Evening star., 1934-05-08
INSTALLMENT XII.

looking up from his pad.
i i The smile he met was SO
different from the sac
charine variety with which he was
familiar that involuntarily he an
swered it in kind.
"Oh, yes" the coppery- headed girl
said Il beg your pardon. My name
is Sandra Reynal."
"Sandra Reynal?" The smile on his
face broadened. What book did you
pick it out of, baby? It's lulu"
You don't qnow your Social Regis
ter"
mo? But I know my carrots" He
was looking at her hair.
Thus Sandra registered for her first
job
The Weeding-out process of candi-
dates for glorification went on through
the dragging hours. Tall girls. Me-
dium girls. Abbreviated girls. One
characteristic they possessed in COM
mon-all we're thin to attenuation.
They had the bodies of pretty boys.
f1at-chested, slim-hipped. They were
less sturdily built than the girls of
Sandras own set who lived much Of
their lives out of doors. Spawn of
city canyons-East Side, West Side
and of the Bronx One generation re-
moved from the Russian steppes, from
Balkan fields. from the burrows of
Poland. Exotic, some inclined to be
swarthy and think of ankle, but sure
of themselves and frankly feminine.
Italian, Irish, Swedish. German. The
gamut of human coloring and con-
tour, of temperament and taste.
Sandra, accustomed to take her
body for granted. now found it was
the medium whereby she must stand
or fall in this intensive process of
elimination. Hitherto her legs had
been instruments of locomotion Here
they were objects of art with a def
mite sales value Her body had been
strong and supple that she might use
1t in pursuit of her own pleasure.
Here it was for the pleasure of others
who came. at so much the ticket, to
watch II weave and flow.
Frankness of form and bare flesh
on a ball room floor. of form and
bare flesh on a stage where men
stood back and judged it as they
would so much goods on counter,
"ClC 81 NAAlCISIIl lIldl NIlCll tIlt Ill
rector of dance asked Sandra to raise
her skirts above the knees and walk
to the front of the stage she was on
the point of telling him to go to the
hot climate. She would find Elbows
and tell him he was right about show
business. No place for his Katie or
for her
She walked forward and stood in
the full glare of the lights I've got
to face it, she told herself. NO use
being squeamish. I've been on the
beach every day this Summer and
heaven knows bathing suits are heap
more revealing" The director was
comforting with the dark youth. She
must be indifferent to rebellion within
her.
All right, Reynal." the director
called. Report tomorrow at TO-" She
let down her skirt and ordered herself
to saunter, casually, to the wings. En-
vious glances followed her.
At the stage door, Elbows OHallo-
ran was waiting for her. How'd ye
make out?" he asked
L don't know I'm to come back
tomorrow morning at TO-"
"Foine. That means ye're built &C
cordln' to orders. Now if We can dance,
or shake mean hoof, the jobs yours. -
I'm SO glad, and thank you a lot.
10 have been lost if you hadn't
b,lped."
Whist An don't We be thankin'
Aie for nothin'. It's no favor I'm doin'
ye at all. but favor to AL himself
Thlm others are hathen.'
Sandra was looping with Sonny
Warren that evening and she needed
rest. She entered the Sutton Place
Apartment quietly, gained her room
and was drifting away into an elysiau
borderland when she heard her moth
er's voice calling her name sharply.
I've had word from Valerie" Mrs.
Reynal sad. L can't understand.
One would think a bride, on her
honeymCon, married to the most eli
glble young man of her season. could
find something to do other than COM
Pain OF her husband. I declare,
young people nowadays don't know
whot they want"
Some of them do" Sandra sat up
IN o2d and stretched her arms like a
weary kitten. She wanted a lob to-
morrow morning. She knew that.
OF course, there must be readjust-
men in marriage" Corinne went on,
put l expected Valerie to be sensible.
She is threatening to cut her honey
moon short and come back. Such
nonsense"
Sandra feigned yawn. Blame 1t
onto the younger generation, mother,
and let it go at that"
Being chorus girl, Sandra dis
covered, was by no means the CLAM
orous life those who took their theater
from the comfort of padded seats
credit it with being Rehearsals were
eruelling, countless and endless. One
danced and swirled and swayed to the
dropping point-and danced on.
clenching teeth against an impulse to
scream. cudgeling the body to con-
tinue by sheer effort of will when
every muscle cried out against ex-
pending another ounce of energy.
Sandra decided that her mother
must not know of her decision to cut
loose from the maternal stem until
the last possible moment. when 1t
would be too late to change her de-
ClSlOn. NO one OF her set knew that
Sandra Reynal was striving heroically
to become a part of that glorified
glrlhood gyrating west of the social
deadline-a glorification which occa-
slons no little domestic and cardiac
disturbance in supereminent circles
east of that line.
Sandra was hard put for excuses
to throw Sonny Warren off the scent.
She evolved the idea of confiding in
him that she was studying. and for
bade his shopping to see what it was
all about
On the evening of the day the try
outs ended and she was definitely Sc
1ected for the chorus of Princess
Pep" Sandra learned that Valerie was
coming home
Valerie is naughty child" Mrs.
Reynal shifted. lingering a letter she
was careful not to show Sandra. Il
suspect the dear girl is homesick."
Scarcely" Sandra said There
were times these days when Corinne' S