Footprints on Broadway

GET THEE TO THE WALDORF TOWERS!

I run into my office to pick up the transferring call as I hear Gayle yell across the floor, “David, this call is for you!  It sounds important!”  Even the ringing telephone has an urgent, panicked tone!  When I answer, the unfamiliar voice at the other end dives right in dispensing with any pleasantries like “Hello,” or “Could I speak to …” or “Is David available?”  He speaks in a screeching, grating tone that sounds to me like fingernails scraping on a chalkboard; “You better get over here!  Miss Channing is about to slash her boots with a razor blade!”

Images of Tony Perkins in PSYCHO flash across my mind.  “Excuse me?”  “She's not happy!  She wants someone from Capezio to get over here and solve this fit problem!  Her feet hurt!  She says the boots are too tight!  She's going to cut them!”  “She's going to cut them?”  “With a razor!  That's what she does.  She slashes them!”  “You're not serious!”  “I'm not?  She's done it before!”  “Well, of course, I'll come; where do I meet you or her or both?”  “We're at her suite in the Waldorf Towers.  How soon can you get here?”  “Well, I'm at Fiftieth Street and Seventh Avenue.”  “That's just a few blocks!  You'll come right away?”  “Right away!”   

I grab my bag with note pads, measuring tape and shoehorn and stop by Gayle's office on my way out; “Carol Channing is threatening to slash her “Dolly” boots with a razor!”  Blood rushes to Gayle's face as it often does when she's highly amused.  “I have to get right over to her suite at The Waldorf Towers.”  “He said he was her personal assistant when I answered the phone.”  “I guess he is then!  I don't know him.  I've got to run!”  Red faced and laughing, Gayle calls after me as I run out of the store; “Good luck!”  Good luck, indeed!

Carol Channing is one of my all time favorite superstars!  I had had a wonderful experience at one of her performances in LORELEI at the Palace Theatre.  Now she is preparing yet another revival of HELLO, DOLLY!   We had just delivered a huge shoe order to the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, which included custom pumps and high-lace boots for Miss Channing.  I wonder as I hustle east on Fiftieth Street, which of those boots is about to go under the knife.

I am familiar with the main lobby at the Waldorf and its entrance on Park Avenue and I recall its grand furnishings, restaurants and lounges, with abundant use of midnight blue and gold in the décor.  We had been involved with The Milliken Industrial Show, which plays its performances in the Waldorf's Grand Ballroom, so I've been to The Waldorf Hotel before and have some notion of just what's in store.  I think that's where I'm headed today.  But, The Waldorf Towers Suites has its own separate entrance on Fiftieth Street.  I tremble as I enter this revolving door which accesses the small lobby.

It turns out I am expected and the desk clerk immediately directs me to the elevator which takes me to a high floor and the suite of Miss Channing and her then husband, Charles Lowe.  I recognized the assistant from a previous visit he'd made to our store to deliver a bag of Miss Channing's personal shoes needing repairs and/or dance rubber and heel braces.