Ian's Girl - Guitar Instrumental comes from the season 6 episode "Ian's Girl".
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Friday, 18 August 2017
Ian's Girl- Guitar Instrumental
Ian's Girl - Guitar Instrumental comes from the season 6 episode "Ian's Girl".
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Expose - 35th Anniversary of U.K. Broadcast
19th August is the 35th Anniversary of the U.K. Broadcast of "Expose" .
Here is a witty recap of the episode from TV of Yore Website
Julie’s mother is having some kind of anxiety attack in the kitchen of her apartment and is breathing into a paper bag. She tells Julie she's nervous about job hunting, and is worried that asking Ms. Grant for help is too much of an imposition for her. Julie assures her that Ms. Grant is more than happy to help her out, then says they need to head over to the school, like pronto, 'cause she has an important rehearsal to attend. Unfortunately, as soon as Mrs. Miller stops breathing into the paper bag, she starts hyperventilating, so Julie decides to forgo the rehearsal and tend to her basket case of a mother.
In the dance gym, Doris is railing to the other performers that Julie is late for rehearsal. She storms out of the room, then a few seconds later wheels in a headless mannequin and announces, "I'd like you to meet the new Julie Miller!" Everyone bursts out laughing, but Doris keeps a straight face and insists she wasn't trying to make a joke. She points out that since Julie was cast as the role of mannequin, they might as well use the real thing as a stand-in. Leroy hugs the mannequin, then starts dancing with it as he sings in a painfully off-key, screechy voice, "Maaa-nnnnnequin..." Yikes. Would it have killed the producers to hire one Fame kid with a halfway decent singing voice? After the trial run, everyone gabbles excitedly about how much they enjoyed doing the performance with an actual mannequin. Montgomery and Bruno agree that the number was fantastic - but Montgomery warns that it's going to be hard to tell Julie she's being replaced by a mannequin. Doris shrieks, as though she had nothing to do with the sudden casting change, and bewilderedly exclaims, "Julie will absolutely platz!" (OMFG - I can't express enough how fucking much I hate the sight, sound, and aura of Doris Fucking Schwartz.)
Miss Sherwood enters her classroom with a student teacher named Jeffrey Harris, and explains to the class that Mr. Harris will be assisting her for the next few weeks. Julie arrives late to class, and for some reason she seems drawn to Jeffrey's dorkiness. The two hold up the class while they flirt, smile, and stare at each other until Julie finally regains her senses and takes her seat.
Ms. Grant is helping Julie's mom cobble together a resume - which is no small feat since she's only ever been a mom to Julie and a wife to Julie's deadbeat father. No worries. I'm sure McDonald's is hiring.
Doris breaks the news to Julie that she's been replaced by a mannequin in the upcoming show. Julie's all, "Wha-a?!" and indignantly refuses to give up her coveted role to an inanimate object. She assumes she's being punished for being a no-show at rehearsal, but Coco insists that it's nothing personal and that the performance just works better with an actual mannequin.
Jeffrey finds Julie eating alone in the cafeteria and joins her with his tray of food. He tells her he's not all that into teaching and is only doing it 'cause he thinks it's something he should be doing. A few seconds later, he switches gears and grumbles about how the cafeteria food tastes like ass, and Julie giggles and looks charmed by his immature frankness.
Julie thanks Ms. Grant for helping her mom with her job search, and Ms. Grant assures her it's no trouble and then remarks on how "positively radiant" she looks today. Julie barely hears her as she hungrily stares toward the hall where Jeffrey is standing, then quickly excuses herself to give him a tour of the school. Ms. Grant's all, "Wha-a?" and then she and Miss Sherwood look on in dismay as they witness the unmistakably flirty vibe between Julie and Jeffrey.
