Act II

What are you going to do about him, anyhow? He’s going to be kind of a nuisance with Hart back.

I can handle him. He’s so far gone you can tell him anything.

We certainly do attract songwriters, we Fletcher girls. It’s a curse.

He’s not a bad kid. I kind of like him. And he might make a lot of money in this game. Plenty of others have done it.

I wonder if that damned song is any good. All of Paul’s stuff sounds just alike to me.

Maybe Stevens’ lyrics are just silly enough to get over. I’ve got kind of a hunch that they are.

Even if they buy it it won’t mean anything to us. Paul’s so far ahead of his royalties they’ll never catch up. He could write Madame ButterflyMadame Butterfly and it wouldn’t even get me a new girdle.

Anyway, I’ve got Stevens broken in right, whoever gets him. You’ve got to give me credit for changing some of his ideas. I imagine every week was Thrift Week in Schenectady.