by Ed Nelson
At this point there was no way to tell. One item that had already come out was that earlier in a day of heavy rainfall permission was asked to open the dam to relieve pressure and it was denied.
From there he segued to the Aswam Dam in Egypt. He felt that it was a play by the Egyptians to get more aid from the US. The Soviets wanted access to a warm water port with Atlantic access and would do anything to get it. That was the basis for their support of North Korea in the Korean Police Action.
What he was most interested in was the cargo container project.
It came out that he had several talks with President Eisenhower on this subject. He was interested in the logistics of converting a port, especially foreign ports which didn’t have the same support as American ports.
I had kept up on how this was being handled. Jackson Transportation had chartered several cargo ships and made them into support vessels. Everything needed was carried on board. At first this had caused some concern because the local companies wanted the contracts. We were able to demonstrate that costs would be held down by doing it our way.
Of course we had to share the rice bowl so we used the local’s in every-way we could. We just couldn’t allow shoddy materials which would have occurred due to local corruption in some cases, not all but enough to cause us to take steps.
There was also hiring of local leaders relatives, but while we would pay them, they were never allowed near anything critical. I had heard of one nephew that was hired as a librarian for the safety manuals. It would have helped if he could read English. Fortunately we also hired a person who could. As far as I know the nephew had never been in the library.
Hoover chuckled at that, he had several stories of his own on the subject. It was a very enjoyable meal.
He went on to tell me if the Chinese ever approached me about a container system that the current administration wanted me to cooperate. Of course I was to let them know I had been contacted.
That raised my eyebrows.
“Why would the Chinese approach me? And what do you have to do with any of it.”
“Well Sir Richard it is known that you have acted as a messenger between the United Kingdom and China so they know of you and you have earned some trust. Also they are not getting along with the Russians and it appears to be getting worse. Since you have problems with the Soviets they see you as someone with a common goal.”
“The Soviets made big promises to the Chinese about modernizing their economy. Having their own problems they haven’t been able to follow through, thus discord between the two. As to my involvement you will find it very common for off stage people like me to act as middlemen to give deniability if needed.”
“Will this be soon?”
“No idea but it will probably be in the Nixon administration.”
“So he plans to run for President when Ike’s term is up?”
“Yes we think it is an almost done deal.”
In the meantime he invited me to a theater in the hotel for a private showing of ‘North by Northwest.’
After a final cup of coffee we stood to leave for the suite which had been converted to a theater.
Chapter 40
Another gentleman was being seated near us. He said hello to President Hoover who returned the greeting. The President was kind enough to introduce me to General MacArthur, another resident of the hotel. The General was pleasant but it was obvious that he had no idea whatsoever who I was.
Man I was flying in high company tonight.
When we got to the theater suite it turned out that thirty some people were present. One room had been setup for cocktails. I noticed Cary Grant talking to a group of people. We had met casually several times but I didn’t feel as though I could just walk up to him.
President Hoover asked for one quick word before the movie.
“I think dinner went very well and the message was delivered.”
I must have looked totally lost because he explained.
“At the next table was a man who has been identified as an information broker. He was listening to us very carefully. If things go as we hope he will sell this information to the Chinese. Since they will be paying for it they will tend to believe it. So we may have set you up as our first conduit to the Red Chinese.”
“Oh.” This was getting to be my go to expression. “Can I tell my parents about this?”
“Yes, because odds are nothing will come of it, at the same time if anything does start they can give immediate advice.”
After all that the movie which was supposed to be a thriller wasn’t that exciting. Here I am watching it, gun in my shoulder holster, badge in my pocket, next to a former President of the United States and involved in real international intrigue. My name is Richard, Richard Jackson.
I couldn’t wait to get back to my room to call home and let them know who I had dinner with and met afterwards. Dad didn’t seem impressed. He still held Hoover accountable for the depression and called the General “Dugout Doug.”
I don’t think Dad liked any of the previous world leaders. Well that’s not right because he had nice things to say about Winnie. Since he had never stayed at a Hilton he didn’t bad mouth him either.
I also told them I had something to discuss when I got home. I didn’t want to relay my conversation about China over the phone. They bugged phones you know.
I had trouble going to sleep so I ended up reading the entire new novel about the guys who wore a bundle of bones as earrings.
I slept until the last minute I could and didn’t have time for my morning workout. Instead I relied on a pot of coffee. My first stop was with the Today show. As expected Mr. Garroway wanted to talk about the child molester and my taking him down.
By this time I had repeated the story enough times that I was able to present it as pure happenstance that I was the one there and that his dying was really an accident. When asked if I was sorry he was dead I replied with a simple, “No.”
He then proceeded to ask about my latest movie venture. I played coy telling him that not everything would be as it seemed and that my role was really minor. I was going to be listed as either a producer or director but that I did play a part.
