Well, you’re certainly not like _me_.... I know what you’re figuring. I’m a rough diamond—you’ll get me and polish me. Well, it’ll never happen. I’m going to be what I am all my life. And you’re going to be what you are. MARY [_Slowly_]. Then why did you say you loved me? JACK [_Pause_]. Do you really want to know? [MARY _nods her head breathlessly._] Because I couldn’t help it. Love means marriage to me, and marriage means a home and kids.... I—I’d like to have a kid like you ... a little boy—but like you.... Gee, I’m crazy about you! MARY [_Quaintly_]. Say it again! JACK I ain’t going to say it no more ... because I’ve got no right to say it.... Yudelson came and told me— MARY You’ve simply got to forget.... Let’s just talk about you and me. JACK I can’t forget what Yudelson said. He said my father is sick. Tonight is the eve of the Day of Atonement—the most solemn Jewish holy day of the year, the big day of every Cantor’s year. You know what a Cantor is? He’s the mouthpiece of the congregation. He sings to God. My mother sent Yudelson to ask me to sing in my father’s place. You don’t know what it means to them. For five generations the Rabinowitzes have been Cantors. The name Rabinowitz is like a trade mark on Orchard Street. No substitutes will do.... MARY What did you tell Mr. Yudelson? JACK What could I tell him?... The most important part of the services will be starting just about the time I have to go on the stage tonight.... I told him no, that I wouldn’t miss this opening, not even for my father and mother. MARY [_Gravely_]. I am glad you said that, Jack. JACK Glad? MARY Yes, my dear. You’ve got to think only of your work. JACK I’ve tried so hard to do that, but ... Mary, here’s something I never told anybody in my life.... Sometimes when I’m alone—and I’m alone a lot more than you think—the old songs from the synagogue start wailing in my ears ... and I—I cry.... In that hall bedroom in Chicago, I used to get down on my knees in the dark and talk to God in Hebrew. I—bawled him out ... because he made me only half a Cantor—half a Cantor, and half a bum. [_He begins to black up._] If I was all bum, I wouldn’t care. What does a bum care? But if I was all Cantor, I would be happy. MARY Would you? JACK I think I would. MARY Then why didn’t you go with Yudelson? JACK