“Actually Davy and I kind of caused it—without meaning to.” He looked off into space and chuckled. “In the sixties, there were a whole lot of clubs in the Village that showcased new acts—girl singers who wanted to be the next Barbra Streisand were real big down there—and I used to get invitations to them because of Lu and all the people I knew. A couple of weeks before Lu's party I got a flyer from a Barbra wannabe and Davy and I and some friends went downtown to catch her act, just for the fun of it. The girl's name was Antoinette Landovich—I'll never forget it. Davy and I tried to persuade her to change it to something a little more suitable for the biz—which meant white-bread WASP back then—but she kept on spouting all that sixties BS about not giving in to the bourgeois demands of commercial theater. That was before I'd told her I was the bourgeois conductor she'd invited to come see her do her thing. After that she got a lot less committed to her ideals. She did a whole number about how Lu Lawson was her heroine and she'd love to meet her.

“Antoinette seemed to know about Lu's soiree, which was a little strange because it was a private party, but I figured the grapevine was probably working overtime. Everything Lu did back in those days was news. Besides, by that point, Davy had gotten pretty stoned, and before I could stop him he was giving Antoinette Lu's address and inviting her to Lu's party as our guest. I tried to kill him on the way home in the cab, but it was too late. We both knew there was no way in hell that girl was going to miss a chance to get up close and personal with Lu Lawson and her friends.” George took one of the little Yorkies onto his lap and started rubbing it behind the ears.

“Lu was fine with Antoinette coming,” he continued. “And I didn't think anything more about it. Not then.” George accidentally pulled one of the Yorkie's ears. It protested with a sharp yelp but he didn't seem to notice.

“You asked me if I knew what happened between Lu and Rose after Bobby died. I don't. Lu hasn't told me to this day. But she did say once that the whole thing started on the night of her party back in 'sixty-two when Antoinette Landovich showed up.”

Chapter 22 - New York 1962