Blind Items Revealed #36 - Himmmm

March 5, 2018

Oscars

There I was tonight at the big after party.  This was the big after party that most of the older crowd went to, and was very formal.  They even had a real big band playing low music and formal waiters.  Where the winners and youngsters would drop by, before running off to the wilder, louder parties raging all night.  My date was out doing her thing, and I was sitting there by myself at a semi-empty table, pretty exhausted, just having a drink and trying to relax a minute.  The jazz music was playing, lights were fairly dim there, and just sort of staring into space, thinking.  The bow tie was very untied by now.  I heard a voice, and saw a pretty young lady asking if she could bother me a moment.  She said someone would like to meet me.  Sure, why not?

She walked around the divider and emerged escorting a beautiful, classy, and elegant older lady.  I knew her from the moment she smiled that this was the star of two of arguably the best movies ever made.  Oh, that smile.  Some things never fade with age.  I arose, and she spoke softly – but with that voice still clear.  She apologized for intruding, but she'd heard from someone else that I was here.  Did I know her? Of course.  Could she join me? Of course.  The young lady helped her to the chair, and we sat there – those beautiful eyes, sparkling and powerful – still stunning.

She said she knew some relatives of mine, and just wanted to thank me for the help they gave to her in her early career.  She recalled my great-grandmother's pasta and that she otherwise may have starved as a struggling actress on Broadway in the "old days".  She remembered meeting me when I was a child.  So precocious, such a head of hair.  I told her at least I was still precocious.

She asked if I recalled dancing with her at an Independence Day party 25 years ago?  I did indeed and was amazed she could remember me or that party.  I was a young lad of around 20 back then and recall drinking all the wine myself.  She said our dancing back then made her feel young again, the way she did when she danced with this (permanent A+ list mostly movie actor), nicknamed "C".  Wow.  She told me she thought she made Liz Taylor jealous that night, because I danced with her more than I did Liz.  I laughed, and told her I thought the world of them both.  I complimented her on all of her films, and her entire life of grace, elegance, and beauty.  Such a subtle power in her performances, like a velvet chainsaw.  She and I talked for a long, long, time. About this (permanent A+ list mostly movie director), and about (permanent A++ list mostly movie actor), and about (foreign born permanent A+ list director).  Like a conversation we'd returned to from decades before, just so at ease.

The more we talked, laughed, and remembered...the more I noticed she'd hold my hand longer.  She'd rest her head on my shoulder periodically, and touch my arm.  She said how badly she missed those days of her youth, of feeling as if there's nothing she couldn't do if she desired.  If she could only go back 60 years, or even 30.  She told me she'd give "all these flirty-skirty girls here" a run for their money.  I believed her.  "And why do they all seem hypnotized by their phones? Looking down all the time? It must be hell on their posture", she said.  I agreed.

I noticed her young escort would peek around over at us, checking on her.  I didn't want to end this special moment with this most legendary of all ladies on this night, but I didn't want to keep her from obligations or rest.  I told her that we should get together soon, and have lunch.  She said she'd like that.  She said she was sorry, didn't want to impose, but…well, could we dance again?  Just one more time? To do a favor for a silly old woman?  I told her it would be MY honor, pleasure, and a favor to ME. She smiled warmly back at me.

It took a while, but we gently, slowly, strolled our way to the dance floor there at the party, strung up with dim white lights.  The big band music was playing slow jazz numbers, and I motioned for a waiter.  I handed him two very large bills, and told him to keep one and give the other to the band leader to play a special song – IF he knows that tune.  Any big band musician should know it.  The waiter did so, and I escorted this beautiful legend to the middle of the floor.  Thankfully, it was not early in the party so I wasn't worried about photographers.  Most of the big current celebs had already scattered.  Even so – this party had an unwritten rule most attendees adhered to about selfies, photos, and privacy.

People began to step back, giving us room.  Some smiled warmly, and others politely began to back off the floor.  Then behold, the band earned their money.  The song - Glenn Miller's famous Moonlight Serenade – started playing, and her entire face lit up.  "I KNOW this SONG!" she said with a brilliant smile as if she'd just won an Oscar.  I had hoped she would recall, for it is what we danced to years ago.  She leaned into me, and I held her gently.  We began to dance, as she rested her cheek on my chest.  There was no one alive I'd rather been dancing with at that moment, to that song, in that place.

I looked down at her, and she looked up at me…smiling with her eyes.  Not a patronizing smile, but with something behind those flawless eyes that I could not quite recognize.  Something far younger than her current years.  She was not there with me in 2018.  She was in another place, another time, with someone else.  I held her, moved with her, and even spun her slowly as she laughed like a young girl.  She could still move, and her movements flowed seamlessly like anyone who had been trained to dance.  I didn't want this dance to end, and wish I'd tipped the band to play all night.

I had forgotten the crowd.  When the song ended, I noticed people had left us alone to dance; and were all standing around the dance floor.  A loud wave of clapping and cheers erupted.  She held her hand over her mouth in embarrassment, almost blushing, and hid her face and her wide smile.  Everyone in that party felt the same as I – to witness a legend still in full bloom.  The band played on, others filled the floor to dance, and I held her arm.  She stood tall and I leaned down and she whispered to me, very softly, the words I can still here at this moment: "Thank you, so much (C)."

Wow.  She had called me by this legendary man's name.  I wasn't about to correct her, and didn't know how she meant it -  or to whom she meant it.  I am no C, but even if for a moment it allowed her to be reminded of a dance she shared with him?  It was I who was flattered.  Her young lady escort came over to help us, and I thanked my elegant friend for such a magical moment.  I kissed her on the cheek, and she mine.  I held her stare for a very long time, as it melted into a new smile.  "Thank you for…for everything", she said.  "You will keep in touch now won't you?", I teased.  Her only reply, "We'll meet again my dear, we will meet again."

Something inside of me felt sure we would – in this life, or the next.

With that, she and her lovely escorts shuffled out towards the doors.  I just sat back down, marveling at such a precious, powerful, and beautiful moment I'd just had.  A global beauty, an amazing actress, and a warm person.  This will forever be the night – and likely the last time – when I shared a special dance with (permanent A list mostly movie actress who is an Academy Award winner).  In this go-round, anyway.

Actress: Eva Marie Saint ("Governors Ball")
Movies: On the Waterfront" and "North by Northwest"
"C": Cary Grant
Permanent A+ list mostly movie director: Alfred Hitchcock
Permanent A++ list mostly movie actor: Marlon Brando
Foreign born permanent A+ list director: Elia Kazan