Lovely to Look at

“Well what did you think of it?” Brian smiled as the guys were positioning themselves in front of their fake fireplace for a necessary recapitulation. “I’m guessing you didn’t like it all that much. You seemed to be doing a lot of thinking so I figured maybe you didn’t like it.”

“Nope,” Justin told him. “It was OK. I was just wondering how Malcolm is going to do all that on stage. Like - where’s he gonna find a Fred Astaire and a Ginger Rogers?”

“That’s an interesting point, Baby,” Brian allowed. “But he won’t really need to do that if he does the original stage production – which is what he’s doing …”

“Yeah, that’s what he’s doing all right,” Justin remembered. “Cause that was what that rich Mrs. Siegel wanted - and she’s the one who’s giving that load of money to the school district to upgrade the school auditorium into a first-class theater – named for her of course - and rededicated with the very musical she and her husband went to see on their honeymoon …”

“Seems like she gets what she wants all right, “ Brian grinned. “Nobody does Roberta any more – too old-fashioned – and that Ginny who usually directs their plays was afraid to do it – afraid she’d foul it up and get Mrs. Siegel mad …But our Malcolm is Ginny’s friend and he’s not afraid of anything so he’s doing it for her and so now we’ll have to go …”

“Of course we’ll have to go, Brian,” Justin agreed. “And I’m sure we both want to go too - but maybe we shouldn’t have watched the movie beforehand. It might spoil the play for us …”

“Well since we were planning to watch all the Jerome Kern movies anyhow,” Brian pointed out. “It seemed like a good idea to me. And the movie is different than the play too. Malcolm told me he is gonna add the song Lovely to Look At though – even though it wasn’t in the show originally. Jerry Kern wrote it later especially for the movie - just for that big fashion show scene – but it is a really great song.…”

“Well it was a better song than the crazy gowns those models were wearing, Kinney,” Justin laughed. “They didn’t look like anything anybody would ever really wear.”

“Well they were real stylish in those days, Kiddo,” Brian told him. “And the depression was on and all those ladies who could just barely afford the fifteen cents to go to the movies got to see all those expensive clothes and the guys got to see all those beautiful models - so the movie was a big hit at the time.”

“And what about the gay guys, Mr. Kinney,” Justin laughed.

“I don’t think there were any gay guys back then, Sweetheart,” Brian laughed back at him, “but if there were – they got to see the gowns …”

”Then I hope the gay guys were smart enough to stay away,” Justin concluded. “They’d have been wasting their fifteen cents…”

“Well, it would have been cheaper for us to go see it back then, Baby,” Brian told him. “I paid two dollars to rent that videotape – and you didn’t even like it either …”

”Yes I did too, Bri,” Justin disagreed. “I liked the dancing and the music. I thought the plot was kinda dopey though – all that pretending to be somebody else and all …”

“Yeah,” Brian said with a trace of irony in his voice. “I know how much you disapprove of trickery. And nobody would do that these days anyhow. We’re all too honest for that kind of thing …”

“Maybe not, Brian,” Justin reconsidered. “Like – you pretend you’re tough and mean and all that stuff – and that’s not the real you at all – so you don’t like - pretend you’re a Russian duke or anything – but …”

“Actually maybe I am really all that tough and mean, Honey,” Brian pointed out, squeezing the twink slightly. “And maybe I’m faking being all sweet and nice just for you …”

“Nope,” Justin objected. “I’d know. You couldn’t fool me. And you could even try some of that sweet and nice stuff right now – if you wanted to – and I bet I’d know if you were faking …”

And Brian seemed happy enough to accept that challenge – which led to a prolonged pause in the discussion – after which Justin did not even mention whether he detected any fakery or not. And the subject retuned to Roberta.

“So what will be so different in Malcolm’s production from what we saw in the movie, Mr. Know-It-All?” Justin wondered as he wandered back to the subject.

