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Source: DICOBE-00018 – Billy C – ALCOHOL AWARENESS WEEK – 1979-11-03.mp3 File: dicobe-00018-billy-c-alcohol-awareness-week-1979-11-03.mp3 Duration: 01:15:28
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We're going to change this from the Calix Mighty Players to the C. Mighty Players, because everybody knows who that is. Let's have a big hand for them over on the main stage. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. In keeping with this most important case, and that was alcoholism, we are going to take you back to the most dramatic present day, which is when alcoholism first dawned on the human race.
We recognize, however, that this is only historical speculation. Judging from the impact that alcohol has had on human society, both for good and ill, well, our theory does not agree. Also, in the presence of a number of prominent celebrities called for some cultural presentations, so we have invited the best known, most unrehearsed theater group in the world, the Mighty C. of Art Players, to dramatize the ultimate event in creating the scene itself.
Now, it is back in Genesis, at the time of the creation of chemicals and man to mix those chemicals, that our play opens, and we also believe, as when alcohol awareness first dawned. Since we have only limited space, energy, and time here, as well as scenery, on this stage, we will not be able to present the forming of the stars, planets, and the grand planners that originally came into being. However, we will skip those details and just move to the drawing of the scene for the human drama scene.
As our play opens, we speak to God the Creator, since I will be, in this, about to deliver the words that spark the creative process. Let there be light! Let the world listen. We will not have to fight for the creation of the scene, as we all know how it turned out. Let there be light! Light! Light! For heaven's sake! That's sufficient. Let's not get into a revolutionary overkill here. And now we move on to our scene, where we speak of all the stories about the universe.
This is the one. It's really the one. Let there be birds! And animals! And let there be man! Our Father, who art in heaven. Not in heaven, my son. I am here with you. I give you everything in this garden of your life, except one thing. I ask that you not participate, that for a minute through the vine, lest you die. I leave you now. But Adam was a self-tempered, resentful person. He was rationalized, angry, procrastinated, worried, and he had an alibi for just about every personality.
He's a phony sympathy figure. He's a phony sympathy figure. Too much pride for much intolerance of things and selfishness. And perfection is his game. Sound familiar? In other words, an SOB. My God! My God, who are you?
[00:05:21]
How has my time been, you turkeys? I'm Mother Nature, and you'd better not try to fool with me. A snake that talks? Historians will never believe this one. Why not fly, baby? It's sweet. I know, ain't it? It would make me feel like I was really, really busy. Right about the time when I was very high. Nope, not doing it, I was dying dead. Don't look at him. He doesn't want you to surrender to him. It's him, it's him, that's his son.
You can't just look at him and respond to him instead. Then you'll be like me, knowing all good and evil. Kneel to him and let him down. And get juggled, get juggled, come on, get happy. If you do not, I'll do the rest. And get juggled, come on, get happy. If you do not, I'll do the rest. Oh, no, no, no, no. Oh, my. He doesn't look like that. Oh, that's unbelievable. And he's all yours. Oh, my. I told you I'm not the foolest mother here.
Now you're addicted, sucker. Where have you been? Do you realize it's Saturday night? Saturday nights are supposed to be our nights. You keep me waiting every Saturday night. You're the most insensitive man in the world. You were supposed to be home three and a half years ago. Oh, the hello. What's the matter with you, Alan? You've been acting crazy lately. You're a nice woman. Say someone else. Who else could there be?
What did you say? No, it's not someone else. Something else. I thought I used a fermented juice today. Oh, man, it's like a paradise. I've never looked so good. Adam. Have you been soaking up the fermented fruit of thyme? I just took a couple of sips. I can stop any time I want. I'm disappointed in you. How could you want to ferment fruit of thyme when you have all of this? Oh, you hit the juice, too, if you had a white, white mind.
No, no, I'm not doing that. After all I've done for you, sowing up your leaves, polishing your apples, taking the seed out of your body, I don't deserve this. Why me, Gordon? Why me? Why me? Why not you? Why not you? Why not me? You came up and brought this juice for me. I need it. I'm taking my husband Gilbert's hand over with me. Mabel, I thought you were kidding. Mabel. I don't know what you're all about, but when I'm not there, I don't know what you're all about.
[00:10:02]
Mabel, you see? You see? Your husband's got us all in big trouble. Traveling around, smuggling into the right place. Hey, hey. How many times have I told you it's a bad strategy smuggling with inferior companions? Hey, you tell me companions who ain't inferior, Hey, you're an asshole, Gilbert. Hey, Gilbert, please play old school drama for me. I saw Gordon and I helped. Yeah, I'm just like you, Dad.
