Aa history Lovers 2010 moderators Nancy Olson and Glenn F. Chesnut page
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IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6777. . . . . . . . . . . . A Day? From: Jenny or Laurie Andrews . . . . . . . . . . . . 8/5/2010 3:01:00 AM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII "On the day I was born, 13 April 1949 .... in America, the National Committee on Alcoholism announced an upcoming 'A Day' under the uplifting slogan: 'You can
drink - help the alcoholic who can't' ..." ("Hitch 22: a memoir"; Christopher Hitchens; Atlantic Books; 2010). Can anyone remember "A Day"? Was AA involved? Was there more than one? IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6778. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Ralph Waldo Trine From: jax760 . . . . . . . . . . . . 8/4/2010 9:57:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII My research shows that both In Tune With The Infinite and The Man Who Knew, both
by Trine were a part of Dr. Bob's extensive collection and are currently on display at 855 Ardmore along with other New Thought works by James Allen, Emmett Fox and Henry Drummond. I seem to recall Dr Bob advising one particular new comer (a female pioneer?) to read Henry Drummond's "The Greatest Thing in The
World" every day for 30 days if you want to change your life. And used Fox's The
Sermon on the Mount with many of his pigeons.(Check for this in DBGO) I don't believe Bill had an extensive literature collection at Stepping Stones.
It is documented though that he was very well read. --- In AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com, trysh travis wrote:
> > Following up on John B.'s post of a few days ago regarding Trine's *In Tune > with the Infinite,* I just wanted to ask whether anyone has done research at > Stepping Stones to determine whether Bill and/or Lois owned a copy of the > book? It allegedly sold around 2 million copies in its day, so Bill need > not have owned or even read it to have been influenced by it. However, it > would be very interesting to establish more concretely Bill and Dr. Bob's > exposure to the ideas of New Thought religions, and personal libraries are > one way that historians can do that. I talk in my book about AA's > connections to New Thought, but relied on a "it was in the air" kind of > argument, rather than hard material evidence to make my claims, and I would
> like to be able to be more concrete in future. > > > Trysh Travis > Associate Professor & Undergraduate Coordinator > Center for Women's Studies and Gender Research > University of Florida > Gainesville, FL 32611-7352 > > Author of *The Language of the Heart: the > Recovery Movement from AA to Oprah* http://www.amazon.com/Language-Heart-Cultural-Recovery-Alcoholics/dp/0807833 193/\
From: ckbudnick . . . . . . . . . . . . 8/5/2010 11:06:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII I'm interested in any history I can receive about a publication called "Sedatives and the Alcoholic." It was published in 1952. Thanks, Chris B. Raleigh,NC IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6780. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Ralph Waldo Trine From: J. Lobdell . . . . . . . . . . . . 8/5/2010 9:02:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Gene Exman, the Harper editor who originally offered Bill an advance on the Big
Book, was the editor who handled Emmet Fox, and Emmet Fox's secretary was the
mother of Al S, who wrote the Responsibility Pledge and the Declaration of Unity. Emmet Fox was ten years older than Bill; he died in 1951 at 65, and he was in some of the same circles in NYC as Bill. Bill Lash may have evidence that they met -- I don't, but it looks pretty likely, and I recall a book published a while back that suggested to me that they had met, thoough I now can't put a name on it.
From: Jenny or Laurie Andrews . . . . . . . . . . . . 8/5/2010 2:24:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII My memory may be playing tricks, but I seem to recall on a visit to Stepping Stones in June 1990 there was indeed a well-stocked library. Easy enough to check?
Date: Thu, 5 Aug 2010 Subject: Re: Ralph Waldo Trine
Stones.
