Mr. Wow Blog
Remembering Jack–Mr. Wow Recalls His First Good Guy
11:35 pm | September 24, 2012

Author: Mr. Wow | Category: Point of View | Comments: 414

 

 

When last we left 15 year-old Mr. Wow, he’d just stepped off the subway, onto Times Square, determined never to go home to Hollis Queens, anymore–Yeah, the old Shangri-La’s song was deep in my brain!  (In case you’ve forgotten where you left off, check “Mr Wow Leaves Home” in April.)

 

I had yet to discover Greenwich Village, so I kept myself to the 42nd Street area.  It was pretty sleazy, but I was hardly Green Garson.  I gave myself no airs.  Nor did I pretend to have fallen down this icky-sticky rabbit hole by mistake.  I’d jumped right in.  Sleazy was okay by me.  Or at least it was nothing I didn’t relate to.  I’d seen “The World of  Suzie Wong” and “Walk on The Wild Side.”  (Who didn’t want to be Jane Fonda’s Kitty Twist in “Wild Side?”  Or Susan Kohner crooning “Empty Arms” in “Imitation of Life.”)

 

I spent Christmas ’68, New Year’s and my January birthday shivering on the streets and trying to figure out a way to make this way of life my way of life without it becoming my real way of life.  That is, how to avoid everybody who drank, took drugs, and seemed determined to become terrifyingly hard and rip everybody else off.  I was interested in—believe it or not—a home-like situation.  Somebody to take of me.  Not in grand style.  Just a roof, food, and a person who’d put up with the general emptiness of my soul.  This took some doing.   My initial experiences were helter-skelter.  A night here, a week there.  Once I scored a whole month.  But he was way too demanding.  I hadn’t left home to be told what to do and when to do it!   I became well-acquainted with all the flop-houses.  Five bucks for the entire night.  I ate sparingly.  It didn’t seem to matter much.  I was more concerned about my teeth.  I stole a toothbrush from the drugstore and tried to brush as often as possible.  (I later came to have quite a career as shoplifter, and never felt the slightest guilt.)    Also, when I’d left home, I was still a bit husky. A healthy boy. Within two months I was a waif.  I didn’t even realize it until one night after doing the deed with…somebody, I’d gotten out of bed and passed a mirror.  I was shocked.  I could see my ribs!  I was tiny.  Yeah, I was thrilled.  I was anticipating Victoria Beckham.  It hadn’t occurred to me till that moment why I spent so much of my time hitching up the waist of my now-pretty-grimy slacks—the ones I’d left home wearing. 

    Soon after, as luck would always have it with Mr. W., I met a guy who was appalled by the condition and fit of my clothes.  He bought me jeans that fit, a dark blue shirt, a denim jacket and a little neckerchief thing.  He thought that was a cute accessory for me.  And it was. (I didn’t bother with underwear.  I’d discarded them three days after leaving home, and soon became uncomfortable wearing anything under my pants.)

     But he also thought I was way too young to be seen coming in and out of his apartment for any length of time.  Still, he was awfully sweet to have bought me those clothes.  He also advised me to shave the peach fuzz that had now darkened.  I was loathe to do this.  I didn’t want to shave, for heaven’s sake!  I wasn’t a man, I was a boy!  But he was adamant, especially because my cheeks were also blemished with teenage acne. He just took me into the bathroom and, whoosh!  Didn’t even need shaving cream.  But it was done. That cherry had been popped.  I would have to tend to my beard from then on.

    Years later I ran into him again, in a bar.  He was trying to score with the youngest boy in the place (not me, any longer.)  He wasn’t having any luck.  He recognized me right away though, which pleased me—I was holding onto my freshness. I was still hustling, but I never needed money so badly I couldn’t return a favor.   We went back to his place and did it for old times sake—for that neckerchief.  And the shave.

 

In the chilly spring of 1969, I was living perilously, despite my scaredy-cat precautions. I’d had a few close calls that I escaped through some intelligence but mostly by being young and nimble—I could jump from a slow-moving car, when I had the chilling feeling I was being driven to something pretty awful.   But I wanted off the mean streets.  I didn’t mind spending a good deal of my hustling money going to the movies instead of eating (I saw “Funny Girl” ten times at the old Criterion Theater on Broadway.  Then I’d linger outside, waiting for the next pick-up.)    Still, Babs aside, I knew for all my wary ways, I was on a slippery slope, one way or another.  I’d already been arrested at the Port Authority for “loitering.”

    The two cops who nabbed me were not impressed by my claims of being 19 and my phony name—Tom Kelly.  I thought it sounded Irish, since most people took me for Irish in those days. (I’m Irish/Italian)   It was scary.  I was put into the PA holding cell, crammed in with a filthy clutch of truly skanky, dangerous-looking, full-grown men.  Lots of leering and groping and remarks that made it clear—wherever I was going that night, I wasn’t going to be getting any sleep.   And I certainly wasn’t going to be paid for anything I had to do.

   They still had paddy-wagons back then; we were piled in, and driven downtown to the Tombs. Just before we were all scheduled to be incarcerated, the arresting officers took me aside.  “Look, kid.  You’re not 19.  What’s your name?  Who are you?  We’ll call your parents.”   I was adamant.  Garbo never gave such a performance.  The cops sighed.  “Okay, look.  You want to spend the night with them?” indicating my salivating fan club of petty and not-so-petty criminals.  I said I’d rather not.  “Well, we can put you by yourself, nobody will bother you.”  I thought this was a nifty idea.  “But” (uh-oh)  “you be nice to us, and we’ll be nice to you.”   Nothing more needed to be said.  I promised to be “nice.”  And I was.  Much to my surprise, they kept their promise, too.   I was alone for the night. (I know, I know. I was taken advantage of. It was rape, abuse! Eh.  I was doing it anyway, and they were, I have to admit, both rather attractive.  Maybe it was the uniforms. In any case, I chose this path.  And these were the potholes. )

    In the morning there was some weird, brief, courtroom scene.  I was on the streets again within two hours.  And after laying low for a few days, I was back “loitering” in and around the PA. (The same two cops would re-arrest me a year later, to a far different outcome.)

   I was ready to “settle down.”  But how?  Salvation came one evening when I was lounging against the lockers on the first floor of the P.A. (these are long gone.)   I was wearing my jeans and denim jacket and an unseasonably skimpy tee-shirt.  Oh, and the eternal Converse sneakers, in dark blue.  My hair was growing long, and I kept blowing one wayward lock out of my eye.  I’d seen Marilyn Monroe do this in a movie, and of course, whatever MM did…It was also wildly effective and cute.

   A short, stocky guy passed me. He gave me the eye.  I have him one of my butch-er looks and shifted my weight from one skinny hip to the other.  I blew the hair out of eye.  That did it.  He came back.  He wasn’t good-looking, but he looked nice, kind.  And he smelled freshly showered, which indeed he was.  (Later I would learn he was, aside from myself, the most showering person on earth.)  His name was Jack Santos and he thought I was just the cutest thing he’d seen.  He asked me my age.  I told the truth.  I always did.  Except for dealing with the cops, who wanted to be older?  Youth sells.  He blanched.  “16, really?  I don’t know, I don’t know.”   “Fine,” I said, giving him a bored profile, pretending to dismiss him for the next trick.  (Age doesn’t treat the profile kindly. But back then, balanced with a thick head of hair, it was attractive.)    “No, no.  It’s okay, let’s go to my place.  But if anybody asks, say you’re 21 and my nephew!”  Who would ask, I wondered? 

   “His place” turned out to be The Alamac Hotel on West 71 Street on Broadway.  I’d come to learn that the West 70’s were just chock full of gay men.  I recall laughing once when somebody was driving me up there and I saw from blocks away the big clock on the top of the bank on 74th street.  “Does every gay man live up here?!”

   The Alamac (which is now a condo) was then a kinda beat-up residential hotel.  Right across the street was the infamous Ham ‘n Egger diner, which was open 24 hours and was really hopping around 5:00 am, after the bars closed.   The area was run-down and in its “Panic In Needle Park” mode.   In fact, I watched parts of that movie being filmed up there.  

   For all of Jack’s concerns, nobody gave the slightest notice to me and my “uncle.”  Up the elevators we went and to his room, where, to my unpleasant surprise, was another young man.  Let’s call him Paul.  That might even have been his name.  He was not 16.  Or 21.  About 25 I guessed.  Dark and good-looking.  Well-built.  He’d been staying with Jack for a while.  Damn!  I had to deal with this?  Indeed I did.  After Jack and I swiftly did the deed.  (He never lasted long)  Paul decided he wanted a piece.  He did  last long.  So long that I cried. He didn’t mind.  Quite the contrary. (I’d already learned this about some men. They liked it when they knew it was painful.)   Later while I was sniffling in the bathroom, Jack came in and asked me, with surprising concern, “Did he hurt you?”  I was annoyed  and bitchy: “What? Couldn’t you tell? I was crying.”  I knew he was smitten.  On the way uptown, on the train, I’d given him the full treatment—the big gray eyes, the wistful air of fragility, the sudden big smile. (My most prized physical gift—an amazing set of teeth.)  He reprimanded Paul.  “Can’t you see he’s just a baby?”  I smiled sweetly over Jack’s shoulder.  Paul gave me a look Medusa would envy.

   For about two weeks we were crowded into that small hotel room.  Jack didn’t have much money, so I hustled, but I had a roof over my head.  Paul, on the other hand, seemed to do nothing but lay in bed.  He was eager to have sex with me again, and I allowed it, but I was also aware he wanted me gone.  Jack was his little gravy train.  As for Jack, in those weeks I learned a great deal about him.  He was Portuguese. He was about 47.  He’d worked all his life at various odd jobs, including a lot of carnival and circus work.  Although he hadn’t seen his family for years, he often talked of them, and felt sure if he ever needed anything, they’d be there for him.  I doubted it.  He wasn’t super-smart, but he wasn’t dumb.  He was deeply prejudiced, however, which amused me.  I came to think of him like Archie Bunker.  In time I’d be his fey Michael Stivic, always challenging his ideas, and reminding him: you’re part of an oppressed minority yourself.  But most of that was years later. 

   The most pressing concern was Paul, who daily reminded Jack that I was dangerous jailbait and that Jack would be imprisoned for life  if anybody discovered my real age.  (As if Paul wasn’t availing himself of Mr. W. at every opportunity.)   Jack, always nervous, didn’t want to see me go, but I knew Paul was making headway.

   Finally, one day when Jack was out for a few hours, visiting nearby friends, Paul took me by the shoulders and said, “Now, Wow, you know that Jack is a wreck about you.  This is a hotel.  The front desk sees you come in and out all the time.  What you think they think?”   I said: “I think they think he’s fucking me, and at least two at the front desk wouldn’t mind either.”   My logic didn’t sway Paul.  “Jack really left today because he wanted me to tell you, you had to go.”   Oh?!   “Jack’s so nice, he couldn’t do it.  But you really have to go.”   Paul, who had a handsome but hard face, was not handsome at all in that moment.  It was all hard.  And maybe older than 25.  With his hands still on my shoulders, he guided me toward the door.  “This is the best thing,” he said.   As I stood forlornly in the hallway, I asked, “Well, look, could I at least have a couple of bucks?”  Paul smiled.  “Why, honey?  You know how to earn your pennies.”  Door slowly closes.  Scene ends.

 

Out on the streets again.  Damn.  Although it wasn’t a total loss. I did finally discover The Village, The Stonewall, and having been taken to that iconic bar by a pair of gay brothers (not the fraternity type), also found the joys of being part of a community. Such fun, that first night at the Stonewall. I experienced the high-camp cinematic thrill of having a drink thrown in my face and being called a “tramp.”  (The brothers weren’t too happy that I’d gone off dancing with dozens of others.  Look, they’d gotten what they wanted already. I was only 16.  No other excuse needed.)

 

Still, I missed the stability that Jack had seemingly promised.  Two weeks after my expulsion from the Alamac, I went back uptown and “innocently” visited Jack’s friends, a couple to whom he’d introduced me. They were happy to see me, but asked, why had I treated Jack so poorly?  Where had I gone?  And with no notice?   I explained.  They said:  “Jack’s coming to visit soon.  Stick around.”   I stuck around.  He was thrilled to see me.  I explained again—hadn’t he wanted me to go?   Paulsaid so.  We returned to the hotel.   Paul was naked in bed, as usual, watching TV.  Nothing in my life up to that point was as satisfying as watching his face fall as I came in.  Or when he left.  He called me a whore and said I’d get mine.  I said I’d already gotten mine—you loser. 

 

And so life began with Jack.  We were at the Alamac for another six or seven months.  His income was sparse and I often hustled for grocery money.  I really didn’t mind.  He was besotted.  He thought I was smart and cute and funny and couldn’t believe his good luck.  I couldn’t believe mine, either.   At some point, he secured a better job.  So much better that he moved us out of the Alamac and into The Beacon Hotel on 74th Street.  It still exists, with the legendary Beacon Theater below.  In those days the theater was still showing movies and tarnished by decades of neglect.  But it looked fabulous to me.  I spent many happy hours there.

 

The Beacon Hotel was a very nice residential hotel, plush by my standards—which were nothing.  Jack said, “Now remember, you’re 23 and I’m your uncle.”   23, really?   I was just seventeen, if you know what I mean (as The Beatles sang.)

 

I settled in as a young matron.  Although the two room suite (with huge closets) was furnished, Jack bought a riotously gaudy red-velvet sectional couch.  He thought it was high class.  I thought it was high-camp and was amused by his innocence. (I would bring friends over just to laugh over the couch.)  Jack was the kind of guy who thought the more expensive something was, the better it was.  I came back one afternoon to find a new stereo and turntable and speaker set-up.  It had cost several hundred dollars.  I was aghast.  (Give me that money!)  He kept quoting the price and insisting it was the very best.  I wasn’t picky and pointed out that we could have had the same for a lot less.  Especially as I was the only one who ever played records.   But it was a matter of pride with him, and in time I knew it was useless to argue. 

 

We weren’t “lovers.”  He didn’t demand fidelity. (Although he was actually faithful.)   He just wanted to know where I was going and what I was doing and please call if I was staying out all night—or for several nights.   I tried to be sensitive to those needs but often I found myself caught up in some experience and I’d disappear for days.  He was always there, waiting and worrying, kind of parental and controlling. I knew I’d  worried him terribly.  He was quick to anger and yell, but as the years passed I was equally quick to respond, rather shrewishly.   I saw he actually preferred me with more spirit.  Then, he didn’t.  But we were together a long time.  He didn’t like cats.  But when I brought home a Siamese kitten, he let it stay, because I cried over it.  I called him Rodan after my favorite Japanese sci-fi movie.  In time, Jack came love Rodan more than I did.

 

During those years I discovered drink and drugs and a set of friends.  I  also began to wonder what love was really like?   Everybody around me talked of lovers and boyfriends and I continued screwing aimlessly.  And hustling.  Jack didn’t have oodles of spare cash, and I needed things.  Mostly records and books and Marilyn Monroe memorabilia.  And, to be honest,  it was still a thrill to be wanted so much that people would pay. 

 

As I moved into my twenties I became increasingly restless and dissatisfied.  I had several major crushes on young men who were willing to sleep with me, but hardly committed to somebody who seemed committed only to a life to whoring, drinking, sleeping till noon, watching soap operas, and generally wasting my time. (It was great!)   One of my crushes so effected me I turned into Lana Turner and/or Joan Crawford.  Pestering, obsessive phone calls, crying, begging.  Not pretty.  And he’d already warned me that he didn’t know how to let people down easy.  But I was determined to humiliate myself to the nth degree.  In time, we parted.  That is, he drifted away with determination.   I think of him often. 

 

 At the lowest point of this “affair” I ran into B., again, whom I’d known for years as a casual, affectionate, playmate.   In fact, he was going into the Beacon to meet some friends.  I was a mess.  I’d gained weight, my skin was broken out (more than usual) I was sullen.  He was chipper and attentive and invited me to the party he was attending.  I forget now if I went.  I do remember how concerned he seemed.  I thought little of it then.  The rare sweet guy.  With a great ass.

 

Jack watched warily as I paced restlessly from room to room, snapped at him, complained and spent even more time out and about, dragging my sorry backside in at any hour of the day or night and offering no explanation.   Finally, a “friend” whom I would sometimes entertain at the hotel when Jack was out, came over one afternoon.  He was older and paying me and kind of a drag, but I was floundering.  After sex that day, I became extremely hostile.  He said, “You know, you seem to be in need of some kind of help, why are you so angry?”   I said:  “Because of pricks like you, using me.”  He ignored that and wrote out a name and number.  His therapist!  I laughed.  “Have you discussed why you need to pay boys to have sex, when you’re only in your thirties?”  He left me saying:  “Go get help.  You don’t know how bad off you are.”  

 

But I did know how bad off I was.  And within a week I was at the therapist’s office.  “I can’t pay you” I said, after babbling out a few of my issues.

 

“Why not?” 

 

“Because if I did, I’d be paying you with money I got hustling, and I don’t think I want to do that anymore.”

 

He thought about this for a few seconds and then said, “ I can give you ten sessions free.”  At the time, I didn’t realize what a stunning sacrifice that was for a therapist.  I thought, maybe, all of them were this kind and concerned?   Not really. 

 

So I began.  I told Jack I was seeking therapy which totally freaked him out.  He was not sophisticated.  And he feared (I knew) that I’d become more independent, find more fault in our relationship, leave him. 

 

The sessions were intense, though I attempted to be casual and dismissive.  I said—as I always say—that my experiences hadn’t been so awful, others had it worse, I was really okay about everything.   He said, “I hate to tell you this, but I’m surprised you’ve survived as well as you have.  Do you want to give yourself any credit for that?”   Of course I didn’t.

 

Before and during my visits to this therapist, I

had  been experiencing  powerful dreams about swimming and driving a car.  I couldn’t then, and still cannot do either.  But the dreams were incredibly strong.  We discussed them.  In the time-honored ways of therapy, I was expected to decipher the dreams for myself.   “Well, I can’t drive or swim.  I’d like to do both.  Both seem to be symbolic of taking control, of your body and of this big machine that represents freedom.  You get in a car and you are off!  You swim and you conquer great fears. You own your body. Is that right?”

 

“What do you think?” 

 

“I think you should give me some help!”

 

“You have to decide what these things mean, I can’t tell you.” 

 

And there were my movie star infatuations.  I discussed my great obsession with Marilyn, but also, that although I was no less interested in MM, I was increasing fascinated by Elizabeth Taylor, on a less sentimental plane. 

 

“Do you know why it is?”  he asked.

 

“Elizabeth has very big hair and no taste?” 

 

“Is that all?”

 

“I don’t know!  I don’t know!  Is it because Marilyn was a victim and Elizabeth is a survivor, and I want to be a survivor?”

 

“What do you think?

 

Eventually, it came to an end.  The therapist begged me to continue. Not with him (he’d given enough free non-advice) but with others who’d take me for a minimal fee in a group.  I was touched by his concern, which I considered genuine, but I’d already made my decision.  A week after my last session, I told Jack I was leaving him. He was shocked, distressed, if not entirely surprised. (But I also sensed some relief.  I had become a troubled young man.  Who needs trouble?) 

    At the moment I told him, I actually had no plan. I was just sure that leaving was the best thing.   But within two days, a good friend called to say he was about to leave his long-time lover, would I come in with him and share an apartment?   It was a crummy dump down in Chelsea when that area was still a rotting pit.  Rent was less than $100 a month.  The place was a wreck.  I took a look and said yes. 

   To meet my commitment for the first month’s rent I needed $50 bucks.  I wasn’t going to ask Jack, who was till trying to persuade me to stay.  And I didn’t want to do it the easiest way—hustling.   So I sold my fairly massive Marilyn collection—books, magazines, stills.  It was, even in 1975, worth a small fortune. Well, at least $2, 000.  But the guy at the memorabilia store offered me $60 bucks, period.  I knew I was getting ripped off, but I knew I had to do it.  And in letting go of this precious material, I had my first lesson in the non-value of “things.”  I felt cleansed and fresh.   (Needless to say, in years to come, I replaced every bit of that collection, and then some. I couldn’t stay that cleansed.)

