Show THE CORNER BACK SACK SEAT SCAT SAX SAXBy V By CATHERINE BARRETT ARRET Y NAME Is Joe Joc but the fellows tel tel- MY lows in the orchestra call me Bunny They're nice fellows allright allright all nl right and they dont don't do it to hurt hur my feelings s but Im I'm scared of audiences audiences audi audi- see and every time I ge get getup getup up in front of one my mouth starts to twitch and it makes my nose i wiggle wiggle like like a rabbits Ive I've seen myself in a mirror and I got to admit admit admit ad ad- mit if I was one of the fellows Id I'd Ibe be c calling me Bunny too You get what I mean i I Nine years Ive I've been in Jake I Littles Little's orchestra playing the sax and the bassoon First we went all allover allover allover over the country but now weve we've got a neat little spot in Hollywood Jake likes me and he thinks I play the sweetest sax he ever heard but buta buta a a long time ago he quit passing me solo parts because sure as I ever got got up where I faced an audience Id I'd get nervous and my darned mouth would start twitching and well there I was Ive I've had to sit back and watch plenty of other fellows come and go getting the solos getting gettin the hands getting the raises in pay and getting new and bigger contracts contracts contracts con con- tracts some place else Now its it's I Charley Welch I play he he does does oh oh that ain aint t bragging even bragging even tell you that Only Charleys Charley's got the i person personality lity And hes he's good looking i And Marge likes him That's the rub I Marge is head usher here at the Zenobia One of those cute little flashy-eyed flashy girls in the satin uni uni- forms Youve You've seen em Brass buttons down the front and swallowtails swallowtails swallowtails swallow swallow- tails over their tight blue satin pants You wouldn't think to look at Marge that she's like she is Practical and hard working She's had a tough time see t She's two twenty-two but you'd never guess it And she's got a kid five years old The cutest little trick you ever saw Vingie Vingie likes me too Why do they call you Bunny she says to me and she looks at my ears like she thinks maybe they'll grow up out of my hair Because Im I'm a rabbit see I Itell Itell Itell tell her Only Im I'm looking at her mother Marge frowns and then she says what makes me so mad at you Why do you let yourself be a rabbit 7 Marge is like that What she dont don't want to be she wont won't let hersel herself her her- self sel be Marge got married when she was sixteen to some lome rich folks' folks kid He run out on her before beCore Vingie was born and ever since Marge has taken care of herself She's got a nice little apartment and she dresses Vingie up clean clea n nand and cute Oh I tell you Marge is smart She's too good for me She ought to have a fellow that could do a alot alot alot lot for her She says to me If It you were only the sort who'd ever get ahead And she looks at me cross I 1 like you Bunny shell she'll say Bay better than any fellow 1 I ever knew but I dont don't want to get married married married mar mar- ried to a backseat sax player who'll never be anything else Charley Welch has been making a play for Marge I like Charley only hes he's the guy about getting to work on time Ume Always the last one Skating across the stage and freezing into position the very second the curtain starts up Weve We've kept telling him some time hell he'll miss it He laughs and says hell he'll commence starting earlier But he never does Charleys fun un Marge says to me And hell he'll get ahead too Honey I says to her youre not going to marry Charley are arc you you Well I dont don't know she says I could calm him down a little And f if he had a wife to see that he got started to work on time It gets me worried see and I begin to think that I want to get married to Marge so bad that maybe maybe maybo may- may be bo now I could handle a solo spot and not go twitchy and mull muff it So SoI I ask Jake Little to give me a try And he does on one of the mati mati- nees flees Do I go over bi big No I sit back there and I dont don't look at the audience audience audi audio ence but I know its it's out front All AU them eyes ees I begin to sweat and my mouth goes to jumping I sIgnal signal signal sig sIg- nal Jake and he gets Charley chancy to take over I dont don't even ask Marge to let me take her home I just go on to my myown myown myown I own own place And I think about 1 l U 1 o v I I ti i Il It a al aI I 3 t l 1 f r r s U Joe she says you were wonderful I knew you could do it Mingle Vingie was there too dancing around d and clapping hands Charley probably taking her homo home in his roadster laugh and say That poor Bunny Then comes the matinee when Charley dont don't show His seats seat's empty and Jake is gettin nervous and the fellows are arc saying like they always do Dont worry hell he'll be here But he dont don't come and the buzzer sounds and Jake makes me come up and take Charleys Charley's place lace He looks down at me like hes he's sore and he says do dohe dothe dothe the he solo Get it So Im I'm stuck with it And I tell teU myself all right you got to You aint going to be a rabbit all your life lie Think of Vingie And remember remember remember ber Marge is out there I aint begun to twitch because I got my lips held so tight they're moving my teeth back into my mouth I KNOW the part all right I 1 always all always al- al l ways know all the parts And I Ican Ican Ican can play em like a million dollars at home I can even play em for tor Marge Its It's the audience that gets me All them eyes Okey I tell myself you do it this time ime or youre you're through And I mean through My time comes and I stand up I start lilting lifting my sax Im I'm not twitching twitch- twitch ing ng But my lips has haa frozen solid over my teeth I I try and get out of at breath and my chest collapses col col- lapses But my sax is up The cue comes And the sweetest music I ever heard comes floating in from the wings I look quick sideways Charleys Charley's his out there Charleys Charley's piece I stand there and go through the motions First thing I know I find myself lookin down at that audience You know its it's funny but that's the first time I ever saw the people people people peo peo- in an audience It aint an octopus octopus octo oelo- pus any more Its It's fellows and girls and women that look like the woman that runs the restaurant restaurant restaurant rant where I eat or the one who sits across the way on the bus And what do you think I see Why right there in the front row now is Vingie Vingie- With a grin all the way across her little pink face And clear in the back is i Marge and she's sho's me so hard her eyes arc are round and shiny Well sir my chest begins working working working work work- ing again and I can breathe My lips unfreeze In a minute Im I'm standing there as easy as can be Boy is that a swell feeling Like Like I-Like Like sprouting wings Im I'm still feeling like a bird on the loose when the shows show's over and Marge comes back She rushes right over to me Joe she says first first time she's ever called me Joe Joe you were wonderful I knew you could do it And she takes my arm and hugs it to her Right behind her is Vingie and she's saying I ul saw you I saw you and dancing around and clapping clapping clapping clap clap- ping her hands Well f if Im I'm still a bird Im I'm a dead one All that swell feeling is gone One thing Ive I've never nover done is lie Ive I've been told Im I'm too dumb to lie Well maybe But still sUll I dont don't lie Only so help me if U I didn't want to then But I said It wasn't me Honey Charley was playing from the wings So I tell telI her how it all was She looks at me and her eyes get shiny and Ive I've never seen her mouth so soft And you carried right on she said and her voice sounded like it does when she talks to Vingie just before Vingie goes to sleep That was cute of at you Joe she says And she takes hold of at my arm again and says I promised Vingie Vin- Vin gic gle you'd take us out for tor a bite of dinner Will you Just then Charley goes by Hello Charley Marge says and turns her back on him plain as day Im I'm beginning to see seo how much I owe the guy and I says Thanks Charley and he just shakes his hands above his head and grins and keeps going And Marge just says Come on Vingie and holds out her hand Vingie frowns Crowns a little Cant I walk on the other side and hold Joes Joe's hand hond I ISo So she does L L That inai night marge mange pu put her ner handson nanas hands on my shoulders and says Joe I 1 think youre you're going places Then she leans against me and puts her face into my coat Will you take me with you she says And theres there's Vingie dancing around us UI clapping her hands and saying Me too Joey me too tool |