family history, part five
My parents, Roosevelt Barrington and Catherine Adler got married on November 9, 1965 in a relatively small (ridiculously so for a Barrington) private ceremony. It was a Tuesday, which was strange, because really now, who get's married on a Tuesday? The reason for this will be made plain as this story advances. They also eschewed the traditional church service. Again, the reason will be clear when this tale has reached its conclusion. The wedding was held at the Exclusive Executive Men's Club in the heart of Manhattan's most high-rent district. My grandfather was one of the founding members.
The Club was created in 1946 by Old Grandad and a retired Army Colonel who lost a leg in a Gerry bombing raid during the Blitz. The Retired Colonel had a wooden prosthesis which for some reason was about three inches too short. I don't know why he never replaced it with one of the proper length. Perhaps it was because he was too drunk to notice or care, as was frequently the case by the time I met him as a child visiting The Club with Old Grandad. I seem to remember asking him about it once. He spoke with a thick southern drawl, made all the more incomprehensible by the huge quantities of Kentucky bourbon he drank straight from the bottle. I think he said something sorrowful about having to shoot his dog. Anyway, by the time the bottle was about half gone he'd forget to compensate for the shortness of his wooden leg. I remember being a young boy and watching with amusement as the Old Colonel staggered in circles, wildly waving a bottle of Jack Daniels in one hand while drunkenly ranting about "those kraut bastards".
While not entirely pre-arranged, the wedding had been long sought and heavily lobbied for by my grandfather. Through varying combinations of badgering, bribing, and bullying my grandfather convinced the prospective bride and groom that they were madly in love and persuaded both families into believing that the marriage was in their best interest.
As Old Grandad's war efforts were still classified, nobody knew of his contribution to win the war for our side. Thanks to an inquisitive and outspoken freshman Congressman in 1946, Old Grandad's business dealings with the Nazis had been common knowledge and public record for almost twenty years. The Congressmen was later indicted on a variety of charges, including corruption, embezzlement, bestiality, and pedophilia. He was booted from Congress and died in a federal prison. You didn't fuck with Old Grandad back then.
But the damage had been done, and Old Grandad had spent the decades following the war battling the perception that he was an anti-semitic Nazi sympathizer. While personally, he didn't give a rat's ass what people thought, he felt as though this notion was hindering his business dealings with many of the older established East Coast financial institutions.
He reasoned that the best way to prove to the world that he accepted and supported Yahweh's chosen people would be to make them family. So he went out looking for the daughter of the richest Jew he could find. His plan was to marry her off to his eldest son Roosevelt.
The daughter he found was Catherine Adler, the eldest daughter of Arthur Adler, the founder of Adler Almalgamated Aluminum Products. The Adlers were new money. Old Man Adler amassed a fortune manufacturing aluminum plane parts for the military during the war. After the war he branched out and AAAP become the largest manufacturer of aluminum Little League bats on the planet. Damn if baseball wasn't one of that old man's greatest passions.
His daughter Catherine fit the bill perfectly.
Family lore has it that Old Grandad offered Old Man Adler the opportunity to be the first circumcised member of The Club if the two men could get their eldest children bonded in matrimony. Family lore goes on to explain that Old Grandad was quick to point out the potential financial benefits of a marriage between a family who manufactured aluminum parts for things and a family who made bolts and other metal fasteners to hold those parts together.
Subsequently calls were made, and on a rainy night in September 1963, Roosevelt Barrington had his first date with Catherine Adler.
The Club was created in 1946 by Old Grandad and a retired Army Colonel who lost a leg in a Gerry bombing raid during the Blitz. The Retired Colonel had a wooden prosthesis which for some reason was about three inches too short. I don't know why he never replaced it with one of the proper length. Perhaps it was because he was too drunk to notice or care, as was frequently the case by the time I met him as a child visiting The Club with Old Grandad. I seem to remember asking him about it once. He spoke with a thick southern drawl, made all the more incomprehensible by the huge quantities of Kentucky bourbon he drank straight from the bottle. I think he said something sorrowful about having to shoot his dog. Anyway, by the time the bottle was about half gone he'd forget to compensate for the shortness of his wooden leg. I remember being a young boy and watching with amusement as the Old Colonel staggered in circles, wildly waving a bottle of Jack Daniels in one hand while drunkenly ranting about "those kraut bastards".
While not entirely pre-arranged, the wedding had been long sought and heavily lobbied for by my grandfather. Through varying combinations of badgering, bribing, and bullying my grandfather convinced the prospective bride and groom that they were madly in love and persuaded both families into believing that the marriage was in their best interest.
As Old Grandad's war efforts were still classified, nobody knew of his contribution to win the war for our side. Thanks to an inquisitive and outspoken freshman Congressman in 1946, Old Grandad's business dealings with the Nazis had been common knowledge and public record for almost twenty years. The Congressmen was later indicted on a variety of charges, including corruption, embezzlement, bestiality, and pedophilia. He was booted from Congress and died in a federal prison. You didn't fuck with Old Grandad back then.
But the damage had been done, and Old Grandad had spent the decades following the war battling the perception that he was an anti-semitic Nazi sympathizer. While personally, he didn't give a rat's ass what people thought, he felt as though this notion was hindering his business dealings with many of the older established East Coast financial institutions.
He reasoned that the best way to prove to the world that he accepted and supported Yahweh's chosen people would be to make them family. So he went out looking for the daughter of the richest Jew he could find. His plan was to marry her off to his eldest son Roosevelt.
The daughter he found was Catherine Adler, the eldest daughter of Arthur Adler, the founder of Adler Almalgamated Aluminum Products. The Adlers were new money. Old Man Adler amassed a fortune manufacturing aluminum plane parts for the military during the war. After the war he branched out and AAAP become the largest manufacturer of aluminum Little League bats on the planet. Damn if baseball wasn't one of that old man's greatest passions.
His daughter Catherine fit the bill perfectly.
Family lore has it that Old Grandad offered Old Man Adler the opportunity to be the first circumcised member of The Club if the two men could get their eldest children bonded in matrimony. Family lore goes on to explain that Old Grandad was quick to point out the potential financial benefits of a marriage between a family who manufactured aluminum parts for things and a family who made bolts and other metal fasteners to hold those parts together.
Subsequently calls were made, and on a rainy night in September 1963, Roosevelt Barrington had his first date with Catherine Adler.
posted by dr noyz @ 12:31 AM
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