 

I left Rodan with Jack.  I packed up my books and my records and my few items of clothing and I left The Beacon Hotel.  It wasn’t easy, though I was sure I was doing the right thing.  Jack was not resigned to my departure.  In fact he was still in shock.  “You can come back if this doesn’t work out.”   And still, I felt he wasn’t shattered by my departure.  He’d want me back if I came back as I was during the earlier years.  Although I was far from a secure person, I was less compliant.  And it did seem like I was living with a parent. 

 

So my friend Richie and I moved to Chelsea. We painted all the walls and ripped up the rotting linoleum.  Never in my life had I done anything like this.  It felt pretty great.  I even had my own room.  Tiny, in the back of the apartment, no window, but it was mine. It had  a door, and I had blessed privacy.  Richie found a job for me, at a card store on 57th Street. Nearing my 24th birthday I’d never worked a day in my life, but the elderly couple who ran the store, Mr. and Mrs. Cohen, took an instant liking to me. (They thought I was a nice Jewish boy at first.)   I had to learn the stock, but mostly I had to be charming and sell greeting cards.  My “people skills” came in handy.  I was charming.  I sold greeting cards.  The pay was low but the rent was super low, so I actually had a lot of spending money.  And, let’s face it, when I went bar-hopped, I still expected to be noticed, flattered and bought drinks.  After all, 24 is still pretty young.

   Summer was divine that year.  I didn’t think much about what I might “do” with the rest of my life, but for the first time, it really was my life.  Those months were without a doubt the happiest of my entire life.  I recall lazing out the fire escape, playing the soundtrack to “Funny Lady.”  I was free, I was…well, maybe I was even worthy to be loved.

 

But, nothing lasts.  Though my friend Richie never acted as an authority figure who told me what to do, his mere presence was enough to get me going in the morning, keep me on the strait and narrow.  But one week he had to visit family in Florida.  I was alone. I went out and partied.  I had a hangover.  I called in sick.  And again the next day.  And the next.  By the time Richie returned I’d lost my little job.  I needed a human presence.  Being left to my own devices was clearly not a good idea.  Within a month I had to move out.  I would not/could not find another job.  I stored my belongings in a locker at the PA, and hit the streets again, a wearier, beaten down, deeply disappointed person. Where had all my joyful resolve gone?  Had it not been real?  Apparently not.  I did not return to Jack.  I didn’t think it would be fair to either of us.  I was bitter, angry at myself.  I knew I’d take it out on him.  He’d done enough for me.  And, perhaps he’d moved on—somebody younger, fresher?  That was something I didn’t want to face.

 

When do you lose hope?  I lost it in the spring of 1976, when I left that little Chelsea dump, with my friend and my room and my independence. I resigned myself to life on the streets, in hotel rooms.  I wasn’t depressed.  Not as I experience depression today.  But I was never ever going to get back on the horse that threw me.  That did make me sad.  And I was scared.  I’d been around for a long time.  I wasn’t anybody’s idea of the new boy in town.

 

And then, one night at a bar in the Village (Numbers, I think it was called then)  I ran into my old friend, B. I’d lost a lot of weight.  My clothes were tatty.  I was trying too hard to be carefree.  “Come back to my place, we’ll have something to eat.”   So I went. I was appalled, as ever, at his incredible sloppiness. (The first time we’d been together, years before, I’d actually tried to clean his kitchen and generally straighten things up. I might have scrambled some eggs, too.)    B. made spaghetti and steak.  I ate.  He didn’t.  I figured he’d want something in return for his pasta—everybody wanted something–but he only said, “If you need anything, you can always drop by.”  At first I was offended. Did I look so bad that I’d lost my appeal?   But I dropped by the next night. (That steak was good!)   I hadn’t lost my appeal.  I never left.  

 

The saga of me and B during that time is another story altogether.  I’ll skip it for now.  We lived in his place in Chelsea.  Then on to Chicago. Then to Detroit.  Then to Hoboken.  These were his choices, attempting to advance his life and career.  I was either on welfare or not working or working at little thrift shops or housecleaning. I didn’t have much say in our travels. But by then I’d fallen very deeply in love. I felt a tenderness and convern for him which I didn’t think I was capable. Not that I wasn’t still a childish little prick.  (I will have to ask B.’s permission to tell more of our life. Neither of us are perfect people.)

     For a while, after we returned to the tri-state area, I had a stint scrubbing floors up in my old neighborhood, the West 70’s.   One day, while strolling up W 72nd, on my way to washing down a cruddy stairway, who did I see sitting outside a drugstore, checking out the customers wandering in and out?  Jack.   He was working there.

    Usually very concerned about what “people thought” he just got up and kissed me, right there on crowded 72nd Street. I was shocked by his public gesture—so unlike him– but terribly pleased to see him.   I gave him a rundown of the past couple of years.   He said only, “Do you really love this guy, B.?”   I said yes.   And then he added, “But why are you scrubbing floors?”  I explained—though he knew me well enough—that I hadn’t the slightest idea how to really become a working person.  “I have to contribute somehow.” 

 

He asked me to come back to where he was staying—with his old friends whom I’d met years before.  He had fallen on rather sparse times himself.   He was just getting by.   We talked and then we went into his room.  Of course we had sex.  I couldn’t refuse him.  He was no stranger.  He’d supported me for years.  I did care for him, love him, really.  Often, sex is just another way of saying thank you.   And then, he gave me money.  I objected at first—that wasn’t what it was about, and his own situation was hardly plush.  I meant it.  He insisted.  I was too down and out to be that proud.  And why did B. have to know?  This was hardly a hot infidelity with a cute young guy.

 

Over the next couple of years, I’d see Jack sporadically.  He was always the same, but kinda different.  He’d come around to some of my old liberal rantings that used to enrage him.  He wasn’t so ashamed or afraid of being seen as gay.  He never used the words “nigger” or “kike” or “spic” in front of me.   And he told me, every time, that he’d loved more than anybody else, and if only I’d stayed with him…

 

Yes, he paid me every time. 

 

In 1981, I began my “career” as…well, I began my career.   Real work.  Sorta.  And it began to pay.  And soon I was a nine-to-five person, though my situation was hardly corporate—anything but!   My life got bigger.  I saw less of Jack.  And less.  And then months went by.  I was too busy being the New Me. (Although it was really the Old Me, dressed up. Mutton, lamb—you know.)

 

One day, it was autumn, I had determined to go uptown and see Jack again.  To let him know what crazy, unexpected changes had occurred.  To take him to lunch or dinner.  To see me as an adult—though that was just a pose, I was still quite childish, selfish and dependant.  But it was a good pose.

 

I walked up Central Park West, and ran into one of his roommates, Michael (or Dion, as he preferred to be called.)  “Oh, I was just coming over!  How are you?  How’s Jack?”    Michael said, with unusual solemnity, and this guy was never solemn—“You haven’t been in touch in a while. Jack missed you.”   I said, yeah, but…busy.

 

“Well, I’m sorry to tell you, but Jack died last month.”   I remember exactly the spot we were standing. A woman in a blue sweater walked past and I noticed a Volkswagen parked nearby.  “He had a heart attack.  It was very sudden.  It was fast.  Jack never gave us your number.  We couldn’t reach you.”

 

It wasn’t even sinking in.  Though I certainly felt Michael/Dion’s disapproval and disappointment in me.    “Where is he?  Where is he buried?”   And then it went from awful to unspeakable.

 

“His family didn’t want to deal with it.  They just disowned him.  They were ashamed of him.  We didn’t have the money to bury him properly.  He’s in Potter’s Field.” 

 

Whatever one thinks about death or the hereafter or being buried or cremated or your corpse kicked to the curb–I couldn’t care less, myself!–I knew Jack cared.  He was a proud man. He sought to be dignified even when the essentials of his life were quite the opposite.  We’d spoken a few times about death and he always said he wanted a “good tombstone in a good neighborhood.”  When he first remarked on this I said, “So I take it you don’t wish to be buried near any black people?”   By then, we no longer argued about such things.  He laughed.  “Black people are okay.  But I’ll still not sure about Puerto Ricans.”

 

And so he was dead and there was certainly nothing I could do about it.  It wasn’t my fault.  I shouldn’t feel guilty.  I couldn’t.  My life went on.  I traveled and met famous people and sometimes I thought, “Oh, God—wouldn’t Jack be amazed at where I am?”  (I also thought the same thing about my mother, who’d passed away in the same period.)

 

But the really good times ended more than ten years ago.   I quit my job, then went back, but nothing was quite the same again, though there was still travel and famous people.   I remained a man who could never get back on the horse who threw him.  Depression, medications, and endless talk therapy: my childhood, Jack, B., my boss (Oy, my boss. Over and over, my boss!)    I haven’t been myself—whatever that was or is—for a long time. 

 

I found most of my therapists well meaning, but essentially prostitutes. Next! Next! Next!  And don’t forget to pay.  Money first! Next! Maybe I expected too much.  After all, it’s a job to them. 

 

 But an exchange with one of them has stayed with me.   It was toward the end of the session.  I was joking around about winning the lottery and what I’d do with the money.  He said,  “Well, what would you do with the money, first off?”  Without a beat, without thinking, I said—“I’d find where Jack is buried in Potter’s Field.  I’d put him someplace nice, in a ‘good neighborhood’ with a tombstone.”

      I’d shocked myself.  I don’t know that I’d ever considered such a thing before. I began to cry. Really cry. 

 

“What would you put on the tombstone?” the therapist asked, after his initial, grisly pleasure of seeing a “breakthrough.”

 

“I’d  put, ‘Jack Santos.  Thank You. I Love You.  I Remember You.’”

 

And I would.  And I do.

 

 

 

 

 

  

Comments:
  • lulu

    Well done!!!  Whether you realize it or not, you have written a chapter in your book.  I smell a bestseller in the making.

    10:40 am | September 25, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Lulu…I don’t think (in fact I know) that I do not have the discipline, or the genuine talent, to write a book.   However, these little essays are a release, for me, anyway.  (I realize my tales of sordid days past are not everybody’s glass of vodka.)

      1:19 pm | September 25, 2012
      • lulu

        I have my glass of vodka, (bottle near by for refills), coffee just in case and box of tissues handy.
        Your essays become your book. 

        1:31 pm | September 25, 2012
        • Mr. Wow

          Dear Lulu….oh, I always drink with a cup of coffee near.  I like to be buzzed but alert.


          Or I just have cheeseburger, to soak up the booze.  Pot never gave me the munchies, but drinking always did. 
          2:35 pm | September 25, 2012
  • Susan

    You are a lovely man.

    10:50 am | September 25, 2012
  • Rho

    I think so too Mr. Wow.

     

    10:51 am | September 25, 2012
  • Ione

    Your writing touches me in a very emotional way. Makes me care about you and that is what a good writer does, makes the reader care about the story and the people in it. Please continue, I need to know more about the boy/man in the story.

    12:18 pm | September 25, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Ione… Thank you!  I wish that boy would someday really grow into a man, but…I have to live in hope.  

      3:27 pm | September 25, 2012
      • Jay Kay

           I know the feeling,  For years, I’ve looked to mate-up with the, logical and balanced side of my personality.   Now when strangers ask if I have children, I’ve resigned to say, ‘just inner ones.’   Curiously, everyone gets that.. and knows what I’m saying.   

        9:25 am | September 27, 2012
        • Mr. Wow

          Dear Jay Kay…oh, yes…my “inner child.”   Unfortunately,  that child is ever visible  in my so-called adult life.    Maybe someday I’ll change my own diaper.   B. would so pleased.

          3:07 pm | September 27, 2012
  • Haunted Lady

    You are a very dear man.

    1:06 pm | September 25, 2012
  • Mr. Wow

    Dear Susan, Rho and Haunted One… 


    Thanks!  If I could believe that, my life (and B’s) would be a lot easier. 

      But what the hell, I don’t work in a Chilean mine, and I have not been inprisoned by Putin, in Russia.   
    1:22 pm | September 25, 2012
    • Rho

      Believe it Mr. Wow.  Also, tell Mr. B a very Happy New Year from me.  You too.  Tonight begins Yom Kippur, I won’t be online tomorrow.

      2:43 pm | September 25, 2012
    • Haunted Lady

      I wish you could see yourself as the rest of us do. Then you would see how much you mean to a lot of people. If I ever get a chance to meet you, I will probably give you the biggest hug possible.

      7:02 pm | September 25, 2012
      • Mr. Wow

        Dear Haunted One…and you would get the biggest hug back!

        8:18 pm | September 26, 2012
  • maryburdt

    Hi Mr. Wow,  Your essay touched me to my core.  It took me several minutes to read it because I wanted to truly understand  what you were trying to say about Jack.  I once loved someone from long ago like you loved Jack.  Always there for me, even in the times I didn’t deserve the love.  I wish everyone a “Jack” in their lives.  I will read this story many, many times in the future so that I can relive this journey with you.
    My love to you and B.  I am so happy you found each other.  Mary

    3:50 pm | September 25, 2012
  • Mr. Wow

    Dear Mary….thank you.  Well, the point is, I didn’t love Jack right away, nor was I ever “in love” with him.  But his love for me, in time, moved me to feel more than grateful and much more than a little bit concerned about his well-being.   He never abused me or cheated me.  The age difference was so great, it had to end, inevitably.  But he was a good guy.  I knew it right away,  Which is why I made sure I “got” him.   I was never interested in money or being, as the phrase goes, “a rich man’s plaything.”   He wasn;t rich.  At all.  I wanted security.  A place to call home.  He provided that.  But—I wasn’t easy, after a while.  And I felt bad I gave him such a hard time toward the end.   From 16 to 24.  A long time and a lot of changes.  In me, anyway.  


    Not enough, however.
    4:41 pm | September 25, 2012
    • maryburdt

      Dear Mr. Wow—Just like you “got” Jack, I “get” you.  Keep writing and revealing yourself to your readers.  We think you are so special.  Mary

      8:24 pm | September 26, 2012
  • Mr. Wow, you write beautifully. You DO have the makings of a great book here.  Just keep writing your essays.  We will keep reading and appreciating your talent, your story, your spirit… you!

    7:12 pm | September 25, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Lila…thanks!   Funny, a friend of mine e-mailed a minute ago and said, “Why isn’t this a book?”  (He’s read my other recollections and had the same reaction.)

       

      And I just…don’t know.  I don’t think my story is so unusual or terribly well-written.

      I have never gotten back up on that horse.  Maybe that’s it.  Just plain scared.

       

      7:36 pm | September 25, 2012
      • Jay Kay

        Like you, lots of people have encouraged me to write, about my life and just stuff.  And like you many pivotal moments of my life have been marked and/or motivated by some form of sadness and pain.  And as much as people seemed to enjoy my stories, telling them, or writing them has never brought me pleasure.  Not long ago I wrote a lengthy Christmas time letter to a friend I no longer see, thanking her for the innumerable kindnesses she showered on me during a time when I felt vulnerable and abandoned.  Before I able to fully express my thoughts and finish the letter I was typing through a torrent of tears.  I forced myself through the process because I believed that she wouldn’t live much longer, and I didn’t want her to leave this earth without knowing how beneficial her presence had been to my life.  Within a year she was dead and that reality made every discomfort caused by my recollecting her generosity worthwhile,  but at the time, and to this day, remembering what was and how that felt left me feeling like I’d just given away too much blood.  

        9:43 am | September 27, 2012
        • Mr. Wow

          Dear Jay Kay…


          I won’t be tiresome and say writing my experiences have been “cathartic.”   But it has given me some some release, and—obviously–support from a lot of caring strangers. (That has been the most incredible aspect of this.)   Don’t feel your memories are too “bloody” or too intimate/.  There’s always somebody else to remind you that you don’t have it that bad!   And they are always right!
          3:00 pm | September 27, 2012
  • Mr. Wow, your experience might not be all that unusual, but who has written about it?  No one I know of.  And even if they did, it likely would NOT be as good as your writing. 

    Writing is NOT about proper punctuation or spelling.  That’s what editors are for.  Writing is about conveying the experience, pulling the reader in, making them see things they would otherwise never see, or even making them light up with recognition of similarities to themselves.  It’s about making them care about what comes next, making them read to the bottom of the page and then turn it.  Investing them emotionally in the story.  Stretching their boundaries, taking them out of their comfort zones.

    YOU DO ALL OF THIS.  YOU ARE A GREAT WRITER.  AND YOU WRITE ABOUT WHAT IS REAL.

    So stop with the aw-shucks, who me? stuff, and keep writing!

    8:06 pm | September 25, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Lila…aw-shucks.  Okay.  I’ll shut up and keep writing.

       

      Thank you.

       

      MrW

      8:20 pm | September 25, 2012
  • sadiebb

    oh mr wow, you are just an amazing writer. i’m almost afraid to tell you how amazing because it might break the magic spell & make you self conscious about a natural talent. let’s just say your too-infrequent installments tend to come just becore my monthly bookclub and you are beating the book club selections all to hell!

    10:44 pm | September 25, 2012
  • mimi

    Your writing touches my heart. I’m so glad that you had the good sense to realize that you love B. and that he apparently loves you very much. Jack helped you to grow into the man who is capable of so much, I’m glad that you think of him with fondness, a little regret – those things make us the people we want to be. Please keep it up. Don’t bother worrying about a book – your readers may write it for you in their comments.

    5:58 am | September 26, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Mimi…well, recognizing the value and true-blue of B., was just about the only really good sense I displayed in life!

       

      Before B., I had…a lot of mindless fun.  It was fun.  But it wasn’t’ B.  He’s the real deal.

      7:43 pm | September 26, 2012
  • Daniel Sugar

    That’s it! You’re grounded!

    9:58 am | September 26, 2012
  • Lady

    Dear Mr. WoW,
    Thank you for writing.  I so enjoy hearing about your survival of life.  I am about as opposite of you as you can get.  I am a conservative woman from a small Oklahoma town.  We are very different people but share the struggle of making it in this world.  You show me a way of life I have never seen.  NYC is like a foreign country to me and your writing lets me visit there.  I have been a fan for several years just quietly looking through your window. 

    11:57 am | September 26, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Lady (although I can’t help thinking of Jerry Lewis screaming, “Hey Laaiiidy!”


      I digress.  After such a noisy life, I don’t think I’d mind life in a small Oklahoma town. How’s the weather?    (As long as I could get cable TV…)

      I’m not a conservative, but how funny that we do become more conservative about certain things as we mature.    I’m not as arrogant about my “personal freedom” as I was as a teenager.   Now when when I see anybody, of any sexual persuasion, making out in public, I just think, “get a room.”    Thanks for your kind words.
      3:06 pm | September 26, 2012
  • Mr. Wow

    Dear Dr. Sugar….Oh, you really think my poor mother could have “grounded” me?   The best she could do was, “If you keep this up, you’ll be sent away!”   I went before I was sent.

    12:08 pm | September 26, 2012
  • Daniel Sugar

    3:43 pm | September 26, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Dr. Sugar…well, that’s very funny!!!


      I must learn how to post photos.
      3:56 pm | September 26, 2012
  • lulu

    Just catching up with all the chat here….Dr. Sugar, you are priceless!!!  Mr. Wow, you are an author.  I am delighted to know both of you through this glorious thing called the Internet!!!
    However, I refuse to wear that dreadful hairstyle under any condition

    10:04 pm | September 27, 2012
  • Nicety Gridlock

    Something you may not have considered – a book could be quite profitable. I would certainly buy it

    4:57 pm | September 29, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Nicety…honest, I don’t  think I could get a dime for my  story.  I should have done it 10 years ago.  Now, everybody claims to have been a prostitute with a sad chidhood.   I was behind the curve.