Come on, we're packing up and leaving. We're going west of the East, to Gawana. That's a beautiful country, and I hear it has a peaceful future. Oh, Mom, I don't want to stick around and play with the snake. Oh, wait a minute. I don't care. It's primitive around here, but hey, I mean deeply primitive. There's nothing to do but sit around and watch the animals mate and fly beneath the moon. Do you hear me?
Come here. Get out of the water. You and Mom fly all the time like a couple of birdies. It's just like a jungle. Get out of here. He's a jungle. Get out. I told you not to pull his money like that. Oh, crap. At the risk of dying parental, may I suggest you attend a meeting of the Alcoholics Anonymous. It will give you a close, conscious contact with me and with your real self. But how can I meet when there are no other people around?
Whip up some more wine and I'll meet with them. You got a point there. But you do have me. Why not start with that and we'll see about more alcoholics later. I always hate it when somebody comes to me and says, I grew up listening to you on the radio, but I did grow up watching this lady on television and I loved every single minute of it. We, of course, all remember the great, fabulous television series of My Little Margie.
And something I didn't realize about this TV series, it was on all three national networks, ABC, CBS, and NBC. I'm sure that's some sort of a record. The years were 1952 through 55 for My Little Margie. There was another series for her called Oh, Susanna, which reigned high in the ratings from 1956 until 1960 on the ABC television network. And something a lot of people may not remember, unless you're really into music in the 50s, is that this lady had millions and millions of sales of hit songs.
I remember them all because I was just starting out as a disc jockey in my hometown of Enid, Oklahoma, and I think I played every single one of them. Dark moon, I hear you knocking down from my ivory tower. Teenage prayer, I almost forgot about that one. She's just a delightful lady. She was recently featured in National Enquirer. And I'll ask her to tell us how much of that was true. That's my unimpeachable source of gossip for my radio program.
Ladies and gentlemen, would you give me a warm hand for Ms. Gail Storm. That'll just go to the head table. Gail, just come on over here. Thank you, Jimmy. Gail, we're going to, as soon as we get Don up here, we're all going to go up there and they're arranging a little table for us and we're going to sit around and just rap about our experiences. We are? Just the two of us? Well, we're going to let Don in on it, too.
Oh, all right. So you just have a seat here and relax a minute. I'm going to get Don up here. Ladies and gentlemen, this man did something that no other human being has ever done in the world. In his baseball career, he won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1949, the Most Valuable Player Award in 1956, and for Best Picture of the Year in 1956, he won the Cy Young Award. He's been one of the greatest vanguards of the fight against alcoholism of any person in recent time.
And it's certainly been a pleasure for me to meet him. He's got so many credits here. I think Darryl told you what a great service he's performed as a singer. I think Darryl told you what a great service he's performed at the City of Omaha here in the past couple of days.
[00:15:01]
He's made nine personal appearances in the last two days, as Darryl told you. So to 5,000 of our kids in high school here, he had the original idea for the concept of Alcohol Awareness Week, which started out in various cities throughout the country. And thanks to Don's original idea and Darryl Thornton's idea to bring it to Omaha, we now have it here, too. And I'm very proud to be able to share the stage appearance at the moment with the one and only, great Dave Walsh, there on himself, with Don Bickham, right over there, ladies and gentlemen.
So let's all go up on stage. Well, they told us that we were supposed to react to the play. We just picked up the play. Don, you want to come up? What do you think about that? I would like to say that I like snakes. I woke up a lot of the morning thinking I was fed with snakes. I read a lot of snakes when I got up to see the play. That's why I turned around. How do you feel about it? About the play?
Yeah. Well, I played with snakes back then. I was a lot of the laughter I do when I'm on the stage. Well, I'm just kidding. I'm one of those very, very clever, very clever people, and very clever for the stage. I like, I hate to say this, but I like Don Bickham. Well, I do, and I'm proud to say that. Everybody in the cast will be particularly enjoying being fellow artists and actors. Gail, I recently read the National Play, a story about her battle with Alzheimer's, and it comes to mind, especially at a party we had earlier this month when we did the play.
Some of it was quite awful. I know what you guys are doing. No, it wasn't. As I recall, it wasn't an accident. It was just a symptom. It's a terrible thing to say about a person. It was an important day of my career. Do you still entertain everyone you've ever seen? I do. Do you entertain everybody you've ever seen? Everybody calls you a monkey. No, no. We call it a hot pill. I don't know if you can trust me.
