My NZ visitor’s visa had expired and despite my lawyer’s attempt to get it extended again so I could apply for permanent residency, I had to return to the US and apply from there. Fortunately, friends in Malibu were going overseas and offered me a sublet on their apartment in the Malibu Colony.
It was a small apartment over the garage and was probably a maid’s quarters for the big house in front. The house was owned by a wealthy lady who lived, from memory, in a mansion in Holmby Hills or some other exclusive LA enclave. She didn’t want to leave the beach house unattended, so rented out the garage apartment so someone would be living on the premises.
It was early one morning and I was at my typewriter thinking of thoughts to think. My desk was at the back of the apartment and the window overlooked the private drive that ran from one end of the Colony to the other.
Fingers poised (just in case the muse decided to engage my brain), I heard the faint sound of people singing in the distance. As the singing came closer, I leaned out the partially opened window to get a better look.
What I saw so entranced me that my muse went off to sulk. It was Elizabeth Taylor, arm in arm with Burgess Meredith and James Cagney, skipping down the middle of the road, synchronized like a chorus line.
I’d seen Burgess around Malibu for years and we had a nodding acquaintance, but I’d never seen either Taylor or Cagney before now. So it was fascinating watching these legends in the flesh.
They were all so animated and bursting with joie de vivre. I can’t remember what they’d been singing before. A series of lively tunes. But when they were only a few feet up the road from my window, they stopped and James Cagney did a couple of elegant little dance steps, then looked at Burgess. Without missing a beat Burgess did a little soft shoe shuffle that was close and Elizabeth Taylor followed suit.
Then the trio skipped off briskly while bellowing ‘Singing in the Rain’ at the top of their voices. It was magic and when I couldn’t see them from the window any more, I rushed downstairs to watch from the road. As the music faded into the distance, I saw the trio execute a perfect chorus line right into a house further down the road and into Dyan Canon’s place.
Full of joy. Full of life. That’ how I’ll always remember the lady and her friends.
James Cagney, Elizabeth Taylor and Burgess Meredith – Chorus Line © Robert R. Feigel 2022 – All Rights Reserved
Pieces from a Puzzling Life 