      2:10 pm | October 1, 2012
  • rick gould

    Regardless whether you think your writing or personal story is worthy enough of a book (it IS, for chrissakes!), what sets it apart a lot of other memoirs (especially the ‘misery lit’ variety) is your self-honesty. You’re not blaming others or trying to make yourself look better, you just put it out there. And it’s very compelling. Keep doing it.
    I always feel like the small town boy version of you. I am writing autobiographical stories and have the (at least initial) support of my family. But I am so emotionally reticent that it is torture digging it out of me! 
    You seem to write it easily enough, but question the value.
    The things we all do to drive ourselves crazy ; )
    And like you, I continue to ponder why I am still depressed…when I was 8, “Is That All There Is?” was my favorite song…that should have clued my Mom into a lot of things! But I acknowledge it, instead of telling everyone and myself that I am fine, when I am not.
    So, life…a work in progress…to the grave!
    Keep writing, Mr. W.And keep working on feeling good, too.Big hug,Rick

    11:45 am | September 30, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Rick…you were 8 and your song was “Is That All There Is?”   And your mother had no clue?   Honey, even my mother had borrowed a clue when I always remembered the movie lines spoken by every female star,  never a guy.   “Oh, the men are never very interesting!”  I said.    She tried to block it out, but…she knew.  


      Listen, just keep writing.  I bet your stuff is great.  It’s great right here.  Don’t let it torture you.  You’ll feel better for having let it out. (I feel better, tho I think my writing is shit!) And—do you have to show it to your famiy or have their approval?  Fuck them.  This is your life.  Let them write their own stories. 

      You don’t seem “small town” to me.    Listen, almost every night I think, “Please, let me die peacefully, and end this.”   And every morning I think, “Oh, Thank God, I’m alive…I still have hope.  I still have life.”   It’s all we’ve got. This moment.  And maybe it is ONLY a moment.   But precious all the same.  More so, because we don’t value it so much of the time.

      Big hugs to you.  And I’m always here.  For you and for everybody who needs to share or vent.   
        
      2:26 pm | October 1, 2012
      • rick gould

        I WANT JOANNA SHIMKUS TO TAKE DOWN MY MEMOIR! RICK ; )

        3:10 pm | October 1, 2012
        • Mr. Wow

          Dear Rick–Joanna Shimkus?  Okay.   But I honestly think you’d do it better.

           

          Monkey off balcony!

          6:45 pm | October 1, 2012
          • Mr. Wow

            Dear Rick–

             

            And P.S. “Urgentissmo…like everything else this summer.”

            7:21 pm | October 1, 2012
          • Monkey off balcony?  OK, I’m lost…

            10:48 am | October 2, 2012
          • Mr. Wow

            Dear Lila….this is crazy camp stuff. Try to find a copy of the Taylor/Burton debacle, “Boom!” You will understand the monkey on the balcony. And you will also see Miss Elizabeth Taylor enact a coughing jag that is beyond control. She should have received an Oscar for that gasping, retching, five minute showstopper.

            2:05 pm | October 2, 2012
      • rick gould

        Boom!, indeed…the shock of each moment of still being alive!
        I have the original play, “The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore.”When Tennessee wrote it, he was having a mid-life crisis…perhaps that’s why I have a soft spot for the play…and even the movie ; )
        PS–My family has been supportive…so far.

        1:56 am | October 2, 2012
        • Mr. Wow

          Dear Rick…and by the way, the only way to stay sane (I have found) is not to blame others.  Maybe i’m too hard on myself, but I think that’s better than “I coulda been a contender, if…”    Please.  We make our lives.

          2:00 pm | October 2, 2012
          • rick gould

            Absolutely, Mr. W. That’s why I have waited so long to start writing ; )
            Lila–Go on YouTube and type: Monkey off balcony, and that clip pops right up, along with many other gems from Boom!

            3:56 pm | October 2, 2012
  • NSH

    Mr. Wow – how inspiring you are and fortunate for us that you share your history.  I am thoroughly engrossed in your story.  We, I think, are of similar age, but come from such difference circumstances.  As the child of a Holocaust survivor I grew up shrouded in terrible fear.  I had a loving caring home, and was even pampered, but the specter of my mother’s camp years loomed and thus colored my own psyche – it’s a legacy I will always carry.  To live on the streets and to go without a bed or food – to fend for one’s self at such a tender age is remarkable to me.  I applaud and admire, dear man, your pluck.

    3:49 pm | October 1, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear NSH…

       

      It was the specter of my mother’s own terrible childhood of abandonment and insecurity that colored my life.  Especially after she had to do the unthinkable–for her–and place me in an orphanage for a while.  Not to mention half a dozen other temporary “situations”.  She did what her uncaring parents did to her and all her sisters and brothers.  Difference?  She cared.   Too much, as it turned out.  By the time we lived together I was lost to her.  I didn’t know her.  But she knew me–I was her child. 

       

      6:57 pm | October 1, 2012
  • Rho

    Mr. Wow, I’m with everyone else here, I admire you.  You are a lovely person.

    To NSH — I understand your plight.  I lost many family members in the holocaust.  My dad had 7 brothers who went to the camps.  2 survived.  My dad brought one here to NYC, he became a citizen, went back to Greece, married, came back, had all his children here, so they all are citizens.

    As far as the song, Is That All There Is, I lost a 21 yr. old grand nephew last year.  So, now I’m singing the song too.

     

     

    5:45 pm | October 1, 2012
  • Mr. Wow

    Dear Rho…  might I again wish you a good Yom Kippur?   I don’t know–I always feel so Jewish!   Maybe that’s because all the men I’ve loved have been Jewish. 

     

    I am so sorry about your nephew.  21?  And I complain. 

     

    xxxMrW

    7:03 pm | October 1, 2012
    • Rho

      Thank you Mr. Wow.

      9:37 am | October 2, 2012
    • Rho

      I am trying to answer you, but it won’t post.

      10:10 am | October 2, 2012
    • Rho

      I tried to answer you yesterday.  Thanks for your kind words.  We will never get over his passing.

      10:53 am | October 3, 2012
  • Lucy

     Dear Wow,

    We are our experiences and the only thing we really have any control over in life is our choices. You made some hard choices when you were younger and had a hard life at a really age in your home life.

    Even though your early life seems hard in many ways, you always seem to have had something “good” in yourself – that wanted to do better and be better. I see it clearly when you talked about Jack. He was decent to you and you respected that. That is all we are really loking for – respect and love. You found love with B, thankfully and hopefully you will learn to respect and feel worthy of yourself and others.

    I think that it is better to have lived a very full life, like you have – with all the drama and hard choices – than to have had some “normal” boring life.

    The reason your writing grabs us, is because you have so many stories to tell.

    I am still hoping one day that you will write about a magical “breakthrough” where you feel really good about yourself. You survived a lot. You made some really good choices and you seem to have learned from your mistakes, and you found love. What more can a person ask for?

     

    9:02 pm | October 1, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Lucy…


      Believe me, when I have my “breakthrough” everybody here will be the first to know.  Or the second.  I guess B. might notice.

      P.S. to ALL–Tomorrow is B’s birthday.  I’m taking him to dinner.   I had wanted to  have a live blog on the first debate, and maybe I can get home in time to do a bit of that.  The debate.  That is the crucial thing.  Forget polls.  
      2:10 pm | October 2, 2012
      • Rho

        trying to answer you, but cannot

        2:20 pm | October 2, 2012
      • LandofLove

        I hope you and B. have a wonderful dinner, Mr. wOw. (And Happy Birthday to B!) Don’t rush home in order to blog the debate. B. is more important. And there will be more debates, anyway.

        3:12 pm | October 2, 2012
  • Rho

    I just answered you Mr. Wow, but it did not post.  Thanks Mr. Wow.

    9:43 am | October 2, 2012
  • Rho

    Why can’t I post here?

     

    10:09 am | October 2, 2012
  • Rho

    Trying again to post.

    10:22 am | October 2, 2012
  • Rho

    One more try

    11:31 am | October 2, 2012
  • Rho

    again

    11:45 am | October 2, 2012
  • Rho

    hello

     

    12:36 pm | October 2, 2012
  • Rho

    hi

    1:18 pm | October 2, 2012
  • Rho

    Help, I cannot post here.

    2:19 pm | October 2, 2012
  • lulu

    Happy Birthday to B !!!!!!! 

    Dear B, may you have a fantastic day, wonderful dinner and know that everyone on Mr.Wow blog loves you dearly for taking such good of ‘Wow’

    xoxo

    4:13 pm | October 2, 2012
  • Rho

    Happy BDay Mr. B, hope this goes thru.

    4:43 pm | October 2, 2012
  • Haunted Lady

    Happy birthday, B. I hope you and Mr. W have a lovely dinner. The debates can wait.

    4:46 pm | October 2, 2012
  • Mr. Wow,

    Rho wishes B. a very happy birthday. 

    (she would have loved to say so directly, but is having computer problems).

    5:32 pm | October 2, 2012
    • Rho

      trying again, Lila

      6:31 pm | October 2, 2012
  • Rho

    Trying again.

    5:50 pm | October 2, 2012
  • Rho

    Trying again

    5:51 pm | October 2, 2012
  • mimi

    Happy Birthday to B. And I was looking forward to the live blogging, but B is much more important. God Bless.

    7:50 pm | October 2, 2012
  • Birthday greetings from Lulu and Lila to B.  Birthday cake to be delivered by a special guest:

    <img src=”http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jcud1hxfbjc/TgSkC_-uJmI/AAAAAAAAAV0/0He8J0FxE5I/s1600/Marilin_happy_birthday_to_me.jpg” alt=”Marilyn with cake” />

    8:35 pm | October 2, 2012
    • Well, dang, so much for writing HTML…

      Here:

      8:37 pm | October 2, 2012
      • rick gould

        Yes, indeed, birthday cake!
        Lila, how did you do that? I tried…and failed!

        9:38 pm | October 2, 2012
      • LandofLove

        Super photo!!

        7:58 am | October 3, 2012
  • mimi

    Lila, I’m truly impressed.

    9:47 pm | October 2, 2012
  • Mimi, Rick… I was over-thinking it… look along the top of the
    comment box when you are composing your comment… see the little
    buttons… there’s one that looks like a little polaroid photo, about
    the 12th button over. 

    Choose an image from the internet, get the http: address for it, click the little polaroid photo and fill in the blanks.

    Heh.  Now we can paint Mr. Wow’s blog….

    11:13 pm | October 2, 2012
  • LandofLove

    Happy Birthday, B!

    9:42 am | October 3, 2012
    • Land of Love, perfect!  A cake from Liz and a cake from Marilyn!

      9:47 am | October 3, 2012
      • LandofLove

        Only via the Internet can you locate a picture of a star with a birthday cake–all in 5 seconds. Thx for the helpful instructions, Lila!

        10:16 am | October 3, 2012
    • rick gould

      Awww, thanks.And that was kind of a sad birthday for Liz. After she divorced Burton (Round 1) and literally went home to visit Mother. I have a photographic People magazine memory.Oh, if I could only put it to better use!

      1:00 pm | October 3, 2012
      • Mr. Wow

        Dear Rick…oh, it wasn’t that sad a birthday.  La Liz returned to Henry Wynberg briefly, who provided her more in certain areas than Burton could.  And consistently.

         

        It was also during this time that Wynberg took some very revealing shots of Miss T. in  a filmy caftan, on the beach.   She wore no bra or panties.  It became transparent when she went in the water–“It was  scandal to the jaybirds!  Ah told him ah didn’t want to swim it it!”   He released a few when he sued her, many years later, for rights to the idea of marketing a fragrance.   They settled. Someday, we’ll see the rest. 

         

        After her reunion with Henry foundered, she moved on to NYC and Washington and eventually Mr. Warner.   Quite a fun era, actually.

        8:42 pm | October 3, 2012
  • Rho

    Going to try wishing Mr. B myself. 

    9:42 am | October 3, 2012
  • Rho

    Wow, I think I’m back. lol

     

    9:44 am | October 3, 2012
  • Rho

    Wonderful cakes. 

     

    10:12 am | October 3, 2012
  • Rho

    Amazing, all my test posts of yesterday have appeared.  Where are those gremlins.  lol

     

    5:44 pm | October 3, 2012
  • maryburdt

    A belated birthday wish to B.  I hope the two of you had a wonderful dinner.
    As for the debate—where was Obama tonight?  To my chagrin, Romney won this debate hands down.  Obama never went after Romney (And there is so much to go after), The president looked like he wanted to be somewhere else, perhaps, celebrating his 20th anniversary.  A lot of work to do for the Democrats.  But, when the fact checking gurus get to work, maybe,  Obama will rise to the top.  Right now, I am worried.

    11:41 pm | October 3, 2012
    • B

      Hi Everybody- Had a wonderful birthday much due to the many birthday wishes i received here. Dinner and festivities with W were just right to make me forget I just turned Social security and am now one of the 47%. Thanks to all.

      B.

      9:16 am | October 4, 2012
      • BabySnooks

         Stick around. We love you both!

        10:56 am | October 6, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Mary…you know, I watched the debate with my eyes closed for most of it.  And just listening,  Obama wasn’t was bad as his worst critics insist.  And Romney came off confident and “presidential.”  (whatever the hell that really means.)    We judge so many superficials.  I’ve never found Obama particularly comfortable in front of cameras–ever.

      12:16 pm | October 7, 2012
      • Mr. Wow

        Dear Mary…P.S.  Also how much can you say in two minutes?  Even if you go over by a minute or two?

        12:17 pm | October 7, 2012
  • Rho

    So nice to see you here Mr. B.

    9:41 am | October 4, 2012
  • lulu

    Dear B – I like the 47%…I think the 47% have a lot of power, we just need to use it better.
    Glad to hear your celebration was nice.  Hope you will pop in to the blog now and then with tidbits of your wisdom and insights.

    10:33 am | October 4, 2012
    • LandofLove

      Free medical advice, maybe? 🙂 

      11:29 am | October 4, 2012
  • Haunted Lady

    Nice to see you, B. Welcome to the 47%. Glad you had a nice birthday and I hope we’ll see you here again.

    11:42 am | October 4, 2012
  • mimi

    I’m glad you are here and had a nice birthday. Welcome to the madness of SS and the 47%. There are sure enough worst places to be.

    1:17 pm | October 4, 2012
  • Mr. Wow

    A young Mr. WowI wish I had a cake in this picture, it being B.s birthday and all. But in keeping with the nostalgic theme of this post–here is how I looked when me and B. first met.

    Mr.W

    5:40 pm | October 4, 2012
    • rick gould

      No wonder B. was feeding you steak, you look positively waifish here! Hope B.’s B’day went well…
      PS on Wynberg’s “Wet Liz on the Beach” shots…there’s a few floating around the net, and she looks awesome in them ; )

      6:25 pm | October 4, 2012
      • Mr. Wow

        Dear Rick, we had a really  good time, and B. was touched by all the notes coming from here.  But he is very shy.  I know–how the hell did he end up with with me?

        Yeah–I definitely needed to beef up in those days.  But, for what it was, it worked.

         

        Ah, so glad glad you know of the Wynberg beach shots.  And have you ever seen the ones of her in the teeny red bikini?  Also taken by Mr. W.  She looks incredibly hot–especially for a woman in her forties who has had three children.  But…she was just camping it up.  Nothing she ever wanted published. (Tho she was surprisingly confident about her body, whatever her size.)   I have a feeling there were more from that session.   And that they were referenced in  the Taylor/Wynberg  fragrance negotiations.

        6:48 pm | October 4, 2012
    • BabySnooks

      You were a cutie. I bet you still are…

      10:52 am | October 6, 2012
    • Deirdre

      Oh my, those eyes! I read your latest post several days ago. It was and is so wonderful, strong, honest and frightening.  Thank you for telling us about Jack. You can protest all you want dear man but you are a writer of enormous talent.  Whatever your essays give you, they give us far more. I have now read it three times and after seeing that beautiful boy in the picture, I want to hug that boy and the man he has become. A belated Happy Birthday to B; far more important than a live blog; although it would have been fun.

      8:44 am | October 9, 2012
  • lulu

    Love the picture!!!  Your eyes speak volumes, bet they still do..

    6:01 pm | October 4, 2012
  • Mr. Wow

    Dear Lulu…thank you.  I would never have posted a pic of myself smiling from those days,  because even now, I would be recognized.   Tho much has changed.   But back then, looking rather solemn seemed to be a big draw.  Now, with a serious face,  I just  look…59.  (Beauty tip–forget Botox, just keep smiling!)

     

    BTW–not that that it would even matter if anybody recognized me or knew who I am.    It ain’t exactly like decoding the Rosetta Stone.  Or spotting Garbo on the streets of New York.  (When Miss G. was alive and around to be spotted, natch.)

    6:16 pm | October 4, 2012
    • lulu

      botox takes away a person life lines that they earned
      smiling is much nicer than grumbling
      and as far as Miss G….being a Beverly Hills brat, I could care less about most, but once in NYC, suddenly  there she was,  I smiled and she smiled back

      off topic…I do not want to ‘kill’ Big Bird…endorsing Obama…lol

      9:44 pm | October 4, 2012
      • Mr. Wow

        Dear Lulu…I saw Miss G. once from afar with a pal.  He wanted to follow her.  I did, too.  But then–even then–I thought–creeepy, leave her alone.   I made up for my reticence later on, running around after Miss Taylor.  But…she didn’t want to be alone.

        I will vote for President Obama.   His performance last night was not a surprise to me–he does not debate well.   It wasn’t a fatal misstep, but he clearly needs to rev up his engine.   Sometimes I wonder if he really wants to be president anymore.  Hopefully, on Nov 7th all this will be over.  One way or another. 

        9:58 pm | October 4, 2012
  • Rho

    Mr. Wow.  Love the photo.  Thanks for posting it.

     

    9:46 am | October 5, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Rho… thank you, sweetie.   Hard to believe I ever looked like that.  Except when I’m drunk, and then I think I still look exactly like that. 

      7:17 pm | October 5, 2012
      • rick gould

        Me too, Mr. W!I call it the Blanche DuBois Syndrome *
        *Japanese lantern not included

        7:27 pm | October 5, 2012
        • Mr. Wow

          Dear Rick/Blanche—“Don’t do it…don’t turn on the light!”

          10:28 am | October 6, 2012
  • Lucy

    What a special treat! I was away last week and came back to find that B made a guest appearance, and Mr. Wow posted a photo. Mr. Wow, this is actually how I pictured you in my mind –  older and wiser,of course, but that same vulnerability and dark, boyish good looks.

    I too am wondering if Pres.Obama still even wants the job. The debates were so strange. Like he wanted to be any place but there.  I can’t blame him, but he has to win. The alternative – especially for women – is just too scary to even think about. I’m upset that this just narrowed the gap.

    4:36 pm | October 5, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Lucy…thanks.  Wasn’t it fun to hear from B? 

      I often wonder how people picture me.  I assure everybody constantly that I am no tuxedoed dandy, despite my hilarious avatar.  (I don’t even own a real suit!)

      The country will be in bad shape with Romney.  Nobody has even noted his getting  his bit in about “The Creator.”   Or his vow to keep the military “strong.”  What–how much stronger?  We are droning the mid-east to dust as it is.   But I guess he’d like to see more young Americans dying in  or near Iran or Syria.   Not his big, healthy sons, of course.  Other people’s children.  (It’s bad enough that under Obama Iraq and Afghanistan are still taking lives.)

      As for women, forget it–let’s just strap on those chastity belts and/or have babies yearly.   And of course, we’ll argue “legitimate” rape. 

       

      Maybe a high colonic with help President Obama–one that hits the brain!  Unless….he just doesn’t want it anymore.

