"Take us to Harvard Square near The Charles Hotel. Then I'll let Babe tell you the rest of the way."
Once we get to The Charles, I tell Hoagy that I would
just as soon wait here for a ride home with friends.
Hoagy tells me:
"No problem Babe, but I am staying with you until
you find them. Can't let you wander around in that place without an arm to lean on. Besides we need to keep an eye on that ankle. If it gets worse, you'll
need my help to get into Emergency at MGH. (1)
Getting out of the cab I realize my ankle is swelling and that I better be quiet and accept Hoagy's help. I reminded myself, "A Good Man Is Hard To Find." (2)
Once inside we make our way over to the front desk
and I look around for my friend Dagny. Not seeing her I asked if she is on break and learned it was her night off. Now I am really glad Hoagy was with me.
He insisted I sit down on a nearby bench and brought
over a wheel chair to take the weight off my ankle,
asking:
"Do you need to use the restroom?"
I told him yes and he went and a got a lady from
the front desk to roll me over to the handicap bathroom. She helped me get in and out the wheel-chair and took me back to the lobby where Hoagy patiently waited for me. I thanked them both and
looking at Hoagy I asked:
"Now what?"
He laughed and said:
"Well, I'm hungry how about you?"
I confessed that I was too and that time was not a factor for me, as it was Friday night and I had no
classes until Tuesday. With that he said:
"Well, good, let's go up to the Regettabar (3) and find something good on their late night menu. We can watch the lights over Boston for awhile. Then we
can always go to the hospital for that ankle if we
need to..."
Dave Brubeck (4) and his band were packing up their
equipment and about to leave just as we entered the
room. Hoagy and I took a table close to the stage;
then he walked up and shook Mr. Brubeck's hand and got his autograph for me.
I had enjoyed the Brubeck Quartet in this very room at the Millennium Mercedes Benz Jazz Series (5) in January, but was not able to get his autograph for my collection. On a whim I blew him a kiss which he blew back and soon he came over to our table to say he hoped my ankle would heal soon. Turned out Hoagy knew him personally from filling in for one of his pianist last time the quartet was in town.
I ordered a a Caesar Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing, Hot Roasted Chicken and coffee. Hoagy told the waiter he'd have a "Babe". What he meant to say was,
"The same as Babe." We couldn't stop laughing or could the waiter. When he came back he brought a fresh loaf of hot bread which we started on right away, being hungrier than we had realized.
As we ate and chatted our conversation turned to work and I asked him:
"So what do you do for a day job?"
Pointing nine floors down to an old office building
kitty-corner from the Harvard Coop (6) he grinned and
let me know:
"I work there. Rght down there!" Taking my hand he directed my finger until I found it.
I couldn't make it out this high up but I knew
the building and took a guess:
"Dewey, Cheetham, & Howe Law Offices?
You mean old 'Do he, cheat him, and how.'
Hoagy laughed and replied:
"I work right down there in my family's business directly behind Magliozzi's. (7) Even though the name is most often used by law students in their papers as a fictional law firm, the Magliozzi's made an exception, and named their car talk show, 'Dewey, Cheetham & Howe'. Part of our corporate office (7) are located in back where we maintain a law library. It serves a practical purpose and we get lots of fun publicity out of it."
Pulling a pair of mini binoculars from his jacket he
handed them to me saying"
"If you look through these you should be able to see the gold leaf lettering on the window; it is quite readable from ground level but I don't know about this far away. You've probably seen it a hundred times."
Of course I had. It was one of the first things in Harvard Square that made me laugh. (8)
I asked him:
"What do you do there Hoagy."
"I am in law, just like my namesake. You probably already know that Hoagy Carmichael was an attorney before achieving fame as a composer." (8)
"That is so cool! I DO remember now. Hoagy was
at Indiana University of Law (9) when he penned
"Stardust." (10)
"So Hoagy, what kind of law do you practice?"
"Babe, I'm into entertainment and copyrights. (11)
************************
They say the mind is the biggest sex organ of all
and tonight MY mind was definitely no exception with all the stimulation it was getting from Hoagy.
Getting to know Hoagy was like slipping and falling in to a gold mine. I wasn't even feeling the pain from my ankle anymore and figured it had to be because he was triggering everyone of my pain killing endorphins.
When he suggested that we go visit his MAIN office downstairs I was so intrigued it never occurred to me to say no. My hand slapped his knee and I told him:
"What a great idea! Now if you tell me you have a
piano there, it's a done deal for sure."
"Of course I do Babe! It would seem unnatural NOT to have one! Not only that, bad for business."
"Oh Hoagy, you've GOT to be kidding! I'm so excited
about you I can barely contain myself."
Quickly placing his hand on top of mine, we lingered on his warm upper thigh. He had me where he almost wanted. My sweet darling winked and said:
"Really Babe? I was thinking the same about you!"
I told him that was music to my ears but I would
control myself. He laughed and said:
"Let's get out of here. I want to wheel you away into
my office. You're gonna love all the music memorabilia
I have there. And if you are a real good girl I may even
play you a song...."
Within minutes we entered the doors of his inner sanctum. I loved the place immediately and felt like
I had died and gone to heaven. Everywhere I looked
there were framed copies of original sheet music of well known songs. Too boot there were sepia and
black and white autographed copies of photographs from every Jazz era since the 1920s when 'jass' recordings were first made. He even had an autographed copy of a 1923 photo of Bix Beiderbecke holding his horn. But what really blew my mind was a January 1925 signed photo of Louie Armstrong and Bessie Smith when they recorded W.C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues" which some say is the first Jazz record.
Hoagy kept wheeling me around the room to my constant and ever loving delight. To say I was like a kid in a candy shop would not begin to describe the elation I felt.
