Daddy’s Girl

I am my father’s daughter. I have (had) his dark hair, his boxy body, and his “fixer” mentality. Everyone called him for everything, and he always tried to help.

I would have been more like him if I had more exposure to him. But his work schedule, at least when I was little, was that of the entertainers he represented. He went to bed at about 3 AM and woke up at 10 or 11. The only time I really saw him was on Saturday, when he would take me to his office, where I would play with the office supplies or chat with his secretary, May McGowan, an “aged” woman who was probably about 50 and wasn’t married.

Occasionally he took me to the theatre if one of his clients was rehearsing a play. I especially remember Pearl Bailey in “House of Flowers.” Both Arnold Saint Subber, known to me as “Saint” and Truman Capote were involved in the show, which was written by Capote and produced by Saint Subber in the 50s. Both men were gay, although no one talked about that back then, and I remember my dad referring to them in a matter-of-fact way to my mother as fruits and pansies, which I imagined were very complimentary terms, since he never sounded as though he didn’t approve of them. He admired their talents.

A couple of times he asked me to tap dance for people in the cast, because I took tap dancing lessons every Saturday morning before going off with him. Tap dancing was something I did that he found admirable and I was always trying to get his attention. He was my daddy.