It is documented though that he was very well read. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6782. . . . . . . . . . . . The Jack Alexander Story From: Glenn Chesnut . . . . . . . . . . . . 8/7/2010 4:07:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Jackie B. has started her research for her next project, a play about the writing of the Jack Alexander story and its impact on early AA. She says: > "I want the focus to be on Jack, the non- > alcoholic author, and the alcoholic readers > who found their way to the solution through > his article. I am trying to gather as much > biographical information about Jack Alexander > as I can, in addition of course, to research > about the writing of the article itself."
been assembled at the following place: http://hindsfoot.org/alexand1.pdf Please check here before sending in any additional information about him and his life, to make sure that yours is in fact new information, which has never been posted in the AAHistoryLovers before. You can also go to our Message Board at http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AAHistoryLovers/messages and use the little search box at the top to search for "Jack Alexander" in conjunction with some other word or phrase -- for example: "Jack Alexander" mob to see if any messages have ever been posted on that topic. There is in addition a photo of Jack Alexander at the bottom of this web page:
http://hindsfoot.org/archive2.html COULD WE HELP HER OUT? (a) If someone reading the Jack Alexander article was the impetus for the founding of the first AA group in your area, could you send in a message about it to the AAHistoryLovers? The more details you have about who the person was (where you live) who read the article and how they formed that AA group, the more useful it will be to Jackie.
helpful, including the solution to some of the remaining puzzles about his life.
Alexander and his wife Anita retired to Florida, where he died on September 17, 1975." But
somewhat puzzlingly, many other places say that Jack Alexander died on September 19, 1975 in St. Louis. Since the city of St. Louis was Jack's home town, did someone get confused, and read an obituary in a St. Louis newspaper which came out on September 19, 1975, and mistakenly put this down as the date and place of Jack's death? Jackie B. says that Glenn C's material on Alexander in his webpages describing How AA Came to Indiana "has been very informative and was the inspiration for
this project." Among other things, it tells how the Jack Alexander article inspired the founding of the first AA group in northern Indiana: http://hindsfoot.org/nsbend1.html and later the founding of one of the two best known early AA prison groups, the one at the Indiana state penitentiary at Michigan City: http://hindsfoot.org/nprison1.html That is the kind of material which she is asking our group to help her dig up.
______________________________ Jackie B. was the writer and director of the Grapevine play "In Our Own Words,"
which played to a standing room only audience both days at the International Convention in San Antonio. It is currently being copyrighted, and a group in Mexico has started a translation. Hopefully, these stories which she put in dramatic form, about the heroic men and women who were the pioneers of early AA history (like Jimmy M., the First Lady of Black A.A., see http://hindsfoot.org/nblack1.html ), will be told many more times in the future.
++++Message 6783. . . . . . . . . . . . Helen Wynn From: beachsufi . . . . . . . . . . . . 8/6/2010 12:18:00 AM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Hi Does anyone know what became of Helen Wynn after Bill Wilson died? I just read
Susan Cheever's book and I think Helen had a son, who may well still be alive.
Andrew IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6784. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Helen Wynn From: Glenn Chesnut . . . . . . . . . . . . 8/7/2010 4:36:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Message 5619 from "J. Lobdell" Re: When did Helen Wynn die? Evidence of ship passenger lists (ships docking in NYC) shows Helen Simis (b.
Jan 17 1907) in 1930 and Helen Strudwick (b Jan 17 1907) in the 1940s. The Helen
Wynn who died at Moroni in 1978 was b. Jan 17 1907: she is therefore the correct
Helen Wynn. She was b. in Utah, the daughter of Richard and Lina Simis (both b. 1874) and
had several siblings. Her husband Shepperd Strudwick (jr), 1907-1983, was married from 1977 to another
wife but is recorded as having had a son by a previous marriage -- presumably the Shepperd Strudwick who was b. Los Angeles June 14 1944, mother's maiden name
Simis. Shepperd Strudwick Jr (real name) and Helen Simis (Helen Wynn) were m. May 10,
