Presidential Ponderings: 9-28

I have such a clear memory from when I was 6 or 7 years old in the early 80s. Family was visiting from Danville, IL and I was happy while I played down around their knees. At one point, my mother guided me out of the kitchen and into the dining room…

There were internal shutters on the windows with lacy curtains in there that I was facing and the sunlight was gentle through them.

I had been singing from one of the original cast albums that my dad had gotten a pirated audiocassette from work. Someone had typed out the title, "They're Playing Our Song" on a parchment label. Cheryl and El Gordo had gone to see the show in New York and adored it so it was often playing on the tape deck of the big red van. I know that I once asked, "Why does my favorite song always come on the radio when we're driving?" It was a romantic comedy about a composer and lyricist, written by Neil Simon with music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager, and starred Robert Klein and Lucie Arnaz. My mom reports that the moment a Greek chorus appeared behind each character and Klein drawled, "Here’s where my boooooys come in," El Gordo practically cheered with delight.

I feel no shame or embarrassment in the memory as I remember my mom crouching down to speak with me. She told me that she loved my singing but when Great-Aunt Delores is visiting, I probably shouldn't sing the lyric, "Look at the way he works; what would he know of a broken heart? / To him 'broken heart' is a phrase I should write for his G@dd*mn middle part."

Is there a moral to this story?

I don't think so.

But I really enjoy thinking about my parents at the beginning of their marriage. And my mom tells me a lot of stories from that time now that El Gordo's dead.

Dad spent a huge part of his career bringing business strategies to non-profit organizations so they could grow with a good financial infrastructure. He also spent a lot of time convincing other business people to get involved with charities using with business skills, in addition to writing checks and helping out with the clean-up after fundraisers.

But where did he get those business skills?

A friend of my mom's got El Gordo a job at the First National Bank of Chicago once it turned out that he wasn't particularly suited to being a lawyer. As far as I understand it, he was like an HR cruise director for all the employees. He handed out baseball tickets and negotiated with Great America to treat bank employees to an hour on the rides before opening on the weekend. He booked shows in the basement theater and contracted with restaurants like Nick's Fishmarket to open in the community spaces of the plaza.

And for quite a few years, El Gordo and Cheryl lived life in the C-suite fast lane. My mom would take the train downtown in the evening two or three times a week for drinks and shows and dinners with work colleagues. El Gordo was the first Chairman of Steppenwolf Theater's and their adventures got even swankier.

And obviously, this is the season when he committed the felonies that would send him to prison a decade later.

But before the FBI figured that out, El Gordo left the Bank to lead Opportunity International, a Christian non-profit that set up banks in what were then called 3rd world countries to offer microloans to local entrepenuers.

And I don't know why he did that. What motivated him? The only time we talked about it, he scoffed at the idea that it was guilt for his crimes that led him to downshift his career. Everyone he knew considered kickbacks The Chicago Way and he didn't think about it again until his friend wore a wire to reminisce about old times.

Do you know? I'd love to hear about your experiences with Cheryl and El Gordo in the 80s. Who were they when I was a child?

Sincerely,

Rebecca