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Back The Actresses Save as PDF
Chapters (51)
  1. Cover
  2. THE ACTRESSES
  3. About The Actresses
  4. Contents
  5. Dedication
  6. Epigraph
  7. 1
  8. 2
  9. 3
  10. 4
  11. 5
  12. 6
  13. 7
  14. 8
  15. 9
  16. 10
  17. 11
  18. 12
  19. 13
  20. 14
  21. 15
  22. 16
  23. 17
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. 21
  28. 22
  29. 23
  30. 24
  31. 25
  32. 26
  33. 27
  34. 28
  35. 29
  36. 30
  37. 31
  38. 32
  39. 33
  40. 34
  41. 35
  42. 36
  43. 37
  44. 38
  45. 39
  46. 40
  47. 41
  48. About Barbara Ewing
  49. Also by Barbara Ewing
  50. An Invitation from the Publisher
  51. Copyright

Reluctantly Molly left the comfort of their bed, nearly tripped over his saxophone in the corner, retrieved it as it slid slowly down the wall. She bounced down the long hall and down the stairs the way she always did, fifty jumps before she cleaned her teeth, she’d been doing that since she left drama school because she’d been told it started her body going at the beginning of a day better than any other activity, except sex. She put on some coffee, turned on the radio, threw open the kitchen windows that they always locked at night just to be on the safe side. The big house was filled with music, and with sunshine.

Who will be there? Will they all be working? Will I be the only one out of work? But she knew how unlikely that was. Most of them would be out of work probably, that’s how it was for actors, the latest figures said eighty-one per cent of the members of her profession weren’t working. Oh shit what an awful profession it is.

Under the shower she washed her now short blonde hair. Her firm body looked like that of someone much younger but Molly was not thinking about her body, she was thinking about the people she’d been a student with so many years ago.

Anthony and Pauline would be there perhaps. She turned her mind away from them deliberately, she did not want to think about Anthony and Pauline. Terence Blue? Oh God poor Terence. I wonder if I’m the only person who’s ever seen a Hollywood sex symbol cry? Frances? Emmy Lou? Harry? And then her heart sank. Would Juliet Lyall deign to go to a drama school reunion? The one person she really dreaded meeting at theatrical gatherings was Juliet Lyall, because once they had been equals.

In 1962, in a big article in the Evening Standard, Molly McKenzie and Juliet Lyall had been singled out as two of ten young promising actresses expected to become the stars of the new generation. But Juliet Lyall’s father was a film producer. Juliet Lyall had had such luck in the sixties: a leading role in a famous English film, The Red Dress, meant she had never from that moment looked back. Juliet Lyall was now starring in an award-winning stage production of The Seagull in the West End, and Molly McKenzie ex-TV-soap-star was out of work.

A father in the business was a huge bonus. Even a father was a bonus. Molly McKenzie didn’t even know who her father was. Nor did her mother.