A Stranger in the Mirror Read Online Free PDF Page B

showtime came and the comic had not appeared, the owner of the club began to rage and curse. "That bastard's through this time, you hear? I won't have him near my club again." "I don't blame you," Meri said. "But you're in luck. There's a new comic sitting at the bar. He just got in from New York." "What? Where?" The owner took one look at Toby. "For chnssakes, where's his nanny? He's a baby''' "He's great! " Jeri said. And she meanr it. "Try him," Meri added. "What can you lose?" "My fuckin' customers!" But he shru^d and walked over to where Toby was sitting. "So you're a comic, huh?" "Yeah," Toby said casually. "I just finished doing a gig in the Catskills."
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    The owner studied him a moment. "How old are you?'' "Twenty-two," Toby lied. "Horseshit. All right. Get out there. And if you lay an egg, you won't live to see twenty-two." And there it was. Toby Temple's dream had finally come true. He was standing in the spotlight while the band played a fanfare for him, and the audience, his audience, sat there waiting to discover him, to adore him. He felt a surge of affection so strong that the feeling brought a lump to his throat. It was as though he and the audience were one, bound together by some wonderful, magical cord. For an instant he thought of his mother and hoped that wherever she was, she could see him now. The fanfare stopped. Toby went into his routine. "Good evening, you lucky people. My name is Toby Temple. I guess you all know your names." Silence. He went on. "Did you hear about the new head of the Mafia in Chicago? He's a queer. From now on, the Kiss of Death includes dinner and dancing." There was no laughter. They were staring at him, cold and hostile, and Toby began to feel the sharp claws of fear tearing at his stomach. His body was suddenly soaked in perspiration. That wonderful bond with the audience had vanished. He kept going. "I just played an engagement in a theater up in Maine. The theater was so far back in the woods that the manager was a bear." Silence. They hated him. "Nobody told me this was a deaf-mute convention. I feel like the social director on the Titanic. Being here is like walking up the gangplank and there's no ship." They began to boo. Two minutes after Toby had begun, the owner frantically signaled to the musicians, who started to play loudly, drowning out Toby's voice. He stood there, a big smile on his face, his eyes stinging with tears. He wanted to scream at them.
    /( was the screams that awakened Mr". Csinski. They
    were high-pitched and feral, eerie in the stillness of the night, and it was not until she sat up in bed that she realized it was the baby screaming. She hurried into the other room where she had fixed up a nursery. Josephine was rolling from side to side, her face blue from convulsions. At the hospital, an intern gave the baby an intravenous sedative, and she fell into a peaceful sleep. Dr. Wilsons who had delivered fosephine, gave her a thorough examination. He could find nothing wrong with her. But he was uneasy. He could not forget the clock on the wall.
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    Vaudeville had flourished in America from 1881 until its final demise when the Palace Theatre closed its doors in 1932. Vaudeville had been the training ground for all the aspiring young co^iics, the battlefield where they sharpened their wits against hostile, jeering audiences. However, the comics who won out went on to fame and fortune. Eddie Cantor and W. C. Fields, Jolson and Benny, Abbott and Costello, and Jessel and Burns and the Marx Brothers, and dozens more. Vaudeville was a haven, a steady paycheck, but with vaudeville dead, comics had to turn to other fields. The big names were booked for radio shows and personal appearances, and they also played the important nightclubs around the country. For the struggling young comics like Toby, however, it was another story. They played nightclubs, too, but it was a different world. It was called the Toilet Circuit, and the name was a euphemism. It