<Begin Segment 16>

SY: So all of this sort of being in the spotlight, or doing all these things, all the activities you did, this was really from inside. You wanted to...

TF: Yeah, but it never felt like a spotlight to me, it felt like, these are things that I enjoyed doing, that I wanted to do.

SY: And was that something -- so when you decided to go to college, and was that the field that you wanted to pursue?

TF: I wanted to pursue acting.

SY: Acting, since acting is specific --

TF: Yes. Before... one of the jobs I had, also, I went to work for a catalog company, S. Buchsbaum and Company. And then I became the secretary to the sales manager, because in high school I learned Pitman shorthand, how to be a... you learn something so you could make a living at it. I think I worked for a year before I went off to college. But when I went off to college, I knew I wanted to go to a small school. And then there was a man who came from that college to our high school, and I thought this is where I would like to go.

SY: A small school.

TF: And then when, you know, in the old days, the Japanese had, what do they call it where there's groups of people who put money together? There was a word for it. And then my father took the money out when he wanted it, and helped to put the down payment. And my older sister said, "He can't afford this, Dad did this. We can't, we don't have this kind of money." So then I got a job at the school, I worked for the Dean of Women and I got a scholarship and I went there for...

SY: That was something you helped them, or you would not have been able to do it?

TF: No. And it was like going from one area where there was so much prejudice to heaven. It was wonderful.

SY: So smart move, huh?

TF: Yes.

[Interruption]

SY: -- took from Chicago to Florida, the big, big change.

TF: That was, a representative from Rollins College came to speak at our high school and made an impression on me. And it was far away and it was a small college, and it looked so glamorous and wonderful.

SY: Did it have a strong theater department?

TF: It had a nice theater department. But the year that I took off I worked for S. Buchsbaum and Company as a secretary to the sales manager, and also, in the old days, when you wanted to do -- I wanted to get into American theater, American plays. But in those old days, you had to pay money to be an intern or to work at a theater and I couldn't afford that. So what I did was I worked all week and then on Friday, after I finished work, I would go out to this small theater company in Chicago, outside of Chicago. I don't remember the town, but I got to sometimes be in crowd scenes, or I got to build sets, I just got to be around theater people.

SY: And this was in the totally non-JA.

TF: Not at all, no Japanese Americans. And I had to, it was a long trek out there. I must have really had a passion to want to do this, and how did I ever find this company I don't know, but I did.

SY: And they didn't, you didn't feel out of place, they didn't treat you differently?

TF: No. You know, theater community is very warm and loving. You could be really strange and they'll still embrace you, I think. It's one good place for you to be. And I felt comfortable there. I mean, I was different, but I wanted to learn. And I made a very good friend there, his name was, at the time, George Schweinfurth. It's a long way for me to take the subway back, you finish at twelve o'clock, midnight, you're breaking the set, it's really the wee hours of the morning. And so sometimes George would just -- he lived closer by -- he would invite me to his home and I would be a guest in his home. And he always had another friend or so with him, but he always made me feel welcome, and he was a nice friend. And then I didn't see him again for years. And years later, I was on Broadway in The World of Suzie Wong, and I have company. And they said, "George Furth is here to see you," and I think, "I don't know George Furth." He had changed his name from George Schweinfurth to George Furth. And George Furth was who wrote the Sondheim Merrily We Roll Along, Company, he became very successful. At that time, he still wasn't, but we connected and he was one of my oldest and dearest friends. And so when... then we lost touch again after I left Broadway for years, and then I came to California and we caught up again, and it's like we picked up right where we left off. And every Thanksgiving, he would come over, he would go to several parties, but he would always come to my place first and then go on to other very fancy parties like at Warren Beatty's home or something like that. But he'd always come, eat at my place, and then go off to all these fancy parties.

So George Furth was one of the dear friends I met when I did Summerstock, and then, you know, I had some... mostly I hung out with Nisei people. And when I was working at this Buchsbaum and Company was during this year, one of my girlfriends' relatives rode a motorcycle, and so I used to love to go motorcycle riding. I had this leather jacket and leather belt and hat and the whole thing. Oh, so scary and frightening, now I wouldn't want any of my children or grandchildren to do it. But one of his friends -- 'cause he had a lot of his motorcycle friends -- I guess must have been a messenger. And the bigwigs at S. Buchsbaum and Company, 'cause I was working for the owner's son-in-law, called me in one day 'cause the motorcycle rider being very friendly to me and everything. And he got very concerned that this was my friend, and he just felt, "This is not the direction for you to go in. You really need to go to school, you need to try to have a good life." He didn't really talk 'em down, but I knew that he was not happy with who I was hanging out with. Also, I didn't want to be his girlfriend, but I didn't know how to break it off in a way, just 'cause he's my girlfriend's relative, and I'm riding with him. So I think that was also -- I wanted to go far away. [Laughs] I went to college in Florida.

SY: [Laughs] That was the reason.

<End Segment 16> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.