Miss Sherwood asks Jeffrey what he thought of his first day of teaching, and he tells her it was scary, yet fascinating. She advises him that teaching at the School of the Arts can be difficult 'cause it's easy to "fall under the spell of these kids". LOL. As an example, she cites Julie's compositions, which are sometimes as beautiful as she is, and that they remind her of what it's like to be a vulnerable seventeen year old (even though in real life she's a twenty-five year old). Jeffrey tells Miss Sherwood he had lunch with Julie and then got a tour of the school, and Miss Sherwood purses her lips disapprovingly and tells him it's important to draw boundaries with these "kids". As teachers, they can care, listen, teach...but it's important to not step over that line into touchy-feely territory. Jeffrey acts all fake shocked that Miss Sherwood would assume he's getting too personal with Julie, and she wryly tells him she wouldn't be giving him this lecture if she didn't think it was required. Jeffrey explains to Miss Sherwood that journalism was his first major in college - not education, which he doesn't even like that much - but he figured why not bring the two disciplines together and write an article about the School of the Arts and write it from Julie's point of view: Grand Rapids Girl Moves to the Big Apple. (Nice try, Jeffrey - but the writers pretty much fished that lake dry during the series pilot.) Miss Sherwood sheepishly apologizes for giving him a lecture on inappropriate teacher-student relations, but then somehow neglects to give him the reminder: you're at this school to serve as a student teacher not as a journalist lecture.
Jeffrey tracks Julie down and tells her he intends to write an article about the school from her point of view. She looks flattered, then suggests that perhaps one of the older students (the thirty year olds..?) might be a better choice - but Jeffrey says it has to be her, since he already told Miss Sherwood she was on board with the project. To seal the deal, he gives her an appreciative once-over and asks her if she can stand to hang out with someone of his generation...and she shoots him a dreamy look and replies, "Yeah. I can stand it" which...well, d'yuh. I'm pretty sure you're both about the same age.
Later in the week, Jeffrey asks Julie if they could work together during the lunch hour...and Miss Sherwood overhears and asks him how his article is coming along. He tells her it's really coming together, and she compliments him on his teaching abilities and saunters off. Jeffrey asks Julie a round of questions about what it was like to leave Grand Rapids and move to the Big Apple, and she tells him she wasn't sure she was going to be able to fit in, but then did...blah blah. (For more on Julie's overtold "fish out of water" story, see the series pilot.)
Over in the teachers' lounge, Ms. Grant is looking over Mrs. Miller's volunteer credentials. Apparently, she has a lot of experience organizing lunches and special events. Mrs. Miller says she's scared and worried about her future, and Ms. Grant assures her she'll help her find the perfect job (taking food orders at Mickey Dees).
The students are rehearsing the mannequin number again...and holy hell, my ears. Jeffrey slips inside the dance gym to watch, and when Leroy spots him, he abruptly stops the number, glares at Jeffrey, and barks, "You want somethin'?" Jeffrey says he just wants to watch, so Doris informs him that teachers aren't supposed to watch rehearsals. Wuh? Since when? Doris explains that they're supposed to be allowed to sink or swim, so Jeffrey explains that he'd like to write about the rehearsal process in his article, and Leroy perks up at that and agrees to let him stay and endure his screechtastic singing voice.
Jeffrey later tells Julie it was "a trip" watching the Fame kids put the mannequin performance piece together. He then tells her he'd love to be able to take a tour of her Grand Rapids high school - but will settle for a peek at her old yearbook, and suggests they go to her apartment so he can get some background material on her. Mmm hmm..
In the next scene, the two are cuddled on the couch in Casa Miller, looking over Julie's Grand Rapids High yearbook. She gabbles to him about all the false stereotypes regarding kids in New York and the Midwest, then asks him why he's entering teaching if he actually prefers journalism. He tells her that teaching is steadier and less risky...plus he's a little afraid he might not cut it as a journalist. She assures him that self doubt is normal, especially for the students at the School of the Arts...and Jeffrey takes that as a cue to lean in for a kiss - which gets interrupted by the sudden arrival of Julie's mom. Julie hastily explains to her mom that Jeffrey is a teacher at the school, and Jeffrey corrects her and says, "Student teacher" as though it's any more acceptable for a student teacher to be messing around with a student than it would be for a regular teacher.