He asked me directly if I was going to sing. It appeared that he had some inside information.
“Yes, I will be singing so they can lip sync correctly but my voice will not be in the movie.”
These words were going to cause me all sorts of grief later on.
He went on to ask how I liked the Waldorf. I told him that it was a fantastic hotel and that I planned to stay there on future visits. I hope that plug paid Mr. Hilton back for the nice room upgrade.
After that appearance I went to an interview at the New York Times office. They did discuss the molester but were more interested in the container business. When they asked me what direction I would like to take it, I told them that I thought there would be a large market in Asia in the future.
They wanted to know what ports I was thinking of, but I just told them it was a thought rather than a plan. For all I know maybe China would be interested. That was my international mischief for the day. Let them and the Chinese sort it out.
My driver for the day told me that he had called the hotel as they instructed him. It came to light that the concierge kept track of the whereabouts and timing of certain guests. He was going to take me a different route to my room. There were some fans of mine in the lobby.
By stating on the air where I was staying a few teenage girls had shown up. Several hundred of them! The lobby was in pandemonium.
The driver dropped me at the curb at Grand Central Station. A uniformed bellhop from the Waldorf was waiting for me. We walked smartly to a door off the main concourse. From there it was a long hallway to a locked brass door for which he had keys. We descended a long set of stairs.
Opening another door we stepped out on a train platform which was dirty, but decorated as though it came out of the 1920’s. I asked about it.
“This i
s track 61. It is part of Grand Central. It was built in the 1920’s for private railcars to connect with the hotel. Because of the depression and the war it never got used as such. There was a coal fired power plant down here so they hauled the ashes out from these tracks.”
This was not a small siding. There were three rows of tracks. On one of them set an old passenger car.
“I bet that car has some stories it could tell.”
“Rumor has it that it was used by Franklin D. Roosevelt. He did come this way several times. They snuck him in through here when his polio got bad. They even brought his limo this way. It was an armored Pierce Arrow. They took it up the freight elevator to the garage.”
“Black Jack Pershing was the first famous person to come this way. Since then Truman and Ike have used it and I expect others will in the future. That reminds me I need you to sign the log.”
“What log?”
“Some bright person had General Pershing sign the log and it has been used by every visitor since, or at least we think, it is rumored that one of the Kennedy boys snuck a girl in this way. I don’t know the truth of that.”
From his smirk he must have been the escort. The log book was actually a book used by the Engineer of the ash train to sign for the number of cars. The last real entry read, J. Nelson six cars of ash dated October 15 1931. After that it had a list of fifty or so entries of which many were repeats.
While he was not logged I noticed from the wall that, Kilroy was here.
I was taking an exclusive route. I made a mental note to ask my god parents of what they thought of the place. Not that it could be construed as bragging to them!
When we got out of the huge freight elevator Mr. Hilton was waiting for me.
“Sir Richard you have us at sixes and sevens. They won’t go away and we don’t want to use force.”
“What if I sign a few autographs?”
“It will be more than a few.”
I now understood why Susan Wallace insisted that I had a package of photos with me to sign. They came two hundred and fifty to a package and I hoped it would be enough.
We came up with a quick plan. While I went to my room to do a quick coat change and loose the tie they prepped a ball room. It had a low stage so they put a table and chair for me there. They were good at crowd control so they had plenty of brass stands and red velvet rope to guide the crowd in.
When I returned by a service elevator and back hallways I was amazed at what had been set up.
They had provided several service stands and were handing out soft drinks and snacks for free. When I thanked Mr. Hilton for this he raised his eyebrows and informed me that I would see this on my bill. They were a business after all!
I couldn’t complain as this was taking care of an awkward situation. Besides how many cokes could teenage girls drink? When I saw my bill at checkout I found it was a lot and at New York prices. Oh well.
With things under control it went smoothly. At one minute per girl it took over four hours to sign the pictures. I only turned down about a hundred requests for dates. I told them that I already had a girlfriend.
A society reporter was there so I knew that would make the papers. Since I named Judy King I hoped she would forgive me.
Some of the young ladies had Eastman Kodak brownie cameras with them so I posed for pictures. This could have been a bad idea as I saw many cameras coming out of purses. Also some disappointed young ladies who didn’t have one.
The society reporter had a cameraman with her. I asked him if he had a bunch of film with him. He did and could send out for more. I then asked the society reporter her favorite charity. It was the Children’s Aid Society which originally ran the Orphan Trains. She agreed to be the recording secretary if all proceeds went to them in hers and the camera man’s name. She was kind enough to include me.
For one dollar each girl would have her picture taken with me. Any who had their own camera could use it but still had to pay a dollar for the charity. Four hours is a long time. By the end of it the Children’s Aid Society had people there to help out and a booth set up.
