<Begin Segment 19>

SY: So when you left for New York...

TF: Then when I went to New York, I went to... oh, when I was married to him, there was a time, I still did Summerstock, and fine. As long as I was around them, I mean, and they belonged to a fancy club, as long as I was there, and then I'd be active with the very social things, everything was fine. Then I heard that Rodgers & Hammerstein were auditioning for Flower Drum Song, so I told my mother-in-law that, she lived right across the street. They built this charming little home for us, he was an architect, built this beautiful little cottage, and it was lovely. My mother-in-law was thrilled. She heard Rodgers & Hammerstein, she'd heard of Rodgers & Hammerstein, oh, well, so she paid for my bus fare to New York City, and she insisted, "You have to get all dressed up," and she just had a brand new fur jacket and, "You must wear this fur jacket," and she was very excited. I'm going to audition for -- well, again, I went and auditioned, but I also, at the same time, I didn't tell them I auditioned for the role of a prostitute in The World of Suzie Wong. And then I was very fortunate. I was told that... they offered me the role of the understudy for Pat Suzuki and Miyoshi Umeki, and they would also send me for very special voice lessons. But then, The World of Suzie Wong, which was Joshua Logan and David Merritt, the producer, said, "We'll give you the role of Gwennie, the prostitute with no sex appeal." And then my husband said, "Well, it's not enough money. If they'll give you" -- and he mentioned an amount -- and The World of Suzie Wong gave me that.

So I took that job and I had to then go tell my mother-in-law thinking, well, I was always in the doghouse. I mean, how could I be playing a prostitute on Broadway? I should have taken the other role, whatever. But Joshua Logan, he was such a kind, wonderful man, and you know, people know all the gossip anyway. So when we went out of town to Boston for the tryout, and he knew the night that my in-laws were going to be in the house, he said, "You know, in that scene with all that hugging and kissing with the sailor, you could tone it down." [Laughs] And then after, he, my husband, would be calling me every night and making me cry, and then on the weekends I'd have to come, I'd take the bus back and I'd be with my children and my in-laws not really being nice to me. But I would come back and then I just thought, I can't, they forbid me to take any more calls 'cause he was, my husband was making my life miserable. And I thought, "I've got to go home, I'm married, I've got to try to make it work." But it never really worked after that.

SY: So this was after the run of the show?

TF: No, it wasn't even, I left before the run. I opened on Broadway and then I left the show. But I originated the role of Gwennie, and then I...

SY: That must have been hard.

TF: It was hard, but I'm glad I did it. I wonder if it had been different if I'd taken the role with less money of the understudy. Then I would have learned the proper way to sing, and I would have... I love to sing, but, you know, shigin style, nagauta style is completely different than American-style singing. It didn't work, and so it was... after I was divorced, I thought, "I never want to be married again." They had, the family, the mother and father said, you know, if I'm divorced, they wanted to have a contract with me that I would never work, and that I would only live within a thirty mile radius. I said, "But that's like being a prisoner. I can't do that. I want to be able to have my children..." so anyway, it was just, I went to work and live in New York, I went to work for an investment backing house, and I was like a visiting father who would come in on the weekends. But so many times he would take me to court if I wanted to take them to Chicago or take them to be with my parents, because then it was always, well, the culture is different, and they're Buddhist, and it's just difficult.

SY: So this was a long...

TF: This was a long, this was a long, drawn-out affair. Then I met my present husband, and I never, I never wanted to be married. I just thought it's nice just being a sweetheart. But he can't, he doesn't have... I'm working for my own money and paying for my own things. If I want to go out with him, fine. And then after about -- and I never, I just liked him, but I never said anything about loving him. And then one day after about five years, it just came out of my mouth and I wanted to shove it back in. And then I didn't want him to know it. And he acted like he didn't hear me, but years later, he said, "Do you remember when you said that?" He said, "I heard you but I didn't think you wanted me to hear it," which I thought was very sensitive. We never talked about marriage or never talked about... you know, I felt he was committed to me, I felt committed to him. I kept my own place for years, and then finally I gave it up. But I was very happy. And then my father came to visit me, and then he went back, and then my mother came to visit.

But anyway, what happened is that my father died. And then one day as we were... my husband got a very important job, and we were gonna be going off the next day to the big company gathering and everything. And as we were driving out -- he's a terrible driver -- making a left-hand turn, I wish he'd pay attention. And we were leaving a restaurant called Love. He's just saying something about marrying me. I said, "What?" He said, "Well, when we celebrated ten years together, I said to some of my friends I thought I'd arrange a wedding." But then they all said to him, "You better not do that, surprise her." So he said, "I didn't, but your father came to visit," and he said, "I couldn't converse with your father. I just felt that maybe your father didn't understand that I'm committed to you. And your mother's in her eighties and not always in good health. And so before she dies, will you marry me so she'll know?" So I call my mother and she burst into tears and she said, "Daddy just worried so when he got back," that what's going to happen to me? That I'm just living with this guy. And so we got married, and my mother sang a Japanese song, shigin. No one understood a word, but it was so dramatic. I looked, and everyone is crying, all these Caucasian people, because it was so dramatic. So my mother was an important part of the wedding.

SY: Wow, that's terrific.

TF: Yeah. That's why, you know, when I did that piece about my mother, and she was saying all the time because he was so kind to me, and then he would come home late from work and she would want me to get out of bed or do whatever and stand by the door just to greet him and bow to him. She was always bowing to him when he left and bowing when he went out. She'd try to get me out from the bathroom or whatever, "Sy-san leaving, Sy-san come, come, got to say hello, got to say goodbye." So she treated him like he was very special.

SY: She loved him, that's terrific, wow.

<End Segment 19> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.