MADE FOR EACH OTHER
At first reluctant to talk about himself, Gig is finally bullied by the other members of the group into revealing his life-story and -style. Molded by his bickering parents (his mother is a religious fanatic, his father an iron-fisted authoritarian) into a mass of neuroses and guilts, Gig has failed to make it either as a Marine, a priest (the fathers caught him in a closet with the seminary cleaning lady), or a barber. Graduating from college at 29, he discovered that his major -- African Studies -- qualified him only for unemployment. In addition, his stunted emotional growth has resulted in an inability to sustain a lasting relationship. Little Giggy has grown up into a love 'em and leave 'em ladykiller. Drawn to each other by their mutual loneliness and vulnerability, Gig and Panda begin an improbable courtship. Following a noisy quarrel in the street, Panda walks off in tears while Gig takes up with a new girl. But Gig discovers that his satisfying sex life with Panda has rendered him impotent with anyone else.
In a deserted shipyard, Panda and Gig have a fierce argument, each venting his frustrations and hangups on the other. Finally, the volatile lovers reach and understanding.
"All right, all right, I'll marry you," says Gig to a tearful Panda. "Okay? Now let's go home, I've got an awful headache and I'd like to take a nap."Renee is Pandora, a Jewish girl from the Bronx. And Joseph is Gig, an Italian boy from Brooklyn. Both are misfits and failures and victims of contemporary urbanitis. They are obviously made for each other.
On New Year's Eve, one week after their initial meeting, Panda's mother bursts into her daughter's apartment and routes her out of bed to prepare for her nightclub comeback.
As Mrs. Gold looks on in rapture, and Gig in horror, Panda performs the routine she has been "perfecting" for years - a fifth rate imitation of Rita Hayworth singing "Fire Down Below" and a tenth rate impersonation of Marlene Dietrich's "Falling in Love Again." Although Mrs. Gold tells Panda her act was "pithy," Gig's reaction is somewhat more direct: "It stinks."