Cherie the Parakeet

So this little bird, Cherie, would sit on my shoulder quite often and when I was going to pay the manager the rent, the little bird was on my shoulder. And I used to walk around with it quite a bit on my shoulder. And there was a little grocery store right across the street from us on 45th. It was kind of a tiny little place. So I went across the street because Carolyn said, "Go get a loaf of bread." I forget whatever it was and so I said, "Okay." So I walked out and Cherie was on my shoulder. And it was in the dead of winter and, as I walked out the door, this little white bird flew. Well, my heart sank. I just didn't know what to do. I just saw the bird fly up into the darkness. So I ran back in, opened the door to Carolyn and I said, "Cherie's out.” She said, "What do you mean?" I said, "She's flown away."

So I ran back out immediately and as I got outside, I saw some white feathers on the sidewalk. And I walked over to it and then I saw a brown paper bag and saw that it was someone who was carrying some feathers. So I looked around, I looked around, I didn't hear anything and there was a guy... I'm telling you this story because with all the bad things you hear about New York, I want you to know what a really warm, wonderful city it can be. I walked up the street and here's a great, big, tall truck driver putting boxes on the sidewalk. And I knew he was gonna think I was crazy. I said, "Did you happen to see a little white bird around here?" And he looked up at me and he said, "Yeah," he said, "up there, on that window there." And I said, "Which window?" And he pointed it out. It was about eight floors up.

So I went in through... oh, I can't think of the name of the apartment... it was right over there. I knocked on the door and the guy got me on an elevator and up we went. I said, "I'm looking for a bird and she's on the 9th floor," and I told him where I thought it was. So we knocked on this lady's door and this little old lady came to the door and she said, "Yes?" And we said, "Did you by any chance hear a bird on your window sill?" And she said, "Well, matter of fact, we did." She said, "That little bird was on our window and," she said, "I raised the window to try to get it and it flew away, it flew up," she said, "like to the roof." So we got on the elevator with the maintenance man and we got out on the roof and he said, "How do you call a bird?" And we're walking around and I said, "You squeak at it and its name is Cherie." So here's this guy out in this cold with me and we're both walking all over the roof of this building going, "(makes squeaking noise) Cherie, Cherie, Cherie!"

And suddenly I heard a noise down below, like a bunch of people and I walked to the edge of the roof. This is a true story, so help me. I walked to the edge of the roof and looked down and there was a restaurant right near the Martin Beck Theater with a long can­opy that came out over the street. And I looked down and here is Carolyn standing by the canopy and there was a man in a uniform, a doorman, with a broom, reaching out to get this little white bird off the canopy. And I looked at 9th Avenue and I looked at 8th and the officers on horses had 8th Avenue blocked off. Isn't that something? And this guy took this broom and flipped her off that way and she flew into the street. And down on the street, Carolyn walked and knelt down and picked that little bird up. And everybody applauded!

I told Henry Fonda that story on a film that I made, a film called Warlock. And he said, "De, at least you could write that and send it in to Reader's Digest." But I have never forgotten that and as a result of that thing happening, it really has always given me a very warm feeling about this city. You know, if I ever put that down, I'm gonna call it, "Cold City, Warm Heart". So, any­how, Carolyn went to see a show which reminded me of that, called "Bring Back Birdie" and that's exactly where the birdie was.

Maggie the Cat