cheered—they were unanimous in their praise—for Ava, Dick, and the music, that is. They didn’t think much of the story. But it didn’t matter. The crowds flocked to the theater, and Hollywood Girl made a fortune. Zev owned sixty percent and Jakey twenty. For the first time in his life Jakey was rich and he spent money like water, treating everyone to lunches at ‘21’ and presiding over his table at the Stork Club every night after the show. He gave Azaylee a large diamond engagement ring to replace the tiny one that was all he had been able to afford before. And he moved from the small Broadway apartment over his office into a suite at the Plaza, opposite her hotel, the Sherry Netherland.
“There was nothing sexual going on between them, and we thought Jakey was just being an old-fashioned gentleman about it. Azaylee had set her heart on a big October wedding at Lexington Drive with a marquee on the lawn and her family and her show-business friends, but with the show such a hit, the wedding was rearranged for the following April to give them enough time to find a replacement to take over her role.
“I often visited her in New York, taking the train because I’ve always mistrusted airplanes. I stayed with her at the Sherry Netherland, but the days were my own to fill in as I liked because she kept such late hours, partying every night after the show, and she slept most of the day. Jakey would come around at about four and order room service for her—he kept an eye on her diet and made sure she ate properly. He fussed over her a lot and she seemed to like it. Like a little girl with a father, I thought, only he wasn’t that much older than she.
“By now it was impossible for her to walk down the street without being mobbed. She went everywhere by limousine and it was getting on her nerves, so on Sundays he would take her out to friends’ places on Long Island, and she would swim and race around playing tennis. She had such phenomenal energy then.
“The World’s Fair was to open soon and New York was filled with international visitors. She was constantly entertaining important foreign delegations backstage after the show. She was always charming, sparkling, and laughing, just the way they expected a star to be. Everyone adored her. She had known Jakey almost two years and in all that time, she had never once been ‘ill.’ I thought she had forgotten all about it, forgotten the doctors in their white coats and the sanatorium