Storm Dancers

VINCE GARMON wasn’t watching the show.  Something else was on his mind.   Hidden behind curtains off stage right, his imposing figure was illuminated by colorful lights flickering from shadows cast by the thirty dancers.   His glare was riveted on two performers in particular, two young people the press called, “The Couple.”   

Anyone there that night could have told you who “The Couple” were...they were the reason Radio City Music Hall was sold out to a mesmerized crowd of nearly 6,000 people perched on the edge of their seats during that evening of April 22, 1936.

Churning out the fabulous theme of Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess, the orchestra geared up for the finale.  This was an intensely romantic musical tapestry destined to outlive generations.  And it seemed to lift “The Couple” airborne.  They obviously lived to dance.  Their acting skills were just as brilliant...exuding romance like smoke, eye to eye, as they twirled, tangoed, and intertwined without strain or effort. 

A keen observer sitting in the 15^th row peered through opera glasses and studied the faces of The Couple. He muttered to himself that this can’t be an act.  These two kids must really be in love. 

Charmaine Duvall was just twenty-one.  So was Bozzy Blaine, her dance partner, the other half of The Couple. 

The observer with the opera glasses continued following the two faces and almost forgot...for a brief moment...the magnificent show all around them.  His attention was hooked by a mystery.  These two young people looked so in love, yet there was a tension in the mix.  Back and forth the opera glasses shifted from the face of Charmaine to Bozzy, then back again to Charmaine.  There almost seemed to be a sadness hidden behind the performance.  No, maybe it was the look of unfulfilled quest.  Or yearning.  Yes, that’s exactly what it was.  A yearning for love, but something else.  Something else haunted those faces.  What in the world was that?

As the final surge of music climaxed in an explosive triumph, Bozzy lifted Charmaine high over his shoulder under the bright stage lights, exalting her like a trophy.  Instantly, the theater crowd rose to a standing ovation.

Cheers.  Whistles.  It went on and on.  Bozzy eased Charmaine down and, as The Couple bowed, the other dancers followed.   Charmaine and Bozzy forgot life’s complexities for a moment as they shared this eternal evening, smiling at each other. The ovation didn’t let up.  They all bowed again.

From the wings, Garmon’s eyes remained fixed on “The Couple”.  It was odd for the producer of a Broadway hit to remain deadpan during such an ovation.

Back stage the excited cast members scurried to their dressing rooms.  The musty smell of theater make-up, burning stage lights and dust from a thousand shows mixed with the glory of that evening.   

Charmaine searched for Bozzy among the joyful clamor of performers, stagehands and the press.  Suddenly, she stopped face to face with Rose, one of the other dancers.  Rose glared hatefully.  The two were frozen for a moment on either side of an invisible barrier, a communication blackout that had puzzled Charmaine from the beginning.  The awkward, hostile silence contrasted sharply with the exuberant chaos all around them.