       

       

      7:33 pm | October 5, 2012
      • BabySnooks

        I am trying to ignore it all finally but you know every time I see Romney and Ryan I hear that song from The Producers. “Springtime, for Hitler, and Germany…”

        10:58 am | October 6, 2012
  • BabySnooks

    You are a divine child. Stay that way!  Better to learn how cruel life is when you’re young. You survive it better than when you’re older. I call it the Noelle Page moment. From “The Other Side of Midnight.”  The “Well, if that’s the way it is…” moment. Of course Noelle  Page wanted revenge. We all do. But better to just survive and move on. That is the best revenge.  As Elizabeth Taylor knew all too well. Imagine her autobiography if she had decided to “let it all out” the way you have.  She let some things out. But not all.  She learned when she was young.  From Nicky Hilton. And for awhile, well, she sought a little revenge. And then decided it was a waste of time. And moved on. And had a life as they say. Not enviable in some respects. But she never surrendered to anything.  And always meant well. Even when people thought otherwise.  Did things people didn’t understand. Things that shocked people. But you do what you have to do to survive. And there were the wounds. They never completely heal.  But they are what make us human.  Someone in Washington once made a comment about Elizabeth being a whore. Someone else quickly pointed out we are all whores in one way or another. I’ve never forgotten that.  The smart ones go “Well, if that’s the way it is…”

     

    11:37 pm | October 5, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Baby…thanks.  I did learn some hard truths about life and people (and quite a few hard truths about  myself) when I was quite young.  But I also found out how kind people can be, and how complex.    And I never, ever forgot–someday I would be older, someday I would understand much much more.  And I do.  Don’t know that that understanding is terribly comforting.  But most of it did not come as a surprise.

       

      As for Miss Taylor, I, too, am glad she preserved her reserve.   It seemed as if she told a lot.  But she really didn’t.   I’d say probably the most intimate thing she ever revealed was that her father had beaten her, as a child.   But she was much older when she confessed that, and not quite as controlled as she had been.  Of course, she also said she had forgiven him many years ago–while he was still living.  “I sat on his lap and we cried.”   

      The truth is, Elizabeth took most her secrets to her grave.

      12:09 pm | October 7, 2012
      • BabySnooks

        Yes, well, she took one of mine. I thought I was a goner at the time. She liked to dish too you know. Her and Chen Sam both. But she obviously didn’t.  That’s why I never wrote a book. Some people kept my secrets. So I have to keep theirs. I do miss them both even though I didn’t really know either of them. Why they put up with me through the years is beyond me. Kindred spirits on some level I suppose.  The world was a nicer place because of them. 

        5:08 pm | October 8, 2012
        • Mr. Wow

          Baby…I still of Chen, often. 

          1:23 am | October 16, 2012
  • Rho

    Mr. Wow, I hope Mr. B keeps on posting.  Nice to hear from him.

    9:26 am | October 6, 2012
    • BabySnooks

      I hope he does too. They are both like family at this point. One of us has to win the lottery and take the rest on that cross-country train “reunion.” Call it the Wow Express. 

      11:01 am | October 6, 2012
  • lulu

    Yes,  B must check-in with us now and then even if just to say, he is fine.
    What if we call post photos from when we were about the age of “Wow” so we have a family album, since we are a ‘very special family’?

    11:13 am | October 6, 2012
  • BabySnooks

    And Henry Wynberg. Thought I could hold my tongue. What a jerk.  But he was entertaining I suppose.  Particularly for Burton. Who delivered some classic one-liners about him. Most of which never saw print. And probably still wouldn’t even today. She was blessed by the gods. Except with men. I do miss her.  Earth Mother.  I’ll never forget meeting her in Washington. “I’m Elizabeth Warner.” I was tempted to respond with a “Didn’t you used to be Elizabeth Taylor?” but I realized at that moment she really was Elizabeth Warner. Or wanted to be. He didn’t bother to introduce himself. Which was very revealing I suppose looking back.  I realized on some level that to him she was still Elizabeth Taylor. A prop.  i think on some level she just wanted to be “Mrs. Somebody” finally. Just wasn’t possible. After all she was Elizabeth Taylor. 

    11:17 am | October 6, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Baby—I really don’t think ET knew what she wanted in those years.  The weight gain indicated some sort of abandonment of “Elizabeth Taylor” but she continued to relish her recognition as Elizabeth Taylor.  I mean, she wouldn’t look at photographers who called her “Miss Taylor” for years–it was always, “I am Mrs. Burton.”   Then the bloom was off the rose and she gladly turned it on for those who called her Miss Taylor or even the hated “Liz.”    She enjoyed campaigning w Warner.  Then he was elected and she “had no place” in his life, she said.   But if she’d really wanted a normal life she could have a fine one in Washington or Virginia, being a hostess etc.   All through the marriage, from beginning to end, she never shied away from her show biz life–the parties, long nights with Halston, Liza’s latest opening, accepting another award, even making two movies.  And even as she moved into obesity, she dressed like, well–Elizabeth Taylor.  The bosoms out, the legs on display, the famous jewels dangling. (There was only a brief period that she actually wore “those little Republican suits” as she called them.)   And the press continued to be mad for her–the mob scenes never stopped–and she continued to enjoy that acclamation.

      She wanted a man who was also in the only business she knew, or a man who was subservient to  her, while she carried on her business. (In Mr. Fisher she found both!)

      But as I’ve always said, I enjoyed her Mrs. Warner years, bloat be damned.  And it prepared her for her later role as an AIDS activist.

      12:39 pm | October 7, 2012
      • rick gould

        Great observations, Mr. W–I think most celebs have a love/hate relationship with fame.I always wondered why ET didn’t become Warner’s hostess with the mostest, until I concluded that she probably realized she would be at the wrong party…the Republican one! I seem to recall her getting her ‘tit in a wringer’ wrangling with Warner over women in the military. And basically, Liz was liberal. Can you imagine if she had stayed married to Warner and trying to be an AIDS activist just a few years later? Yeah, right!Things turn out the way they’re suppose to…and they stayed cordial.It certainly was an interesting period…can you imagine what it would have been like with today’s Internet/press? Yikes!

        8:48 pm | October 7, 2012
      • BabySnooks

        I don’t know. I think if everyone had just accepted her as Elizabeth Warner.  No one did. I guess no one could. Including him. And I guess she knew it. And she got bored quickly and so she went back to being Elizabeth Taylor. Which I guess is when the marriage fell apart. Probably before it even began. Not our place to say. I just remember her as Elizabeth Warner. Odd to remember her that way. Maybe I got a glimpse of something no one else did. 

        5:13 pm | October 8, 2012
  • mimi

    I loved the “Springtime, for Hitler” reference. Now it gives me something to laugh about when the commercials come on. I also like the idea of old pictures. You can go first. Mr. W, you are cute!

    2:33 pm | October 6, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Mimi…the posting of pictures and links has always interested me.  However, it is hard enough for me to follow B.’s instruction on how post a column.  Getting the picture up seemed a monumental task.  B. helped (of course)   I wish I had a better brain for this.  Everybody  else seems to!

      12:00 pm | October 7, 2012
  • Rho

    Springtime for Hitler, Mel Brooks is nuts. Wish I could post a link here, but don’t know how to.  You will laugh your heads off.

    4:09 pm | October 6, 2012
  • lulu

    I know we can use Create Link and Insert Imagine, but will it work for our family/personal photo too???? 

    5:48 pm | October 6, 2012
    • Rho

      I don’t even know how to post a photo here.  I was told if I did from a site Lila sent me, it would appear on every site I go to, and I do not want that.

      7:41 pm | October 6, 2012
    • Rho

      Sorry, by photo, I meant my avatar.

      7:43 pm | October 6, 2012
      • Rho, Mr. Wow’s blog will let you post a “local avatar” just for this site.  While logged in, click “My profile” and scroll down to the bottom.  Click “browse” to find a pic on your computer, choose the one you want, then click “upload avatar.”  Then “update profile.”

        I don’t have this feature on my blog… sigh… maybe one day when I am as popular as Mr. Wow.  My site depends on Gravatars, which do appear on any website that recognizes them.

        11:57 pm | October 7, 2012
  • Haunted Lady

    You adorable young man. Thanks for posting the picture. I would have taken you home, too. The avatar picture is of me age 5 in 1954. I’ve changed a bit.

    7:08 pm | October 6, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Haunted One…thank you!  And since there is only a few years difference in our age, I guess you could have taken me home. 

      12:22 pm | October 7, 2012
  • Daniel Sugar

    Funny you should mention Eddie today; I’m reading his book. It’s a riot. He says Joan Collins enjoyed men so much they called her “The British Open”.  (Not everyone enjoyed Mr. Fisher’s memoir – after reading it, Carrie Fisher said she wanted to have her DNA fumigated.)

    3:42 pm | October 7, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Dr. Sugar…I believe every word    of Fisher’s book.   He did the the two things no man should do to Elizabeth Taylor–demand money. (Which, I’m sorry, the poor sap was entitled to) and talk trash about her.    However, it’s clear he was genuinely in love/obsessed with La Liz. 

      Many years after Fisher, I was chatting with somebody who had just left ET’s employ.   This person said,  “In dealing with her, I thought, ‘Well, she’s older now, I guess this is the way she behaves because she’s so sick, etc.”  (This was in the late 1990’s, after the hips and brain surgery.)  “But I just read Eddie Fisher’s book, and my God, she is the exactly the same!  It is a literal miracle that she is still alive!”

      This person liked Elizabeth a great deal, but…one needed certain talents to deal with her.  

       

      4:53 pm | October 7, 2012
      • rick gould

        I’ve read Eddie’s books too, and while I feel their was a lot of truth to them, I always felt like he was a grandiose bullshitter in the Tony Curtis/Ryan O’ Neal vein. Let’s put it this way, would anybody even remember him if he HADN’T married Liz?
        AND aside from laying some serious dough on him to keep his mouth shut (which he didn’t), ET basically supported his dexadrined-needled ass during their marriage, which was a big source of disrespect. I’m sure there was a lot SHE could have said about him, but I don’t think that was her way. And I write all this being aware that ET was surely no walk in the park. I think the only man she didn’t mow over was Mike Todd, which is why she adored him.
        That said, ET did pick up the phone in the last years and gave Eddie a friendly phone call…

        8:37 pm | October 7, 2012
        • Mr. Wow

          Dear Rick… I think Todd really was “the one.”  Given the big age difference, and Todd’s need to “promote” constantly, the marriage probably wouldn’t have lasted longer than a decade,  but he knew how handle her. And she looks absolutely radiant throughout those 13 months as Mrs. Todd.  

            Burton was  weak, in my opinion.  I never got it, his appeal.    His endless torturing himself because he “gave up” a great stage career for all the fame and money Elizabeth represented, was so boring.

           

          11:24 pm | October 7, 2012
          • rick gould

            Interesting thoughts on Mike Todd, who I thought was quite the character–the clips of him and ET on Edward Murrow’s Person to Person are delightful. My late partner was a dynamic businessman and a good bit older than me. I was much like you, wise in some ways and incredibly childish in others. He died suddenly at age 46 one day, when we were having a lazy day at home, and I was left totally bereft, so I have always empathized with ET’s relationship with Todd. Realistically, perhaps ET and Todd would have probably divorced. Or perhaps she and Todd would have lasted ala Sophia Loren and Carlo Ponti…though that relationship has always seemed suspect to me.
            Yeah, Burton. The one thing that has always bugged me, is not unlike the Fisher criticism, involving Elizabeth: Burton “gave up” greatness to be with Liz. What about what SHE gave up? I realize ET wasn’t that career oriented, but still, the greatest star decides to hold onto her man by being his camp follower…sigh. The difference was ET lived with her choices and didn’t boo hoo about it to the world.
            By the way, Mr. W. When I write this stuff, I am definitely aware that I am on the outside looking in thru a media filter. That’s why I enjoy reading you, you’ve had access to stars and associates of people like ET, and I appreciate your even handed take ; )
            I woke up very articulate today…that doesn’t happen often! Hope you don’t mind ; )

            10:53 am | October 8, 2012
          • Mr. Wow

            Dear Rick…first off, I am sorry for your loss—whenever it occurred. That sounds a lot harsher than anything Ive been through. Second, why would I mind you being articulate? Are you kidding? Everybody here is more articulate, wiser and funnier than Mr. W. That’s why I do this. So I can learn something! Third, thanks for the toast in your avatar. And if you don’t drink that’s okay. Everybody can’t be Susan hayward in “I’ll Cry Tomorrow.” But it’s supposed to be bad luck to toast with water. So I’m just going to pretend it’s…vodka. XXXXMrW

            2:19 pm | October 8, 2012
          • BabySnooks

            Well you know rumor was. Well you know rumor was she was trying to replace him with Henry Wynberg and then Larry Fortensky. He was dynamite in bed.  As was, or rumor was, Mike Todd.   Rumor was.  We will never know. Well some do. But so far no one reliable has said. But Sybil let him stray. So there must have been something about him that when he came home it was worth letting him come home. They both sort of trashed their careers. But they were starring in “The Burtons” and that was a very expensive film to star in. So they trashed their careers while cashing in as they say. She liked to moan and groan about having to work. But after Cleopatra she didn’t really need to. He of course had to. Bulgari wasn’t cheap. Elizabeth didn’t let him stray. But he did. And when he came home to Elizabeth, well, he usually brought a little bauble from Bulgari. But I suspect even empty handed he would have been forgiven.  I met him once. He had this magnetism.  Something about him. Just oozed sex. The voice of course. But something else. She was Earth Mother. He was Zeus. 

            7:42 pm | October 8, 2012
  • Rho

    Eddie Fisher?  I met him in the borscht belt in the Catskills with his daughter Carrie, have I got a story to tell, all I can say now is OY VEY!!!!

    4:20 pm | October 7, 2012
    • Rho!  Dish dish dish!

      11:44 pm | October 7, 2012
    • Haunted Lady

      Yes, Rho, let’s hear it. We’re all friends here and you don’t have to keep these things from friends. We won’t tell anyone.

      9:54 am | October 8, 2012
  • Daniel Sugar

    They both had a lot of miles on them.

    5:14 pm | October 7, 2012
  • rick gould

    …and by the way, Mr. W, I am toasting you in my avatar…in Perrier!

    8:38 pm | October 7, 2012
  • Rho

    Okay, here is the story about Eddie Fisher.  Buddy Hackett sponsored him for a show at The Concord Hotel in the borscht belt.  Eddie came in from the back with a drink in his hand.  When he got on stage, he was looped.  They came and wrapped him in a blanket, through him into the elevator, with Carrie, crying her eyes out.  3500 people watched.  We had no show that night.  The next morning Eddie and Carrie walked into the coffee shop.  He said some things I will not post here.  Everyone walked out of the coffee shop.  So, there you have it.  lol

     

    3:46 pm | October 9, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Rho…they are never the same after Miss Tayor discards them.  (Larry Fortensky is literally unrecognizable now.  Saw him at ET’s memorial.  Quite a shock.)

      12:06 pm | October 10, 2012
      • rick gould

        Larry seemed like a nice guy to me. Unfortunately he fell back into drinking after he divorced ET (saying he couldn’t handle her surgeries/illnesses anymore) and literally fell headfirst down a flight of stairs. Breaking his neck and requiring a tracheotomy, I believe. I read the one interview he gave after she died and I thought it was genuine and bittersweet. Aging and ongoing issues can be a bitch!

        3:08 pm | October 10, 2012
        • Mr. Wow

          Dear Rick…Larry was a nice guy.  Totally out of his depth or element, however.  I chatted with him in Venice when La Liz was there for an AIDS gala.  He was so nice and talked  animatedly about building a big closet for Elizabeth’s stuff. 

          A year later, when I interviewed ET (please see Mr. Wow’s Terrifying Interview with Elizabeth Taylor)  I mentioned that I’d spoken with Larry and about his building project.   The room froze.  “He talked to you.  About that?”    What I didn’t know was that the marriage was already collapsing.   She clearly didn’t want any charming references to Mr. F.    Yeah, his post-ET  issues were tragic.  But…she supported him.   And I think she was sincere in that final attempt at wedded bliss.    It was her first truly sober marriage.  (Prior to that either the groom or she or both were substance abusers.) 

          5:48 pm | October 10, 2012
          • BabySnooks

            Bel-Air isn’t exactly a “National Night Out” neighborhood but even though they rarely actually meet their neighbors they know them all. And Larry Fortensky took a construction “up the road” at Jerry Perenchio’s. And would walk. And would be seen at the gate when he came home. Ringing the buzzer as they say. The joke when they announced the “engagement” was she gave him a car and a gate opener. Bottom line is he made her happy. And was good to her. Probably the only husband who really was. There were lots of nasty things said when they divorced. I tend to beleive the story she realized she was getting older and it wasn’t going to be much of a marriage at some point. And thought he deserved something better than taking care of her. He ended up needing someone to take care of him. It must have been hard to suddenly go back to being plain old nobody after life on Nimes Road. But, well, the Fates.  You never heard an unkind word about her from him. And never will. For what it was or wasn’t it was a good marriage.  Her final fling I guess you could say. She dated a little afterwards but I suspect it was just that. Dating. I think she let the passion go finally. And was content with the memories. 

            A  horrid tell-all being published finally. The first of many no doubt. This one atrocious. She seduced Ronald Reagan when she was a teenager. Had a three-way with JFK and Robert Stack. Some of the “revelations” from a “friend.” Some friend. One thing is for sure. Whoever they are they were not her friend.  Probably had never even met her unless it was at a Macy’s during a perfume promotion.  Fame. Ain’t what it’s cracked up to be. Particularly after you’re dead and can’t deny it. Or file a libel suit.

            3:16 pm | October 11, 2012
      • Rho

        Mr. Wow, you are probably right – lol

        3:26 pm | October 10, 2012
    • Haunted Lady

      Poor Carrie. I hope they still were able to maintain a decent relationship afterward.

      12:39 pm | October 11, 2012
  • rick gould

    3:28 pm | October 10, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Rick…this is blank, honey….

      5:50 pm | October 10, 2012
      • rick gould

        Yes, I know, Mr. W.My attempts at posting photos are also challenged ; )

        11:17 am | October 11, 2012
  • lulu

    watching the debate….vodka in hand…bottle nearby

    9:14 pm | October 11, 2012
  • lulu

    So who won????

    10:36 pm | October 11, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Lulu…nobody, really.  I was livelier than the prez debate, that’s about it.

      12:39 pm | October 12, 2012
  • rick gould

    http://tmblr.co/Z0NKZy4I7V3v
    I will try to post a photo one more time and then officially stick to writing witty comments!

    11:01 am | October 12, 2012
  • Daniel Sugar

    Mr. Wow,
    In case you haven’t seen it, may I recommend (to you and all your online friends) “Elizabeth Taylor: Auction Of A Lifetime”. (It’s interesting to learn (from Gianni Bulgari) who really paid for many of Elizabeth’s “presents”.

    11:42 am | October 12, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Dr. Sugar…I’ve always beleived she paid most of it herself,

      12:37 pm | October 12, 2012
      • Daniel Sugar

        According to Ward Landrigan of Verdura and Gianni Bulgari, you are correct, Mr. W. (Apparently, Burton never had the $ so Elizabeth paid and said they were gifts from Richard.)

