I signed in backstage near the Stage Manager’s desk, before 1/2hr, and walked up the stairs to my dressing room at the St. James Theater, to get ready for another “Hello Dolly” performance. Just after settling in at the dressing table, the Stage Manager’s voice rang over the speakers, “Gail Nelson to the Stage Manager’s desk” twice. So I ran down the stairs to see what was going on and the Stage Manager tells me I was on for the cameo role of Mrs. Rose for that performance. I had never had an understudy rehearsal on stage, but I had memorized the monologue. Then he said Ms. Bailey wants to hear it first before the show starts, in her dressing room. So, I knocked on the door and she said “Come on in, Darlin.” I stepped in and sat across from her and recited my lines. Then she said, “Do it again” but I replied, “Oh Ms. Bailey, I have to get ready for the opening number with the cast. Thank you Ms. Bailey” were the words that came out of my mouth as I quickly left her room to get dressed before she could say another word.


Gail, Lavinia, & Marki

I was getting nervous … After the opening number, I quickly changed out of that costume and entered into this bent-over old lady, wheeling a cart, wearing an old straw hat with a yellow flower pinned on it with shoulders covered over with a crocheted, multi-colored shawl. I stepped into the darkness of the backstage to stand behind the curtain waiting for my cue, when the male star, the legendary Cab Calloway, stepped beside me and softly said “You’re gonna be great, kid,” (Can you imagine??) “I’ll be here when you come off stage,” and patted me on the shoulder. Then I heard “Cue – you’re on,” from the stage manager, and onto the stage I stepped, never missing a beat or a word. There I was reciting my monologue as Mrs. Rose, crossing the stage as directed.

As I started, I looked out into the sold-out audience, looking at me and I could hear them breathing and I spoke to them as I continued my monologue and in a flash, I had finished and walked off the stage. It was done; and guess who was still there waiting for me as he’d said he would, CAB CALLOWAY! What a thrill, what an honor, what an experience to have him be so supportive and sincere to a newcomer to the Broadway Stage.

Signed to Gail of Cab Calloway

How was I to know that over twenty years later, Cab Calloway would be walking me down the aisle at my wedding in 1987, in his home in White Plains, New York, to the man who had been my vocal coach and pianist and became Cab’s pianist-conductor, arranger, after “The Cotton Club” and “Blues Brothers” films reactivated his career, with jazz concerts all over the world until he died in 1994. Both Danny Holgate, my late husband (deceased 2017) and I enjoyed being a part of Cab’s Life and his family there those years.

Life in general is full of surprises, but sometimes, the surprise is truly joyous, historic and uplifting. How life weaves its way in each of our lives as we venture through time and the paths we all have, through the unknown.

For all the people I have met and the places I have traveled in my lifetime, I am full of gratitude for having the stories and experiences to share and leave for my peers, and for the future young performers. Hopefully they can learn and grow from my life’s body of work as a professional performer in this “Business, We Call Show!”

Signed Photo to Gail of “Aunt” Pearl Bailey