Why did Rose still have June's "Let Me Entertain You" music? I do not own this amazing musical or the characters.
Let Me Entertain You
"My daughter can do it." Rose quickly volunteered Louise to fill in for the stripper who had recently been arrested. She assured the stage manager that Louise was perfectly capable of doing it, and once he took a look at the young woman he agreed.
"Mama, I can't…" Louise tried to protest.
"Oh don't be silly. You're not really going to strip. Maybe a shoulder at the end…" she mused slightly to herself, "Oh just go get ready, honey. I'll find you some music."
Louise shuffled off to put on Tessie's dress. Rose ran to her trunk. As she did he halfway noticed that Herbie had stepped out the door of the theatre. "Probably his stomach." She thought to herself.
Rose opened the trunk and began to dig through its contents. She threw a few blond wigs out of the way and found Louise's music. She shook her head as she looked at the music from Madam Rose's Toreadorables and Rose Louise's Hollywood Blonds. "These are all wrong." She muttered.
She almost was afraid that she didn't have any music proper for a strip tease as she dug deeper through costumes and letters and pictures. She pulled out a photo album and a few sheets of music fell out. She read the title, "Let Me Entertain You." It was the old song from Baby June and her Newsboys.
She had almost forgotten about this song. She didn't know why she had kept it. June hadn't even used after she turned ten, or was she eleven? Having lied about June's age so much, she had forgotten exactly how old June had been.
She hadn't ever thrown it out. She came close that night June left. Standing by the trashcan, she had almost dropped it in, but she couldn't.
Rose flipped through the music, reading each word, and thinking about June, Baby June, prancing on stage, her blond hair shining, and throwing up kicks as high as she could. She had been so tiny, and so willing to do anything to please her mother.
Rose began to cry. There had been a time when June wouldn't leave her mother's side, when she would have done anything for her. The hot tears burned down her face as she cursed Tulsa for taking her baby from her, and cursed herself for pushing so hard that she pushed June away.
She thought of the time June had sung this song. That was the time she and her mother were inseparable, when she would promise to always stay with her mother. Rose wanted so to go back to that time. She just couldn't let that memory go.
Rose continued to cry silently to herself until the Louise came up to her. Quickly, she wiped the tears from her face, slightly smudging the make-up that she wore. Louise looked beautiful in the dress, and Rose said so.
"You can sing June's 'Let Me Entertain You.' Take it at half tempo…" She kept talking, but she couldn't think of what she was saying. She only thought about June, the little girl who had sung this song, who had sung the song and left her.
But the little girl hadn't left her. The young woman she grew into had. Rose kept the music and kept that little girl who would always be beside her. She handed the music to the conductor, and gave him the instructions. At least Louise and Herbie were still here.
Louise stepped on stage, and began to sing, "Let me entertain you…"