Passersby were forced to walk in the street as the Tour de Healdsburg cycled (without forward movement) on the sidewalk outside Costeaux French Bakery in a vigorous and joyful celebration of Bastille Day. Riding for the unheralded Le Musée Historique team (Healdsburg Museum and Historical Society) were
Category Archives: Anecdotes
Looking Back at Filmmaking
July 3, 2008 – 10:53 pm
An elephant carries its baby for 22 months. I carried mine far longer. My baby was HEARTWOOD, a feature film. I first came to Hollywood in 1975, where I starved writing four-minute radio dramas for Vincent Price ($86 each), then suddenly (it took four years!) I became extraordinarily successful at getting film projects produced:
My Last Blizzard
April 18, 2008 – 10:21 pm
Winter, 1982-83, neck wrapped, leaning on the soft smells above the noonish counter in the cold gap between two multi-stories near Times Square, I ate sidewalk pizza as the flakes began to fall. They were whispers in the soft wind, but the weathermen waxed “much more, much more.” By 3 p.m., the City was anticipating [...]
Baseball: Recapturing Youth
April 12, 2008 – 11:37 pm
As a kid, baseball was my sport. I was too short to be effective in basketball, no one played soccer in the 50′s, and although I was fast and could catch, my lack of bulk marginalized me in football. I played Little League, made the All-Star team, and loved the game. I played softball in [...]
Mom’s Cafe — Salina, Utah
April 4, 2008 – 5:07 pm
There are sage pronouncements that should never be ignored. In his 1956 short story collection, A Walk on the Wild Side, Nelson Algren wrote: “Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Mom’s.” I have always avoided faux physicians at poker palaces, but once, after nearly two handfuls of [...]
Eggman — Part 6…The Next Generation
April 2, 2008 – 11:13 pm
After Doug and I returned home from that first afternoon of delivering eggs with Dad as our unexpected driver and co-deliveryman, we were completely unprepared for his next question: “How much bigger could we make this egg route if we really worked at it? Doug and I looked at each other. Dad had said “we.” [...]
“Going Out of Business” Haggadah
March 28, 2008 – 1:29 pm
In the spring of 1961, my parents lost their clothing store. It was not a tragedy. It was the final breath of a pain-wracked patient, the welcome demise of Cotlers’ Men’s & Boys’ Wear. After 15 years of stress and challenge, the crushing uncertainty—will today’s receipts cover the checks written yesterday?—that often caused my father [...]
Eggman — Part 5…Mergers & Acquisitions
March 23, 2008 – 8:12 pm
egg route fortunes When I left for college in 1961, I bequeathed the egg route, then at 160 dozen per week, to my younger brother Doug. He was almost 12. But when I came home for winter break, the route had declined to 100 dozen. It was too much for him to handle…not to mention [...]
Eggman — Part 4…Dog and Egg Sandwich
March 21, 2008 – 2:10 pm
After many months of deliveries, most neighbors became accustomed to seeing the Cotler brothers on bicycles, towing their Radio Flyer egg wagon. A few unimaginative churls thought it insanely humorous to yell, “Hey, Eggman! Gimme two dozen!” every time we rode by, but the unpredictable wagon-chasing dog was our bête noir. The worst crack-up (pun [...]
Eggman — Part 3…Outhouse National Bank
March 19, 2008 – 11:29 pm
With its motto “We Sit Securely on Our Assets,” the Outhouse National Bank strove to offer the finest service to its only depositor, my 10-year-old brother Doug. It was open 24/7 for deposits, almost all of which were imprest as a result of the superior judgment of the 15-year-old employer of said brother. It was [...]