It took me to the telephone interview. It took me to Fresno. It took me to Fresno. In fact, I did an awful lot of those. One thing I want to do, and this is interesting. You really have a good telephone service. That's what I mean. Telephones are the interview. I have sacrificed, I think it's a great sacrifice, to be here tonight. It just shows how much it means to me, and I'm just here about Alzheimer's.
I'm here to give you the analogs that all need. That's because I've made a love boat ever since I was about two or three years old, and I think I enjoyed every second of it. That's why I'm here. I really have an acting role in my life because I do comedy. I've done stage shows and pop shows and all kinds of things like that, but I have not played a role in the relationship at all. But I've really enjoyed it.
I went back home, and I'm going to go to the front desk, and there's a place that's so good. I took me over and enjoyed every time. It was great. I think it's always nice to know about a place that you enjoy, to know that there's a great feeling, and you're going to have a great time, and you're going to have people who are going to care about each other, and that's where they are. And then they called me up.
Now, you have to remember that I was called here before I knew about that, and there's always a question of, oh, there's a telephone. I never met him until I felt that I was the person. But, oh, there's a telephone. He's great, aren't you? And then he asked me, and I'm fine with the relationship, but first you say no. I don't know why. It was animal. First, I said yes. And I still was. I didn't say anything.
I just know that there's a constant issue. So, we're always, and please me, we're always this mock-up of those of love, though. But it doesn't come back to life. It's all too much sacrifice to make you uncomfortable. Yeah, but I am still happy to be here with all of you, and I just feel like
[00:20:01]
there's a mix, and love that permeates these two areas around me again. And I wish I could take that to each of you, and I'm so excited about the future of the home. My issue is, it's like being born again in my isolation, with the gift of alcohol. But there's a, it's just a combination of two things. I hope everybody feels like that, as well as the children, and I know I've heard this, but I just, you know, when I wake up in the morning, and just start saying, thank you, God, thank you, God, this must be tiring, to say thank you, because of the healing that I feel, I don't know if you're like that, and so, and so forth.
And so, I just wanted to say that much to you, and I appreciate it, but I also, I said things, you know, you know, a lot of times, you have to try yourself, most of all, to get there. And that, I could not do. I could not handle that. Because all I did was, keep myself within there. They, you know, they knew the will, however, you know, each person, would go, and come, use this place that way, take this here, without help.
And so, anyway, if you, a lot of your doctor, and you cannot have one, you either know about it, but I have to use it, by the name of, that, that, is my experience. I have my marvelous experience, through a lot of your doctors. And I get it, three times a week. It's just, it's so exciting to me. And it's worth, what it is, but, get them, get that, I don't think there's a God who does it for me. I, I, I just thank God, and I thank all of you.
And I, I just, I'm so, so happy, and I'm so grateful, I end up without that too, but, so thank you for asking. Applause I'm going to tell you, oh, you know they say, um, alcoholism is a, a terrible, a terrible disease, which, a security can be a risk, if I don't have one. And, um, we do get scared a bit, when we, when we talk about, how it was, and how it is right now, how it is in town, and how it's not right now.
And, um, when, in real life, we're facing this problem, if we're worried about alcoholism. Um, I know it might, cause drink control, but, I, I couldn't be sure if I, if I was drinking, if it was a drink control, or, am I a, alcoholic? And, I think everybody's kind of, first of all, afraid that they're going to get drunk. So, if that's what, motivates you guys, to quit, don't stop drinking. Just, have a drink control, and, just say, I am an alcoholic.
And, all of us, you know what it means to, you know, to say, well, I don't know, I just have a high degree of, alcoholism. And, the other is, you can get drunk, and you, and you don't feel good. And, uh, what's the definition of alcoholism? And, by the way, uh, many of my, my co-workers, they, they, they, you know, my colleagues, you know, one of which I, uh, was in my talk, that way, uh, that way, that way, uh, the thing is, uh, I found, uh, the thing is, uh, what is the official definition, of alcoholism?
And, it simply was, if, alcohol causes you, financial, or personal, or, or professional, or, or physical, if, alcohol causes you, any drug, whatsoever, and, you don't stop, then, you have, the, the, the disease, of alcoholism. Uh, a lot of people, tell me, that they have a, a drug called, alcoholism, and they are able, just to stop, and say, oh, I don't, people with, with, alcoholism, tell us, all by themselves, they believe, that alcohol, is, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a,
[00:25:17]
a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a, a.
