All these gangsters were nice guys. All of 'em--the top
hoods--they were all nice guys. But they figured the parts I played was
the way I was. Listen to this: when I was doing Guys and Dolls in
Chicago,
one night a guy comes up to me and says, 'The boss wants to see you.' I
thought he was pulling my rib because I was a gangster in the show. He had
a big car,
drove me to this huge beautiful house. Turned out he was with Nitti, for
chrissake! The top gangster in Chicago. So when I come in, Nitti says to
all these guys sittin' around, 'Hey, folks. It's Big Julie from Cicero.'
He believed I was the part I was playing. Becomes real friendly. 'Go to
these restaurants and just sign my name," he says. "Tell 'em Nitti sent
you. And go to my tailor and get yourself a suit of clothes.'" "Did
you?" "Sure! He was a hood. I might as well do what he wanted. Bugsy
Siegel owned a hotel. 'Be my guest,' he always told me. I was their guest
everywhere I went. You know that." "A simple soul, Mazurki," Sylvia
sighs.
