In that show there was an ensemble number in which the kids did take-offs on the stars of the day. Lenore Ulric was in Belasco's Kiki. Marion impersonated her. She was Kiki the rest of her life. Kiki Roberts she chose to make it. And that name was to shout from Page 1 headlines often—for Kiki became the sweetheart of Jack "Legs" Diamond, gangster, mass killer, riddled so often with bullets that he was dubbed "the clay pigeon of the underworld."
Diamond first saw her in "practice clothes," sweater and bloomers, trying out on a chorus call for Strike Me Pink, a revue angeled by gangster dough and starring Jimmy Durante and Lupe Velez. A dozen or more of "the boys" kittied the bank roll. That gave them the privilege of sitting in. Also of putting their young molls in the line.
As one went through her paces, a partner in the enterprise asked:
"Whose bim is dat one?"
"Nobody's," was the answer.
"Den what's she doin' in our show?"
Diamond took another look and almost fell out of his chair.
"She's mine!" he barked.
And, though she didn't know it yet, she was—so quickly and so suddenly that she didn't even open in the show. Diamond wouldn't let her out of bed long enough even to rehearse.
Not a bad-looking beast, Legs; he got his nickname when he was a boy thief, because he could outrun the bulls. Tall, slender, with regular features, dark and personable, Legs was a night club hound, even owned and ran some himself. He was boss of the Hotsy Totsy. There, one night, cockeyed, he shot two inoffensive customers. There were present, besides the corpses and the well-dressed man with the automatic, seven other men, including Diamond's bartender.