Read Ebook: Peggy Goes Straw Hat by Hughes Virginia Leone Sergio Illustrator Illustrator

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Ebook has 961 lines and 44519 words, and 20 pages

"There is one." Gus chuckled warmly. "Aunt Hetty has a barn that we can remodel next summer if this season is a success. But we couldn't afford to do it this year. It's better to rent the school and see what happens. If it bothers you, Peggy," he added, looking at her with amusement, "hold on to the thought that we're helping education! We are, too. The school needs the money."

The front doors of the school auditorium faced the highway. A large sign for the theater gleamed brightly under the floodlights that played on it. "It's never too early to advertise," Gus observed as they walked to the back of the building.

Entering the stage door, they came through the wings and walked out on a dark stage, only a single worklight throwing a white circle on the bare boards. The heavy drapes were pulled back, framing the empty house, the vacant seats ghostlike in the silence.

"Well, where is everybody?" Peggy gasped in the eerie quiet.

Gus and Rita roared. "We just thought you'd like to see the stage, Peggy," Gus laughed.

"You didn't think we were going to rehearse tonight, did you?" Rita teased, and then took Peggy's hand. "Come on, dear, we're only kidding. Everybody's down here."

They crossed the stage, descended some stairs, and entered a door that led directly into the school gym. "Here's our ing?nue," Rita called as she ushered Peggy in, "ready to work!"

Peggy blinked, coming into the sudden light and busy scene. The gym was bright as daytime. A huge canvas ground cloth covered the floor and several people knelt, beside cans, buckets, and paintbrushes, over the scenery flats that were strewn from one end of the gym to the other. Peggy had difficulty recognizing anyone. They were all spotted and paint-smeared, in a variety of strange work clothes.

"Hi!" someone called, raising a hand with a dripping brush. Peggy peered intently at the slight figure and dark hair, and recognized Chuck Crosby, their intense young director. "Get to work," he ordered with a smile and went back to his painting.

A well-built young man with a heavy mass of light-brown hair rose with his can and beckoned to her. Peggy picked her way through buckets and flats, following him.

"Danny Dunn!" she said with a shock of surprise. "How on earth am I supposed to know you under that disguise?" Danny was to do juvenile and some character parts for the company. Now he looked like a clown as he smiled at her with a paint-dotted mouth.

In a clear corner near the wall, Michael Miller sat hunched over a hot plate with a bubbling pot of melting glue. He looked like an ancient alchemist as he stirred and poured, mixing paint, whiting, and glue into large buckets.

"The white cliffs of Dover," Michael muttered romantically, taking a bag of powdered chalk and measuring it into his caldron.

"Sure, double, double, and all that," Danny replied, nodding kindly. "Well, just keep steady, old chap, we're all a little tired tonight."

"It really is the white cliffs of Dover," Michael protested as Danny walked away. "For the ground coat," he added, peering up at Peggy through his steaming glasses. "Here, have fun." He waved her away.

For the next four hours Peggy knelt on her hands and knees, laboriously painting flats. These were frames of white pine, over which was stretched unbleached muslin, like a painter's canvas. They had already been sized with a solution of glue and water until they were drum-tight. Over the ground coat that Peggy was painting, Gus would design wallpaper for interiors, fireplaces, outdoor scenes. Peggy's back ached as she worked silently. No one said a word.

"A funny way to begin," thought Peggy, sighing. She had expected a line reading, even some work on stage. "And Chuck hardly said how-do-you-do, and I don't know half the people here." She glanced around, guessing that the young boys must be Michael Miller's friends, and that older man by the other wall his father, Howard Miller. He noticed Peggy looking at him and smiled.

"Rehearsal promptly at nine o'clock in the morning," Chuck announced crisply as they cleaned up and prepared to go home.

"Heavens to Betsy!" Peggy thought wearily as she lay in her bed, her back aching, muscles jumping from the unaccustomed effort. "Now I know why everyone was so quiet. They'd been at it all day--and I feel like this after only a few hours!" Her head spun dizzily as she closed her eyes. "Well, I'm part of a company," she mused dreamily, "and that's what counts. Even if I don't like the parts I'm given--even if I have to do other things than act." Plays and parts and costumes danced before her like a mirage. "I guess this is summer stock, all right!" she thought as she fell asleep.

II A Serious Complication

"Not quite so serious, Peggy." Chuck Crosby pulled on a lock of his straight, black hair as he listened to her read. "If you don't have a slight tongue-in-cheek attitude, it's not going to be funny. She is an earnest young girl, but it's got to be exaggerated in a comic way."

Peggy tried again. "Dad, I'm disappointed in you," she read. "The world's on fire and you're occupied with a cigarette lighter!"

The cast was having its first line rehearsal on the sunny patio of the annex. Peggy had awakened excitedly with the expectation of working on stage, only to find that the company would be at the annex all day. She had wondered, in a resigned way, if she would ever see the stage at all. But now, as they progressed to the second scene of Act One, her disappointment was forgotten. She was concentrating on her part of Miriam, "Dear Ruth's" younger sister.

"That's it," Chuck cried. "That's the quality I want."

A pretty local girl, Mary Hopkins, who was playing the part of the maid, Dora, didn't come in on her cue. Everyone looked at her as she nervously rattled her papers, looking quite lost.

"That's your cue, Mary," Chuck said patiently. "Miriam says, 'We can use anybody we can get,' and you enter."

"I don't see it," Mary replied helplessly.

