Chapter 11 of 30 · 3'27"
John teaches CC to shoot pool, but the light moment passes as word arrives that Hillary's father has 'taken a turn for the worst,' keeping her in San Francisco. Letters carry the rest: Hillary urges CC to stay true to her talent, CC chases a bawdy revue, and Hillary marries. 'I understand the show must go on,' she writes.
Hillary's Father Takes a Turn for the Worst
Hillary Marries Michael Essex
John shows CC how to hold a cue and shoot pool, and the two joke about the clicking sound. Then word comes that Hillary's father has taken a turn for the worst, and she stays in San Francisco. Through letters, CC tells Hillary she is leaving the Falcon Players for a bawdy revue, while Hillary announces she has married Michael Essex.
This stretch is a friendship thinning out. It opens with intimacy — John teaching CC to hold a cue, the two of them enjoying 'a great little sound' — and then the years start moving. Hillary's father is dying, and she stays in San Francisco; CC stays onstage. Their letters are honest but increasingly separate: Hillary urges CC to 'be true to your talent and not be seduced by the money of Broadway,' and CC replies that she is leaving the Falcon Players to start a bawdy revue because she is 'gonna be rich.' When Hillary marries Michael, who 'was the son my father never had,' the wedding happens without CC, and Hillary covers the hurt with a line she has learned by heart: 'I understand the show must go on.' The irony is that the show is exactly what keeps them apart.
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
“Dear Ceece, I thought it over and I feel you should be true to your talent and not be seduced by the money of Broadway.”
Two balanced verbs, true and seduced, turn advice into a moral choice.
Formal
“He was the son my father never had.”
A bare relative clause says everything about how the father saw Michael.
Neutral
“I know you don't approve, but, hey, I'm gonna be rich.”
She owns the disapproval and then shrugs: the money is the point.
Informal
“But I understand the show must go on.”
A stage proverb absorbs the hurt of missing a wedding and keeps the tone graceful.
Neutral
Up next · 12for richer or poorerThe scene: CC and John's Impromptu WeddingHe takes a turn for the worst and dies. Hillary stays in San Francisco longer to settle the estate, and the funeral is held without CC, who is performing.
She wants to start a bawdy revue called Sizzle, which she expects will make her rich, even though Hillary disapproves of the choice.
It is theater slang meaning a performance cannot stop for personal reasons. Hillary uses it to say she accepts that CC missed her wedding because work came first.
He was her father's lawyer, and Hillary says he was the son her father never had. She marries him after her father's death.
John says he must have tried to call her a billion times and admits he missed her. He asks her to dinner after the show, and they agree it is a semi-date.