Finally Hoagy pushed me over to his Steinway Baby
Grand and sat me down next to him on the piano bench.
He looked into my eyes and said:
"I love you Babe. Stay with me here tonight. No one comes in on Saturday's and we'd have the place to ourselves. I'll even fix you breakfast and take care of your ankle. There is a Murphy Bed (11) in the guest office where you can be comfortable with or without me. I love you Babe - stay tonight - I can't bear to let you go. Say yes. You'll never be sorry, I promise you."
He leaned over and kissed me and IF I thought my entire being was consumed earlier, it was nothing
like what I felt at that moment. Half in a daze I murmured,
"Yes, Hoagy, I can't bear to leave you either."
He helped me up and placed me next to him on the piano bench and I saw a remarkable sight. The original sheet music for the song my mother was conceived by: "Two Sleepy People". (12) It was kind of personal but I needed to share it and If I was ever going do that with anyone, now was the perfect time. He looked at me in disbelief and hugged me close. Getting serious once more he instructed me:
"Let's get this right. Now you're gonna sing and I will follow. Here we go now - just you and me -Two Sleepy People"
***************
Here we are,
Out of cigarettes,
Holding hands and yawning,
Look how late it gets____
Two Sleepy People
By dawn's early light,
And too
much In love to say
Goodnight__
Here we are,
What a cozy pair,
Picking on a wish bone,
From the Frigidaire___
Two Sleepy People,
With nothing to say,
And too much in love
To break away.
Do you remember,
The nights we used
To linger in the hall?
Father didn't like you
At all.
Do you remember why
We married in the fall,
To rent this little nest,
And get a little rest.
Well here we are,
Just about the same,
Foggy little fellow,
Drowsy little dame___
Two Sleepy People
By dawn's early light,
And too much in love
To say Goodnight.
****************
He played and I sang - and we'd kiss -over and over again until exhaustion finally set in. I felt him pick me up and put me back in the wheel chair. Startled I woke up and asked:
"Where are you going Hoagy."
He shushed me up and told me he would be right
back to get me. I heard a soft thump and him walking
back. He checked my ankle and said:
"Looks like it's about the same but to be on the safe
side, I don't want you walking on it."
He wheeled me into his guest room where he gently laid me down on the Murphy Bed whispering in
my ear:
"I am going to take your clothes off and hang them
behind the door."
It took him awhile but I enjoyed every moment of
submitting without protest. With each article of clothing removed he let out a soft sigh.
He placed me between the ivory monogramed antique
satin sheets and kissed me goodnight. As tired as I was, it was difficult to let him go.
I soon drifted off to sleep but awoke a short time
later feeling his naked hard body holding mine -
kissing my neck and whispering in my ear:
"Babe, tell me to leave and I will. But hold me and
love me for just a little while. I need you so badly. Tell
me you love me and want me to stay here with you."
********************
To Be Continued 6/30/09
Footnotes:
(1) MGH Massachusetts General Hospital
Home to Harvard Medical School
(2) Sophie Tuckers (b.1884) signature song. A modern-day proverb, espousing the difficulty of finding a suitable male partner. This phrase was coined by Eddie Green, as the title of his song "A Good Man Is Hard To Find". This was composed in 1918
Meaning
(3) Regettabar: Upscale bar and restaurant on top
floor of The Charles Hotel over looking Boston.
Home to Mercedes-Benz Jazz Series.
(4) Dave Brubeck, is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic. His long-time musical partner, alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, wrote the Dave Brubeck Quartet's most best remembered piece, "Take Five", which is in 5/4 time and has endured as a jazz classic.
(5) Mercedes Benz Jazz Series (refer to 3).
(6) Harvard Coop Bookstore is in the heart of
Harvard Square and supplies MIT and Harvard since
1882. It's cafe is world famous. Located at
1400 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA
(7) NPR's Car Talk Program
(8) Hoagy Carmichael was a American composer, pianist, singer, actor, and bandleader. He is best known for writing "Stardust" (1927), and "Heart and Soul", two of the most-recorded American songs of all time. Alec Wilder, in his study of the American popular song, concluded that Hoagy Carmichael was the "most talented, inventive, sophisticated and jazz-oriented" of the hundreds of writers composing pop songs in the first half of the 20th century.
(9) Indiana University of Law: Carmichael attended Indiana University and the Indiana University School of Law, where he received his Bachelor's degree in 1925 and a law degree in 1926
(10) Stardust (Star Dust) Later in 1927, Carmichael's career got off to a flying start. Carmichael finished and recorded one of his most famous songs, the sophisticated "Star Dust" (later re-named "Stardust") with lyrics added in 1929), at the Gennett Records studio in Richmond, Indiana, with Carmichael doing the piano solo. The song, an idiosyncratic melody in medium tempo, actually a song about a song, later became the quintessential American standard, recorded by dozens of artists.
(11) Murphy Bed: William L. Murphy, who was born in Columbia, California, near Stockton on January 1, 1876, moved to San Francisco at the turn of the century where he met his future wife. He lived in a one-room apartment that had a standard bed taking up most of the floor space. Because he wanted to entertain, he began experimenting with a folding bed, and applied for his first patent around 1900.
The "Murphy Wall Bed Company" of California came into being that year, making it one of the oldest furniture companies in America with nearly a century of continuous manufacturing and marketing.
The first of the folding beds were manufactured in San Francisco. In 1918, William Murphy invented the pivot bed that pivoted on a doorjamb of a dressing closet, and then lowered into a sleeping position - some of which are still in use today.
12. "Two Sleepy People " - Words by Frank Loesser
Music by Hoagy Carmichael. It is from the Paramount
Motion Picture "Thanks For The Memory" Copyright
1938. My great-grandmother told me the story of
the role the song played in her life.
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