Now, Mr. Lee, that’s the best number I got. That’s where I do my specialty. JACK Yes, Mr. Lee, I think you should let Carter keep that number. I’ve got enough to do now. LEE [_Impatiently_]. That’s all right, Jack. I know that. Why do you think I postponed the opening? In order to give you more to do. You can carry this number, too. Now continue the scene and go right into the Dixie Number. JACK I’m sorry, Eddie.... Where were we? Oh, yes, sir. “I’m going down South again to the land of cotton and jasmine, where the watermelons grow, where I can be with my mammy. If you’ll all sit down, I’ll sing you a song all about it.” [_The girls all sink down in a wide semi-circle. The other principals back away. The piano beats out the “vamp.”_ JACK, _his back to us, facing his own footlights, his shoulders shaking, his hat carelessly on the back of his head, goes into his jazz song. He does not do it earnestly, except for an occasional note on which he lingers with the easy assurance of the man who knows that when the time comes he will do it well. He sings._] “Home pa-hals, home pa-hals, Sad was the day when I blundered away From my Home pals; Wan-dered— Squ-handered— My mammy’s lo-hove without any ru-heason or ru-hyme To have A wo-hunderful time....” [LEE _blows his whistle and stops the singing._] LEE I’ve got an idea. We won’t use this stage again until the dress rehearsal. Gene, send the girls up on the roof. [_In less time than it takes to tell, the chorus girls have been shooed off the stage._ CARTER _and the rest move back to an obscure part of the stage._ LEE _brings_ JACK _down where we can hear clearly what they say._ MARY _comes with them. During the following conversation a drop comes down. It is the back of a country scene—you gather from the lights which play around its translucent surfaces that it represents a wisteria-hung house front._] Now, Jack, there’s a big kick in the Mammy number. I want you to do it alone with no one on the stage. Just you and the spot light. Cut out the running around and put your heart into it. Give it all you’ve got. If you do it that way, you’ll be a knockout. MARY That’ll be wonderful, Jack. JACK [_Not quite casually_]. Do you think so? MARY [_To_ LEE]. Harry, they just brought my last act costume and it’s nothing like the sketch. LEE Let me see it, Mary. MARY All right. [_She goes._] CARTER [_He has been lingering, ill at ease and resentful, in the back_]. Mr. Lee, I want to see you. LEE Well, Carter, what’s on your mind? Make it snappy. CARTER