Later, Mrs. Miller gets all snarky to Julie about catching her playing kissy-face with Jeffrey. She threatens to call the school to complain, but Julie assures her that nothing happened between her and Jeffrey and promises that nothing will...but then totally contradicts herself when she wails that Jeffrey's the first guy she's met (since Lester) she really cares about. Well that's just dumb. She hasn't even known the guy a week.
In the office, Danny tries to convince Mr. Shorofsky to go halvsies with him on a portable cassette player at a two-for-one sale, but Mr. Shorofsky says he abhors these newfangled earphones and declares that music is to be enjoyed by everyone - not used to tune out the world. He's so damned adorable. Some guy named Mr. Cobb arrives at the school to talk to Jeffrey about his article...and he hands it back to him and says, "Close, but no cigar." He explains that the magazine's new owner is operating in "a new way", meaning he'll only publish "short words, simple ideas, flesh and scandal". He wishes Jeffrey success with his teaching career - but Jeffrey stops him and says he'd like to take a shot at delivering the kind of salacious smut the magazine is striving to provide its readership with.
Over in the dance gym, Doris is discussing the wardrobe with the cast of the mannequin show. Jeffrey slips into the room and eavesdrops, and says he's shocked that the students have to buy their own costumes. Doris goes, "What buy? I use a credit card!" She explains to him that since the school doesn't have a budget for costumes, she uses her mom's credit card to buy the garments, and once the show's over, she returns them. Jeffrey says he admires her ingenuity, then stares into space as he contemplatively mulls over that potentially scandalous tidbit for his article.
Right before English class, Julie tells Jeffrey that she talked to her mom about their illicit kissing, and assures him that everything is going to be A-OK. Jeffrey notices that Miss Sherwood is giving them a disapproving stink-eye and tries to get Julie to shut up, but she doesn't take the hint soon enough. Coco asks Julie if she'd like to come to the dance gym after school and watch the mannequin number so she can see for herself how well it works with an actual mannequin, but Julie says she'll be too busy helping Jeffrey with his article. Coco teases her about being smitten with Jeffrey, so Julie snaps at her to mind her own business - and it's a pretty awkward exchange 'cause it looked like the entire class, including Jeffrey and Miss Sherwood, overheard their conversation.
Mrs. Miller is strutting down the hall with Ms. Grant, and judging from the spring in her step, it looks like she found herself a job!
Jeffrey enters the teacher's lounge, and after he makes sure the coast is clear, he dials Mr. Cobb's number.
Mrs. Miller excitedly tells Ms. Grant she got a job as a collector, which entails "going to places of businesses and picking up receipts and things". Ms. Grant gives her a funny look and says it sounds like she's a numbers runner - as in, for organized crime. She strongly suspects that Mrs. Miller was hired either because she's too much of a dumbass to understand the illegal nature of the job, or because she's literally the last person on earth anyone would ever suspect of being a numbers runner. It's probably a combination of the two.
Jeffrey "reports" to Mr. Cobb that the Fame kids are into a sleazy credit card scam, then talks about working an angle on fake racial tensions between some of the students. At that moment, an excited looking Julie bursts into the teachers' lounge looking for him - but her face instantly falls when she overhears him tell Mr. Cobb that he'll look into manufacturing a fake drug scandal at the school to create more buzz for his article. Jeffrey suddenly whirls around and sees Julie staring at him in shock.
Julie runs down the hall crying and bumps into her mother, who's crying 'cause she just learned she's a numbers runner...and the two hopeless nitwits hug.
Later, at the apartment, Mrs. Miller points out to Julie that since they're both so unhappy in New York, perhaps they should consider going home to Grand Rapids. That definitely sounds like the best idea I've heard all episode. Julie looks surprised at the suggestion but appears to mull it over.
