In September I presented myself at the Sears, Roebuck advertising department in Troy, Michigan and applied for the job of production assistant. Ed Garey, the ad manager, was flustered and said there was no such job available.

But the next day he called me and said he liked my chutzpah and hired me for $105 a week.

Sears ad department at Christmas party of
Burry Brothers Photographers

I'm the guy in front. The people on one side of me are the bosses and managers. The people on the other side were my pals.

My gang of pals

Directly behind me is Harry Blackward, who abandoned a professional bowling career to be home with his wife and child more often.

The girl next to me is Fran Brown, artist; after this party ended we took the elevator down together and it got stuck between floors. We sang "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place" for half an hour until we were rescued, and then Fran dropped her keys down the elevator shaft so we were there late.

The guy next to her is Jack Wood, formerly The Owl who wrote a weekly column about night life in San Francisco.

Next to Jack is Bill Somebody; I partied with him and his identical twin brother in Lansing fairly often.

Sitting down is Jerry Cartwright; a couple years later, Jerry and his wife Barbara joined me and Rhonda in dashing away from Michigan to fabled Anaheim, California.