1936. He m. his second wife by 1947, third in 1958, fourth (Mary Jeffrey) in 1977.
translated the French play L'Ete in 1973 and has been connected with the Williamstown Theatre, but I don't know where he is now, or if he's still alive (he'd only be 64). IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6785. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Sedatives and the Alcoholic From: planternva2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . 8/7/2010 10:54:00 AM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII A Google search turned this up. Hope it helps. Jim http://books.google.com/books?id=9IW-y4JXhdAC&pg=PA276&lpg=PA276&dq=%22Sedat ives\
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_____________________________________________ --- In AAHistoryLovers@yahoogroups.com, "ckbudnick" > > I'm interested in any history I can receive about a publication called "Sedatives and the Alcoholic." It was published in 1952. > > Thanks, > > Chris B. > Raleigh,NC
From: Bruce C. . . . . . . . . . . . . 8/6/2010 10:16:00 AM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Hi All Sedatives and the Alcoholic This was published by The Alcoholic Foundation. (Today this is A.A. World Services.) It has a red cardstock cover with 26 pages (24 numbered). It contains the following subtitles:
Working With Alcoholics Who Use Sedatives. It is copyrighted by Works Publishing and list the A.A. Publications (1952) approved by The General Service Conference Of A.A. BOOK: ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS (400 PAGES, $3.50) PAMPHLETS: THE SOCIETY OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS A.A. FOR THE WOMAN MEDICINE LOOKS AT A.A. SEDATIVES AND THE ALCOHOLIC THE ALCOHOLIC EMPLOYEE A.A. -- QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS INTRODUCTION TO A.A.
THE A.A. GRAPEVINE (Monthly, $2.50 a year) Sedatives and the Alcoholic is preceded by a pamphlet titled SEDATIVES that was
publish by Works Publishing in 1948. I have copies of both if you have additional questions e-mail me. Bruce C. brucec55@sbcglobal.net (brucec55 at sbcglobal.net) IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6787. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: The Jack Alexander Story From: Baileygc23@aol.com . . . . . . . . . . . . 8/7/2010 2:31:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII I think I quoted the death notice of Jack Alexander as in the St Louis Post Dispatch newspaper. If positive information is needed,interested persons can ask for the micro films of the death notice and obit from the St Louis public library archives, and not the Post Dispatch. The library will be happy to send
them. The obit and death notice should show he died in St Louis. Evidently the Post Dispatch went out of business since his death, so we cannot
look at the original copy in their morgue. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6788. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: Helen Wynn From: beachsufi . . . . . . . . . . . . 8/7/2010 9:20:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Presumably if Helen Wynn's son Shepperd Strudwick III is still alive he would
still be receiving royalties from the Big Book as Helen's only heir, and could
be traced that way. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII ++++Message 6789. . . . . . . . . . . . Re: The Jack Alexander Story From: Baileygc23@aol.com . . . . . . . . . . . . 8/8/2010 4:22:00 AM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII I'm sorry, one thing I said in my previous message was not correct. The St Louis Post Dispatch newspaper is alive and doing well.
From: Glenn Chesnut . . . . . . . . . . . . 8/8/2010 2:18:00 PM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII THE BOX 459 STORY OF HIS LIFE Box 459: News and Notes from the General Service Office of A.A., Vol. 54, No. 1
/ February-March 2008, pp. 4-5. Jack Alexander Gave A.A. Its First Big Boost As the 1941 year began, Alcoholics Anonymous had about 2,000 members, many in large cities but also some in small towns and other isolated places. A 1939 national magazine article had attracted several hundred new members, and newspaper articles in Cleveland and a few other places had brought positive results. But for most of North America, A.A. was still unknown and alcoholics were dying without knowing that a new way of recovery had been discovered and was working.
In less than a year, A.A. would suddenly triple its membership and be well on the way to becoming a national institution. The man who played a key role in this lightning change was Jack Alexander, a 38-year-old writer for The Saturday Evening Post, which, with more than 3 million circulation, was the leading family magazine in the United States. The article he wrote about A.A. for the March 1, 1941 edition of the magazine--simply titled "Alcoholics Anonymous"-- brought in 7,000 inquiries and became the high point of his illustrious career. The article apparently led other publications to offer similar reports of the Fellowship's work, launching A.A. on a publicity roll that lasted for years.
