We entered the dressing room, and Grace spotted Irene, nursing her kid.
“This is Ronny,” Irene said in greeting.
Grace peeked at the wiggler and made all the predictable cute-baby comments. Ida, the only other original dancer still working as a pony, gave Grace a casual salute. I quickly rattled off the names of the new ponies, but they barely acknowledged Grace.
“You’re replacing Lily.” I showed Grace the clothes rack. “These were her costumes. Now they’re yours. Here’s your first outfit.” I pulled a sequined cheongsam hemmed to barely cover a girl’s can off the rack. “As soon as you’ve changed, come visit me.”
When I reached my section of mirror, I glanced at my reflection. My hair was piled on top of my head and my usual pair of white gardenias were pinned above my left ear. My eyes drifted across the glassy surface to see Grace shimmy out of her gown and slip into the costume for the opening number. She checked her makeup, decided it would do, and then came to the far end of the dressing room to where I was getting ready-only I wasn’t putting on clothes. I was taking them off and applying makeup over my arms. I caught Grace’s eyes in the mirror.
“I’m Princess Tai,” I said.
Grace’s mouth opened in a surprised oh! How could she still be so slow on the uptake?
“You’re the one who was on the cover of Life? That Princess Tai?”
“Didn’t you recognize me?”
She shook her head. “We couldn’t see the dancer’s face-”
“That was the idea. To keep the mystery.” I giggled. “It’s crazy, isn’t it? When this place first opened, Charlie wouldn’t hire me. Then he did everything he could to hire me.” I chattered because I was jittery about seeing Grace. “When the exposition reopened, I went back to work at Sally Rand’s. It was touch-and-go there for a while, though. Everyone still thought the exposition could go belly-up for good, but Billy Rose’s Aquacade turned around everyone’s fortunes. Have you heard of it?”
“No.”
“Hand me my eyelashes, will ya? They’re in that little box on the left. See? Thanks. As I was saying, the show starred Johnny Weissmuller. You know, Tarzan in the movies? They also hired this seventeen-year-old girl named Esther Williams. They were a huge hit. People came back to the exposition again and again to see that kid swim. Afterward, they came to the Gayway. Even Charlie came to give it the eyeball.” I turned my head and confided, “The Forbidden City was dying on the vine back then. No one was coming. Here,” I said, holding a sponge out to Grace. “Help me with my backside. Make sure the makeup goes on evenly.”
Grace stared at the sponge. The other girls watched to see what she would do. Ida was frozen in place, probably praying that she’d be released from this task. Bringing tea to the Lim Sisters and doing little chores to make them feel special was fine for them, but I was Princess Tai! I was famous! Another performer might have asked for fresh-cut papaya and pineapple, but again, I was Princess Tai. There aren’t a lot of special benefits in this business, so I took what I could get. Making another girl powder my body and glue a flesh-colored piece of silk over my fun zone seemed just the ticket. It reminded every girl in the room that I was the top-billed star. But why would I ask Grace to perform this job? I’d orchestrated her return to the club, because I missed her and I wanted her to see what I’d become. She’d always thought she was the better dancer, but I was a star now. How can you be a star if you don’t act like one and have people love you and take care of you?
Grace dabbed the sponge in foundation and smoothed it down my back, over my rear, and along my legs like some kind of automaton. I picked up a pouf from the counter, dipped it into a yellow Bakelite container, and patted powder on my chest, breasts, and down my stomach. Clouds of powder wisped away from my naked body and drifted across the room, causing the other girls to brush at their costumes and stare daggers at me in the mirror. Maybe I deserved it, but Grace remained oblivious to the discontent around us. The kid had surrendered to me that easily and completely. I felt bad that she’d so lost her spark and fight.
“Charlie needed something-or someone-to spice things up,” I twittered nervously. “ ‘Come back to my place,’ he said. ‘You’ll be a headliner, but I can only pay you fifty a week, because you’re…’ ” I leaned down and whispered in Grace’s ear, “ ‘Japanese.’ ” I straightened. “Obviously, I wouldn’t be a problem for him anymore. The Sky Room has lots of Japanese ponies, and Charlie now has girls from Hawaii and the Philippines. There just aren’t enough Chinese girls to fill all the jobs, and customers see what they want to see: an all-Chinese revue.”
“An Oriental is an Oriental is an Oriental-”
“Anyway, I tell him my name is Ruby Tom. Only he doesn’t like it, see? ‘We’re going to turn you into something special-something no one else has,’ he said. ‘You’ll be Princess Tai, who escaped from China.’ If I was going to be a Chinese princess, then I sure as hell wasn’t going to accept fifty bucks a week!”
“What about Joe?” she asked.
Ah! The big question.
“Joe? He still comes to the club, and I see him from time to time-”
“He’s one of her many now,” Ida mumbled loud enough for us to hear.
“Don’t you mean he’s one of your many now?” I shot back. The other girls laughed. I sought Grace’s eyes in the mirror. “He’s a long way from home, there’s a lot of temptation around here, and boys will be boys-”
“Give the guy a break,” Ida cut me off. “You broke his heart, and Grace here threw him for a loop. Now he’s doing what he’s supposed to be doing. Sowing some oats-”
Grace clenched her jaw.
“Try not to think about it, Grace,” I said comfortingly. “Here, take the pouf,” I ordered, changing the subject. “Make sure the powder covers everything.”
Grace obeyed wordlessly.
“Now that you’re here,” I continued, “you can always powder me. It’s good to have a real friend take care of Princess Tai. Help me with my shoes, will ya?”
She kneeled before me and slipped the uncomfortably high-heeled shoes onto my feet. The red patent leather contrasted stunningly against my powdered skin. I leaned in to the mirror for a final look-see and to test that my gardenias were firmly in place.
“I’m ready, except for my bubble.” I rolled my shoulders. “You’ll find it in the cubby under the stairs by the stage. The bubble needs to be perfectly clean, so use the cloth and spray I keep there. No smudges! I don’t want to look like I’ve been manhandled! Not until after the show!” I winked. “Before you go, I need your help with one more thing. My patch. As you know,” I said as Grace-who, it seemed, had not one ounce of feistiness left in her-awkwardly applied herself to the task, “Sally Rand worked with a fan, and so do I sometimes. But Princess Tai’s specialty is the bubble.”
“Fiedee, fiedee, fiedee! Hurry, hurry, hurry! It’s showtime!” Charlie called through the door to the dressing room. The other girls began to leave. Grace started to rise, but I put a hand on her head. It was not my finest moment, but why-why-didn’t Grace fight back? Why didn’t she bat my hand away, stand up, and say, “Knock it off!” or “Eat a beet!” or “Get over yourself, Ruby”?
“At first, I was scared to death,” I told her. “I was practically frozen with fear. It’s hard to walk around the stage, holding the bubble just so. But ever since that article hit, we’ve been sold out every night. Now Charlie has to take reservations!”
“Fiedee, fiedee, fiedee! Hurry, hurry, hurry!”
“Come on, Grace,” Ida called from the door. “You don’t want to miss the cue.”