I talked to the people manning the booth. They were a Lee Nailing and Alice Ayler. They thanked me very much for doing this. The Society always could use the money and besides it was fun being around so many young people, especially young people doing well in New York City. Apparently both of them had bad experiences in the city.
The local ABC channel was doing a remote broadcast interviewing the young ladies. They all agreed that I was Fab. I thought that was a detergent. In the meantime more people were showing up as school had let out. I ran out of pictures and my hand was cramping badly.
I would rest it for several minutes and get back to work. It got down to having each girl write down their name and address and how they wanted it to be signed. I promised they would be mailed to them. In the meantime the Times sent out a second photographer and another lady to help the original reporter.
Where there are girls the boys show up, hundreds of them. They of course had no interest in me, just the girls. Mr. Hilton the ever consummate host opened another ballroom with service.
Of course I would see it on my bill. At this point it didn’t matter I just wanted to get out of this alive. I had been to many events but they had been well controlled. This one was on the border of being a riot. In Texas it was one Riot, one Ranger, here I don’t think one Marshall would cut it.
Chapter 41
No sooner had I thought of that than about twenty five of New York’s finest walked in and took up position around the rooms. This was not the Waldorf’s or New York’s first rodeo.
The cops didn’t make a big deal about it but if nothing else the noise level went down a little.
In the meantime I went from having a cramped hand to permanent blue dots from the flash bulbs going off. Since I didn’t have to sign anything and just pose with girls I actually had a few conversations. Nothing memorable but who doesn’t like to be told how great and good looking they are? I think I had better take a hint from the victorious Roman Generals who had a person whispering in their ear ‘memento mori’. Remember you are mortal.
It was when the band started up playing rock and roll music in the next room that I thought things had gone overboard.
The society columnist saved me from making any mistakes when she came up to me and told me how impressed she was with my turning a potential disaster into a fun event. There would be publicity agents all over the city crying in their beer tonight because they would be getting calls from their clients demanding the same type of events.
That calmed me down. When they started playing the Stroll next door I went over to join the line. Almost every one there joined in so they could all say they danced with me. As soon as it ended I went to leave. No luck there.
So there I’m on a bandstand in New York City singing ‘Rock and Roll Cowboy’ followed by “Brothers”. I was joined by the bands lead singer, a guy by the name of Lou Reed. The band had just started out and weren’t that great. Reed himself had it, whatever it was. I had just met enough people that had made it in the industry to know one if I saw one. Of course luck and timing would play a role in it.
We chatted during a break for several minutes, I told him about Track 61 and how cool it was. He thought it would be a great place for a party. I told him if it ever happened I wanted an invite.
When the caterers set up a paid buffet in a third room I figured out I was dealing with one of the best professional groups in the world. I wanted to know how they did it. Before I left for Columbus in the morning I wanted to have a serious conversation with Mr. Hilton. I caught up with him as I was leaving. The band had packed up, the lights turned down and the last of the kids herded out. I had to give a last interview to the gathered three radio stations, two TV crews and who knows how many newspapers and magazines.
No, this was not a planned event, many thanks for the fine people of the Waldorf-Astoria, the New York Police Department, the Ch
ildren’s Aid Society who had raised over a thousand dollars, the New York Times for its support during the day, Lou Reed and The Velvet Rollers Band.
With that I returned to my room to a ringing telephone. I almost didn’t answer it. I’m glad I did it was Susan Wallace. She wanted to know what I was doing and was I crazy. I confirmed the lack of sanity and filled her in on the day. She calmed down after hearing about the professional support I received.
I asked her how she had heard about it.
“It was on the nightly news about an almost riot in New York City that you caused. Oh can you call your Mum.”
I did, she was a lot cooler about it than Susan. She just wanted to make sure I was okay. She also told me the Today Show had been trying to contact me. She had a number and would I please call them at any hour.
I thought about it for New York second and called Susan back. I told her no way was I going back on the program, look at what today’s appearance had caused. She came up with her usual Susan brilliance.
“So you are going to let them control the narrative of what happened yesterday?”
“You don’t fight fair Susan.”
“You don’t pay me to fight fair.”
“Okay I get it, I’ll call them.”
“Do I have to remind you not to reveal any of your immediate future locations?”
“No Mother.”
“Be nice Rick.”
“Okay, sorry but this is all a little overwhelming.”
“At your age and experience you are doing a wonderful job. I don’t know how we could have planned today to turn out any better. Your fans had a good time, you helped a charity and most of all prevented a lot of bad press if things had got out of hand. That’s called turning lemons into lemonade.”
“I just reacted to events as they occurred.”
“Yes, but you reacted correctly, I have had clients who would have freaked out and made it worse. You have good instincts.”
“Okay, I will call them as soon as we hang up.”
As expected they wanted me back on tomorrow mornings show, speaking of which I had to get to bed as it was already tomorrow.