        12:40 pm | October 12, 2012
        • BabySnooks

          Burton bought the emerald brooch which also became a pendant attached to the emerald necklace that Eddie Fisher had bought her before “Le Scandale” began.  Bulgari suggested it.  She of course probably paid for the necklace. Eddie Fisher really had little money after showering her with gifts including a house in Jamaica as well as the house in Switzerland.  As for who paid for what their finances were intermingled from the point they were married. So much so that it remained intermingled for years after they divorced. Some say it was still intermingled when she died. It was a maze of corporations. So to say she paid for it or he paid for it is questionable at best. They both paid for it.  Why it remained intermingled mystified quite a few. Some say it was that it gave him control over her. And allowed her to remain dependant on him. She had her own trust she set up afer Cleopatra to avoid taxes. Neither really liked taxes much. Rumor is the estate is having to deal with that now.  But the “community property” approach came to an end with John Warner. There was no pre-nup but they did maintain separate property. One of the things that rumor had it detonated the marriage in the end was his insistence she pay for half of everything.  Not all the really fabulous Bulgari pieces were from Burton. After the big bucks started rolling in from the perfume, she went shopping as they say.  Bulgari by the way bought much of the jewelry back at the auction. And overpaid according to some. But the emeralds and the sapphires are a good investment. They were superior stones when they were bought. In a couple of years Bulgari will get their money back.  No one exprected the jewelry to bring what it did.  But some of the pieces, particularly the pieces by Bugari, were “one of a kind” which added to the value. But the real value was in the mystiallcih add 

          10:42 pm | October 12, 2012
  • BabySnooks

    Burton bought the emerald brooch which also became a pendant attached to the emerald necklace that Eddie Fisher had bought her before “Le Scandale” began. Bulgari suggested it. She of course probably paid for the necklace. Eddie Fisher really had little money after showering her with gifts including a house in Jamaica as well as the house in Switzerland. As for who paid for what their finances were intermingled from the point they were married. So much so that it remained intermingled for years after they divorced. Some say it was still intermingled when she died. It was a maze of corporations. So to say she paid for it or he paid for it is questionable at best. They both paid for it. Why it remained intermingled mystified quite a few. Some say it was that it gave him control over her. And allowed her to remain dependant on him. She had her own trust she set up afer Cleopatra to avoid taxes. Neither really liked taxes much. Rumor is the estate is having to deal with that now. But the “community property” approach came to an end with John Warner. There was no pre-nup but they did maintain separate property. One of the things that rumor had it detonated the marriage in the end was his insistence she pay for half of everything. Not all the really fabulous Bulgari pieces were from Burton. After the big bucks started rolling in from the perfume, she went shopping as they say. Bulgari by the way bought much of the jewelry back at the auction. And overpaid according to some. But the emeralds and the sapphires are a good investment. They were superior stones when they were bought. In a couple of years Bulgari will get their money back. No one exprected the jewelry to bring what it did. But some of the pieces, particularly the pieces by Bugari, were “one of a kind” which added to the value. But the real value was in the mystique “Elizabeth Taylor” added to them. The other surprise was the Krupp diamond. But upon appraisal it was not flawless. And people who buy those kind of diamonds don’t care about the mystique. They care about the investment. 

    10:44 pm | October 12, 2012
    • BabySnooks

      Some love to slam Burton I guess. Ward Landrigan and Gianni Bulgari were friends.  Her friends didn’t talk about her. As several found out after Kitty Kelley’s book came out. Kitty Kelley pulled quotes and then “acknowledged” the person as if they had talked to her.  Elizabeth knew who had and who hadn’t.  That from a mutual friend who saw another mutual friend “summarily dismissed” although they were “kissy-kissy” at the birthday party at Disneyland.  As for discussing, and dissing, Burton absolutely a no-no. She did.  But no one dared do so themselves.  Not on their own.  

      10:51 pm | October 12, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Baby…I was glad when Bulgari bought up all that stuff.  They really were one-of-a-kind pieces.  And she word them endlessly.  They might have passed on the multiple gold chains, but all the really important pieces went back to Bulgari. 

       

      I think the  grandest,gaudiest Bulgari pieces–certainly the ones I often saw her wear–came well before the perfume years.  But she did shop for a lot of jewelry (or had Malcolm or Michael buy for her)  in her single era.  And she was still collecting bling up to the very the end.  Some of it was that awful stuff she designed with Kathy Ireland, but now and then a good piece snuck in. 

      1:21 am | October 16, 2012
      • BabySnooks

        All the emeralds came from the “movie queen” era.  Eddie Fisher bought the necklace, the rest were from Burton along with a lot of the “odds and ends” including some of the sapphire pieces which I beleive were also Bulgari and that cognac diamond ring and earrings which were really quite spectacular, cognac diamonds are either really spectacular or just really not, they can be too brown or too yellow, as was the canary diamond which I think was one of the “perfume” era pieces. There were pieces not in the auction. Most assume she left them to Liza or Maria or the granddaughters. The real mystery is the diamond ring Mike Todd gave her.  She never wore it again after Burton bought the “big one” but no one I know has any idea what happened to it. Most assume she gave it to Liza.  It was not small. I think 29 carats.  The auction shocked a lot of people. I doubt anyone expected what it brought in. But the real shock was the Krupp diamond.  Even with the “could be perfect” appraisal most expected the “historical” value to bring in big bucks. It didn’t. No one really knows why.  A lot of people in Houston were curious about the “monkey necklace” because it was designed for Sandra di Portanova by her husband Ricky who had a weird sense of jewelry design. It was gaudy. On the level of those  bizarre earrings Onassis had designed to ‘”commemorate” the moon landing which she must have had a few stiff drinks in order to wear.  I think Cartier designed it. The designers probably had to have a few stiff drinks as well. But then some of the “odds and ends” were as well.  How she ended up with it is a myatery. Did she want it or did Michael Jackson just decide he liked it and gave it to her?  For those who bought the baubles, wear them well She certainly did. As for the caftans I doubt they will look the same on anyone else. They were perfect for her.  Why she probably wore them as much as she did. No matter how fat, they still managed to make her look good.  She certainly had the life. And shared it. I will always think of her in one way or another. Particularly from Washington. ” Hi, I’m Elizabeth Warner. ” It was, looking back, very weird actually. And that “cackle” of hers. Hard to describe it. You just had to hear it.  She was proof positive I guess that like Catherine Deneuve said happiness comes in fleeting moments.  And Chen. Who was also stunning. And had her moments as well. I think that’s why they were such good friends. They both knew the ups and downs.  She had a son if I recall correctly. And one or two husbands.  Ups and downs. And all arounds.  They’re in heaven together. Ignoring the husbands. Having a “hen party.”  One of the things I didn’t like about Sally Morrison was she seemed to be trying to replace Chen.  I don’t think so. There was only one Chen Sam. Just like there was only one Elizabeth Taylor.

        12:20 am | October 18, 2012
  • maryburdt

    Hi Mr. Wow and B—I have been off site for a few days so I missed your photo and B’s first post to us.  What a nice surprise.  In some ways, Mr. Wow, you remind me of Montgomery Clift.  Maybe it’s the eyes, deep and brooding and full of mystery.  You were adorable then and I am sure, still remain so.  B…I loved you weighing in on Mr. Wow’s blog.  Stay connected.  Mary

    11:44 pm | October 12, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Mary…Monty Clift?!  Okay, now I retire.  Can’t get any better than that.  (before his terrible accident, that is.) 

       

      Looking back at this I actually think I have a young Liza Minnelli thing going on.  Without the incessant  giggling and of course without the lovely Miss Garland as “mama.”   I will encourage B. to check in.  But, he really is very shy.  Nothing at all like Mr. W.   Maybe that’s why he liked me.  That, and my mysterious eyes?  

      11:39 pm | October 17, 2012
      • maryburdt

        We all love you Mr. Wow and I think you know that.  We have gotten to know B through you and he has become a beloved member of our little group.  When B has something to say to us, he will.
        I don’t want to think of you resembling Lisa Minelli, she just bores me to death.  Maybe it IS the constant giggling.  All I know is that you are who you are and I love that.

        12:06 am | October 18, 2012
      • Rho

        Mr. Wow, I told you that once before about Monty Clift.  Absolutely, you look like him, I should know, met him many times. 

        4:04 pm | October 18, 2012
        • Rho, you definitely had the best mental image of Mr. Wow, before we knew for sure!  You must be clairvoyant…!

          7:34 pm | October 18, 2012
  • Lucy

    Mr. wOw,

    I am a fairly new reader. Just came on board around your Father’s Day post or thereabout. I’ve posted a few times, but recently I was sick, so had to stay in for a few days. I decided to read some of your back posts to find out more about you.

    Boy, it was so much fun. You are hillarious with a capital H. I never really realized that the past career you spoke about, when you spoke about being fired, was in show biz – Duh. Missed the whole point, didn’t I? Anyway, now I understand why you felt so burned out. I don’t know how anyone can handle it. Yes, it’s glamorous – if you are young, but I imagine it to be a snake pit these days. You are lucky you are not in it anymore – you probably disagree and wish you were still working. Yes/No?

    I don’t know nearly as much as you all do about these old Hollywood stars. I just watch and love TMC. My mother & I used  to watch all the old movies and she had many black and white photo books of the stars. She herself looked like Rita Hayward – not joking. The  Ft. Lauderdale News used to put her on the cover all the time when she wore a new bathing suit or when she was at the Elbo Room. Anyway, we particularly loved Ingrid Bergman, Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Marilyn & Liz were a little too out there for me as female role models. I liked a strong, intelligent woman – so did Mom. All my gay friends, of course, loved your two idols. Now, I love Liz, but I never got the Marilyn thing. She always reminded me of a cartoon character – like a blonde Jessica Rabbit. Maybe you have to be a man to really be in love with Marilyn?

    It’s so much fun listening to all the people on this site who really knew or saw some of the Stars up close and personal. Also, since you all are such “groupies” I love your inside info.

    I wonder why the women today, who are surely beautiful, don’t measure up to those long ago Hollywood stars. Why do you think that is? Is it that glamour has been traded in for jeans and sneakers? Even when they are dressed to the 9’s they don’t have the same allure, do they?

    Can’t wait to watch Lindsay Lohen as Liz and also a new HBO movie about Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren called The Girl (I think). Both coming soon.

     

    9:37 pm | October 13, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Lucy…first off, hope you are feeling better.   Although I must say you risked illness going back into the archives!   I was tempted to remove some of the weaker ones, but then I thought–why be a phony about it, if you’re going to put yourself out there (here) like this?

      My work “situation” remains…odd.  I am actually still working, but for no pay.  (bus fare, some $ here and there, but no salary.)   There’s a lot of resentment, even rage–always has been.  (It has ever been a complicated relationship, me and the boss.)  But, I don’t know what to do.  I certainly haven’t looked for anything else, mostly because I have such low self-esteem, I figure, who else but the old boss would want me anyway–oy, blah, blah.  People have real problems.    But you’re right.  The excitement part died a long time ago.  Tho I can still muster up a lot of bullshit.

      I love all the great ladies–Ingrid, Susan Hayward (so unfairly forgotten, it seems!) Rita, Lana, Ava.   But Marilyn affected me in an odd personal way, aside from her talents and attractions (as I saw them.)  La Liz was something else again!  She was this…thing, this creature of incredible excess and madness ans unending media interest.  I became infatuated with her image and the pulse-pounding effect she had in person.  (Even fat, the crowds went wild.)    It was a lot of fun, those years, running after her limo, waiting in the cold and heat, and then, finally, to be in the biz and really close up.   I am deeply nostalgic about that era of my life. 

      As for Miss Lohan’s “Liz and Dick” I await it breathlessly.  Too bad I don’t drop acid anymore. 

      1:13 am | October 16, 2012
      • rick Gould

        Mr. W–Surely you will watch “Liz and Dick” FOR us and write a great column about it!Be sure to buy some Visine for after!That last line you wrote gave me a chuckle over morning coffee…

        11:27 am | October 16, 2012
        • Mr. Wow

          Dear Rick… I certainly will!  And I was able to open the pic you sent.  Very funny. 

          8:07 pm | October 16, 2012
      • BabySnooks

        I still cannot believe they cast her but those who’ve seen “sneak peeks” say she at times looks just like the Elizabeth Taylor we remember during “Le Scandale.”  I suspect just the same there will be this “You’ve got to be f**king kidding me” from heaven. Followed by a cackle. Sometimes when someone looks too much like the “historical” character it becomes parody. 

        12:28 am | October 18, 2012
        • Mr. Wow

          Dear Baby…Lindsay was quite a beauty in her time–sad to that, as she is only 26!  But if she looked like anybody at her peak, it was Ann-Margret.    Her performance might surprise us.  She, does, or did, have talent.  But she has not one Liz-like feature.  Not that this is necessarily vital, if the performance is good enough.  But the over-inflated Lohan  lips kill it for me.  (Taylor tried collagen once, around the early Fortensky years.  It didn’t suit her.  I don’t know what the hell Lindsay has in her pucker–cement?) 

          Anyway, looking forward to it tremendously.  I need a laugh these days.  Who doesn’t?

          12:43 am | October 18, 2012
  • lulu

    Mr. W – Can hardly wait for your review of  ‘Liz and Dick’. 
                  Is Rick’s photo one you can share with all of your loyal followers?  Maybe if it is B will help you download here.  It is fun to see what other Mr. Wow fan’s look like.

    10:25 am | October 17, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Lulu–click on the red dot, on Rick’s post, where he says he’s trying to put up a pic.  The shot should come up. 

      11:52 pm | October 17, 2012
  • LandofLove

    I wanted to alert all of the devotees of Hollywood glamour that the Victoria & Albert Museum in London is opening a new exhibit of Hollywood costume, including designs worn by our faves Ms. Taylor, Ms. Monroe, and Ms. Garland. You can get all the info at the V&A’s website.
    Sure to be fun for everyone!

    2:00 pm | October 17, 2012
  • bigred52

    Honest and sad – unfortunately I cannot relate since I had a totally different adolescence and young adulthood.  I was gay but never acknowledged in my comfortable and isolated Long Island suburban upbringing.  My first sexual encountered didn’t happen until I was 48 – I am 60 now and celibate for the past 5 years.  I hope that wasn’t the end!!   I do enjoy your blogs.  Keep them coming.

    2:45 pm | October 17, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Please…nobody with the cyber name of Bigred is going to be celibate!   Stop it.  I know I go on about my own age and decrepitude, but I will be 60 in January and honest, on a good day when I’m not calling B. on the phone and having a hysterical breakdown (this happened two days ago!)  I feel 28.   And, I’m still in pretty good shape.  In a dark room, on a moonless night, chatting with with people suffering from cataracts. 

      I’m glad you can’t relate to all of my story, because some of it wasn’t very nice.  I certainly don’t advocate teenage prostitution as an avenue to free oneself.   It didn’t bother me.  But it should have.   But, like me and Piaf always said–no regrets.  What’s the point? 

      So, Bigred, this is not our parents 60.   It wasn’t the end.  You could be on the verge of a beginning, if you want it.   Keep reading and stay in touch. 

       

      11:50 pm | October 17, 2012
      • ALL, sad news for those of us who came over from the old wowOwow crowd:  Briana Baran passed away suddenly on 9 October. 

        Her
        husband Rusty wanted us, and especially Mr. Wow, to know.  Briana was a
        great admirer of Mr. Wow and spoke of him highly and often.

        For anyone who would like to send condolences to her family, here is the link for her online memorial and guestbook:

        http://obits.dignitymemorial.com/dignity-memorial/obituary.aspx?n=Briana-Baran&lc=4974&pid=160497163&mid=5274805

        7:44 pm | October 18, 2012
        • maryburdt

          Thank you Lila for letting us know about the untimely death of Briana and the link to her guest book.  I just posted there.  You know, we get to know each other pretty well on-line, don’t we? I miss the old WowOWow site and the people who posted there.  Thank goodness you stepped up to the plate and gathered some of us in on your site, (Forming the Thread).  I hope more people find this site of yours…it’s great.

          8:30 pm | October 18, 2012
        • rick Gould

          Well, shoot, sorry to read that…She and I had some fun exchanges regarding Michigan!Thank you for passing this on!
          And Lulu, sorry I am so LameLame about being able to completely post a picture. I am obviously missing a step…or my computer is futzing something up! Yes, I will blame the computer ; )

          9:14 pm | October 18, 2012
        • Mr. Wow

          Dear Lila…I am so shocked.  I had such great, fun  exchanges with Briana.   Thank you for the link. 

           

          Let’s all cherish ours lives, our loved ones and this moment of life.

           

          love, Mr. Wow

           

          10:37 pm | October 18, 2012
      • bigred52

        Thanks for taking the time to reply, Mr Wow.  Coincidentally – I met someone at the gay bowling league, “A League of Our Own”, this past Monday who made my heart skip a beat or two.  Of course, I was too chicken to make the first move but I did find out he is single.  Next week – for sure!!!  Wish me strength.

        2:30 pm | October 24, 2012
  • ALL:  for those who came here from the wowOwow community, sad news: 
    Briana Baran passed away suddenly on 9 October.  Her husband Rusty
    wanted us and Mr. Wow to know, especially; Briana spoke highly and often
    of you, Mr. Wow. 

    I plan to honor Briana on my website tomorrow.  For anyone who wants to send condolences to her family, here is the link to her online memorial and guestbook.

    Briana

    7:29 pm | October 18, 2012
  • ALL, sad news for those of us who came over from the old wowOwow crowd:  Briana Baran passed away suddenly on 9 October. 

    Her husband Rusty wanted us, and especially Mr. Wow, to know.  Briana was a great admirer of Mr. Wow and spoke of him highly and often.

    For anyone who would like to send condolences to her family, here is the link for her online memorial and guestbook.

    7:42 pm | October 18, 2012
    • BabySnooks

      She will be missed. We are like family. Thank you Lila for letting us know.

      9:04 pm | October 19, 2012
  • ALL, sad news for those of us who came over from the old wowOwow crowd:  Briana Baran passed away suddenly on 9 October. 

    Her
    husband Rusty wanted us, and especially Mr. Wow, to know.  Briana was a
    great admirer of Mr. Wow and spoke of him highly and often.

    For anyone who would like to send condolences to her family, here is the link for her online memorial and guestbook.

    7:43 pm | October 18, 2012
    • Ugh, I thought this might happen.  I was having trouble posting… and now here they are.

      Oh, well.

      12:19 pm | October 19, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Lila…I have now tried twice  to place a message on the guestbook.  No luck.  And I even put down my home e-mail which they said was “optional” but didn’t seem to be.

      3:29 pm | October 19, 2012
      • Mr. Wow, maybe wait a day and then check to see if your posts appeared, or try again.  As you see, I also had trouble getting my notes to post here yesterday… gremlins, you know. 

        5:23 pm | October 19, 2012
        • Mr. Wow

          Dear Lila..it’s up and it’s fine.  As the actress said to the bishop.

           

          Seriously, thanks for that link.  I wanted to post for Briana.

          7:22 pm | October 19, 2012
  • lulu

    I so agree!!! We need to cherish each other our friendships, our families (as stressful as they might be at times) and take good care of ourselves.  Am so sorry to hear about Briana.  I remember reading her responses in wowow. I was a later comer to that site, but I love Mr. Wow blog and adore Lila’s  FormingtheThread.wordpress.com.  I even got brave and wrote a piece for her site.
    And Rick, Mr. Wow told me to click the red X in your post….guess what all the pictures popped up….was so much fun!!!!
    I feel like we are a tribe into our own.
    hugs to all

    11:36 pm | October 18, 2012
  • Deirdre

    It seems Briana lived life well and with gusto. Her posts were filled with a strength regarding her point of view that I admired. I will miss reading her thoughts on just about everything.This site is proof (for me) that the internet is not nearly as sterile a place as many would have us believe. This group knows better.

    8:28 am | October 19, 2012
  • Rho

    So sorry to hear this sad news.  May she rest in peace.

    8:56 am | October 19, 2012
  • LandofLove

    Lila has written a beautiful memorial to Briana on her Forming the Thread blog.

    9:02 am | October 19, 2012
  • KE MH

    First, my apologies to Mr. Wow and Lila for addressing Lila in Mr. Wow’s blog instead of Lila’s blog, but I can never remember my password on that other site, so all I can do is like articles when I’m not home to look up the password on my password cheat sheet.
    Second, thank you, Lila for your wonderful memorial for Briana. I’m still very much in shock at her passing. I just can’t get over how fragile life really is: you’re here one second, gone the next; just like that.
    Briana did have spirit, lots of it. I sure will miss her, and I’m very happy to have met her online.
    Rest in Peace, Briana!

    12:52 pm | October 19, 2012
    • KEMH, you don’t need a password for my site.  There is a little info form that pops up when you write a comment, but you can fill in as little as you want.  No info just makes for a post from “Anonymous.”

      2:04 pm | October 19, 2012
  • All, Rusty, Briana Baran’s husband, has passed along some email notes to me, which I posted on Briana’s memorial (with his permission) to share with you.  You can read them here.

    10:56 pm | October 20, 2012
  • Rho

    Thanks Lila.

    1:13 pm | October 21, 2012
  • lulu

    Lila….went to site….Thanks!!!
    It is so nice of you to do it for all of us!!!

