At the end of our junior year in high school in 1966, one of our classmates, Debbie Miller and her family, had moved to New York City, and in November of that year we captured her on tape saying the following:

Well, we had it on tape, so she couldn’t very well back out, could she?

That year Angela Lansbury was still playing her Tony winning lead role in Jerry Herman’s Mame, so we made plans to go see that show. There were initially going to be four of us going to visit, so Debbie bought five terrific seats:

At the last minute Maryann Shellhamer had to back out, so there were just Mary Lou Bliss, David Heberling, and me. The extra ticket was taken by Debbie’s friend Judy Lippman.

I have absolutely no memory of the trip up to NYC. Did we take the train or a bus? Beats me. Either way, we would have probably depended on the kindness of strangers, or more likely our parents, to drive us to the station. And either way, I’m sure Debbie must have met us at whichever station we arrived at, or in. See, my memory for these things is not perfect.

We must have gotten there either late in the morning of Friday May 12 or early in the afternoon, because I do remember Debbie taking us on a tour of Central Park. It was the first time I had actually been to Central Park after hearing so much about it, and I remember being quite taken by that large plot of country being planted right in the middle of that busy metropolis. I think I even had a hot dog from one of the vendors.

The apartment that Debbie and her folks lived in was lovely, and I remember it had a balcony with a great view, though I no longer recall what the view was of. I had met Debbie’s parents, Dr. and Mrs. Miller, several times while they still lived in Myerstown, so they remembered me when I arrived. Mary Lou had been a longtime friend of Debbie’s, and I’m sure they knew Dave as well.

Debbie’s friend Judy joined us for the Mame performance. Judy seemed very pleasant though somewhat shy, but then again she was the odd one out as she only knew Debbie while the rest of us were all well acquainted. Debbie was right; the seats were great, about the best you could get for a musical, the front of the loge which is another name for the balcony, so we had a terrific view of the stage. I enjoyed the performance, except—I knew the Original Cast Album forwards and backwards. Every time there was a musical phrase that wasn’t on the album, it sounded jarring to my ears. Plus, I knew the plot so well, there were no surprises. Yes, Lansbury was superb, and it was great to actually see her, but I began to realize that perhaps in the future, if there was any chance that I might actually go to see a performance of a show, I might not want to know the score inside out. At least not for the first time I saw it.

In addition to seeing Angela Lansbury in person for the first time, this was also the first time I saw Bea Arthur who was still in the cast playing Vera Charles with her dead on perfect timing and her husky basso profundo voice. Plus, I got to see Onna White’s inventive staging of the musical numbers; I still recall the clever paddy wagon sequence in the “Open a New Window” number.

There’s no really good video from the original show, but 20 years later at the 1987 Tony Awards, Angela and Bea recreated their “Bosom Buddies” number.

After the show, I recall we walked down to the Village, I think. Anyway, we walked somewhere and had some soft drinks. And then back to the apartment.

I don’t recall the sleeping arrangements but I assume that Mrs. Miller had prepared some temporary bedding on their living room floor.

Saturday we got tickets to see a matinee performance of War and Peace which was being performed in repertory at the Lyceum Theatre. The only thing I remember about it is that the battle scenes were staged on a huge chess board. That evening at dinner we got into a discussion about it, and I remember saying that it was memorable mainly because of its innovative staging. Debbie took issue with that, but Dr. Miller, who had seen the play previously with his wife, agreed with me. I think the issue was left unresolved.

Mrs. Miller had prepared quite a feast for our group with the main course being lamb. It was the first time I had ever eaten lamb. I was an extremely picky eater in those days, and had my mother ever decided to make lamb, she would have known to prepare something else for me, perhaps ham. But as I was a guest, there was no way I was going to make a fuss, and in fact I found the lamb quite delicious, and in later years I sometimes would make it for myself.

Later that evening Mary Lou, Dave, Debbie, and I went to the movies to see Alfie. The weekend’s festivities must have been catching up to me because I slept through the whole thing, and I’ve never seen the movie since then. So if anyone were to ask me, “What’s it all about? Alfie.” I’d have to truthfully say, “Beats me.” 

Like the trip to NYC, I have no memory of the return home, but I know we must have returned at some point. Probably on Sunday.