“Well the studio wanted to use Astaire and Rodgers because they were so popular,” Brian said, “and so they beefed up the dancing parts. The guy who played the Fred Astaire role on Broadway was Bob Hope …”

”That same Bob Hope who you made me watch in The Road to Nowhere, Bri?” Justin seemed surprised. “That Bob Hope.”

“Yep,” Brian affirmed, “that’s the Bob Hope all right – but I don’t think he ever took the road to nowhere – but he did take a lot of roads. There were a lot of other big stars in that New York stage version of Roberta too – like George Murphy and Sydney Greenstreet …”

“I remember seeing the Greenstreet guy in Casablanca,” Justin correctly remembered. “But I never heard of any George Murphy …”

“Big Hollywood dancing star back then,” Brian elaborated. “Eventually got himself elected to the United States Senate – big conservative… And that big fashion show wasn’t so very much in the original play either. Hollywood glitzed it up a lot.”

“Well at least they saved all the music, Brian,” Justin said. “And that’s what I think you like the best about those old musicals – and me too.”

“Yep,” Brian agreed. “They did leave a few of the minor pieces out in the movie – but they added Lovely to Look At and that was a big improvement. I’m glad Malcolm’s finding a spot for that in his stage version.”

“I think Irene Dunne sang most of those songs in the movie pretty well, Bri,” Justin commented. “The Smoke Gets in Your Eyes number went on for a really long time but I still liked it. That’s a really good song, BK – one of my favorite Jerome Kern songs - even if I don’t think he wrote it especially for us.”

“Well Miss Dunne’s versions of her Roberta songs are all posted at Youtube, Babe,” Brian apprised him, “so you can hear them any time you want to – without having to watch the whole movie again …”

“I wouldn’t mind watching the whole movie again though, Brian,” Justin mildly surprised his companion. “But I think we should wait till we’ve seen what Malcolm does with it on the stage of the new Siegel Theater at Lincoln High… You know what, Brian – if we get seats in the very last row – maybe like – during the show - you could tell me how lovely I am to look at …”

“Well you will be lovely to look at, Baby,” Brian found the best answer possible. “No doubt about that at all. But I think maybe you’ll be just as lovely to look at in the first row …”

”What do you mean, Brian – the first row? What’s going on?” Justin sensed trouble – or maybe even latter-day trickery. “What have you done?”

“Well you know I was talking to Malcolm about his production, JT,” Brian told him. “Because I know just a little bit about Roberta. Well, the superintendent of schools and the principal of Lincoln High are going to escort Mrs. Siegel down the center aisle just before the curtain rises – but she wants to sit with somebody who knows something about the show – so Malcolm wants you and me to sit on either side of her…”

Brian was happy when Justin laughed. “Well I was hoping to sit next to you but I guess I owe Malcolm a few favors,” Justin did not seem overly disappointed. “It could have been a lot worse, I guess..”

“Well maybe it is just a little bit worse, Baby,” Brian continued. “The word is kinda that Mrs. Siegel is gonna actually wear the same gown she wore when she saw Roberta on her honeymoon in New York – in 1933.”

“Like one of those awful gowns from the fashion show in the movie, Bri?” Justin postulated. “Like one of those? I might have a hard time not laughing so people see me – but I guess I can do it. The theater will be dark…”

“Except for the Lovely to Look At number, Baby,” Brian told him hesitantly. “Malcolm is gonna have the entire cast come down off the stage and sing that number directly to Mrs. Siegel – so you might be in the spot light for that too – at least a little bit …”

“Brian Kinney,” Justin accused him through a smile which comforted Brian no end, “if I would have pulled anything like this on you – you would have made such a damn fuss … I should be really mad at you.”

“It would be worth it, JT,” Brian told him. “I told Malcolm the kids will have somebody to sing to who really is lovely to look at – if they have you right next to old lady Siegel …”

“Well I guess I’m not mad at you though, Bri,” Justin admitted. “But I didn’t quite expect all the trickery – like in the movie. I guess that stuff is really still going on all right …”

Then Brian cuddled the kid closer and Justin plopped his head onto Brian’s shoulder in a move that did not seem to be any kind of trickery at all.
 

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