    3:32 pm | October 21, 2012
  • Daniel Sugar

    I’m so sorry to hear about Briana. 
    (Though I’ve never met any of you, I feel somehow “connected” to everyone from the old wowowow group.) It was special; our little corner of the internet.) 

    8:46 pm | October 21, 2012
    • maryburdt

      Daniel, I agree with you completely.  I have a fondness for all my internet connections.

      9:20 pm | October 21, 2012
    • LandofLove

      I like Daniel’s phrase–“our little corner of the Internet.” I guess everyone needs a community.
      Carol

      9:41 am | October 22, 2012
  • Haunted Lady

    I feel awful but I don’t remember this woman at all. I dropped off wowowow for a while because there were some very nasty characters who belittled anyone who disagreed with them. Though I don’t specifically recall Brianna, she must have been something for so many people to be touched by her passing.

    1:00 pm | October 22, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Haunted One…


      Briana was feisty but not unreasonable.    However, even if she’d been unreasonable, I’d still feel bad about her passing–especially at 63!   I’ve liked even the people who delivered very harsh criticism to me.   They were usually quite bright–and maybe quite right.    Briana entered my online life when I became the ridiculous Mr. Wow.   And so–as all of you have–she became a part of my life, my “family.”  
      2:41 pm | October 22, 2012
      • Mr. Wow, you are NOT ridiculous.  Or, let me rephrase that:  Mr. Wow is not ridiculous.  And you still need to write that book!!

        As for our online “family” — yeah, it would be fun and interesting to meet some of our crowd, wouldn’t it?  I recently took the train from DC to Connecticut and as I was passing through Penn Station and later looking over at the Manhattan skyline, I thought of YOU, Mr. Wow!

        4:01 pm | October 22, 2012
      • lulu

         I totally agree with Lila…Mr. Wow is never ridiculous!!!  And he must write a book, even if we help by writing messages in his blog every day.  I love that we are all part of each others lives and ‘families’.  We are a unique and special tribe!!!

        5:45 pm | October 22, 2012
      • Haunted Lady

        Sublime, not ridiculous.
        Even though I don’t really remember her, it’s sad that she died so young.

        7:33 pm | October 22, 2012
  • Rho

    I also agree, Mr. Wow — you are far from ridiculous. You are fine, great person.

     

    6:20 pm | October 22, 2012
  • rick Gould

    The only thing ridiculous about you, Mr. Wow, is that generic  headless tuxedo shot ; )
    If you choose to remain a modest mug, replace it with something more you… sneakers, a Marilyn coffee mug, I don’t know?
    We’re all here, that’s what matters…Hugs,Rick

    9:51 pm | October 23, 2012
    • lulu

      Rick…How about a current headshoot on the tuxedo….and a way we can all put our heads on a tuxedo too….that way we are the tuxedo gang?  alot of cut and paste but fun….we could all be wearing tuxedos for Halloween trick or treat.

      10:39 pm | October 23, 2012
  • Speaking of Halloween!  Some of us have a fun little virtual travel club.  Our next “trip” will start tomorrow evening, to Salem Massachusetts.  Highlights will include – of course – the costume ball at the Hawthorne Hotel on Saturday evening.  Anyone who wants to join in the fantasy fun, come on over to:

    http://formingthethread.wordpress.com/the-mr-wow-fans-travel-club/halloween-in-salem/

    12:41 pm | October 25, 2012
  • rick Gould

    Re: those last couple of comments…I don’t think tuxedos are Mr. W’s thing! But I will keep an eye out for the Halloween Ball… I got some great pix when I dressed up as the Johnny Depp version of Willy Wonka a few years back ; )

    11:48 am | October 26, 2012
    • Well, Rick, come on by and bring your Wonka tux!

      8:25 pm | October 26, 2012
  • Rho

    Testing — I think gremlins got into my computer again.

    5:04 pm | October 26, 2012
    • Read you loud and clear, over.

      8:24 pm | October 26, 2012
  • lulu

    If you want a fun giggle, go to the site Lila put up earlier…You will see how Lila and I (lulu550) there arrived in Salem for the fun….Come on, come all.  If you have a photo you want to show how you arrived send Lila an email with the photo and she will post it.

    9:43 pm | October 26, 2012
  • MR WOW… hang tight in the next few days!  Big storm surge coming… and Hoboken on the water… perhaps move your best treasures upstairs. 

    We are not in a flood area here but I am worried about all these trees and braced for loss of power.  I imagine we will all have some stories of Frankenstorm 2012.  Hopefully nothing TOO interesting.

    “May you live in interesting times.”  Grr.  Dang Chinese.

    Looking forward to everyone getting back online and checking in… everyone stay safe!

    11:34 am | October 28, 2012
  • lulu

    Yes everyone on the East Coast stay safe and sound.
    Mother Nature decided we on the West Coast shouldn’t feel neglected, so she woke us up in L.A. with a mild ‘jolt’ this morning that registered 3.8.
    Keep in ‘constant touch’ as an old friend of mine reminds daily.

    12:35 pm | October 28, 2012
    • maryburdt

      Lulu,  I didn’t feel the earthquake this morning, must have been sleeping too soundly.
      Best wishes to those of you on the East coast.  You are in my prayers.
      I didn’t fly to Salem on Friday for our Halloween bash because of the approaching storm.  Did anyone go?

      12:43 pm | October 28, 2012
      • lulu

        Good Morning Mary…Yes Lila, Rick and I all went to the Halloween Ball at the Hawthorne.  Rho was there but didn’t see her at the party.  Go into Lila’s Blog, she posted the link above in Mr. Wow’s Blog and you can see our costumes.

        1:07 pm | October 28, 2012
  • lulu

    Actually everyone on Mr. Wow’s blog can see Rick’s Halloween Costume.  It is his new avatar here. 

    1:43 pm | October 28, 2012
  • Mr. Wow

    Yikes!  Wasn’t it just yesterday we were all braced for Irene?  Well, we are hunkered down as best we can.  We are situated in the middle of Hoboken, so the water surge would have to be epic to actually get in the house.  The roof will most assuredly leak (again) and I will be a wreck waiting for the windows to blow in.  We’ve got plenty of soup (gas range) so no starving, but there are meds in the fridge that need to be kept cool to assure their potency.  That’s a bit of a worry.

    I’m going to shave and shower now.  Want to look decent if I have to be rescued.  Especially if firemen rescue me.

    Holding good thoughts for all the rest of you in Sandy’s path.

     

    Love. Mr. Wow.

    9:02 pm | October 28, 2012
    • Mr. Wow, I have been making ice blocks all day.  Tupperware or such filled with water and then frozen.  The less air in your fridge and freezer and the more fluids or ice, the cooler they will stay, longer (thermal mass).  If it’s all just air, you open the door, the cool air falls out, game over, man. 

      The other advantage of having a bunch of big blocks of ice in the freezer – if the fridge seems like it’s getting too warm you can take one of your ice blocks and put it on the top shelf of the fridge.  In the old days…. this was pretty much how it was done (ice boxes).

      Oh – keep the ice blocks in the Tupperware.  No melty mess.

      9:20 pm | October 28, 2012
    • Deirdre

      Mr. WoW and B!! Hope you are okay and hanging in, not flooded out!  Saw some of the damage in Hoboken and since I know it is very small, I am afraid you may have been in some danger! Thinking of you and B as well as all the gang from this blog.We seemed to have escaped the worst here in Western Massachusetts.

      1:21 am | October 30, 2012
  • Mr. Wow

    Tupperare. 

     I knew I shouldn’t have hung up on that nice lady who called a couple of weeks ago. 

    9:34 pm | October 28, 2012
    • Mr. Wow, well, then, focus on the fridge… by filling it with beer.

      10:07 pm | October 28, 2012
  • Susan

    Hope everyone in the NY area will be safe for the next couple of days.

    I live in Raleigh, NC, about 3 hours from the beach…..lots of wind and rain here this morning on my ride into work.

    Take care Mr. Wow.

    8:47 am | October 29, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Susan…Thanks!  I’m a little nervous.

      9:37 am | October 29, 2012
  • Rho

    So far so good here.  Lila, I’m going to do what you said.  Putting blocks of ice in tupperware.

    10:20 am | October 29, 2012
  • BabySnooks

    The storm surge during the high tide this morning was higher than it was at its worst during Irene. Not a good portent of things to come.  And people remembering Irene have refused to evacuate. And won’t be able to later when they realize this is not Irene. Scary storm.  They call it a hybrid. They’ve never seen one before. Drawing in warm air from a warm front. And drawing in cold air from a cold front. No one knows what will happen. Except that because of its size the storm will last for a day or two. The wind will not stop blowing the way it usually does after a couple of hours.  So much for the Republicans and their belief global warming/climate change was a joke. It wasn’t. 

     

    And it’s been snowing a little in Washington. Also not a good portent of things to come.  Mid 50s in most of the region with wind chills in the mid 40s. Not exactly hurricane weather. But it is a hurricane. Not a nor’easter.   That’s the other mistake some are making. That it’s a nor’easter and no different from the other ones. It is.

     

    Stay safe and stay indoors and if you  were affected by the storm surge during Irene, get out now. It will be at least twice what it was during Irene later this afternoon and this evening.  

    11:24 am | October 29, 2012
  • rick Gould

    Hang tight, Mr. W–I hope their is electricity for the fridge and TCM!Thinking about you,Rick

    11:35 am | October 29, 2012
  • LandofLove

    Sending thoughts of peace and love to everyone affected by the storm. And remember, books can be read by candlelight when the power goes out!  🙂 

    11:55 am | October 29, 2012
    • maryburdt

      Oh my goodness—I never been in a hurricane myself but I can only imagine what you are going through.  Be careful, and take good care of yourselves.  Hold B’s hand and don’t let go.  Please keep us advised as to what is happening.  You know we worry!!! 

      To all of you living on the East coast:  Be SAFE.

      12:16 pm | October 29, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Land…Well, I don;t know how much reading by candlelight I’ll do.  I’m having some odd problem with my left eye.  I think I slept too hard on that side.  Bloodshot and some swelling.   BUT I do have a battery powered little speaker system to which I can attach my iPod.  

      Music helps everything.

       

      12:43 pm | October 29, 2012
  • Daniel Sugar

    Mr. W,
    Hope you and B make it through the storm safely.
    P.S. Thought this clip might cheer you up…
    http://youtu.be/5BHoDW9f7vY

    1:07 pm | October 29, 2012
  • BabySnooks

    Just on CNN. The Hudson apparently is “backing up” because of the storm surge and hopefully you are upstairs with B and the kitties. Same thing on Long Island. Some moved to “higher ground” which may prove not to be high enough. And the worse yet to come.  Apparently Long Island Sound is not the place to be.  Or lower Manhattan. And now Hoboken.  An odd storm. They’ve never seen a storm like this. Now it’s become a nor’easter. With hurricane force winds. Blowing sleet and snow in some places instead of rain. Hurricane force winds that may continue for two days. The storm is 1,000 miles wide. So there’s 500 miles of it that still is out in the ocean.  Scary. 

    The Republicans have already started their “not climate change” propaganda machines. Funded by the oil and gas industry of course. Hope everyone tells the Republicans what they think of them by voting for all the Democrats on their ballots.  I hope those who haven’t voted and manage to vote next week remember as they look around at the damage that Romney and Ryan both want to cut FEMA. 

    8:48 pm | October 29, 2012
  • lulu

    Baby Snooks, we’ve already voted here and it wasn’t for Romney or Ryan.

    Looking at CNN I think Mr. Wow’s followers might need to go rescue him and B.
    Hoboken has been mentioned numerous times including move from the first floor to the second floor.

    10:31 pm | October 29, 2012
    • maryburdt

      Hoboken is all over the news right now.  Half the city is flooded and I am very concerned about Mr. Wow and B.  Be safe everyone.

      10:47 pm | October 29, 2012
    • I’m very glad that Mr. Wow and B. HAVE a second floor and I hope they are able to stay home and not be evacuated.  How miserable.

      11:41 pm | October 29, 2012
  • Crap.  I can see this headline in my news feed, but can’t get the story to come up:

    Hoboken, in Disarray, Calls for National Guard HelpWall Street Journal (blog)-15 minutes agoThe mayor of Hoboken, N.J., said she had called on the National Guard to help rescue people in the mile-square city on the Hudson River.

    12:07 am | October 30, 2012
    • Deirdre

      LilaI have been watching the news updates for the past hour or so. Get little bits about Hoboken but nothing about progress! It’s such a small area. I am sure it won’t surprise you if I say I am very worried about our men.  Hope they will be able to let us know very soon that they are okay.

      1:29 am | October 30, 2012
      • Finally got the story to come up and it says water was coming in to the north and south parts of Hoboken.  Maybe – since Mr. Wow says they are in the middle – maybe they will be OK.  I am hoping.

        Still getting soaked in DC, and high winds through tomorrow evening… ain’t over yet… I am very surprised and happy that we still have power. 

        1:39 am | October 30, 2012
        • maryburdt

          Good luck Lila.  My thoughts and prayers are with all of you who are suffering this terrible storm.
          I will keep checking into this site for more info.  Take care everybody.

          1:43 am | October 30, 2012
          • Deirdre

            MaryBurdt,I saw the same information as you have and hope the very same.  With all the chaos, I fear it will be a few days until we hear from our friend.Sending thoughts and prayers to everyone who has had such a rough day. Please everyone be safe.

            2:00 am | October 30, 2012
        • Deirdre

          Lila, I googled Hoboken flooding and got the WSJ article. I scrolled down a bit further and the New Jersey Journal had a couple of youtube videos of the surge coming in this morning.Glad you have power and hope it stays. Right now in Western Massachusetts it is quiet and calm. We dodged this one out this way but of course the coast is having a rough time.I am so anxious to hear from our friend but do realize that it may be several days. In the meantime, I’ll keep good thoughts for all.

          1:57 am | October 30, 2012
  • lulu

    6:15 AM on the West Coast.  Sounds like Hoboken had the worst flooding since the 1800’s with a lot of the water flooding their transit stations and the areas closest to the water.  No power.  Just showing water pouring into a Path Transit Station in Hoboken last night.  Since Mr. Wow said they lived in the middle of Hoboken hoping they didn’t sustain any major damage other than a little wind or water damage. 

    9:22 am | October 30, 2012
  • Deirdre

    From what I have seen this morning lulu; it doesn’t look any better. It appears it will take a long time to get things straightened out in Hoboken as well as the rest of the East Coast.Just hoping that Mr. Wow and B are safe and that as soon as they can, they will let us know they are okay.Hugs to all!

    12:13 pm | October 30, 2012
    • maryburdt

      I went to bed last night to bad news about the storm and awoke this morning to worse news.  Hoboken was hit very, very hard.  Hoping Mr. Wow and B are safe and sound.  Love to all of you in the storms way.  We care.

      12:19 pm | October 30, 2012
      • Deirdre

        MaryBurdt,  It is awful and I know we are all very worried. 

        12:37 pm | October 30, 2012
        • maryburdt

          Pumps are arriving in Hoboken.  20,000 people stranded.  Hoboken’sMayor is asking for food donations.  All this is on CNN right now.  I am so worried about Mr. Wow and B and the medication that needs refrigeration.  The rescue effort is being slowed down by the narrow streets of the City.  What a disaster this storm is.  So many people affected.  My prayers are with you.
          Lila–how are you doing in D.C.?

          12:56 pm | October 31, 2012
          • Deirdre

            Mary Burdt, thank you so much for the update!  This storm has really taken a big toll on the East Coast. Did you see the mayor of Hoboken on television last night?  She as in a front loader, helping the police officer who rescued several people who tried to walk out of their neighborhood and nearly drowned.Hugs and love to everyone we know who is going through this and especially Mr. Wow and B!  Oh and the kitties and the plastic swan.

            2:03 pm | October 31, 2012
          • Mary – (belated answer, sorry) – we did fine.  Neighbors on the other side of the power line lost power; we kept ours (usually the other way around).  We were on tap for hot showers, coffee, and ice blocks for their fridges, but all is restored now in our neighborhood.  Still very soggy ground, though.  In the metro area, still some trees down and power outages, and the Potomac crested yesterday morning with a little more flooding in limited areas.  Getting back to normal… NOTHING like New York / New Jersey.

            4:29 pm | November 2, 2012
          • Deirdre

            We all just want to know that Mr. Wow and B are okay. Same for the kitties and plastic swan. So happy he can delete whatever he wants to delete and it seems that the devoted have pledged to turn a blind eye to the blooper that was. It certainly is fine with me; I look forward to each new posting aand although we had a good time on our virtual hunt for him, that’s all it was fun.Breath held and fingers crossed until we hear.

            5:10 pm | November 2, 2012
          • maryburdt

            Hi Lila, so happy you weathered the storm without too much trouble.  I have the feeling you could survive quite a bit with your ingenuity and spunk.  Thought of you a lot and glad you are safe.

            7:12 pm | November 2, 2012
  • Susan

    I am also worried about Mr Wow and B. Thoughts and love go out to them and their neighbors.
    I don’t know why i thought about this but I was thinking the plastic swan that B gave Mr. Wow and hoping it didn’t float away. 
    Silly thoughts i know…..material items can be replaced but not lives.
     

    1:18 pm | October 30, 2012
  • BabySnooks

    They probably have no power.  The bulk of the electric grid has gone down in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  New Jersey was hit harder than even Long Island/Lower Manhattan. Hoboken fared much better than most and Atlantic City apparently got hit the worst.  Quite a storm. Some of the photos are quite scary to look at.  It’s a wonder more weren’t killed. But many remembered Irene and took it seriously. The problem always is many don’t.  

    4:47 pm | October 30, 2012
  • Haunted Lady

    Just checked online for Hoboken. No injuries or fatalities reported but power is out. Apparently the south end of Hoboken got hit with the worst of it. We can take a positive approach about Mr. Wow and B and the cats and keep on praying for them.

    6:09 pm | October 30, 2012
    • maryburdt

      thank you for the info.  I am glued to my TV, so I will pass on anything new I hear.  Stay safe!

      7:17 pm | October 30, 2012
  • lulu

    on CNN just saying the National Guard on their way to Hoboken and no one in serious trouble at this point…just need help getting people out of their homes

    9:25 pm | October 30, 2012
  • Another morning in Hoboken and the Guard is on scene.  Here’s thinking of Mr. Wow and B.

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/10/31/hoboken-new-jersey-sandy-national-guard-arrive-troops/1670883/

    10:49 am | October 31, 2012
  • bigred52

    Stay safe.  All of your blog-friends are thinking of you.

    11:41 am | October 31, 2012
  • mimi

    This is so terrible. Praying hard for all those on the east coast that have been hit so hard.

    5:38 pm | October 31, 2012
  • lulu

    The spirit of most who have been hard hit that they will rebuilt and make their communities even better gives me great pride in mankind.  Those who are whining like they are the only one in strife make me wonder.  Be prepared should be every citizen’s of the United States motto.  Also pay attention to warnings and don’t be stubborn simply to suit your individual egos/purposes.  It only delays first responders from doing the really important work they want to do.  Sorry just my opinion and don’t mind if anyone disagrees.  Watching and seeing that Hoboken is still under water in some areas and how hard everyone is trying to help.  Makes me proud!!!

    10:33 pm | October 31, 2012
    • Deirdre

      Absolutely lulu!It is astonishing to be that there a people willing to put their faces on television and whine about pretty much anything that inconveniences them and then we see so many communities making sure their neighbors and friends are safe and making efforts to go forward.Honestly, I am holding my breath until we have news of Mr. Wow and B. They are on my mind all the time.

      11:05 pm | October 31, 2012
    • Deirdre

      I am not very adept at posting pictures but if anyone is interested there are some very good pictures of what has happened in Hoboken in our local paper online. These are AP photos and may be in your own papers but I wanted to post this in case.the website is:  www.masslive.comthe pictures are on the front page under a caption New Jersey damage and there is a picture of a parking lot full of yellow cabs.

