My father-in-law, Ted
Witting, is a charming man who loves to tell a story. Recently over dinner, when I tentatively asked
him if he'd be interested in sitting down for a series of interviews with me,
his immediate reaction was: "When would we start? TOMORROW?"
And so we did! Me: Armed with a tape recorder, pen and pad
and Father Witting providing his presence, some neatly-written reference notes
(!!) and a lovely bottle of wine: We
sat down together the very next day.
He gives great
interview, and I'm honored and pleased to bring you my first blog installment
of The Father Witting Chronicles.
Father Witting: "When
John Lindsay was Mayor of New York City, his staff had a softball team. I was playing the Wall Street League with
the Home Insurance Company team. We had
a good team. We never won the
championship but we'd always come in 2nd place. And we contacted the mayor's office and
arranged a game, to play against his team.
So my wife and our 3 boys came on a rainy day cross the Williamsburg
Bridge and it was WINDY and it shook
the bridge and of course my wife was a little frightened. But the game was postponed, so that was
it: We never played Lindsay's Lancers.
But Lindsay had a lot of trouble in Queens. Cuz they had a big snow storm and the streets
weren't plowed. But he was a very good
mayor on important things, like the racial riots in the 60's. He'd walk the streets of Harlem and calm down
the crowd....
And so, this theme today is an ALL-ELECTION theme."
* * * * * *
"The next one I'd like to talk about today is Mayor
Bill O'Dwyer. He was a Colonel
in World War II. And he caught my fancy because I followed the
war, so I was I guess 10 years old and I convinced my grandmother (my mother's
mother) to vote for him. My grandfather was
a small businessman; he usually voted Republican and they never won the
elections because the Democrats always controlled the city. Which they still do, except for Bloomberg and
Rudy.
Because me and my grandmother, we followed WW II
together. (we made scrap-books about the War, I have
them all upstairs). There's one
scrapbook of ALL CARTOONS - the Journal American and the World Telegram
political cartoons - and they were vicious against the Nazi's and the
Japs. So I have a whole scrapbook of
these cartoons upstairs. And the others books
are all factual coverage of the War. A lot of pictures. We
even have pictures of all the Nazis that were executed, as they're lying on a
slab with ropes around their necks and blood coming out of their nostrils and
mouths, after being hung. Some great pictures. BUT…
O'Dwyer was a Democrat and he was a Colonel in WW II so that
caught my attention and I convinced my grandmother to vote for him. After being in office for about a year, he
was indicted and he ran away to Mexico with a babe, so of course my GRANDFATHER
never forgot that, and whenever elections came up: "What're
ya gonna do, convince your GRANDMOTHER to vote for SO-AND-SO…"
And my grandmother, who loved me very much, you know - she
called me "LITTLE TEDDY" - and I could do NO WRONG where she was concerned… Well, that was one instance that she kinda
held against me. But she laughed about
it...
* * * * * *
"...The other time me and my grandmother had a little run-in, it
was about CLEANING THE LOOKUM .
'LOOKUM' is Danish for Out-House. Out in Sound Beach (the family's summer
cottage on Long Island), from 1929 until my oldest son, was born - 1957, we had
only ever had a LOOKUM. Then when my
son was born, my grandfather put an extension on the house and for the first
time since 1929, we had running water in kitchen and a real bathroom.
My mother got insulted, because she'd had 3 children and we
summered there and she had always had to pump water and clean the diapers. Then
when MY wife came along, my grandfather did that for her (put in a 'real'
bathroom). So my mother kinda held that against us. Or held it against Jeanette (my wife). Or - ACTUALLY, she probably held it against
her FATHER.
Me: "Well, had
she asked for that ever? For that luxury
for herself?"
Father Witting: "No."
Me: "Oh! Well, maybe if she had asked…"
FW: "Yeah,
maybe. I don't know. Could be, could be. Who knows…?
