THE STORY SO FAR
It’s 1928, and newly graduated speech teacher Lucia Frizzelli is hired by Dazzle Studios to help movie star Babs Tremayne overcome a stutter, so she can make a ‘talkie’ with her husband and fellow star Jake. Lucia travels to LA from San Francisco, where she’s been studying, leaving behind her jazz trumpeter beau Alfredo. Working with Babs at the Tremaynes’ mansion, Lucia only has five weeks to prepare her pupil for upcoming movie A Heart in Peril. The few who know of Babs’ predicament include Jake’s assistant Rick. One night, the Tremaynes take Lucia to movie-star hangout The Cocoanut Grove Club, pretending she’s Jake’s cousin. Revellers ask Babs, a former dancer, to perform a Charleston with rising star Joan Crawford. Instead, Babs dances a waltz with Jake, stealing Joan’s thunder. Joan storms off, claiming, ‘I know Babs’ secret – and so will everyone else before long!’
Penny for them, Miss F?’ Jake asked Lucia as they left The Cocoanut Grove Club in the small hours, Jake and Babs with flushed cheeks and bright eyes from dancing.
‘Oh, I was just… thinking,’ blushed Lucia, who’d been brooding on those threatening words uttered by Joan Crawford. It was true what Alfredo said – when you saw a star up close, they were just as human as everyone else.
As Jake’s yellow Rolls-Royce drew up and a valet stepped out to hand Jake the keys, a flash bulb popped in Lucia’s face, making her flinch.
But the cameras weren’t aimed at her.
