Her parents were very well known in the community. They worked in a youth theater organization which would become known as a training ground for many young actors and singers who went on to become Playboy models, TV stars, and features on Broadway and Vegas. They were also active in various community theater groups as well as the popular Civic Light Opera where her dad had many supporting roles and her mom worked as head of props.
They owned three popular restaurants where performers and patrons of the arts would congregate to eat delicious hamburgers, pie, and fries and chat about the show, the biz, whatever…. After a rehearsal or a show, everyone was jolly and ready to blow off some steam.
Out front everything was ducky, pat, proper… but there were secrets – dark secrets around booze, gambling, and sex. Sex parties where chorus boys and girls were thrown together with older adults fueled by liquor, drugs, and the changing mores of the day, sex happened. Then jealousies, then fighting, then apologies followed by promises which never seemed to pan out.
All those reckless nights were followed by the next day’s business: Her dad went to pick up the money and receipts at noon, make the deposits at the bank, then hit the local downtown businessmen’s bar for a quick lunch which often turned into a five hour shift and usually meant a minimum of three VO’s with two ice cubes each. A short nap, a quick dinner, a cup of coffee, and then off to the evening’s activities, rehearsals, performances, and more parties. He kept a thermos full of coffee and Kahlua in the winter or grapefruit juice and vodka in the summer to keep himself going.
Back home again at around 2:00 AM, her dad would stumble into bed for some sobering sleep. He would awake sometime before noon to begin again. Breakfast consisted of two Excedrin, several cups of black coffee, a glass of orange juice with a short shot of the hare, and two slices of toast slathered with a mixture of peanut butter and butter.
Her mom had her own worries: four children, laundry, bookkeeping for the restaurants, dishes, shopping, kids’ appointments, cooking, and cleaning. Plus she had to work out to keep an attractive figure, get her hair and nails done, and she had rehearsals and parties to go to as well. She had to keep it together more on the alcohol consumption, and get up earlier to get the whole family going. The older girls could mostly take care of themselves and help her with the younger boys too, but she still had to give them rides and supervise their activities. Sometimes it was just easier to keep them home with a sitter, but as they got older they all began helping with the restaurants and the shows.
The whole family turned into night owls from the habits they learned. They all had various substance abuse problems, but none of them except the eldest daughter took to The Biz. She went on to produce nearly twenty children’s productions and opened her own bar, restaurant, and night club… but she rarely ever drank alcohol herself even though she loved to party!
(First published 6/22/11)
