Till The Clouds Roll By

Justin looked enthusiastic as the guys settled themselves in front of their fake fireplace. Having spent as much time watching Justin as he spent watching the movie, Brian thought he knew what to expect. He was right on.

“OK, Brian,” Justin told him. “That was the very best movie I ever saw.”

“I don’t think so, Kiddo,” Brian disagreed. “But it was the last movie you’ve seen and like – the latest movie you’ve seen is usually the best movie you’ve ever seen – till the next movie …”

“Are you accusing me of being shallow, Brian Kinney,” Justin took umbrage – or seemingly so. “That’s what it sounds like to me and I don’t think I’m shallow at all …”

“Geez, Baby,” Brian responded. “You are the absolutely least shallow person I know – but you maybe do get a little bit overly het up sometimes about these old movie musicals.”

“Well this wasn’t a regular movie musical though, Bri,” Justin clarified his position. “This was like – a composer’s life story – and I never heard of this Jerome Kern before …”

“Yeah, you did,” Brian corrected him. “On those posters that were all over the place at the Institute. About that girl who is gonna do a whole evening’s cabaret performance of Jerome Kern stuff over there – so you knew about it - and Jerome Kern is like my very favorite old-time songwriter – and you never told me …”

“Like you never told me that Jerome Kern was your favorite composer?” Justin countered. “Or anything else about him either. Like that, Mr. Kinney? I have half a notion not to pull the necessary strings to get you the best seats in the house for that show …”

“Well maybe then I’ll just go with Malcolm, Sweetheart,” Brian told him. “Bet Malcolm knows how to pull strings too …”

“You can try it, Kinney,” Justin dared him. “But Malcolm’s strings will get you like – into the fourth row on the side – or maybe further back - and I’ll be in the first row center …”

“So I’ll just have to talk to Malcolm about the performance then, Baby,” Brian seemed disappointed. “When I’d much rather be talking to you …”

“Well like I said, Bri,” Justin quickly pointed out, “it was only like – half a notion. I guess I’ll be able to accompany you to the best seats in the house after all.”

“The best seat in the house, Baby,” Brian purred suggestively, “will always be the one next to you – wherever it is in the hall …”

“Cut out the romantic stuff, Kinney,” Justin surprised him. “I want to talk about Jerome Kern right now. He had an interesting life …”

“Geez, Baby,” Brian laughed at him. “I always knew that maybe somebody might come between us someday – but Jerome Kern was not among the usual suspects.”

“What do you mean you always knew somebody might come between us, Brian Kinney?” Justin demanded. “Why would you think that? And like – who would be the usual suspects? Maybe we better talk about that particular idea for a while before we get back to Mr. Kern.”

“Yeah, I suppose old Jerome did have an interesting life, Honey,” Brian decided to pretend he hadn’t heard Justin’s protest. “But I don’t think he had exactly the life that Hollywood put together for him in Till the Clouds Roll By. I think that was more Hollywood than Kern – and not all that good of a movie either – I wouldn’t have even told you about it except for the cabaret thing. But there were some great performances of his songs by some of the best of the old-time singers – and that’s what people wanted to see and hear …”

“Well I guess he really wanted us to be together, Brian,” Justin calmed down, “since he wrote a lot of songs – like – just for us.”

“Yeah,” Brian grinned. “He might have been thinking of us when he wrote them but maybe not. He probably did mean me though – or maybe us - when he wrote I’m Old-Fashioned…”

“Hey Brian,” Justin pointed out. “That song wasn’t in the movie …”

“So we can get it on Youtube later – and you can hear it there,” Brian told him. “Bet you can find all the Kern songs on Youtube. They just couldn’t get all of JK’s songs into one movie. Too many good ones.”

“Well that one is on Andrea’s program though,” Justin informed him. “Andrea O’Dea – that’s the singer’s name. The program is still kind of a secret but I have strings I can pull and I got a copy … So I want to hear it before we go – not that I think I’m all that old-fashioned … There’s a couple of other songs on her program that weren’t in the movie. The Folks Who Live on the Hill and Dearly Beloved. I don’t think that first one was written for us cause we don’t live on any hill but I bet the other one …”

“Dearly beloved,” Brian crooned softly - and reasonably accurately – into Justin’s ear. “How clearly I see, somewhere in heaven you were fashioned for me …”

“Ha,” Justin decided. “So it was written especially for us. I thought so …”

“Folks Who Live on the Hill is a great song too, Baby,” Brian volunteered. “Sometimes I think it’s my favorite Kern tune – but I’m afraid if you hear it you’ll want to build a house on a hill …”

“Nope,” Justin responded. “I love this loft. We can just change the words since we’re the folks who live in the loft …”

“So which song from the movie did you like best, JT?” Brian changed the subject to avoid having to change the lyrics to a Kern tune – even if Jerome himself did not ever write the words …

Well Frank Sinatra singing Old Man River at the end was really something …” Justin volunteered.

“Yeah, it was,” Brian replied. “Him singing that song in that white suit with that heavy symphonic arrangement – critics still like to laugh about that. It’s probably the thing most people remember about the movie too – but I don’t think that song actually applies to us…”

“You wouldn’t, Kinney,” Justin laughed. “About some people doing all the work and others … You wouldn’t see any connection to us – none at all…”

“Nope,” Brian laughed back at him. “But I can relate to Look For the Silver Lining…”

“Like you think I probably relate to Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man, I guess,” Justin countered. “You know what, Brian, I loved all the music – even if some of the songs didn’t apply to us personally: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes and The Last Time I Saw Paris …”

“I know what you mean, Honey,” Brian squeezed him just slightly. “Jerry Kern wrote a lot of movie music and The Last Time I Saw Paris was his only Oscar win. He got gypped …”

“I think we need to watch all his movies, Brian,” Justin decided. “What do you think?”

“OK with me, Baby,” Brian agreed, “But not all at once. We’ll pace ourselves. We should have a few good years ahead yet – time to see them all.”

“If somebody doesn’t come between us, Brian,” Justin remembered – while cuddling closer to the guy next to him. “Like you always knew could happen …”

“Well we maybe ought to check Youtube for those Kern songs that you want to hear, Baby,” Brian tried the old change-the-subject routine. It didn’t work this time – or maybe it did.

“Nope,” Justin told him. “I want you to sing them to me. You can sing them. No need for Youtube when I’ve got you.”

“But maybe you’ll learn them off-key, Sweetheart,” Brian warned him. “You wouldn’t want that, would you?”

“Gee whiz, Brian,” Justin reminded him. “That’s not a problem. I always can tell when you’re off-key.”

At that point the discussion closed out as Justin dozed off in Brian’s arms, his head resting on Brian’s shoulder.

Brian smiled down at the kid while yet another of Jerome Kern’s immortal songs ran through his head.

“Finding your love I’ve found my adventure,
Touching your hand my heart beats the faster,
All that I want in all of this world is you…”
 

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