      11:21 pm | October 31, 2012
    • Deirdre

      There are some pictures of the flooding in Hoboken in our online hometown newspaper. These are AP photos and may be in your papers as well but I thought it was worth sharing the website. If I were more adept, I would post them here.the website is http://www.masslive.comthe pictures are on the front page under caption New Jersey flooding and the first picture is of a parking lot full of yellow cabs.

      11:24 pm | October 31, 2012
  • BabySnooks

    http://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/node/1908706

     

    I guess Liz has “outed” our Mr. Wow although he had left his name on the Legacy page for Briana.  Hopefully he will be calling Liz soon. “You ran my photo?”  Still a cutie. After all these years. Hopefully after he calls her he will pop in and let us all know he is alright. By any name, you are always Mr. Wow to us. Emphasis on the “wow.”

    1:33 pm | November 1, 2012
    • maryburdt

      Baby,  I just went to liz’s site and read the article and saw the picture of Denis and Liz.  Is this really our Mr. Wow?  I would have had no idea it was him if you didn’t tell us.  He is such a cutie.  I am still flabbergasted at this discovery.  Just wondering if Mr. Wow will be happy at this revelation. I did not know Mr. Wow worked for Liz.  This news has blown my mind.  Now I hope he will let us know he and B are OK. 

      1:59 pm | November 1, 2012
      • BabySnooks

        I guess I sort of outed him.  I am worried about him.  Especially after reading her column. And I guess wasn’t thinking.  So I guess he can call me after he calls Liz. Just as long as he calls someone so we all know he’s okay and B’s okay. 

        2:05 pm | November 1, 2012
        • BabySnooks

          I wish there were a “delete” feature. 

          2:14 pm | November 1, 2012
        • maryburdt

          Thank you for keeping us posted.  We are all worried about the two of them.  He will forgive you and Liz for outing him, desperate times call for desperate measures.

          2:56 pm | November 1, 2012
        • Ohhhh….  Snooks…. I saw the name on Briana’s guestbook and was very surprised, but decided to say nothing… but… well, the hurricane IS a disaster, and with Liz connecting his name to Hoboken, I imagine more than a few of us might put two and two together anyway. 

          I will stick with his nom de Internet and call him Mr. Wow.  Maybe this “leak” won’t extend any farther than the comments section of this column.  Not that Mr. Wow needs to worry… his fans are all of the most benign and caring sort, I think.  No harm done… the worst that could happen is that we all show up in hip waders, carrying bottled water and ice.

          My own name is also a nom de Internet, but I’m not in much much danger of being “outed.”  And if I were, everyone would go from thinking, “who?” to thinking, “who?”

          6:13 pm | November 1, 2012
          • BabySnooks

            Well I will feel better when he deletes all of this. Even better if B does without his seeing it.  I wasn’t thinking.  I was worried. Still am. Moreso after reading her column.

            6:19 pm | November 1, 2012
      • Deirdre

        Baby Snooks,Your were thinking only of him and his safety. I agree, after reading Liz’ column, I am more worried than ever. You and Mr. Wow have had a great relationship through the past couple of years in the column and now blog.  I have also had a feeling that you knew each other ‘in another life’. As for the picture, I see the same nose, chin and eyebrows as the young man he showed us. He has a wonderful smile and I think he is great looking.Just as everyone else, I want only to know that he and B are doing okay. If he never wants us to again mention his name, I promise not to.Anyone have a helicopter we can use????

        2:38 pm | November 1, 2012
  • Daniel Sugar

    Dear Baby,
    Your actions were not meant to harm. You’ve were worried. (I’m sure Mr. W will know that.)
    xo
    D.

    2:19 pm | November 1, 2012
    • Deirdre

      I do have one question on my mind. It is certainly none of my business but I’ll ask anyway. Could Liz possibly, in this universe, be the “sort of employer” who Mr. Wow has had such a bad time with??? I remember previous posts about not being paid but still working. She expresses such genuine concern for him, so could it be? I really hope not.

      One other thing Baby Snooks. Many of us read Liz’ column regularly. Any one of us could have read, seen and posted. And I am absolutely sure that since we all are so very worried about Mr. Wow and B, we would have done exactly as you.

      2:48 pm | November 1, 2012
  • Haunted Lady

    He’s still Mr. Wow and I’m still worried for him and B and their cats. Hoboken is still such a mess with no electric and water and everything. It looks bad but at least the water is going down.

    Well, now I have a picture when I want to send a hug.

    6:24 pm | November 1, 2012
  • lulu

    I’m sure Mr. Wow and B will forgive all of us…Wish I did have a spare helicopter!!!! 
    Maybe we should become Mr. Wow’s Personal National Guard.  We can become prepared to help B and Mr. Wow out when they resurface.
    As for Liz’s column, I read it when I have time and would have seen it sooner than later, so we can all blame it on Liz. 
    I am thinking since no reports of serious injuries or deaths in Hoboken we will hear from ‘the boys’ before too long.
    Hugs to all!

    6:46 pm | November 1, 2012
  • Jamie

    Okay, where oh where is our precious “Mr Wow?”  I and everyone else are worried about you!!
    I’ve recently relocated to Vero Beach, FL, (divine) but cannot get the television sights of Hoboken out of my mind. You are the only person I “know” there, Mr. Wow, so PLEASE stay safe.
    PSI ALWAYS new you would be as cute as a button!!!

    9:53 pm | November 1, 2012
  • Jamie

    Okay, where oh where is our precious “Mr Wow?”  I and everyone else are worried about you!!
    I’ve recently relocated to Vero Beach, FL, (divine) but cannot get the television sights of Hoboken out of my mind. You are the only person I “know” there, Mr. Wow, so PLEASE stay safe.
    PSI ALWAYS knew you would be as cute as a button!!!

    9:54 pm | November 1, 2012
  • BabySnooks

    I think what is so shocking is how everyone is so isolated even in the cities but then that is the way it is after a storm which we know all too well along the Gulf Coast. I lost electricity for 11 days in Ike.  So otherrs were watching what I am watching now.  I had no idea of the devastation in Galveston or on Bolivar Island. I am sure they are fine. Just not “happy campers” at the moment at being cut off from the rest of the world. It’s hard to understand the feeling of isolation unless you’ve experienced it. We take so much for granted until we lose it. Particularly electricity. 

    3:00 am | November 2, 2012
  • rick gould

    Hi
    Mr. Wow is still Mr. Wow, to me…if that’s who he wants to be.
    But I was kind of relieved Liz outed him and reached out, perhaps we will get to the bottom of  this situation sooner. I hope all is well with our guy.

    But Mr. Wow kind of outed himself to me when his tribute to Elizabeth Taylor appeared on Wow, when it had originally appeared under his own name in the ET tribute issue of Interview magazine a couple of years ago. I’m good at keeping secrets, but I think the Wow is out of the bag ; }

    4:31 am | November 2, 2012
  • Lucy

    Poor Mr. Wow – First the hurricane, then the aftermath – which is a nightmare (I’m in Florida, I know) and NOW being outted. Ugh. I’m sick about it.

    The worst part of Mr. Wow being outed, in my mind, is that this is such a weird job market, I certainly hope there will be no repurcussions for him. 1). He has not said great things about his former boss, who will probablly now find out – the way the web works is viral and 2) He admitted to being a child/teenage prostitute – under the cover of an alias. I doubt he would have been so honest under his own name, while looking for work – ya know what I mean? Lastly, I don’t know if he has any family alive, but some things may hurt them. Anyway, it’s been done, so there is not putting that genie back in the bottle.

    I read Liz’s column every day & put 2 & 2 together….but would never dream of outing someone on their own site without them coming out first or getting their permission. Just Sayin!

    Hopefully he can erase that part of the blog? Can he do that?

     

    3:12 pm | November 2, 2012
    • Lucy, YES, he can delete the revealing comments (Mr. Wow:  click on the “edit” link below the comment, then in the edit screen, click “move to trash.”  The whole comment disappears.  OR, you can just highlight and delete part of the text of the comment, then click “update,” and the edited comment will remain visible.)

      As for Mr. Wow’s secret identity… well, we ARE a pretty exclusive group, I think (hope).  And protective! 

      So Mr. Wow, listen to Lucy and Snooks and the rest, hit that “move to trash” link on these comments… and your fans’ lips are sealed.  We will just feel smug and privileged, that’s all.

      4:21 pm | November 2, 2012
  • Lisa

    Dear Mr. Wow and my fellow Mr. Wow fans,
    I feel compelled to join in the conversation – finally – after ‘getting to know’ you all over the past few years…  I found the wowOwow site in February of 2009 and have been enjoying your stories and opinions since.  
    The sad news about Briana Baran, and now this terrible storm and lack of information about Mr. Wow’s and B’s well being, made me want to reach out.   It’s funny – words are so powerful and so many times I would find myself really connecting to the content.  But, seeing the photos of Briana and Mr. Wow made me realize that I really care about our little internet community.  
    Lila, Forming the Thread is great!  So glad that your voice continues to be heard…
    With Positive Thoughts,
    Lisa

    5:22 pm | November 2, 2012
  • Jamie

    Mr. Wow,We all love you and want only the best for you. At this moment I think we are all concerned for your safety after Sandy.I’m hoping that you and B. are together and making the best of a horrible situation. You must not have power yet, and the flooding is what has me most concerned.B. is a doctor so maybe he’s got the two of you stowed away on an empty hospital bed, living off of hospital coffee and helping others less fortunate as you.(I used to work in a hospital and during catastrophic events it was mandatory for certain personnel to stay on at the hospital)
    Anyway, what I’m trying to say is all of the other stuff isn’t important. Delete, move to trash or not. You are always Mr. Wow, and we will always be your faithful (and yes, smug) fans in on the greatest secret.
    Godspeed,Jamie

    5:29 pm | November 2, 2012
  • Haunted Lady

    No one in their right mind listens to me. No one in their left mind listens, either, so your secret is safe here.

    6:51 pm | November 2, 2012
    • lulu

      Love it Haunted Lady!!!  Your words ring a bell with me.

      8:35 pm | November 2, 2012
  • mimi

    I’m so worried about Mr Wow and B. The Washington Post said that Hoboken was forgotten and cold and dark. Has anyone heard anything positive about cleanup there? This is terrible. I have family on the east coast and have heard from them, but none of them live near Hoboken. 

    1:07 pm | November 3, 2012
  • Haunted Lady

    Hoboken doesn’t seem to be forgotten but it’s still dark and cold from what I’ve been able to find with Google news. There’s a Marine unit that is helping get things back on track, mainly the commuter train to NY,( http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2012/11/marine-meu-arrive-new-jersey-nj-26th-lejeune-sandy-110312/) but everything else is going very slowly. Doesn’t Mr. W have meds that need to be kept refrigerated? I keep checking to see if they have electric yet so that the fridge works to keep his meds cold. Has anyone else heard more?

    6:18 pm | November 3, 2012
  • Haunted Lady

    Please check this video on YouTube for an update from the mayor of Hoboken.

    They are getting good support. I have a better feeling for Mr. W and B and their cats from this.

    6:32 pm | November 3, 2012
  • Rho

    Hi all.  Just got my TV and Internet.  Luckily I had power, people in my area have no homes anymore.

    7:36 pm | November 3, 2012
    • maryburdt

      Oh, Rho—So happy to hear from you that you are safe and sound.  Yippee.  Our thoughts have been with all of those affected by Sandy.  Take care and let us know how things are going.

      7:42 pm | November 3, 2012
    • Deirdre

      Good news Rho! So happy you are safe and doing well. So sorry about your neighbors. Thinking positive thoughts for all.

      9:43 pm | November 3, 2012
    • Welcome back Rho, and so glad to hear you are safe and sound.

      12:56 am | November 4, 2012
  • Jamie

    ((((((((((HUGS TO RHO))))))))))

    7:47 pm | November 3, 2012
  • Jamie

    I just found out that my classmate’s son was one of two boys instantly killed when a tree fell on there property in North Salem, NY.They were playing in his yard right when the winds picked up.He was 11 years old.

    everything feels so horrible and surreal right now. The boys were best friends. 🙁

    9:46 pm | November 3, 2012
    • Deirdre

      Oh Jamie…what an awful tragedy! My heart goes out to the family and to you as well.

      9:51 pm | November 3, 2012
  • Deirdre

    Thank you Haunted Lady! It does indeed look like there is progress being made. I know we will take the positive and still worry until we have word from our friends.I had also seen the Diane Zimmerman on a front loader earlier in the week, helping to rescue people who had tried to walk out in the flooding, only to be trapped. She is a champ.

    9:48 pm | November 3, 2012
  • Jamie

    Thanks, Deirdre.  It has put everything in perspective so quickly. This storm has been so, so cruel. So painful for so many.XO

    9:54 pm | November 3, 2012
  • lulu

    Welcome back RHO!!!!!   Happy to see another missing person returning here to us.!!!  Have a feeling our Mr. Wow and B will be here again very soon.  All of this puts life into a perspective.  I even hugged the neighbors cat whom I am very allergic too.  Now the cat loves me….lol

    10:13 pm | November 3, 2012
  • Rho

    Jamie — so sorry to hear this.  What a terrible thing.  I cannot complain, my family on Long Island have no power, their basements destroyed, also no gas for their cars.  They may be out for two weeks or more.

    Thanks all, for thinking of me.

    9:10 am | November 4, 2012
  • Daniel Sugar

    Rho,
    Welcome back. Glad you’re okay.
    D.

    10:55 am | November 4, 2012
  • Daniel Sugar

    Reserves are flying to New York. Conditions should improve dramatically over the next 48 hours.

    12:37 pm | November 4, 2012
  • lulu
    2:01 pm | November 4, 2012
    • maryburdt

      Thanks Lulu for the update.  This sounds promising for the people of Hoboken.  Now if we would get some word from Mr. Wow and B.  What a terrible experience to go through. 

      2:24 pm | November 4, 2012
  • Haunted Lady

    Good to see you, Rho. It’s always good to know when people make it through.

    Jamie, that’s so sad. I’m truly sorry to hear it. Please extend my sympathies to the mother.

    2:17 pm | November 4, 2012
  • mimi

    Lulu, thank you so much. I feel better now (as I’m sure all of us do.) I’ll be so glad when Mr. Wow comes back and tells us what happened. 

    4:37 pm | November 4, 2012
  • Ione

    I just read in Liz Smith’s column Mr. Wow is in contact with her and is okay but does have a harrowing tale. I can’t link right now.Could someone else? Liz’s column is in The New York Social Diary. Thanks.

    5:52 am | November 5, 2012
    • LandofLove

      This is all that Liz says in today’s NY Diary: “My friends and helpers in New Jersey, Mary Jo McDonough and Denis Ferrara, are both safe, thankfully. But, they have had a tough time.”

      7:27 am | November 5, 2012
      • Ione

        Thanks , LandofLove. My comments indicated more info than is available in Ms. Liz’s column. I was still partially asleep, 🙂 . But, at least, we now know Mr. Wow is ok.

        8:51 am | November 5, 2012
        • Deirdre

          So happy to know they are okay! Tough time or not!! Can’t wait to hear the “whole story” Thank you so much Ione!!

          9:04 am | November 5, 2012
    • Also at wowOwow, here:

      http://www.wowowow.com/liz-smith/liz-smith-etiquette-detail/

      So glad to know they are all right, and looking forward eagerly to Mr. Wow’s next column!

      10:43 am | November 5, 2012
      • maryburdt

        Thanks for the link, Lila.  I am so grateful that Mr. Wow and B are safe.  Thanks to ms. Liz we are finally able to relax a bit.  I am looking forward to reading what our Mr.Wow has to say about this terrible storm and its aftermath.

        11:40 am | November 5, 2012
  • Daniel Sugar

    They’re alive. What a relief.

    10:35 am | November 5, 2012
  • Mr. Wow

    TO ALL…I am fine.  B. is fine.  Still no internet, cable or phone.  (Now, I think, B. will relent and get a cell phone!)   I am writing to you from a friend’s computer.


    As for anything else, I can honestly say I do not know who Denis Ferrara is, and I never have.  Que sera. sera.

    Thank you all for your concern, I love each and every one of you so much! 

    All my love and appreciation,  Mr. Wow.
    11:57 am | November 5, 2012
    • maryburdt

      Mr.Wow and B,  Hooray!!!  you are safe and sound.  All of us have been so worried about the two of you.  Tell B a cell phone is a must.
      As for this guy Denis Ferrara, never heard of him.
      Love and prayers to you both, Mary

      12:07 pm | November 5, 2012
    • LandofLove

      Great to hear from you, Mr. wOw, and I hope things will get back to normal–whatever that is–very soon! And, in case anyone ever asks, I will always swear that your first name is “Mr.” and your last name is “wOw”!

      12:44 pm | November 5, 2012
      • Deirdre Cerasa

        Good Heavens!!! What a huge relief, now I can stop holding my breath!! Cannot wait for the “rest of the story”! Denis who??? Yes B, Get a cellphone.you only have to share the number with the devoted followers! Seriously, admitting to easy tears, my eyes are brimming right now. 

        1:19 pm | November 5, 2012
    • BabySnooks

      I am so relieved. I jumped to conclusions. Liz Smith mentioned Hoboken. Whoever Denis is he’s still a cutie. As for you and B you both need to get a cellphone. Or better yet an i-Pad so you can log on and let us know how you’re doing when we’re worried. We were all worried.  You should still hit the delete button.  So there’s no future confusion about who’s who in Hoboken. Next time there’s a storm, evacuate. Maybe to Kansas. Although I think they got some wind as well.

      2:09 pm | November 5, 2012
    • Mr. Wow, SO glad to hear you and B. are fine!  Thanks for letting us know!  I look forward to “Mr. Wow’s Big Hurricane Adventure” when you get a chance to post again!  I’m sure you have a lot to tell.

      And… maybe you weren’t rescued by firemen, but possibly some of the National Guard guys could have been pretty easy on the eyes…?

      😉

      11:21 pm | November 5, 2012
  • lulu

    WELCOME BACK!!!!  A cell phone is a must!!!  Can hardly wait to hear your survival story!!

    1:21 pm | November 5, 2012
  • Daniel Sugar

    P.S. You were Mr. Wow then and you’re Mr. Wow now. (Wow and forever…)

    1:45 pm | November 5, 2012
  • Rho

    Thank you all.  Mr. Wow and B, glad you are safe.  Power still out where my family and friends live.

    2:33 pm | November 5, 2012
    • maryburdt

      Take care of yourself and your family, Rho.  My thoughts and well wishes are with you.

      2:41 pm | November 5, 2012
  • KE MH

    Dearest Mr. Wow,
    I’m so happy to hear you and B. are alright!
    I don’t post often (hardly ever, I know), but I read your site every day. I’m sure I’m hardly the only one who lurks, and I bet all of us lurkers are jumping for joy at knowing that you’re safe and sound.
    Looking forward to your next post!!

    2:41 pm | November 5, 2012
  • Haunted Lady

    I’m glad you and B are alive and OK. Whoever Denis is, he’s cute and I wish him well, too. Maybe he’s a doppelganger for Mr. Wow?

    3:13 pm | November 5, 2012
  • mimi

    So happy to hear from you Mr. Wow. We’ve all been so worried. I’m glad our little corner of the internet is intact. Hugs to you and to B.

    3:37 pm | November 5, 2012
  • Susan

    Mr Wow and B are ok….I am so very glad you are staying with friends and are safe. Please know that we love you both and will be thinking of you in the coming weeks. 
     So thankful to hear from you.

     

    3:52 pm | November 5, 2012
    • Ione

      I’m sorry for assuming that other guy and Mr. Wow are the same person. I lurk frequently; have possibly made a comment or two either here on this blog or WOWOW and have obviously become “invested” in the blog continuing. So when Mr. Wow was “missing in action” I concluded also what others had erroneously guessed was fact and it wasn’t.  I’m sorry if I contributed to any misunderstanding by referencing Ms. Liz’s column today.  I am glad Mr. Wow and B are well.

      7:39 pm | November 5, 2012
  • Jamie

    ((((((GROUP HUG)))))
    Yay!!  Mr. Wow and B. are safe and sound.

