Editoronde walked up and introduced herself.
“Hi guys,” she said “Are you here for the casting call?”
“Yes,” we replied in unison.
“Great” she exclaimed, “I m Martha Lau, and you are?”
“Russ Harrington at your service’ replied Russ
“I’m Dave” mumbled Dave
“And I” replied Rudy with a flourish, “Am Rudy. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
“Excuse me for now,” said Murtha as she turned and walked away,
With that, the boys began to mingle with their fellow cast members.
After a while, they came upon a familiar face.
“Hi Martha”, exclaimed Russ.
She stopped and gave him a puzzled glance which quickly turned into a sly smile,
“Hi, Guys.’ She Said
Rudy glanced at her and said, “Guys, this is not Martha.”
“What?’ Exclaimed Russ and Dave in unison.
The object of their confusion giggled and said “He’s right, I am Matha’s twin sister Nancy. She mentioned meeting you guys earlier.” She turned to Rudy and said, “I am intrigued, which one are you and how did you know I was not Martha?”
Rudy
replied “I am Rudy and apparently the most observant of our little troupe. I grew up with twin sisters and have learned to detect the little differences between twins.”
Nancy smiled at Rudy and offered to introduce them to the other cast members
Nancy and Martha huddled together and Nancy commented to her sister “Rudy seems to be able to tell us apart, this could be interesting.”
“Careful.” Martha exclaimed “You know you should not get involved with an enlisted man.’
“I’ll be careful,” replied Nancy, “besides, there are three of them. This should be fun!’
As the day went on, they were introduced to the musical director, Robert Montoya.
Robert told them of the musical number they would be rehearsing which included elements of The Pony and the CrossFire as well as various line dances,
Nancy noticed the stricken look on Rudy’s face and she inquired “What’s wrong?” to which Rudy replied “I will surely be dropped from the cast as I have two left feet and cannot dance to save my soul?
“Wait!” Nancy said and she went off to huddle with her sister and some o the other female cast members who threw glances in Rudy’s direction before finally nodding at Nancy
“Good news!” Nancy exclaimed to Rudy “The girls and I have decided to give you a crash course in dancing 101.”
Over the next few days, every spare moment Rudy had was spent going over dance steps with the female cast members. Rudy hardly had any time for himself. If it wasn’t Nancy, it was Martha or Cleo or little miss stuck up or any combination of the girls.
Finally, Nancy declared that Rudy was as ready as he would ever be. Fortunately, the musical director agreed.
During this period, Nancy, against Matha’s advice, Invited Rudy and his companions to visit her at her home. Little did they know that Nancy was attracted to the three of them and was trying to choose between them.
The experiment was almost short-circuited on their first visit when Dave pointed out the name on the mailbox. “Guys,” he said, ‘this is the residence of Colonel Lau!”
Before they could turn tail, the door was answered.
“HI, Nancy” stumbled Russ.
Rudy shook his head and said, “Hi Martha, is Nancy at home?”
Martha gave Rudy a bright smile and ushered them in.
Martha whispered in Nacy’s ear “I think Rudy is a keeper!” causing Nancy to smile.
Over the course of several visits, Nancy felt the guys out as to their various interests, The more they interacted, the more Nancy became aware that she and Rudy shared the most interests.
Finally, Nancy addressed the three boys and let them know where they stood.
“Dave,” she said ‘You are sweet, but your athletic interests don’t match up with mine. Russ, I’m afraid you are too much of a ladies’ man for me.” Finally, she turned to Rudy and exclaimed ‘Rudy I am all yours and probably have been since I met the three of you.
And with that, she planted a firm kiss on Rudy’s lips.
This was to be the last time the four of them met at Nancy’s home.
A few days before they were to mount their first performance, Rudy celebrated his 19th Birthday.
Unbeknownst to him, Nancy and the female cast members had secretly prepared a gift for him. They had joined efforts to craft a pillow in the shape of a pair of lips like the “Bye Bye Birdie” logo and collected the signatures of most of the cast on the pillow.
Nancy made a show of presenting the pillow to Rudy during rehearsals.
The following weekend, the show opened to a sellout audience on two consecutive nights.
After the production wrapped, Rudy and Nancy continued to date, until the day that Colonel Lau received orders to return to the states.
With great sadness, Nancy and Rudy bid each other farewell at the Kaiserlauitern train station.
Over the next two years, Nancy and Rudy wrote to one another periodically, until the day Nancy wrote Rudy to tell him she had met a Lieutenant and agreed to marry him. They stopped corresponding shortly thereafter,
Rudy appeared in some minor amateur productions during his last year of Military service, and even wrote and produced a minor production called “Let’s Murder Broadway.” This production signaled the end of Rudy’s thespian career.
