henry 's hepcat jive-dance , the sight of so many white-haired , blue-haired , and bald-headed people gliding around the floor , alice weathers beaming happily in the arms of none other than gloomy thorvald thorvaldson , ada meyerhoff and `` tom tom '' boettcher twirling around each other in their wheelchairs , the sweeping pulse of the music driving everything beneath the molten radiance of artie shaw 's clarinet , all of these things abruptly , magically coalesce into a vision of earthly beauty that brings tears stinging to her eyes .