The next day, Julie arrives at school with her cello and runs into Jeffrey. He explains to her that since the School of the Arts runs on ambition, she should understand that an ambitious person has to do things he doesn't necessarily want to do. He says he's determined to get his article published - so she snaps, "Regardless of who it hurts?!" and he shrugs dismissively and says, "Young people bounce back." I wonder if he's considered the possibility that publishing made up shit about drug use at the School of the Arts could possibly get him sued by the school board.
Julie finds a dark classroom so she can morosely stare into space and play her cello for a loooong time. Bruno enters the room and offers her a "peace offering" for the whole mannequin debacle: a poem she once wrote for Miss Sherwood's class that he transformed into song lyrics. After he leaves, an intrigued Julie picks up a nearby guitar and starts performing the song...and the sound of backup vocalists mysteriously materializes. LOL. As she sings, she has flashbacks of all the time she spent with Jeffrey over the last couple of days: eating lunch, riding bicycles, strolling hand in hand through Central Park. It remains unclear exactly when all this courtship stuff was supposed to have occurred.
Ms. Grant asks Julie if her mom recovered from "her little adventure" yesterday, and Julie says she's still traumatized from her stupidity in unwittingly accepting a job as a numbers runner. Ms. Grant offers to call the dumbass tonight so she doesn't get too down on herself. She then bumps into Mr. Shorofsky, who's wearing headphones as he listens to the symphony in his new portable cassette player. Yay, Mr. Shorofsky! Way to leap into the '80s!
Julie calls her mom and implores her not to do anything rash. She says they can't just give up on New York, then announces she's in love...but not with that assfuck, Jeffrey. She's in love with a "dirty, grimy, loud school" - as well as with people who dance with dress mannequins.
Julie marches to English class and sassily tells Jeffrey that if he publishes his article, she'll send a letter to the editor, outing him for hitting on a student to get his information. Jeffrey retorts, "You wouldn't do that" - but she insists she would, and that she'll happily pay the price for scuffing her reputation. He derisively tells her she doesn't have the guts, so she shoots him a really squinty stink-eye and says, "Try me."
Dress rehearsal! Without explanation, the mannequin is out - and Julie's back playing the role of the mannequin...and we get to hear Leroy screechily bellowing, "Maaa-nnnnnequin..." again. Give me strength. Incidentally, I wonder who this one performance show could possibly be geared towards?
Thursday, 17 August 2017
Cynthia Gibb - Stand in the Fire Music Video Mickey Thomas
Cynthia Gibb features in the music video for Stand in the Fire by Mickey Thomas which comes from the 1986 film Youngblood.
Wednesday, 16 August 2017
No Feelings - Michael Cerveris & Traci Lyn
"No Feelings" comes from the season 6 episode "Ian's Girl". Written by Johnny Rotten, Paul Cook, Steve Jones and Sid Vicious, it is performed by Michael Cerveris and Traci Lin.
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Tuesday, 15 August 2017
Image - Carlo Imperato, Billy Hufsey, Elisa Heinsohn, Loretta Chandler, Dick Miller
"Image" comes from the season 6 episode "Ian's Girl". Written by Alan Roy Scott it is performed by Carlo Imperato, Billy Hufsey, Elisa Heinsohn, Loretta Chandler and Dick Miller.
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Fame - Lorraine - UK TV Interview July 2017
Fame Interview from Lorraine UK TV Show July 2017 featuring Erica Gimpel, Lee Curreri and Valerie Landsburg.
Valerie Landsburg talks about the On Set Photographer
"There was this wonderful veteran on set photographer on FAME many years ago and he would take these wonderful pictures. Sometimes he would print them in big sizes and he would put word balloons on them with funny things that we might be thinking. Here is one with a still from the episode "Street Kid"."
Monday, 14 August 2017
U.K. Charts 14th August 1982
There's no change at the top of the U.K album charts for 14th August 1982 as The Kids From Fame Album stays at number 1 and the original movie soundtrack stays at number 3. On the singles chart theirs also no change for Irene Cara who stays at number 2 but what's happening down at number 46? The Kids from Fame make their first appearance on the U.K. singles chart with "Hi Fidelity" featuring Valerie Landsburg.