    7:51 pm | November 5, 2012
  • maryburdt

    Hi Everybody—Don’t forget to vote!

    10:43 pm | November 5, 2012
  • lulu

    Happy Election Day!!!  Get out and vote, then lets all blog here together about what’s happening where we live and have an election party honoring Mr. Wow and B.

    10:00 am | November 6, 2012
    • maryburdt

      Great idea lulu, let’s do it.  I will be glued to the to the TV all day.  I am a bit nervous, but think Obama will win.  My fingers are crossed.

      11:45 am | November 6, 2012
    • LandofLove

      I, unfortunately, live in Ohio, and the election frenzy has been relentless for weeks. I can’t wait for it to be over!

      12:16 pm | November 6, 2012
      • Deirdre Cerasa

        I think no matter where we live, we are ready for this to be done! I honestly think serious consideration should be given to reducing the campaign time. A single term of 6 years with no need to spend all this time trying to be re-elected. Don’t expect it to happen but it’s a thought .

        12:31 pm | November 6, 2012
        • BabySnooks

          It would solve so many problems to have one term because in reality the “mid-term” elections often force the president to start campaigning again. And so for the last two years, we have a political campaign instead of leadership. Of course getting rid of the Republican Party might help.  Mitch McConnell shouldn’t have said what he said “mid-term” because for many of us that was the point we all went back to the past couple of months listening to the rhetoric of the Republicans.  They are all going to hell. As are those who vote for them. How I feel. I voted for one Republican. They may get an air-conditioned corner but they are still going to hell.  The Republican Party has become the greatest threat this country has ever faced. 

           

          As for Romney, well, we did went there, did that with Bush. He is nothing more than Village Idiot II. And possibly the Boy From Brazil II. God help us if Romney becomes president.  Had he been president when Sandy hit, he would have told everyone they were on their own.  That alone became reason enough not to vote for him.

          2:41 pm | November 6, 2012
          • Deirdre

            Good gosh, Baby!! I am copying this and keeping it forever. This Republican Party wants to take us back to the Stone Age and stay there. Seal the borders, keep out the “undesirables, put women’s rights up in flames right along with gay rights. When the day is over and they have lost (big time, I hope) there will be screaming and blaming for months to come. They will be in total disarray and have no one to blame but themselves.

            2:51 pm | November 6, 2012
  • Rho

    I just got back from voting.  Was very crowded, to tell you the truth, I had no idea who I was voting for until I voted. lol

     

    2:15 pm | November 6, 2012
    • Deirdre

      I voted the 22nd of October because I was going to be away from Massachusetts today. I knew I would vote for President Obama’s re-election from day one.  Romney was the worst governor Massachusetts ever had. He spent most of the 4 years of his term absent from the Commonwealth. I am a strong supporter of marriage rights and women’s rights. I could not imagine erasing decades of progress by voting for the current ultra conservative Republicans.

      2:24 pm | November 6, 2012
  • Haunted Lady

    My TV and internet have been out most of the day but they’re back on. I’m nearly foaming at the mouth over this election. I sincerely hope the RepublicaNazis lose and lose big. I’m with Baby Snooks on these shysters. Let them roast.

    5:14 pm | November 6, 2012
    • Deirdre

      Haunted Lady, looks like your wish has come true!! Congratulations to President Obama. I am also thrilled to know that the good people of Missouri knew what to do with “Akin the Idiot” and the good people of Indiana knew what to do with “Mourdock the Moron! Elizabeth Warren won here in Massachusetts. All in all, a very good day.

      12:13 am | November 7, 2012
  • It has been relentless in Virginia too.  No more phone calls… no more pamphlets… I think they wiped out the Amazon Rain Forest with all the dang paper they sent.

    6:07 pm | November 6, 2012
  • lulu

    I think it has been relentless everywhere.  I also love the idea of one 6 year term!!!!!

    6:27 pm | November 6, 2012
  • lulu

    I think this is an exciting night!!!! Love it so far!!!!

    9:58 pm | November 6, 2012
    • maryburdt

      Boy, Florida is a toss-up so far.  It looks to me that if everything holds, Obama will be re-elected.  The evening is young and who knows what will happen.  I just pray Obama will win. 

      10:09 pm | November 6, 2012
      • Mary, Hubby’s analysis is the same.  Romney needs at least one “Rust Belt” state and he’s probably not going to get the numbers he needs.  Though it is running close.

        I just hope we don’t get into another month-long recount fiasco somewhere… like in 2000…

        10:29 pm | November 6, 2012
        • maryburdt

          Now Romney is winning in Wisconsin—what is wrong with these people.  I am from Illinois and they, of course, voted for Obama.  No fools there (oh, maybe a few).  Enjoy the show.

          10:36 pm | November 6, 2012
  • lulu

    I have a feeling…Only Democrats stand in line at line after the poles close to vote…just a gut feeling

    10:44 pm | November 6, 2012
    • maryburdt

      You are so right, Lulu.

      10:48 pm | November 6, 2012
  • lulu

    I hope Mr. Wow and B are with friends watching and Mr. Wow is semi-smiling…

    10:46 pm | November 6, 2012
    • maryburdt

      Good news!!! Obama won Wisconsin.  Way to go.

      I am almost certain Mr.Wow and B are tuned into the election from somewhere, enjoying the show so far.

      11:06 pm | November 6, 2012
  • lulu

    Obama just won Ohio…he just won again

    11:14 pm | November 6, 2012
  • lulu

    Mr Wow….you can breathe, have a Martini and celebrate

    11:18 pm | November 6, 2012
    • maryburdt

      Obama has been re-elected!  I am so proud.  Celebrate.

      11:20 pm | November 6, 2012
  • Daniel Sugar

    Mr. President!

    11:20 pm | November 6, 2012
    • maryburdt

      Amen to that.

      11:36 pm | November 6, 2012
  • I don’t wanna get all “Dewey Defeats Truman,” but – YES.  It’s looking good for Obama… but the votes are not all counted yet and some states have very narrow margins.  So I am going to shuffle off to bed now and hope that Obama is still the Pres-Elect in the morning.

    12:28 am | November 7, 2012
    • maryburdt

      Sleep well, Lila–Obama will still be pres-elect when you awake.

      12:37 am | November 7, 2012
    • Deirdre

      I’m with MaryBurdt, Lila! Mr. Obama will still have been re-elected when you wake tomorrow!  Even with narrow margins, for Romney, it’s over.

      12:46 am | November 7, 2012
      • Ah, it’s still true this morning.  SO glad to have dodged a Romney-Ryan administration…

        8:33 am | November 7, 2012
  • Daniel Sugar

    Now THAT was an acceptance speech. (So eloquent. So gracious.)

    2:13 am | November 7, 2012
    • Deirdre Cerasa

      It was a beautiful speech. 

      8:01 am | November 7, 2012
  • LandofLove

    I’m thrilled with the results, but so glad it’s over! Maybe we can actually get down to working on problems instead of arguing about everything. (I can hope, can’t I?)

    7:53 am | November 7, 2012
  • BabySnooks

    Well all the pundits were wrong. And Romney didn’t decide to “wait it out” and finally managed to do the right thing, the only thing he’s done right, and conceded.  Hate doesn’t play well everywhere.  And the Looney Tooneys who used hate to win in 2010 have found that it didn’t work too well in 2012. And never will again. People may be waking up in this country. 

    9:09 am | November 7, 2012
    • And the defeats of Richard Mourdock and Todd Akin prove that YEAH, when you say stupid offensive stuff about women, rape, pregnancy and abortion… you take a hit in the voting booth.   

      Too bad they were only accurately describing a plank in the Republican Party platform.  You’d think the Repubs would take a hint that it is an unacceptable party position… but, nah, they don’t get it. 

      I am beginning to think… hope… that the Party of Dessicated Old White Men may yet fall out of favor in my lifetime.  The Republicans arose in the vacuum created by the demise of the Whigs, who splintered over the slavery question.  There are plenty of social issues for Republicans to splinter over.  So do it, already!

      11:57 am | November 7, 2012
  • lulu

    Happy Day After to All!!!!   Now the work begins for us to make sure Congress does it work and compromises for the best for all Americans. 
    Hoping that Mr. Wow and B have power soon and can get back to their home and a normal routine.

    9:30 am | November 7, 2012
    • maryburdt

      I woke up so relieved this morning.  Obama is in, Romney is out.  Our country will be led once more by his concern and resolute desire to fight for the little guy and lead us to a better tomorrow. This I believe.

      11:11 am | November 7, 2012
  • Rho

    Did you notice, he used the words of Frank Sinatra.  “The Best is Yet to Come” — I hope so, good luck Mr. President.

     

    9:55 am | November 7, 2012
  • Haunted Lady

    This proves there is a God and she wants us to be happy.

    As much as I dislike the Republican Party as it is now, I don’t believe it has always been this way. When I was growing up and well into my 40s and early 50s, the general attitude was that there wasn’t that much difference between the two parties. No matter which party won, everyone settled down and got back to work and didn’t get riled up until the next election. It seems to me the horrid divisiveness, the name-calling and so on bubbled up as a result of the 2000 election. Am I imagining this? I just don’t remember the unrelenting hatefulness that has become  part of the landscape the past 12 years.

    12:40 pm | November 7, 2012
    • LandofLove

      Yes, absolutely!

      1:16 pm | November 7, 2012
  • ModernDelusions

    Quite possibly this site is intolerant, but nevertheless, who cares?  Mr. & Mrs. Romney displayed great class in stepping aside, and from the good man’s biography he has done no sin other than make private wealth.  Apparently, bad wealth and good wealth can be distinguished by a financially illiterate populace. Which brings me to the stock market today and its rapid descent. No one seems to have told the markets that exuberance should be priced in to celebrate the grand historic moment. I am guessing most the bloggers here are of a certain age and cannot recover setbacks  so easily. Government interference usually means stamping out innovation and business free enterprise and investments. Not good for older folks. Add to that ageism, which is flourishing. The poor will  not gain from another session of Mr. Obama’s antics. The federal reserve will screw you royally; fixed investments means nothing. You are celebrating your own impoverished future. A stagant economy is your future, and Obama’s charming the easily influenced will wear off very soon.

    1:16 pm | November 7, 2012
    • Deirdre

      ModernDelusions,Nice to hear you views. I don’t see anyone being intolerant here but perhaps you. You pop in with a bad taste in you mouth and start flinging insults. Mr. Romney was indeed gracious after he was ungracious. As for Mrs. Romney, I watched the concession speech, she didn’t utter a word. They are a loving family and are wished well by most people I know. We just didn’t want him as President. That’s why there is an election, to decide and the decision was made.  I have spent a couple of years chatting back and forth with this group and find them of all political feelings and opinions.  They are highly intelligent, well read, well informed individuals who read, listened and made a decision based on what felt most comfortable to them. From the beginning, this site has, I think, welcomed all opinions. Guess today, the majority of those posting don’t agree with yours. Doesn’t mean your ideas are not respected. Something you might want to think about.And don’t think we haven’t noted the condescension in your post. 

      3:47 pm | November 7, 2012
    • Deirdre

      Oh and about wealth; you are so right not a thing wrong with it. Love it myself and enjoy the benefits. Certainly not up at the Romney level but we do all right. I do however, think it is very wrong to live in a country where you think you are or should be above paying your fair share in taxes. No one is playing Robin Hood but to have that level of wealth and not paid income taxes before 2009?? Not right even if perfectly legal. Perhaps an overhaul of the tax code would help.

      3:53 pm | November 7, 2012
    • maryburdt

      Suffice to say, we are not  an “intolerant” bunch on this site.  We all feel free to say what is on our mind and we say a lot.  The intolerance comes from the Republican party whose views about Blacks, Latinos, gays, healthcare and etc., is what makes your Party the loser the day after the election.  We are a Country split in half right now.  What we do in the future, only time will tell.  One thing is certain—Obama will be our President for four more years, and I am grateful for that.

      4:19 pm | November 7, 2012
    • BabySnooks

      The only reason why Mitt Romney was gracious was because someone pointed out to him and his whiz kids who ran his campaign into the ground early on just by picking a Looney Tooney the way McCain did to be his running mate that waiting for what appears to be hundreds of thousands of provisional ballots in several states to be counted might make it worse since the people who were forced to vote provisional ballots most likely did not vote for him.  For the obvious reason. And with a little luck the Republicans will lose even more seats in the House when all the provisional ballots are counted. And nothign would please me more than to see John Boehner bounced despite his arrogance in assuming he was returned to office. He doesn’t know that. No one in Ohio does. 

       

      As for Ann Romney she is a vacous human being on her way to being vapid. Probably the only thing that saved her from becoming vapid is her husband losing.  I loved a cartoon earlier about how he didn’t even carry his home state. All four of them. Good luck to the Romneys. But honestly good riddance. The people have spoken.   

      8:16 pm | November 7, 2012
  • Daniel Sugar

    3:28 pm | November 7, 2012
  • Haunted Lady

    Aside from the fact that you are rude, Modern Delusions, you are also dead wrong. The intolerance and hatefulness I was asking about are pervasive throughout the country and, as nearly as I can recall, date back to the 2000 election when George Bush became president. This is a very tolerant and very mellow site. If you want to see intolerance, try Facebook, Slate, Huffington Post or any of a number of sites where there’s a general free-for-all nastiness from those who post.

    5:59 pm | November 7, 2012
  • Mr. Wow

    WHoah!    I owe so many dinners to so many people.  I did not think Obama could win  a second term.   I am pleased, but he better fucking step up to the plate now.  If you’re gonna be a bear, be a grizzly. 

    How’s everybody?  

     

    Love, MrW

     

     

    .

    9:49 pm | November 7, 2012
    • Mr. Wow!  Great to see you back on your blog!  Are you at home… with electricity… and ready for tonight’s nor’easter?

      9:50 pm | November 7, 2012
      • Mr. Wow

        Lila…six days without power…   But so much luckier than so many others.  Not looking forward to the coming new storm.

        12:18 am | November 8, 2012
    • maryburdt

      Hi Mr. Wow–You owe me a dinner!  I never gave up hope for a second term for Obama.  There just was no choice for me but to believe.  Sometimes it pays to be naive. 
      You sound good.  How are conditions in Hoboken?  Are you still at a friends?  How is B?  So many questions that I think you should consider writing a column very soon.  We were a little desperate in regards to your safety.  Take care, friend.  Mary

      10:06 pm | November 7, 2012
      • Mr. Wow

        Dear Mary—fish, fowl or steak? 

        12:20 am | November 8, 2012
        • maryburdt

          Definitely, steak.

          12:25 am | November 8, 2012
          • Mr. Wow

            Mary…my kind of gal…

            12:30 am | November 8, 2012
    • Deirdre

      Hi Mr. Wow!!! You don’t owe me dinner and I never lost my feeling that it would be close but President Obama would win. It’s been a field day for all the right wing whiners. Laughable coming from those who tried everything they could to suppress the vote and shake the confidence of those who still feel that the President can help make a difference.  Yes, he has to step up in this term and there are millions of us counting on him to do just that.Even though I’m not on the owed dinner list, I would really love a virtual hug! I am so relieved that you and B are safe. Stay that way through this storm. Don’t suppose you two have a cellphone yet?? 

      10:51 pm | November 7, 2012
  • Mr. Wow

    Dear Deidre… Big hugs! 

     

    Guess what?  After my throwing a semi-tantrum, B. surprised me with an iPhone.  All I wanted was some little thing to make an emergency call, but he is a big idea guy.  He got one for himself, too.    I doubt I’ll use all the bells and whistles but, cool that I have them!

    12:24 am | November 8, 2012
    • BabySnooks

      The i-Phone has replaced the AmEx card. Don’t leave home without it.  I will probably end up getting one if I go back to real estate. I’m afraid I am still in the Dark Ages although I sort of like it. If I had the money I would still have a bridged line and an answering service.  Or a butler.  And a secretary to post all my boring stories for me.  And go back to bed with the bon-bons. I assume you have power so you have heat. I thought of you as I watched the snow falling on CNN a little while ago. The reality of Sandy is it woke some people up about Romney. They looked around and realized there would be no FEMA and no National Guard and really no nothing with Romney. “You’re on your own.” That’s not what America is about.  And the Looney Tooneys blaming it on “the gays and the Muslims and the….” woke some people up as well. “The gays and the Muslims and the…” didn’t cause global warming and the resulting climate change.  The Mitt Romneys did.

       

       

      4:55 am | November 8, 2012
    • LandofLove

      So glad you’re back, Mr. wOw! Just enjoy your iPhone for what you want it to do, and don’t worry about the bells and whistles. They may be obsolete once the next version comes out.
      The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank wrote an excellent opinion piece entitled “At Romney Headquarters: The Defeat of the 1 Percent,” which is very telling as to why the Republicans lost. I recommend checking it out.

      7:21 am | November 8, 2012
      • Deirdre

        Land of Love, thanks for the mention of Dana Millbank’s Washington Post article. It was great.

        11:53 am | November 8, 2012
      • KE MH

        Dear LandofLove,
        Thank you for your mention and recommendation of the article. I’ll look for it and read it.
        KEMH

        6:53 pm | November 8, 2012
        • maryburdt

          I read the article and I think it is very interesting.  Thanks to Land of Love for the info.

          7:07 pm | November 8, 2012
    • KE MH

      Dear Mr. Wow,
      I have an iPhone, too, and I love it!! It’s how I do all my online reading. About the only thing I don’t like is typing on the teeny tiny keys, which is one of the reasons I hardly ever post.
      Not complaining, though! At least I get to keep up with all the posts!! 🙂

      6:49 pm | November 8, 2012
  • Rho

    Welcome back Mr. Wow, enjoy your iPhone.

    9:57 am | November 8, 2012
  • Daniel Sugar

    LandofLove,
    I really enjoyed the Washington Post article. Thanks for mentioning it.
    D.

    10:27 am | November 8, 2012
    • LandofLove

      You are very welcome, Dr. Sugar!

      10:52 am | November 8, 2012
  • Rho

    My computer just went south again. Oy Vey.

    10:30 am | November 8, 2012
  • Susan

    So happy to hear from you!

    11:27 am | November 8, 2012
  • Haunted Lady

    Glad to hear from you, Mr W, and happy that B popped for a cell phone. I feel like I owe you guys dinner to celebrate your survival.

    LandofLove, thanks for the reference to the Millbanks article. Excellent!

    12:37 pm | November 8, 2012
  • lulu

    Welcome to the world of iPhones.  There are moments when I love mine and moments when I don’t.  However reverting back to ‘no cell phones’ isn’t an option in this world any longer.
    I think we should all do a virtual potluck dinner when Mr. Wow and B are organized once again.
    I am still waiting to taste B’s chili.

    12:43 pm | November 8, 2012
    • Deirdre

      lulu! I love the idea of a virtual potluck. Also love my i-phone and can’t think of a reason to go back to the days of not having one.  Of course, courtesy in its use is very important. 

      1:46 pm | November 8, 2012
    • Haunted Lady

      Yes, a virtual potluck would be great fun. We could each post recipes for the different courses and treat them as food set out for our enjoyment.

      2:06 pm | November 9, 2012
  • Rho

    I’m back.  Don’t know what happened.  I do not have an iphone, just a regular cell phone.  Maybe I should get one.

    2:09 pm | November 8, 2012
    • maryburdt

      Rho, I don’t have an iphone either but I don’t think it is essential if you do have a cell phone.  Just one more way to spend your money. 

      2:52 pm | November 8, 2012
    • Mr. Wow

      Dear Rho…all I wanted was a simple cell phone.  But there’s a saying, “If you’re gonna be a bear, be a grizzly.”   B. is always a grizzly (a cute grizzly)  so he went all out on iPhones. 

      2:21 pm | November 10, 2012
  • Daniel Sugar

    Fox News just called Ohio.

    3:18 pm | November 8, 2012
  • Jonny T

    Your blog has been so quietly lately.  Merry Christmas, Mr. Wow. 🙂

    7:33 am | December 23, 2012
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