It Was a Very Bad Year

TWO

Las Vegas, November 1963

I first met Abby Dalton briefly when I was in LA with Ava Gardner. We flirted some, but let me repeat that at the time I was with Ava Gardner. Abby was a beautiful young blonde with a delicious overbite (although I had heard it described as ‘vicious’) who was playing Joey Bishop’s wife on his sitcom The Joey Bishop Show.

Joey had called me the day before to say he was coming into town and did I want to have dinner? Whenever any of the guys flew in I made time for them. We agreed to meet at the Bootlegger Italian restaurant on the South Strip. Frank and Dean had introduced me to the Bootlegger, which served traditional Italian fare.

I arrived first and was sitting at a table with a martini when Joey walked in. I was surprised to see that Abby Dalton was with him. Her hair was up, and she was wearing a suit that did nothing to hide her curves, a short skirt and high heels that showed off her wonderful legs.

‘Hey, Eddie,’ Joey said, as they approached, ‘you remember Abby.’

‘How could I forget?’ I asked, standing. ‘Nice to see you again, Miss Dalton.’

‘Oh, please, Eddie,’ she said, dazzling me with that overbite, ‘call me Abby.’

‘All right, Abby. Please, sit.’

She looked at the two place settings on the table and turned to Joey.

‘You didn’t tell him I was coming.’

Joey looked at me for help.

‘No, he didn’t,’ I said, and his look turned to a glare, ‘but it’s a pleasant surprise.’

‘Well,’ she said, ‘somebody’s a gentleman.’

Joey took the hint and held her chair for her. A waiter came running over — because he recognized Joey, or simply because he saw Abby? — and asked if they wanted drinks.

‘I’ll have a Coke,’ Joey said, as he sat. According to him he had never touched hard liquor in his life, and I never saw a reason to doubt him.

‘I’ll have what Eddie’s having,’ Abby said.

‘Vodka martini coming up, signorina.’ I could see in the young waiter’s eyes that he was smitten.

‘Eddie, I’m sorry Joey surprised you like this,’ Abby said.

‘No reason to apologize,’ I said. ‘Why would I not want to eat dinner with a beautiful woman — and a schmuck?’

‘Hey, easy now.’ Joey looked sharp, as usual, in a black suit, white shirt and thin black tie. He always made me feel like a bargain basement kind of guy as I looked down at my own five-year-old suit.

‘Well, I’m sure he got you here under false pretenses,’ she said. ‘You see, I have a problem that Joey said you might be able to help me with.’

There was a time when I thought Frank, Dean, Joey and the rest only called me when they had problems. That time had past, since I’d had many breakfasts and dinners with each of them that involved nothing more than catching up.

‘Well, Joey’s pretty well versed on what I can and can’t do,’ I told her. ‘If he says I can help you, I probably can. At the very least, I’ll try.’

‘See?’ Joey said to her. ‘What did I tell you? He’s the best.’

The waiter returned with their drinks, and a third place setting.

‘We won’t need that,’ Joey said. ‘I’ll be leaving right after I finish my Coke.’

‘Si, signore,’ the waiter said, and took the extra setting away.

Joey looked at me. ‘I just wanted to get you two started, then I figured I’d leave you alone so Abby can tell you her troubles.’

Did this mean that Joey had promised her I’d help, even without knowing what the problem was?

‘Well then,’ I said, ‘you should probably leave so we can order.’

Joey drank half his Coke and said, ‘Oh, yeah, right.’ He stood up. ‘You’ll see that Abby gets back to the Sands?’

‘Of course I will,’ I said.

Joey put his hand on her shoulder and said, ‘I’ll see you later.’

‘OK, Joey,’ she said. ‘Thanks.’

As Joey left I picked up a menu and handed it to her.

‘Let’s order, maybe get some wine,’ I said, ‘and then you can tell me what this is all about.’

‘All right,’ she said, ‘but I’ll be paying the check, since Joey tricked you into coming.’

‘I’ll pay the check, Abby,’ I said. ‘I consider that Joey did me a big favor by arranging for me to have dinner with you, instead of him.’

‘I can see I’m going to have to watch myself with you, Eddie,’ she said. ‘You seem to know all the right things to say.’