Emma’s need for a short engagement coincided with Rick’s dread of another formal wedding, so they married at the courthouse in April, with Kitty as their only witness. Kitty struggled with losing Emma to marriage. It had become such a belabored point, she had never considered what it would be like for her when it finally happened. The nights Emma slept over at Rick’s had been like a short vacation, but when Emma officially moved into her husband’s home in Pasadena, Kitty began to think differently about her own prospects of marriage.
She had Blair House, but had never lived alone before and missed Emma’s sometimey company. Thinking they could have a better relationship now that Emma had married her heart’s desire, Kitty called a few times. Her maid answered every time, claiming she was unavailable, and Emma never called back.
Kitty soothed her loneliness with work. The promise to green-light two additional film productions kept Nathan and Kitty working late into the evening. It was on such an occasion that she heard Nathan screaming in his office. She listened outside the cracked door.
“I want Cora Rivers off every single one of his bank accounts! How could you not have alerted me to this? I gave her a reasonable amount of time. No wonder she accepted my offer so graciously—she thought we’d never find out!”
Apparently, Cora was suing the Tate family for alimony while bleeding Abner’s accounts dry. Aside from the goals for Blair House, Kitty learned that Cora now needed her acting pay to live; the Tate family had sold her house off Sunset (the one Lucy said Cora’s father had bought her). No one at Blair House knew, because Cora had been using Abner’s funds to keep up appearances—her Rolls Royce and Percy came to mind.
Knowing it was her duty to help, Kitty came in. Even seeing it was her, he waved her away, pointing to the phone.
She entered anyway as he finally slammed the phone down. “We’re going to have to delay filming. We need another lead for Cora for The Misfits.”
Kitty began to panic. “Nathan! We can’t! We start in a week.”
“Cora’s been stealing money from my father. I want her gone. Immediately.”
“Stealing? How so?”
“Taking money from his accounts to pay her bills. I only found out because the payment for her monthlong stay at the Beverly Hills Hotel wouldn’t go through.”
Kitty softened her normal tone. “How else is she supposed to live? She hasn’t done a film in years; wasn’t your father taking care of her? Helping ease things financially?”
“We’ve done enough for her financially. She can get another job.”
“She has one. She’s the star of your picture.”
“I want her gone.”
“At least settle her contract.”
Nathan looked at Kitty as if she’d suggested he pay her from his salary. “I think she’s gotten more than she deserves. I may file a case against her.”
“You’re angry at your father, not Cora.”
“Well, I can’t take it out on him; he wouldn’t notice.”
“So you want to air out all the details of your father’s personal life? What would your mother say?”
Nathan began to pace with plans. “We’ll start casting this week. We don’t have to get too far off schedule.” He pointed at her as if he’d just had the best idea. “Why don’t you stand in for rehearsals?”
“No, no, no…”
“Just until we find someone.”
It was tempting. Kitty had enjoyed playing on set over the break but didn’t know if she had any actual talent.
“Just see how it goes. We can always hire someone else.”
“We will hire someone else.”
“Okay, but for now, you know the lines, the motivations—rehearsals need to begin.”
“I would say yes—”
“But?”
“You’ll be accused of firing Cora for someone younger. That won’t be good for me. I’ve had enough problems as your assistant.”
“What do you suggest?”
“Pay out her contract and let her live in one of the houses owned by the studio.”
“So, continue to support her?”
“At least for a while.” Kitty had a feeling Cora wouldn’t need it for long. She hadn’t gotten many details about her and Lucy’s D.C. trip, but Cora had been wearing a thick diamond bracelet and necklace upon her return.
Nathan puffed his cheeks. “Fine, if Cora agrees to say she quit.”
“Where is she now?” Kitty asked.
“Packing up her hotel suite.”
“Send a car for her. I’ll go unlock one of the bungalows.”
* * *
The house—a modest three-bedroom, two-bathroom—was two streets down from Kitty’s.
“Thank you for what you did. And for your discretion,” Cora said, pouring tea.
“It’s no problem.”
“I’ll tell them soon,” Cora said, referring to the others at Blair House. “For the longest time, Abner denied that his memory was going, and I did too. He had such a brilliant mind, and sometimes he was agitated and forgot things—even back when we first met. And he was in his thirties then. Now he’s useless, and I’m without a job or my home. I thought that, at the very least, the house I’ve been living in for twenty years was mine and I could sell it.”
In the end, Abner had neglected to make provisions for her in the circumstance of his demise, after promising time and time again that he would. While the Beverly Hills Hotel was luxurious, moving into a hotel had meant Cora had to give away or sell most of her belongings.
“He was the first man I’d ever been with. Met him a week after I got to town. I was seventeen years old and, you know, it was like having a rich daddy.” It was the closest to a confession about her past Cora would ever give. “I would tell you to be careful, but you’re in a better position at Telescope than I ever was. Abner was a control freak; you have creative influence. Life says it’s your turn.” Cora agreed to quit, and for Kitty to stand in.
Kitty found solace on the stage when she was alone but confessed her worry about her ability to perform on command.
“You’re perfect—you wrote the script.”
Kitty admitted her hesitancy.
Cora didn’t want to hear it. “You have to try.”
“What will you do?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
“I’m sorry about all of this.”
“Don’t be. I stumbled upon acting. I went on chorus-line auditions to be a dancer. Then I met Abner, and the rest is history.”
She would announce her father’s death days later at Blair House, saying she had to move because her stepmother, knowing she was Negro, sold the house to spite her. No one questioned the plausibility of the story. Kitty would keep Cora’s secret, even from Lucy, understanding the shame of being unaccounted for.
* * *
Nathan summoned Kitty after watching tapes from the first week of rehearsals of The Misfits.
“Take the role. Charles says you’re a natural.”
“He hardly said anything to me on set.”
“You didn’t need much direction.” He pointed to the small television. “See for yourself. Your performance helped everyone else.”
Kitty had noticed this. By the third run-through, they’d stopped fumbling with their scripts. “It’s beginner’s luck.”
He insisted. “Please. It’s fate.”
“I’ve had one week of rehearsals.”
Nathan tapped her nose with his finger. “You’ll be fine. You have my support—everyone’s support.”
It had been decided. Nathan took Kitty’s face in his hands. “You, my dear, are going to make us all a ton of money.” He kissed her forehead. “I want to tell everyone how brilliant you are, but I think we’ll let your beauty and talent speak for themselves now. I don’t want anyone trying to steal you.”
Coined “the princess of Telescope,” Kitty Karr needed an origin story. Nathan crafted a bigger story than Kitty’s original cover but, ironically, one a tad closer to the truth: he declared her the heir to a cotton fortune who had fled her privileged Southern life for Los Angeles to be a star.
CHAPTER 26
Kitty
Summer 1956
Sometime after the Fourth of July, a series of hang-ups went around town, calling for an urgent meeting at Blair House. It was two in the morning before everyone arrived.
Nina was missing. Two nights before, she and Maude had gone to the Santa Monica pier for ice cream when a Negro man, claiming to be Nina’s husband, dragged her down the pier and out of sight.
“She was terrified, and I pushed her away.” Maude started sobbing, and Lucy embraced her.