issued by A.A. World Services, with the title "The Jack Alexander Article about A.A." Though it focuses on the A.A. of 1941, it still provides important information about alcoholism, how the Fellowship started, and what was working so well for those whom we would now call A.A. pioneers. The article has also been praised as an excellent example of good organization and writing that could be a model for journalism students. (The late Maurice Z., an A.A. member and also a highly successful magazine writer and biographer, told an A.A. session at the 1985 International Convention in Montreal that he had been impressed by the article back in 1941, long before he felt his own need to embrace the program it described!) How did this fortunate publicity come about? What inspired it and who was responsible for bringing the idea to the attention of the Post's editors and nursing the story through to acceptance and completion? The account of A.A.'s famous appearance in The Saturday Evening Post is the kind of story that gives some A.A. members goose bumps, because they see it as the sure work of Higher Power. Others would just call it a chain of coincidences that worked out favorably for the Fellowship. Whatever the case, its publication in 1941 was a bombshell breakthrough for A.A. at a critical time.
Jim B., one of the A.A. pioneers in New York City, moved to Philadelphia, the headquarters city of The Saturday Evening Post. Jim started an A.A. group in the city and, through a chance meeting at a bookstore, attracted the interest of Dr. A. Wiese Hammer, who with colleague Dr. C. Dudley Saul, became an enthusiastic A.A. advocate. Dr. Hammer just happened to be a close friend of Curtis Bok, owner of The Saturday Evening Post. After hearing Dr. Hammer's strong endorsement of A.A., Bok passed along to his editors a suggestion that they consider an article about the Fellowship. The suggestion landed on the desk of Jack Alexander, one of the Post's star reporters.
Bill W.) had just covered some rackets in New Jersey. (This gave rise to an untrue belief that he thought A.A. might also be a racket.) Born in St. Louis, he had worked for newspapers and The New Yorker before joining the Post. Alexander deserves much credit for probing deeply into a struggling society that scarcely impressed him as he started his research. Though assigned to do the story by his superiors, he could have made a superficial review of A.A. activity in New York City and then abandoned the project as "not having much merit." Indeed, he would write four years later that he was highly skeptical following his first contact with four members of A.A. who called at his apartment one afternoon. "They spun yarns about their horrendous drinking misadventures," he wrote. "Their stories sounded spurious, and after the visitors had left, I had a strong suspicion that my leg was being pulled. They had behaved like a bunch of actors sent out by some Broadway casting agency."
up based on one unsatisfactory interview session. The next morning, he met Bill W. at A.A.'s tiny Vesey Street general service offices in downtown Manhattan. They hit it off immediately. Alexander described Bill as "a very disarming guy and an expert at indoctrinating the stranger into the psychology, psychiatry, physiology, pharmacology and folklore of alcoholism. He spent the good part of a couple of days telling me what it was all about. It was an interesting experience, but at the end of it my fingers were still crossed. I knew I had the makings of a readable report but, unfortunately, I didn't quite believe in it and told Bill so."
ment for later consideration or dropped it altogether. But Bill W. was determined not to let that happen. He dropped everything and persuaded Alexander to investigate A.A. in other cities, especially Akron and Cleveland. As Bill recalled later, "Working early and late, [ Jack] spent a whole month with us. Dr. Bob and I and the elders of the early groups at Akron, New York, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Chicago spent uncounted hours with him. When he could feel A.A. in the very marrow of his bones, he proceeded to write the piece that rocked drunks and their families all over the nation."
impressed him mightily. "The real clincher came, though, in St. Louis, which is my home town," he remembered. "Here I met a number of my own friends who were A.A.s, and the last remnants of skepticism vanished. Once rollicking rumpots, they were now sober. It didn't seem possible, but there it was." Now a firm believer in A.A., Alexander finished the article and sent it to Bill and Dr. Bob for review. They suggested only minor changes, though the correspondence between Bill and Jack reveals that Bill wanted no mention of the Oxford Group, a fellowship which had given A.A. its fundamental principles but after 1936 had begun falling fast in the public favor. Alexander said his editors felt the Yüklə 25,47 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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