he was going to prepare for it. All of a sudden, he had the urge to go visit an old friend in Vienna, Austria. Having been a music director myself and knowing how much preparation a Broadway show takes, I told him I couldn’t imagine why he would choose to go on a trip at this particular time instead of doing his work, but he was insistent. So off he went to Vienna to visit his friend Amy. After a few days in Vienna, Steve decided to go to Prague for a couple of days. He went to the train station to catch the last train out, only to discover he’d missed it. “Oh well,” he thought, “I guess I won’t be going to Prague.” Having a free evening ahead of him, he decided to see if he could get a ticket to the Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera). He went down to the box office and—surprise, surprise!—got the last available ticket. He sat down in his seat, and fell in love with the guy sitting next to him. They went out the whole time Steve was in Vienna, and a few months later the guy came over to the US to be with Steve. And that’s why Steve went to Vienna.
Midnight Snack in the Pickle Section
Mrs. Gold was in her early sixties and had been widowed for two years. One night she woke up at 3 a.m. and had such a strong yen for pickles that she actually got dressed and went to the open-all-night supermarket to get some. There, in front of the pickle jars, she met a lovely man who ended up being her husband.
They Didn’t Let a Little Attitude Stop Them
In 1935, Sylvia was ahead of her time. She owned a retail store and her own car. Mike was delivering a new mattress to one of his customers down the block from Sylvia’s store in Brooklyn, and as he pulled up, he watched Sylvia unsuccessfully trying to back her car into a parking space, something she never learned to do. Being a kind of cocky fellow with a dry sense of humor, he walked up to the car and said, “Where did you get your license?” And Sylvia, without a trace of rancor, resentment, or defensiveness, sweetly smiled and said, “If you were a gentleman you would offer to help instead of criticize.” To this day, Mike remembers this as the moment he fell in love. He parked the car for her, and asked her for her telephone number. She said, “I don’t give my telephone number to strangers,” and he said, “Well, if you met me at a dance, would you do it then?” She said, “Yes,” and he said, “So let’s pretend we’re at a dance.” She gave him her number and they were together until Sylvia’s death fifty-nine years later.
Carol was concerned about her daughter. True, her daughter was a beautiful and bright woman finishing her doctorate in psychology and seemed by all outside appearances to be a happy, well-adjusted human being. But Carol wasn’t fooled. Her daughter was twenty-eight years old, and not only wasn’t she married, but as far as Carol could see, she didn’t even have any prospects on the horizon. And to add to Carol’s concern, her daughter didn’t even seem to be at all worried about it. Something had to be done!
When Carol’s daughter received an invitation to attend the American Psychological Association conference in Colorado, Carol thought, “Great. She’ll get herself out of the house. She’ll get a break from her studies. She’ll be with her colleagues and will be staying with an old friend. She’ll be among people. . . . Maybe she’ll meet someone.” Her daughter was not as enthusiastic and spent the weeks before the conference complaining. She was feeling overwhelmed by the need to work on her dissertation proposal, and going to the conference would mean a week away from that. Furthermore, it was far away, expensive, intense, and she did not possess as much of a passion for research as she did for the practice of psychology. But with her mother’s prodding, she finally resigned herself to attending.
Being a Jewish Mother, Carol usually talked to her daughter pretty frequently—but they hardly spoke when she was in Colorado. Carol thought it must be because her daughter was busy with the conference, but when Carol started seeing pictures on Instagram of her daughter climbing mountains with two friends, one a very good-looking guy who Carol didn’t recognize, Carol began to feel a sense of hope and excitement. As Carol put it, “You wouldn’t catch my daughter climbing a mountain unless there was a Saks at the top of it!” Considering herself to be a tactful Jewish Mother, Carol didn’t push, but she sensed something was happening because when she did talk to her daughter, her daughter was very giggly and seemed to be having a great time. But her daughter didn’t tell Carol much of anything, so Carol remained silent . . . but hopeful.
When her daughter got back to New York, Carol casually asked her who the guy was, and her daughter replied, “Oh, that’s Mike.” Carol couldn’t resist asking if he was nice and if her daughter thought she’d see him again. Her daughter’s brief reply was, “Yes, he’s nice . . . and I’m seeing him on Tuesday,” It was Sunday . . . so that was good.
They went out on that date, and Mike immediately knew that she was the one. It took Carol’s daughter a little longer to get on board, but within the year they, along with an adorable dog, were happily living together on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
Of course, Carol would never insinuate that she made this happen, but being a Jewish Mother from Long Island, she does take a bit of credit for pushing her daughter to attend that conference.
Recipe for Love—Depression, Eating Disorder, Bad Hair, Apathy
Things seemed to be going well for comedienne Julie Halston. She had been in California doing a play and some television guest appearances, while her long-term boyfriend was in New York. Although they were three thousand miles apart for an extended period, Julie had remained true to her boyfriend, even turning down a date from a very well-known, handsome movie star, telling him, “I’m sorry but I’m in a committed relationship back home.”
When her TV pilot was over, Julie headed back to New York to star in an Off-Broadway play, do her one-woman show in a club, and move in with her boyfriend. Shortly after she opened in the play, Julie was nominated for a Drama Desk Award.
Unfortunately, just as all this was happening, Julie discovered that her boyfriend was having an affair. Determined to make the relationship work, she tried to stay and work it out, but after a few futile attempts, they decided to call it quits.
Julie went into a tailspin. She had given her New York apartment to a dying friend when she’d moved in with her boyfriend, so she now had no boyfriend and no place to live. She soon became extremely depressed and began developing symptoms of anorexia, but somehow she managed to find a temporary place to live and spent her days sleeping, going to do her shows and going home by herself.
One night, her publicist mentioned that he wanted her to meet his friend, radio interviewer Ralph Howard. Julie informed him in no uncertain terms that the last thing she wanted to do was meet a man. She was absolutely uninterested! After the run of the show, she was going to go to California, by herself, to pursue her career. At least there people seemed to like her.
Unbeknownst to Julie, and in spite of her protestations, her publicist asked Ralph if he was available (yes, he had just stopped dating a woman in Washington, DC) and brought him to see her show. Although Ralph and Julie didn’t meet in person that night, Ralph was very impressed with her performance and asked Julie’s publicist if he might