Song of the Week - On The West Side - Valerie Landsburg & Cynthia Gibb
On The West Side - Valerie Landsburg & Cynthia Gibb
Up all night now the streets are getting light on the west side.
Should be tired but there's something keeps me wired on the west side.
Air so sweet it almost stomach the aching.
In just one hour the city will be shaking.
Knocked out, undone,
there's just one place left to run. (one place left to run.)
Head up town, now I'm soaking up the sound of the west side.
Needle Square, all the regulars are there on the west side.
Taxi drivers waving like they know me.
Broadway locals traveling below me.
Hold on, have fun,
there's just one place left to run. (Just one place left to run.)
Ready, too ready, aha to be found on the west side.
Well I'm ready, too ready, aha to be found on the west side.
Well I'm ready, too ready, aha to be found on the west side.
I'm ready, too ready, aha to be found on the west side.
Folks are kind, no predicting who you'll find on the west side.
Hey don't I know you from some place?
Share a cup of a little pick me up on the west side.
Sidewalk drop in promises salvation.
By and by they'll book him at the station.
Knocked out, undone,
there's just one place left to run. (One place left to run.)
Ready, too ready, aha to be found on the west side.
Well I'm ready, too ready, aha to be found on the west side.
Well I'm ready, too ready, aha to be found on the west side.
Say I'm ready, too ready, aha to be found on the west side.
Take a walk on the west side.
Friday, 11 August 2017
Street Kid - 35th U.K Broadcast Anniversary
12th August is the 35th Anniversary of the U.K. Broadcast of "Street Kid" .
Here is a witty recap of the episode from TV of Yore Website
Danny's lying on the floor in drama class, flailing his limbs about as if he's having some kind of a seizure. The rest of the class is trying to guess what he's attempting to portray - but no one gets it right. Mr. Crandall finally asks Danny to tell them what he's supposed to be, and Danny says, "A piece of bacon frying." Doris snarks that a Jewish girl from Brooklyn would never have gotten that, then quips, "I was thirteen before I realized that BLT didn't stand for bagels, lox, and tzimmes."
Mr. Crandall furrows his brows and asks the class to dissect Doris' stupid wisecrack, and she's all, "Wuh? It was a joke." Crandall insists it's more than just that, then calls it "a very prevalent attitude" and "a schtick". Haha! Suck on that, Doris! He tells her that while she's good at schticks, they're a safe, secure, and easy way of getting a laugh. He then glances around the room and starts pointing out everyone else's deficiencies: Danny delivers one-liners very well (that's debatable), Julie only likes to play sweet ingénues, and Montgomery...well, no one yet knows what his performing arts talents are. Crandall chides his students for being unwilling to take risks or stretch themselves in any way. To that end, he announces the next class assignment: in three weeks, everyone must come to class prepared to portray a character that is as far removed from their personality as possible.
Mr. Shorofsky tells Miss Sherwood he needs to speak with her, then mutely hands her a completed car loan application. She's all, "Wuh?" and reminds him he's never driven a car in his life - and he tells her he wants to learn, then explains that he bought the car from a good friend. She's like, "OK, whatever" and promises to submit his application to the credit union to "get the ball rolling". It remains unclear why Mr. Shorofsky isn't handling this financial transaction on his own, at his own bank. He asks her if she could teach him how to drive, and she scrunches her face in distaste, so I'm guessing she's not too enthused about being roped into this favor.
Doris ambles down the stairs looking like she's thinking very hard. She suddenly grins, then turns around and scrambles back upstairs and into Mr. Crandall's classroom, then races across the room and stares out the window at a group of hookers across the street. I'm curious what type of seedy neighborhood the School of the Arts is located in - where hookers brazenly operate in the middle of a weekday. Doris asks Mr. Crandall if he thinks she's a nice girl, and he just kind of shrugs and goes, "I guess so" and she dashes back across the room. She stops in the doorway and asks him if he believes in research, and he's like, "Well d'yuh" and she exits the room and flaps down the hall. Mr. Crandall shakes his head and mutters something about Doris being a human version of the Bermuda Triangle. Haha!
