I can get it for you wholesale was a major Broadway show, written by Jerome Weidman, with music and lyrics by Harold Rome. Arthur Laurents, who wrote the book for West Side Story and Gypsy, was directing. The producer was David Merrick. They were all Broadway royalty, and I thought there wasn’t much of a chance that they’d want to hire me.
That’s my negativity, which I inherited from my mother. She always told me, “Don’t count on anything good, because then God will snatch it away.” And I probably used that negativity to protect myself.
I came in to audition in November 1961. Since the play took place in the 1930s, I was wearing my 1930s coat. Someone announced my name, and I stepped out onto the bare stage at the St. James Theatre, still wearing my coat, so everybody could appreciate it. But of course whoever was announcing my name mispronounced it, so I had to correct it. As I was explaining this,
