Pembrokeshire

Pembrokeshire

Woody blows New York, a Joe Klein extract.

By late December, Mary was beginning to suspect that something was wrong. On Christmas Eve, Cisco came by and Woody choreographed the celebration over to the nearest bar-much to Cisco's embarrasment, Mary thought- and didn't return for several days. On New Year's Eve, some of the cast from "Back Where I Come From" piled into Woody's Pontiac and went up to Nyack to play a fund-raiser at Will Geer's new house (only Will Geer would have a fund-raiser on New Year's Eve). A good slice of Broadway was there that night, dressed to nines in gowns and tuxedos, and Woody got Ornery drunk. He sang three or four songs rather poorly, his eyes closed throughout.
"Why do you have your eyes closed?" Geer asked.
"All them white shirts and diamonds are blinding me."
The ride back to the city was accomplished at speeds ranging from 20 to 80 miles per hour, although the speed at any given moment had little to do with the difficulty of the road. When they reached Harlem, Woody insisted on screeching to a stop at each corner and asking pedestrians, "How do we get from here to the United States?" Leadbelly, in the back seat, scrunched and mumbled, "Please, Mr. Woody, please..."
Several days later, Woody arrived home and announced to Mary, "Get packing. We're getting out of here."
Mary was numb. He'd blown New York too.