Our coddled, entitled children

07DAD
Thu, 30 Aug 2012 11:13:56 +0000

Ah, Le Francais in Wheeling. I remember having lamb prepared three ways as a single entree. But, I was out of college, married and paid for it.

It opened in 1973 under the guidance of the legendary chef Jean Banchet and by the end of the decade Le Francais was named the best restaurant in America by Bon Appetit magazine.

Pizzagirl – if you were eating there when Banchet was running it, you are “blessed.”

I’ve been around titled and entitled. I was the civilian escort for a girl (my then girlfriend) who made her debut at the International Debutante Ball held at the Waldorf Astoria in December of 1969. My long hair gave rise to some media comment. I actually have a clipping from the NY paper with our picture. My tails were rented (I paid) and I had not gotten them altered to be long enough. A LOT of sock was showing. I chuckle to this day. A fish out of water.

Lot of very coddled and entitled European mid range royalty kids. A group (as a whole) of drunk/coked out dead weights. There were overheard conversations about being “bored.”

We met a couple of kids our age (18-19) from Rumson NJ and hit it off. As Texans, we “stuck out” (not private schools, accent, “style”–or lack thereof etc.), but the 4 of us really enjoyed each other that weekend. The NJ girl had already done another debut in Europe. But, we were kids and went to Sardis and a sports bar I think was called Gallager’s 66. On the night of the actual Ball, we were sitting at a table with the NJ couple when a female came up to the NJ girl and said “[name], we are at the table with Trisha [Nixon] and David [Eisenhower], why don’t you come join us?” She replied “only if there is room for these two friends [me and my girlfriend] as well.” Surprise! No room for us!

Looking back it would have been a spectacle. The reporters actually attempted to get David to state his thoughts on President Nixon’s policies regarding Vietnam.

All were daughters of extremely wealthy US families. Some were entitled jerks. Some were just wealthy.

The trip was a blast. I got to see Hair in the first few weeks when the nude actors came into the audience and the audience members were allowed to strip and come on stage for the finale. Her parents went to see Oh, Calcutta.

Sally Cunard attended Emory and was the girlfriend of a guy I knew when I went there. She was so not entitled, the guy never had a clue of who she was (shipping lines) until she invited him to come home to meet her parents. To be candid, none of us other guys had put it together, but when school started up again after Winter break and he told us of the house, servants, dressing for dinner etc. it clicked.