Show ONWARD AND UPWARD by JOHN LARDNER AVE you ever stopped to think HAVE that the fill big shots of this country the men with yachts and private cars the men who go south to shoot weasels in the winter and who maintain costly coach racing stables all tile the year around n were n not at brou always so well off bave a you ever stopped to think that they worked their way to tile the top slowly and painfully that most of them began lire life in a log cabin an igloo or a hole in tile the ground I 1 have stopped to think abort about this quite often sometimes I 1 stop in the middle of the street in the path of a runaway horse to think about it but I 1 never thought of investigating the subject until a few weeks ago when griswold II 11 griswold the belladonna kin king g suggested it to me ilow how do 40 you suppose I 1 got to the top young man demanded mr griswold I 1 11 t tl i ailt ont know know chief i 1 fard how was it pluck perseverance sand sand grit A little of each of those admitted the billionaire and a great deal more besides I 1 had bad character ambition intelligence telli gence eagerness a wonderful mother seven dollars and ea eighty gaty five cents and above all a bad start ask me how flow I 1 got started go on ask me how did you get started chief I 1 asked with unfeigned interest 1 I got started low said mr griswold 1 I was raised in a hut but I 1 shared my meals with the pigs I 1 used to go around flattening my nose against delicatessen ca store windows I 1 had to hock my copy of the life of abraham lincoln before I 1 finished the first volume I 1 dont know yet how low lincoln lincola made out in the end nd what do you think of tl that alato ato gee chief staggering it said the belladonna kin king and ill bet that nine out of ten big shots started tile the same way the road to success Is not an easy one young man go co out and interview some big shots and see if im not ot right go out now go out before I 1 have my stenographer throw you out so I 1 ventured forth and interviewed some of the wealthiest bankers artists and professional men in the country the messages they gave roe ine were of great value to american youth I 1 shall relay them to you one at a time case 1 I luclus lucius J grogan the financier was floating an international loan when I 1 entered his big office lie interrupted ills his task to answer my questions its been hard young man lie he said its been liard hard all the way why I 1 call my soul my own until I 1 was nine years old when my uncle left we me CS and after that it was a long uphill fight against the tax people when did you float your first loan at the age of eleven in my bathtub said sir air grogan it was hard uphill work but my parents said it was c life cute and their words of praise I 1 were worth fill all tile the toll and sweat in the world to me my greatest triumph over destiny came a few years ago when my grandfather left me nis servants contested the will and tied me up in court for a while but I 1 never weakened I 1 never will im a fighter young man maa ive been a fighter all my life case II if st clair Mcl legis the best dressed man in america and the playboy of two worlds told me an inspiring moving tale of early adversity 1 I was stone broke he be said when I 1 marrley minerva ward now the countess del otto iler her family knew I 1 was broke and discouraged yet they cut off her allowance we get the money till six months later when the she came of age mr career la in and around reno in later years rears was one long iong gruelling gruenling gru elling struggle it was the same in paris when I 1 was building my reputation as a playboy some of the tricks to which my rivals resorted would make your blood run cold but I 1 quit I 1 married sirs mrs john humphrey romas the fornier former lady woon it must have hare been a hard fight sir air alcele Mc Regis I 1 said you should see mrs john humphrey rollins lie he replied with a brave simple smile case ill III I 1 was thrilled and impressed by the story of leo most successful of modern lyric writers tin van alley Is a rough road friend mr told me ive wrote more lilts ailts than anyone outside of derlin berlin derin berin in but there was a time when I 1 thought that life was going to lick me and I 1 would be a failure 1 I slaved for years thinking up rhymes like credit and said it truth and youth baby and maybe clean and rdean mean then I 1 discovered that mean would go just as well wit with dream that was the turning point 1 I went from smash lilt hit to smash hit rhyming heart with park and loose with tooth and coldly with told lold me I 1 struck a real gold mine with things like roosevelt and ana sousas dousas So wealth honeybunch honey bunch and money once that was just about the time that my partner joe the tune writer discovered chopin we write hits now friend but tin ila pan n alley Is a rough road case IV I 1 found julius in the library of his penthouse apartment mr air manager of the ch champion greeted lecordia ily lie Ile opened tin an elaborate bar behind one of tile the bookcases book cases and poured me a drink from a bottle of rye made up to look like a shakespeare follo folio mr air also poured a drink for himself determination Is every everything thin he told me determination and the will to succeed everything when I 1 first picked up the champ he wasll was a tramp a yellow bum fighting semi windups once in a while and doing plain and fancy bricklaying on the side goodness mr air I 1 sald said that was a n tough situation it would have licked a weaker man admitted mr pouring out another jolt of rye but I 1 persevered first of fill all I 1 cut myself in for seventy five per cent of the kid nis ills wife wanted togiva me fifty but I 1 held out and proved she was wrong all my life ive had biad to light blindness and prejudice in other people the kid was yellow but I 1 conquered that I 1 took a broken ill highball I 1 ball glass and jammed it into his I 1 back mel between e rounds that gave him the courage he be needed it got so he wanted to light fight all the time even want to take ills his rest between rounds it was a long iong liard climb to the top but I 1 got there when the kid won the title I 1 felt so good that I 1 made him a little present I 1 sold ten per cent of vint him back to his wife ills second wife I 1 mean I 1 had to get rid of the first one she was no good to the kid my mind was teeming with new nev thought new inspirations inspirations when I 1 returned to the office of griswold n U griswold I 1 told him all I 1 load lad learned but you chief I 1 said your early life was harder than most you were raised in a hut but among pigs you had to hock your life of lincoln how did you become the belladonna king 1 I won my belladonna bol holdings dings and I 1 won them the hard way said the billionaire Ilon lio alre pounding the desk with his flat cst everything came hard to tile me I 1 won my belladonna factory in a crap game at the age of fourteen my point was ten and I 1 made it tle the hard way two lives fives things came hard to ute me 1 0 john lardner Ser servias |