"Right here." Rita was sitting beside her and pointed it out. "Anybody we can get."

"But that's not the whole line--oh, I see." Mary blushed.

"We're using sides, Mary," Chuck said kindly. They were half sheets of paper bound like a small pamphlet. "I have the master script here with the whole play, but you'll find only about four or five words of the preceding speech printed on your sides. You can fill in the other words if you find it easier."

Peggy gave Mary an understanding smile. She had been busy writing in speeches herself, as she found the short sides difficult to work from. Peggy liked to think of the play as a whole, but she knew that some actors worked better from short cue lines, and that for stock, with so many different parts to learn each week, sides were often faster.

Rita read the part of the mother with assurance and humor. She made a perfect partner for Howard Miller, and one could tell that she was used to this type of part. Miriam made her exit, and then Ruth appeared for a short scene with her father and mother. Before her next cue, Peggy had time to examine, with a certain fascination, their leading lady.

Alison Lord had arrived that morning, making a grand and breathless entrance at exactly nine A.M. Her luggage was still stacked in the patio, and peering at it, Peggy raised her eyebrows. "And I thought I had a lot!" She wondered how many costumes Alison expected to wear on stage, but judging by the stunning outfit she was wearing for rehearsal, Alison must intend to dress as glamorously off stage as on. Her bright auburn hair was caught up under an eye-catching sun hat of fringed red straw. The color exactly matched the sleeveless blouse she wore over a beautiful pair of beige, basket-weave slacks. With her enormous straw bag, gay sandals, and dark glasses, she looked like a visiting star. And a really beautiful girl underneath all that, Peggy thought, noticing the careful make-up that enhanced Alison's features.

Peggy glanced down at her simple, peasant skirt and blouse. It was pretty, but hardly spectacular like Alison's attire. For a moment she wished that she had thought of bringing more colorful everyday clothes--was it good advertising for the theater perhaps?--but then she laughed at herself. "You're just a little bit envious, Peggy Lane, and you know it! Now just forget about clothes, and tend to your knitting!"

Her cue came, and she jumped back into her part with gusto, really enjoying it now that she had caught the flavor of Miriam. She found that playing with Alison was fun. She was even better than Peggy remembered. She had a certain awareness of herself, a special "here I am" quality that would make an audience notice her. She wasn't a very deep actress, but she had poise and presence and moved the play along.

Chuck was pleased with the reading. He looked at his watch and called a break. "Take five. Chris ought to be here any minute, and there's no point in going on now without him."

"What's he like?" Peggy asked Rita as she broke off a piece of doughnut to share with her. The cast kept snacks in an old-fashioned icebox on the patio.

"Oh, he's lovely!" Rita grinned mischievously. "He's quite tall and very blond, tanned and terribly handsome, blue eyes, a great smile, romantic--"

"Really! He's all that, hm?" Peggy teased back. "Well, all I want to know is, can he act?"

"He certainly can. I've worked with him before--" Rita looked at Peggy curiously. "It will be very interesting to see your reaction to Chris. It's a shame that you didn't have a chance to meet him before and more or less prepare yourself."

"Oh, Rita!" Peggy exclaimed, shaking her head in protest. She didn't know what a picture she was with the sunlight striking her dark hair and framing her pretty face. Rita watched her, noticing the fine, high cheekbones, straight nose, and soft, wide mouth.

"You really have a captivating quality, Peggy," Rita said thoughtfully. "I wouldn't be surprised if Chris Hill is quite taken with you."

"With me?" Peggy blurted in astonishment. "Oh, Rita, I haven't even met him yet, and anyway," she added, "I'm not really interested in anyone." She was remembering Randy Brewster in New York, and all the fun they'd had together in dramatic school and in the off-Broadway production they'd been involved in. Kind, steady Randy, with the marvelous sense of humor. It would have to be somebody quite wonderful to share the special place that Randy occupied in Peggy's thoughts. "Why, there's no time for romance here, Rita," she said. "We're all too busy. And besides, I should think Alison would be more his type."

"Um-hm. Maybe," Rita interrupted rather mysteriously and nudged Peggy. "You'll soon have a chance to find out."

Following her glance, Peggy looked up the little path and saw Chris Hill, a duffel bag slung over one shoulder, hurrying down with long, energetic strides. His appearance was certainly everything Rita had said and more. She glanced at Rita, her eyes wide, and Rita returned a bland "I-told-you-so" expression.

Chris ran the last few yards, dumped his bag carelessly on the patio, and with a wide, completely engaging smile, announced, "Reporting for duty--on the dot, I hope!" He shook Chuck's hand. "Svengali, how are you? You picked a beautiful spot--it's just great. Alison!" He leaned over her chair, planting an audible kiss on her cheek. Peggy's eyes popped.

"Doesn't mean a thing," Rita whispered to Peggy. "Watch."

"Darling!" Alison replied extravagantly. "What kept you so long? Did you come up by dogcart?"

Chris noticed Rita and ran over, swooping her up in a big bear hug and giving her a kiss, too. "My favorite actress!" he laughed, standing back and looking at her with delight. "And where's her favorite husband? Don't tell me--he's up to his ears in flats! When do I see him? Don't tell me--probably never!"

Rita laughed. "Such energy, Chris! How do you do it after all night on a bus? Chris, here's someone you haven't met--our ing?nue, Peggy Lane. Star of Stage, Screen, Radio--"

"Television and Summer Stock!" Chris finished for her. "Don't mind us, Peggy, it's an old joke from another summer company. Well!"

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