Doris stands in front of a store window that's displaying a mannequin dressed in gold hot pants...and in the next scene, Doris is decked out in the gold pants, along with a pink blouse and waist cinching belt, and a pair of red stilettos. She also has a lot of makeup caked on her face that gives her a clownish appearance, and a bizarre purple feather thing stuck in her hair. Looking every inch a faux cheap hooker, she totters across the street, accidentally breaks one of the heels of her stilettos, then stands beside a hooker so she can mimic everything she says and does. The hooker notices and asks her what the hell she's doing, so Doris tells her she's an actress doing some research, and the hooker laughs at her and saunters off. A potential john comes by to check Doris out, and she wigs out and scrambles to get away from him, and in the process bumps into another hooker. This lady of the evening is played by the lovely Dominique Dunne, who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend a few months after this episode aired. Doris apologizes for not looking where she was going, and Dominique Dunne asks her if Donny Love knows she's here, and Doris is all, "Who?" so Dominique Dunne explains that Donny Love is her pimp, and that he doesn't like it when unauthorized hookers work his corner. Doris tells her she's not actually working the corner, then shakes her head and mutters, "This was probably a dumb idea." Ya think? Dominique Dunne says she overheard her tell the other hooker she's an actress, then says she looks way too young - which amused me, since the actress who plays Doris was 24 years old in 1982. Doris says she's 16, and Dominique Dunne goes, "Me too!" (even though she was 23 when this episode was filmed). Doris offers to buy her fellow "teenager" a cup of coffee, and the two head off in search of a coffee shop.
At a nearby coffee shop, Dominique Dunne asks Doris to empty her purse so she can be sure she doesn't have a police badge on her. Doris laughs at the notion of her being a police officer, but she willingly dumps the contents of her purse onto the table: student ID card, candy bar, gum, and a hair brush. Out of nowhere, a police officer appears and demands to see their identification, then pulls out his badge and informs them he's from the Juvenile Vice Squad. Dominique Dunne panics and tries to run, but her escape is blocked by another cop who has just pulled up. Doris begs the vice cop to let Dominique Dunne go, then refers to her own ridiculous hooker get-up as "a funny mistake". The officer announces that he's taking them both to Juvenile Detention Hall...though it remains unclear what crime he's actually charging them with.
As both girls languish inside the detention center, Doris moans that her mother is going to kill her, and Dominique Dunne rolls her eyes and sarcastically replies, "My heart bleeds for you." Doris remarks how weird it is that they're both the same age (early twenties), but yet so different. Yes, Doris - that's probably 'cause you're a pretend hooker who's slumming it on the streets for one night of your life, while she's the real thing. Doris asks what will happen to her, so Dominique Dunne says her pimp will figure out she's in jail and bail her out...but since he has a mean streak, it's not going to be a fun experience. Doris asks her if she has any family, and Dominique Dunne says if she ever got sent back to her parents' home in Ohio, she'd just run away again. Doris' mom arrives at the detention center just as Dominique Dunne is being led out somewhere - and she turns and tells Doris, "Have a nice life." Doris then starts nattering frenetically at her bewildered mother, recalling the time she saw a baby bird fall out of its nest, then nursed it back to health and donated it to a school, where the kids kept it as a pet. She pauses for a few seconds, then solemnly informs her mom she just found another baby bird with a broken wing.
Miss Sherwood is giving Mr. Shorofsky virtual driving lessons as they sit side by side in one of the classrooms, pretending they're in a moving car. She presents various traffic scenarios, and he tells her how he'd react in each situation. For the sake of other motorists, I hope her training program will eventually include some real life, in-car practice.
