Page 143

By Jack Joseph Smith

director was a Mount Lebanon women, but very free in relation to her enviornment. She drank beer, and always offered me one, when I entered her home. I loved to watch her, as she reminded me of a little pixie. But she was sad in her light laughter. Always there was the feeling of attempt within her spirit. Nothing was ever completed, and each show would be followed by anogther. I didn't know how to act around her and her artist friends at first, but soon discovered, that they were as wild as some of my past friends, except that they were going in anogther direction. They seemed very deeply torn, but covered it all with fine speech and controled movements. They were dancing on the voice vibrations of pretense, catch ing their sighs on the whisp of a moment, and singing with laughter after short lines of sounds of recognition. The mind was a flowing dream of desire, but it would never be the implement of fullfillment. Life was a rehearsal, Always an illusion, suspended in its waiting to be finished. Because of the accident with O'Dandy, frequent opperations of plastic surgery had become a part of my life. During this time I decided not to shave, as I was holding on to the last feeling of being a wealthy derilict. Also, I had sued O'Dandy's insurance company; and I was going to receive five thousand dollars, when I reached the age of twenty one. It was nice to know that a good little gift would be coming, that had no attachment with my parents. My drinking had cut down considerably, and I was staying away from O'Dandy and his crowd of rummys. However, when I first quit working for my father and began to study acting, I had started running an open air beer bar on Sundays. I called it a picnic, and college kids from all over would come to my place in the park, and drink and take the more questionable girls from Mount Lebanon into the high grass below my pavillion. On several occasions O'Dandy and crew showed up for beer and song, and on each such visit the day ended in battle

Original Scan

Page 143

AI Interpretation

GPT

Working under a free, sad little-pixie director among artists who are as wild as his old friends in another direction, the narrator moves through theater, plastic surgery, an insurance payout, reduced drinking, and the start of a Sunday open-air beer bar in the park.

Art does not purify anything here; it simply relocates the old turmoil into fine speech, controlled movements, and endless rehearsal. The page is strongest where theater life and hustling life sit side by side, showing that the old appetite for spectacle and conflict has not gone anywhere.

Claude

The 'Mount Lebanon women' director is drawn as a sad little pixie who offers him beer and whose 'attempt' never resolves - 'Nothing was / ever completed.' Her artist friends prove 'as wild as some of my past friends' but aimed 'in anogther / direction,' 'deeply torn' yet hiding it under 'fine speech and / controled movements,' 'dancing on the voice vibrations of pretense' so that 'Life was a rehearsal, Always an illusion, suspended in / its waiting to be finished.' Against this the page sets hustling life: plastic surgery after the O'Dandy accident, a coming five-thousand-dollar insurance payout 'with no attachment with my parents,' reduced drinking, and a Sunday open-air beer bar he runs as a 'picnic' for Mount Lebanon college kids.