The mist was now very dense. A fan was blowing it across the set. When it cleared away the castle had changed. A thick growth of weeds and brush made it seem as if a hundred years had passed during the brief pause for the commercial.
All this time Irene had been standing to the left of the set. She introduced the prince, now seen in a puzzled pose before the forsaken castle.
“What’s this?” he cried. “A lovely castle now appears.
The mist has hidden it for years.”
Parting the thorny bushes, he made his way toward it. Suddenly, to Judy’s surprise, the whole background scene went up like a window shade, revealing the rooms inside the castle.
“There’s Sleeping Beauty again! Isn’t she lovely?” a voice behind Judy whispered.
“And so young looking!” another whispered. “Isn’t it wonderful that Francine Dow can still play the part of a fifteen-year-old girl?”
The face of the actress was turned a little away from the viewers. A veil covered it. She lay as still as death until the prince lifted the veil and kissed her. Then quickly, almost too quickly, it seemed to Judy, the play ended and Irene was before the cameras singing her closing song. She sang it all the way through. When it was finished, she blew a kiss to the children in the audience, adding, “And here’s one for you, Judykins.” Little Judy was always Judykins to her adoring young mother.
“Francine Dow wasn’t really the star. Irene was,” declared Judy as the red lights flashed off. Almost immediately the prop men began dismantling the set. Fairyland backgrounds disappeared. Cameras were pushed aside. The magic spell that had held the audience was over.
“Where’s Clarissa?” Pauline Faulkner asked suddenly.