Exclusive: Listen to an Excerpt from Cher: The Memoir: Part One
Dec 17, 2024
Lending her voice to the audiobook is none other than Stephanie J. Block, who won a Tony Award for her portrayal of Cher in The Cher Show. BroadwayWorld is very excited to bring you an exclusive excerpt from the book- Chapter 2, I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry. Listen here!
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0:00
Hi, this is Cher
0:02
As you listen, you'll notice that at a certain point in each chapter, a different voice takes over
0:08
Not just any voice, but my friend and Tony Award winner for the Cher show, Stephanie J. Block
0:18
Chapter 2. I'm so lonesome I could cry. By the age of 18, Jackie Jean was an accident waiting to happen
0:30
She looked like a movie star, built like a goddess with an incredible body
0:34
a mane of chestnut hair, and always dressed with perfect taste. You'd never know all her clothes came from the thrift store
0:42
But on the inside, she was still a country girl at heart and far too easy to manipulate
0:49
She'd been raised a Baptist, and it had been drilled into her by my grandpa
0:53
that she should never have sex with a man until she was married
0:57
"'Dult you ever let a man touch you unless you're wed,' her father warned her repeatedly
1:02
"'no doubt reflecting on his own history. "'With his words ringing in her ears, Jackie Jean got it into her head
1:09
"'that she could get pregnant even if she French kissed a boy
1:13
"'And after her childhood molestation, "'she was determined to avoid sex until she met Mr. Wright
1:20
smooth Armenian father Johnny Sarkesian Mr Wrong from the outset And when he asked my mom to jitterbug with him at a hairy James big band dance in Fresno California in 1944 her instincts warned her to be careful The spoiled youngest son
1:38
of a large Armenian family, Johnny was a year older than mom, but wore the kind of flashy clothes
1:45
and jewelry that gave him an air of greater maturity. He wasn't her type and was too short for her taste
1:51
but when they danced together, her blousecock caught on his shirt button
1:55
and she literally couldn't get away. By the time he unhooked her, she realized that not only was he a good dancer
2:02
but possessed a certain charm. They started dating at a time when life had a heightened reality
2:09
and a sense of spontaneity because of the war raging across Europe
2:14
Even though Johnny had been drafted into the U.S. Coast Guard before he was medically discharged
2:19
neither he nor my mom had any first-hand experience of World War II
2:25
When Mom's best friend Anne started dating Johnny's best friend Johnny Kovorkin
2:30
Mom was persuaded to go horseback riding with them but almost fell off when her saddle slipped
2:36
Johnny saved her, his first grandstand play. His next was to teach her how to drive and promise her his Buick convertible
2:45
After that, the couple started seeing each other regularly, but she wouldn sleep with him because they weren married One night in a club where Jackie Jean worked as a waitress and singer a customer who knew Johnny weakness for gambling threw some money on the table and told him
3:03
Stop mooning around her like a sick cow, marry her. He challenged him to drive her to Reno, Nevada
3:09
where couples could marry with no waiting period, cheered on by friends with a similar idea
3:15
four of them left that night, beguiled by his charm and apparent stability
3:20
and impressed by his age and experience, mom found him strong, quiet, and capable
3:27
Before she knew it, she was pronounced Mrs. Sarkesian in a hasty double wedding
3:32
Having turned 19 and having not yet found her sass, it didn't occur to my mother to say no
3:38
even though she thought, what am I doing? And was so unhappy, it was all she could do not to cry
3:46
Less than 24 hours after the ceremony and still a virgin, she walked out on Johnny and fled back to Fresno
3:54
where a friend promised to help her apply for an annulment. My father followed and wouldn't hear of it
4:01
How do you know you don't want to be married? he protested. You haven't even tried it. Give it three months
4:08
Gullible and trapped, my mother was living in a time when women had little or no support from society
4:15
So seeing no other way out, She went back to Johnny even though she claimed she never loved or trusted him Yeah mom whatever He could always out me out me and out me I was no match for him and he charmed me into it
4:32
And by it, I knew she meant sex. The women in my family rarely chose their men well
4:40
and Jackie Jean was no exception. But with Linda, her sole role model, she stood little chance
4:47
beneath his polished veneer, my father would become a heroin addict, with a pension for larceny and a shaky relationship to employment
4:58
Not that she knew that to begin with. As newlyweds, my parents led a chaotic, nomadic existence
5:06
living on my mother's wages and staying with Armenian relatives until their patience
5:12
or funds, ran out. Johnny's family was disappointed because no one had
5:17
ever married a non-Armenian woman. But seeing as my dad was the spoiled child, they forgave him
5:25
except for my grandmother, who was very upset and said, Hovannis, she's too long for you. The only relative who really welcomed my mom was Aunt Roxy
5:40
who wasn't at all traditional like the rest of them. She wanted to be an American girl and do
5:46
everything my mom did. They got on like a house on fire
5:50
but it wasn't enough to keep her with my dad
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