A group of students are break dancing in the middle of the hall when Doris and Dominique Dunne enter the school. Dominique Dunne looks intrigued with the impromptu show and bobs her head to the '80s beat. Doris excuses herself for a moment and scampers over to where her cast mates are hanging out. She natters to them about how she was not arrested for solicitation last night, and they all just stare at her in befuddlement. She points to Dominique Dunne and says she's her new friend and that she'll be sitting in on some of their classes today. Montgomery asks, "Who gave you permission to do that?" and Doris barks, "Me!" then rushes back to Dominique Dunne, who remarks that the School of the Arts seems to be "part kindergarten, part zoo". Haha!
Mr. Crandall tells his drama students that they're all unique and special beings, and that they should think of themselves as originals. Dominique Dunne looks impressed and asks Doris if all of her teachers are this kind, and Doris wryly replies, "Not exactly" and the camera cuts to Ms. Grant berating her dance class for giving her the laziest, most awful performance in the history of performances. She pulls a girl named Cynthia off the floor, publicly shames her for her sucky dancing, and makes her sit out for the rest of the class, which I thought was unnecessarily bitchy and mean. Ms. Grant then casts herself as the lead dancer in a sudden, impromptu performance...and the students serve as her backup dancers, which seemed really weird and contrived. Coco starts singing "Celebrate Now, Celebrate Life", and Danny sings along in his sub-par voice...but since he's also not much of a dancer, he just kind of saunters across the floor while he sings. Dominique Dunne looks transfixed by the spectacle, and when the class finishes the number, she holds up her hands and is about to applaud, but Doris stops her and informs her that biology class is next. Dominique Dunne asks if a person like herself could attend this school, and Doris blurts out, "Sure! No problem!" despite the stringent audition process that all students are required to undergo for the privilege of attending this dump.
Doris drops in on Ms. Grant, who assumes that she came to apologize for bringing an unauthorized guest to the school and let her sit in on various classes. Doris fibs and tells her that Dominique Dunne is her cousin and that she'd like to have a special audition arranged for her...then makes up a sob story about how her policeman father was recently killed in the line of duty. As soon as Ms. Grant starts probing a bit, she figures out the story is BS and reminds Doris that the next auditions are months away. Doris begs her to audition Dominique Dunne now, since she's been through so much, and Ms. Grant stares back at her and looks contemplative.
Mr. Crandall tells the rest of the faculty he's not in favor of holding a special audition for some random girl and says she can audition the next time around. Exactly what I was thinking. Miss Sherwood agrees and reminds her colleagues, "We're not social workers" but Ms. Grant scrunches her face unhappily and moans that the next round of auditions is three months away. Mr. Shorofsky asks her what sort of talent this girl has, and she says she has no idea...which is weird, since I figured that would have been her first question to Doris. Miss Sherwood says if they're going to bend the rules there should be a good reason, but Ms. Grant argues that wanting to do a good deed shouldn't be a bad thing - plus, she doesn't want Dominique Dunne to hit the streets again 'cause she'd never be able to look Doris in the eye again. That...should probably be the least of her worries. Mr. Shorofsky offers a compromise: they will let Dominique Dunne audition now, but not skimp on their standards of excellence. Ms. Grant agrees that Dominique Dunne will need to be sensational in order to satisfy the school's super high standards, then rushes off to tell Doris the good news.
At the Schwarz residence, Doris is teaching Dominique Dunne breathing techniques to help her sustain a note while singing. (I guess this means she's a singer.) Dominique Dunne says she's really nervous, but Doris assures her she'll be fine. Doris' mom arrives home and tells Dominique she got a phone message from her boyfriend, Donny Love, and Doris is all, "Ack!" but Dominique says she's not worried, since he only called to let her know he's still out there, in case she wants to return to the streets. She contemplates that for a few seconds, then tells Doris if things don't work out with the School of the Arts, she can always go back to hooking.
