Chapter Seventeen
HELLO, NEW YORK
They were so busy until after dinner that night that Janet had no timeto scan the evening paper. When she picked up the _Times_ it was withpleasant surprise for in the middle of the front page was a story byPete Benda, reviewing "Water Hole" and describing the roles Janet andHelen played.
"Miss Hardy gave a most pleasing portrayal in the role of the heroine,"Pete had written, "and a good many local people will enjoy this pictureto the utmost. It is far above the average western."
Near the end was a line. "Cora Dean and Margie Blake, local girls whowere also in the picture, may be seen in a crowd scene at the village."Janet smiled as she thought of the humiliation that Cora would feel.Well, it had been a mean trick of Cora's to write Pete Benda that sheand Margie had leading roles.
Helen's father made complete plans for their trip to New York for theAce company was paying all expenses as well as salaries to Janet andHelen while they were in the east.
Both Janet and Helen packed the new dresses Roddy had sent them in thelarge bags which they were taking with them. There might be littleactual opportunity to wear them, but they wanted to be prepared.
Their train for Chicago left at ten o'clock and they arrived at thestation in ample time, Janet's father conveying them there. He hadreserved a drawing room for them and they felt elated over that.
The _Chicago Limited_ was on time to the minute, the puffing locomotivedrawing its long string of Pullmans to an easy stop. The girls haddrawing room A in car fifty-seven. The porter took their bags as theyturned to say good-bye to their parents.
"Got plenty of money?" Janet's father asked in a whisper.
"Plenty, Dad. And I'll get paid while I'm in New York."
But he slipped her a small, black book that resembled a check book.
"Put this in your purse. It will come in handy if you have anemergency," he said.
Calls of "Bo-o-oard," rang along the train. Final good-byes were saidand the girls stepped into the vestibule of their car. The train startedeasily and they waved to their parents. Then they were out of the trainshed, picking up speed rapidly for the remainder of the night run toChicago.
They retired to their drawing-room, finished in restful tones of roseand gray, and slipped into pajamas. Both being tired, they went to bedat once, Janet in the upper berth and Helen in the lower.
The car was air conditioned and they slept restfully, neither one ofthem awakening until they were in the outskirts of Chicago.
"What are you going to wear today?" asked Helen, stretching luxuriouslybetween the crisp, cool sheets.
"My corduroy dress," said Janet. "It's excellent for travel; comfortableand it won't muss easily."
"That appeals to me," replied Helen, slipping out of bed and starting todress while Janet lowered herself out of the upper.
The train was past Englewood by the time they were dressed and theirporter came in to take their bags.
"Going to wear a hat?" asked Janet.
"Not with this dress; I haven't anything that goes well with it."
Janet tipped the porter and a red cap, waiting on the platform, tooktheir bags. Their New York train was only four tracks away and woulddepart within an hour so their bags were taken directly to the Pullman,where another drawing room had been reserved for the Chicago-New Yorktrip.
After making sure that their bags were in the drawing room, Janet andHelen went into the great, high ceilinged dining room in the station.They enjoyed a hearty breakfast of delicious country ham and eggs withcrisp toast and a cool glass of milk.
Janet bought several morning papers and they returned to the train shed.Trains which had been rushing across the plains all night in their dashfor Chicago were still arriving, while on other tracks long strings ofcoaches, ready to start carrying passengers away from the city, werebeing backed down the tracks.
Re-entering their New York train, they found seats in the luxuriouslimousine-lounge car at the rear of the train where the observationplatform was enclosed in glass. A radio was tuned softly and all of thelatest magazines were available.
Travel was light that day and at the start of the trip they were theonly ones in the lounge car as the train rolled smoothly out of thestation.
There was a brief pause at Englewood, then they were off again, pickingup speed as the train skirted the southern edge of Lake Michigan wheregreat industrial plants were perched along the shore and lake freightersseemed to spring out of the prairie as the rails crossed canals.
At lunch time they were well into Indiana. Only a few more passengershad boarded the train and they had the dining car practically tothemselves.
