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Macy's, Gimbel's as well, and by this time, we've moved. Our office was always at 13 Astor Place on one of the floors, rented space. I then proposed that we should do a musical review, an original review. So they agree, and each of the locals puts in a small amount of money, and we get Henry and Normie Franklin to write it, Liz Lampell, Millard Lampell's wife, is an organizer at 1250, so she says, “My husband would like to help on this.” So I meet with Millard, and Millard helps me set up an advisory board. Millard, Arthur Miller, Marty Ritt, Peggy Clarke, who's a lighting person, those are the people I remember. I have pictures of them meeting. We meet to discuss this labor musical, the first labor musical since “Pins and Needles”. They discuss what it should be, and Henry and Normie proceed to write a show called “Thursdays ‘Til Nine”. The stores are open til 9:00 o'clock. It's a book musical about the housing shortage, a department store worker who can't find a place to live, and so he lives in the store at night. So things happen at night and day, and it's “I want, gimmee, gimmee.” It's very, very clever. The cast -- we auditioned members of the union. We had a cast of about forty people. We brought in professionals -- David Pressman, he's a big TV and movie guy now, his son is a big TV guy, was the director, Robert Lenn was the musical director, Peggy Clarke was lighting, Bob Hart was the stage manager. It was a real show, with rehearsals four times a week at the union headquarters, meeting with the advisory board. I remember Marty Ritt -- we were meeting one night, Friday night, he at that time was a baseball buff. Every time he has a different thing. Now it's horses. Then it was baseball. He'd say, “Look, you've got to finish fast, I've got to go to the Yankee game at 8:00 o'clock.” They're telling him what the show is about, and he says, “Show's got no guts.” Right? So they're working on it, and they keep working on it, and finally, the show, we found a place for it. We get the Fashion Trades High School, 225 West 24th Street, that was the beginning of my dealing with the Fashion Trades High School. We book it for four nights, and there's a preview, Sunday night preview, and then Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday nights. We sell it out to members. We're doing PR on it, and being interviewed on radio. There was someone working on PR. I remember one of the things, I'm brought to “Luncheon at Sardi's,” which was a famous radio show, and I'm there, I'm the guest being interviewed by the show. It's getting publicity in unions, and there's a preview Sunday night, and to which we invite all the bigshots in the theater -- Harold Rome, Irving Berlin, you name it, they're all there. Bill Michaelson, who was the head of Local 2, and I are sitting in the balcony, like five hundred people at this show, and they do the show, and the curtain comes down, and this audience of big shots gets up and gives it like





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