I mean, his WIFE - my
grandmother - to the day she died (she was 88 when she died) SHE never had a
washing machine. She had severe
arthritis, and to clean the clothes she had to go down the stairs and use a
big, stone wash basin, and a washboard. Big
thing, where she'd put all the clothes in and have to hand-wash them…
…I mean, she even used that basin to make the…BATH-TUB GIN during
The Prohibition. And beer, she
made. And my father, who was an expert
at the Speakeasies, he knew them ALL - all around the metropolitan
area - I mean, he was an alcoholic, my father - and he KNEW these places and he said she
made the BEST home-made beer and wine of any speakeasy he ever went into. She was good at it..."
Me: "So this home-made booze was just reserved for her
family? Or…"
FW: "Oh yeah, no - she didn't sell it or anything like
that…"
Me: "You think she could have?"
FW: "I'm sure she could have."
Me: "Man!"
FW: "…But getting back to the LOOKUM, the out-house, I
use to say: Nanna, I'll
clean the Lookum…
And she'd say: 'Oh, no no Little Teddy. You can't do that. That's not a job for you!' Because my grandmother…for instance - if there
was like a STICK OF BUTTER and I went to open it, to put it on the table -
she'd be: 'Oh no, Little Teddy… don't touch
that. Your fingers will get ALL SMELLY.' So that gives you an idea of how she treated me. "
Me: "And that was just with
BUTTER."
FW:
"Just butter."
Me: "So that's amazing,
then, that the LOOKUM-cleaning thing
was even a GO for you."
FW:
"Yeah, you can see I kinda had to force the issue."
Me: "Right.
So then, how often did that out-house/lookum have to be
maintained?"
FW: "I guess
maybe…I'd say twice a season? It wasn't
a BIG deal but…"
Me: "…but not really
something you'd LOOKUM forward to.."
FW: (Laughs) "Nooooo…. But I kept pushing my grandmother and finally
I convinced her to let me do it. And I did it.
And I did a good job, you know.
But then my grandfather, when he got there he said: 'Ho, hooo! You get your Apprentice Card. But you don't get a full Union Card until
you've cleaned out the Lookum for an ENTIRE SEASON.'
But then my son was born, and they put in a nice bathroom, and that
solved that problem."
* * * * * *
"When your husband, Chris, was - I guess 3 years old - Nelson
Rockefeller ran against Averell Harriman.
Averell Harriman was the Democrat Governor of the State: He was
the Ambassador to Russia and he had a great resume`: He was Assistant Secretary of State, a
banker, a wealthy man. He came from a
railroad family - The Harriman Family - and his wife was the head of society in
Washington D.C: Just a family with a strong background. And
he was the governor.
He was a popular governor and Nelson Rockefeller decided to
run against him and Rockefeller was really the last Liberal Republican in this
country and when he was electioneering, he came to my mother's house in Hollis,
Queens. Me, my wife and three sons were living there
at the time. We lived there on the 2nd
floor for a couple of years.
Anyway, my grandfather and grandmother would visit and my
grandmother would mind the boys and we'd go down to the - it was called The Triangle
where Rockefeller was speaking. And he
had a bullhorn and it was a big crowd; The Triangle was where Farmers Boulevard met the
start of Liberty Avenue. It was a rainy
day and we listened to Rockefeller speak and I was kinda talking my grandfather
into voting for him - and I'm pretty sure he did - I mean, he was Republican so
there should be no problem, but he was a little bit too liberal for my
grandfather's taste, I think.
Me: "You really…as a KID, too...you really tried to RALLY your family into your personal political leanings."
FW: "Sure, yeah. Right. "
Me: "You don't hear that all the time, a kid doing that."
FW: (Laughs) " Right. And my grandfather - I'll never forget his quote: LOOK at that damn guy (referring to Rockefeller) - he's got PAINT SPOTS on his
hat!" He had a fedora on, it was raining,
but you'd think a MILLIONAIRE like that would have a decent fedora. But he didn't. He had these paint spots on it. So my grandfather's all like: What does he do,
his OWN PAINTING? What the hell. JESUS CHRIST."
So - Jeanette
(my wife) remembered that. The three of
us were there."
* * * * * *
TO BE CONTINUED....
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