February 29, 1976 I celebrated my 10th Leap Year Birthday by having a party at the Memphis Hilton hotel for
300 of 'my closest friends', more about that in a minute. There was a
reception from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM in the Toastmaster's room with cocktails, appetizers and a jazz trio followed by a sit down dinner, in
the Director's room, featuring Prime Ribs, Yorkshire pudding,Caesar salad and a band ending wi th desserts and dancing in the Corporate room with another band and a singer.

Needless to say, if you know me, the 5 tier cake was a carrot cake with cream cheese
and walnut icing. The whole affair was on the front page of the
Commercial-Appeal society section and hundreds of pictures were taken
which is a good thing as I was drunk the whole evening, (that wasn't in
the newspaper story), and only remember minutes here and there
including a 'thank you for coming' speech sitting in front of the band
next to the singer and not making sense!

Regarding
those 300 'friends' there was my lover, Johnny, his parents, most of
the employees of the business I had started, Our Weigh, plus about a
dozenpeople who had lost 100 pounds and more under my guidance , 2
tables of gay friends and friends who had flown in from Chattanooga,
Atlanta, Kansas city, New York, St. Louis and so on. It was the people
who weren't there that was a bummer such as my Aunt Flo who was the
first one to show me unconditional love, my father who had come to
Memphis the year before and we were on the verge of a reconciliation, a
group of people who decided to stay with Bernie when we split, not to forget Bob, Nina, Jean, Ladye, BJ, Chuck, Bob,  Gene, Joan, Addie,  Joe, Issac and, yes, Bernie himself (which didn't surprise
me) and my brother and his family and many others. Of the 300 people
there I have only heard from and/or seen 5(!) of them since 1979--good
thing I have albums of pictures of them!  LOL

I
promise there will be no mention of food in Part 4 but right now I want
to share another memory of that time. Memphis was sort of a hub of many
cities within reach by car in a few hours such as Atlanta, Houston,
Dallas, Hot Springs, St. Louis and, one trip we took, was on July 13,
1974,  to Fort Smith,
Arkansas, on the far west boundary of the State. Why? Food, of course.
They were offering, to anyone who could eat it all, within an hour, a
free meal of a 72 ounce sirloin steak, a shrimp cocktail, a salad and a
beverage. The above is anotarized bill stating that I did it. The next day I had to go on radio and talk about being a Weight Watcher!!! LOL

I
didn't drive a car until the age of 33, October, 1969, when I moved to
Memphis. Up to that point I had lived where transportation was readily
available or I had friends to rely on. Before I left NYC Bernie said I
should have a few driving lessons because I would really need a car
when I got to Memphis. Joan took me down to Wall Street on a Sunday in
her VW Beatle, with a stick shift, to give me a few lessons and without
going into the gory details, and her pulling her hair out, after an
hour the lessons were over! When I got down to Memphis Bernie spent a
weekend teaching me how to drive, then that Tuesday I got my license
and three days later the company leased me my first car--a brand new
1970 white Cadillac--which I would walk into the dealer 5 years later
and pay cash to own it.

Coming up: Our Weigh, Weight Watchers, Gig Young, Chuck, Bob, picking greens, Overton Park and Overton Square, Cotton Carnival, mid-South fair, Jwags, Mudd Island, the pyramid, my last trip to Memphis, Issac, Joe, red light, Pink Palace, Millington navy base, Carbondale, Jackson, Jonesboro, Chattanooga and, oh yes, SEX IN MEMPHIS