As the afternoon advanced they dipped into Ohio and stops were morefrequent. By late afternoon the train was well filled and space in thelounge car was almost at a premium.
Janet and Helen went to bed early that night for the coming day promisedto be an unusually busy and exciting one for them--they would have theirfirst glimpse of New York, visit Radio City, and receive theirassignments for the radio play they were to be in.
"What are you going to wear tomorrow?" asked Helen as she snuggled downbetween the crisp sheets.
"I don't know, perhaps the corduroy dress I had on today," repliedJanet. "It's so comfortable and I think it's becoming."
"I guess I'll vote that way, too," said Helen, and a minute later bothgirls were asleep.
They were up early the next morning, breakfasting as the train sped outof the Jersey hills and straightened out for its dash across thetidewater flats to Jersey City. They shot past commuter trains at almostregular intervals for their limited had the right of way.
As they neared the terminal, the porter took their bags and Helen handedhim a tip. Her father had deliberately routed them over a line whichended in Jersey City so that they might have their first real glimpse ofthe towering New York skyline from a ferryboat.
The passengers poured off the train and onto the nearby ferry. Bellsclanged, smoke rolled from the twin stacks, and the bulky boat nosed outinto the river.
Helen crowded close to Janet as the full majesty of the skyline wasunfolded. To their right was the lower city with its cluster ofskyscrapers while to their left was mid-town with the Empire Statetowering almost into the clouds. A little beyond that the sharp spire ofthe Chrysler building rose skyward.
On the New York side of the Hudson liners were sandwiched into the docksand Janet grabbed Helen's arm and pointed to one. It was the _Europa_,famed speed liner. A little further along was the _Rex_, pride of theItalian merchant marine.
Then the ferry was nosing into its pier. Gates clanged, their baggagewas loaded aboard a taxi, and almost before they knew it they werewhirling away toward the heart of the city. Helen had given their hoteladdress.
Up onto an elevated roadway sped their cab where it rocketed along atforty-five miles an hour. Then they shot onto an incline and eased downinto a street below. Traffic lights slowed them up now, but in less thanten minutes after leaving the ferry they were in Times Square, the veryheart of the throbbing city, where Broadway and Seventh Avenue cross toform a great triangular opening.
At the hotel desk Janet registered for both of them.
"We were to have reservations," she said.
The clerk checked the registration list and marked their names off. Thenthey were whisked away to their rooms, high up and on the inside, wherethey could sleep in something like quiet. They had two rooms with aconnecting bath.
"Well, what do you think of the city?" asked Helen.
"I'm still a little breathless," admitted Janet. "Los Angeles waslarge--but New York--it just seems to swallow you up."
They dressed carefully in preparation for their trip to Radio City andat nine-thirty o'clock went down stairs and inquired the best way toreach their destination. The clerk on duty suggested that they walk.
"It's only a short distance. Go one block to Sixth Avenue, turn to theleft, and continue six blocks to Radio City."
The morning air was clear and cool as they set forth, walking brisklyand taking in everything about them. On Sixth Avenue elevated trainsrumbled overhead, but up the street they could see the towering buildingwhich housed Radio City and their steps quickened.
They reached their destination in a few minutes and turned to the rightto the entrance which led to the offices of the World BroadcastingCompany, the chain which was to put their program on the air. The lobbywas of chromium and black and they stepped into a modernistic elevatorthat whisked them upward so rapidly they were breathless.
They stepped out at the twenty-seventh floor and into a luxuriouslyfurnished lobby where there were comfortable chairs and restful lights.A young woman at the reception desk looked up as the girls advanced.
"We're to join the company from the Ace studios," Janet explained.
"Your names?" The inquiry was purely impersonal.
"Janet Hardy and Helen Thorne."
The young woman checked their names and called a page.
"Take them to studio K," she directed.
Janet and Helen turned and followed the page, who was leading them to anew chapter of their lives--one more thrilling than they could haveimagined even in their deepest dreams.
Janet Hardy in Radio City Page 17
