Sunday, an 84-year-old little lady, very frail, asked to meet me. She said the musical was brilliant and thanked me for writing it, telling the story, entertaining her. You must know from previous dispatches that I’ve long hoped to emulate the sound and feel of Bells Are Ringing, and other Jule Styne scores (one of the rave reviews picked up on this). This was the show’s second lead, Jean Stapleton. I told her that in creating my TV star lead, I of course thoughts of all the funniest ladies in the history of television, so, of course, there was a little bit of her in the character. She looked up at me through these incredibly large glasses and said “That would be an honor.”
I was very touched, thinking that this star of the 1950s certainly had many friends who’d dealt with the blacklist and HUAC. And it wasn’t until the next day that I remembered: In my research I’d read the harrowing exchange between the HUAC and the star of Bells Are Ringing, Judy Holliday.