Mr. Shorofsky shows Miss Sherwood the car he just bought: a tiny little convertible. Miss Sherwood looks impressed, then expresses concern that the steering wheel is on the right side. They both climb into the tiny vehicle, and she wigs out when she notices that it has a standard transmission. She warily asks him if the sale of the car is final, and he says yes, and that he even bought himself a little driving cap. Hee! Adorable! She says she isn't confident that he'll be able to drive in actual traffic with a standard transmission, and he finally agrees that it was probably a dumb idea to buy the thing in the first place.
Dominique Dunne is set to perform "Blue Moon" for the School of the Arts faculty, and Bruno is providing backup music on the piano. She turns out to be a really bad singer - though not a whole lot worse than Bruno, Danny, or Leroy. Unlike them, however, she has the self awareness to realize how awful she is, and is barely able to finish the song without bursting into tears. When she finishes, Ms. Grant thanks her for coming, and she rushes off the stage to weep shamefully in private. Ms. Grant thanks Bruno for providing the music and says he did the best he could with what he had to work with.
Bruno heads over to where the gang is anxiously awaiting the results of the audition - and he comes right out and tells everyone how badly Dominique Dunne stunk it up. Doris snaps, "Your opinion" and Bruno says, "She's average at best." Julie chimes in and says that Dominique Dunne's dancing bites pretty hard too, so Doris asks them why they didn't tell her this before...and Montgomery says she wasn't exactly willing to listen. Doris says she needs to go find Dominique Dunne asap, then runs upstairs in her weird flail-y way to find her hooker friend.
Doris is on the phone with her mother, trying to track down Dominique Dunne. She tells her mom she has people on the streets looking for her, which made me wonder who these "people" are: Bruno? Danny? The other hookers? After she finishes the call, Ms. Grant walks over and asks her if she wants company while she waits for word, but Doris declines and says she got into this schmozzle by herself and should therefore get herself out of it. Ms. Grant tells her not to get down on herself for wanting to help the girl, then says it's a damn shame she didn't have a scrap of talent. She affectionately calls it "a very Doris thing to do", and tells her she's very special, blah blah...blech. Doris suddenly perks up and says she has an idea where Dominique Dunne could be, then sprints down the hall.
Doris finds Dominique Dunne in the dressing room downstairs, sitting in front of the mirror and caking makeup on her face. Doris asks her whassup and says she's worried she's going to go back out to the corner and start hooking again. She notes how interesting it is that she hasn't yet left the school, and Dominique Dunne glumly asks, "Where else is there?" Doris says she could always go home, then toots her own horn as she sanctimoniously brags about how her mom is always calling her "the world's twin sister" 'cause whenever she sees someone hurting, she hurts along with them. Doris hands her a dime and says she can use it to call either her parents or her pimp, then pretends not to care which she chooses. A few seconds later, she cancels that and says she does care...and so do a lot of other people. Dominique Dunne takes the dime from her, then contemplatively stares into space.
Doris returns to the hall where Ms. Grant is waiting and informs her that Dominique Dunne was hiding out in the dressing room...and a few seconds later, Dominique Dunne appears in the hall and makes a beeline over to the pay phone. She places a call to Cleveland, and gets teary when she talks to her parents - and Doris tears up too.
Drama class! Doris is about to perform her scene as a character that's the polar opposite of her personality. She's wearing jeans, a sweater, and strappy sandals with red socks underneath (!)...and swaggers over to a chair and straddles it backwards. She tries very hard to pretend like she's a hostile, edgy street kid and gives the class a soliloquy about her sad, difficult life...then babbles about wanting to find somewhere where it's OK to be her. I could maybe buy this hard Doris persona were it not for the red socks peeking out of those sandals. When she finishes the scene, she walks over to the wall and shows her back to the class...and everyone looks deeply moved and affected by what they've just witnessed. Mr. Crandall praises her performance, gives her a kiss on the cheek, and tells her she got an A+. She then mutates back into regular Doris and glances around the room with a look of smug satisfaction as the class applauds.
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