[00:30:25]
I hope that it will get bigger every year as they've gotten, in states like Colorado, I hope that you will not allow tonight to be forgotten, this entire week to be forgotten, because it's something that's needed, and something that ought to solidify your thinking, along with what I'm saying, that in one of your high school chairs, which I will not name, but one of your high school chairs, alone, Donna King and I found out yesterday, that 91% of the seniors in this high school are now using and abusing alcohol, right here in this city, ladies and gentlemen, one of your school's alumni.
Now, that is an indication to your seriousness in the depth of this entire problem that's been running up and down the country. I don't know what has to happen, I don't know what you have to hear, but we are very sincere about it, you can come here tonight, you can yell here tonight, you can be here, you can see everybody else here, you can see yourself here, here for a specific reason, and I very seriously would like you to reflect upon this, and first of all, may I say that you cannot allow this to go by the board desk tonight and be forgotten about, it's got to be a day-by-day process, especially getting to our young people, and all of us in this room love kids, we all love kids, and those of you who don't love kids better find out about these kids, because they want to sleep, and we've got to take care of them, and we've got to allow them to be what we want them to be, and we hope they'll be, if their head is all been out of shape with alcohol, and it's a very verbal issue in this country, and we've got to be talking about it, and with that, I'll go back to you, Jimmy.
Thank you, Scott. Well, Jimmy, I, of course, being a strong-headed, bull-headed, being a great baseball athlete, I never realized I had a problem with drinking, because I was a nautical type, I always thought I could handle my alcohol, and it wasn't until my wife, well, thank God for her, God, where are you? I want to thank you. Well, my wife, Jillian, was a mother of my three children in South Africa and California. She recognized 13 years ago there was something wrong with the man that she loved when he drank. I didn't know if she did, and one day she was going to divorce me and take the kid with her, and that was the last bit of hope that I knew for my new life.
So I probably would have gone on a skid row to jail, or maybe I would have been dead today, were it not for her. And she's a great good person for me. She's going to divorce me and leave me, and that day I quit drinking. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I just didn't walk away from it, and I didn't have any after-effects from it either. I suffered for two years. But the way I quit was that I got on my knees. You see that scene on all the floors? I got on my knees and swore to God with my hand on the head of my four-year-old son, Don Newton. You see, that means something to me. And I swore that I'd never drink another drink of alcohol, but God didn't let Billy walk out of that door. And I've been there 13 years since I quit. And I don't know what it was it takes for me to never drink another drink of alcohol. That's how, and what is it to me?
And in this audience, there might be some who have gone the same way, or, and might even be going the same way. I'm saying to you, be careful, because you could be on your knees also. You know, Billy C., and Gail Song, and Don Newton were somebody too, you know. And we had a chance in life, and we had great lives. But nothing compares to the life that we have now, Gail. Am I correct, Gail? We have a life now. Billy, I think I speak to you up here. I hope so. It's pretty hard to speak to the President of the United States, Billy, but I'm going to say this now, Billy.
So, I quit 13 years ago, ladies and gentlemen, and that's a never happened in my life. I had my marriage ended, my wife died, and she left me again. You know, you have to have your wife dead either way. She left her name. You can't function as a husband longer when you're doing the things you're doing. And then, as we got together again, I had that thing that you put on the ground, and you look in your eye and you say, yes, I wish she loved me. And I know now how much she loves me, because every time she goes to the pharmacy or the credit card, she just gets money like this.
But I'm so glad, so proud to be associated with people who have been there and got together in this great room tonight. And we have a great club to launch, and we have our doors open to all of you who are concentrating in this great room tonight.
[00:35:09]
Come on in, Billy, and welcome to those offices. Good morning. Nice to get out of that chair, I like to say. A lot of people in a room like this, out of all the programs around the country and around the world, welcome people who have problems with old, fine, old, heavy drugs, if it's just a heart attack, diabetes, diabetes, typhoid, diabetes, or anybody else who's in this process. Well, I always worked on all these problems, and a lot of folks are like, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.
I want to say to you, I've been to this table many times, and I'm sure it's time to have a chat about that. So, of course, I'm sure it's time to introduce myself. I can tell you one little rhyme. I saw the bright, the green, the white, the blue, the purple, and the white, all these fabulous people. It really is funny, but I thought I was obsessed with my own strength. And I just didn't realize, along all these letters that were over and over again, these letters to the people in Carolina.
And so, thank you for fueling me again, and you didn't have to present that question all week. And so, this time when I was able to get home, it was by phone. And so, I was able to do that. And it really did work, in a pretty good way. But not immediately. It took time. A little more time to come ready. But I'll just say I'm truly amazed. I appreciate you so very much. I'm impressed with what you've done.
I'm impressed with what you've done? Yes, you are. Not a mention. I am. I'm very impressed. Well, while we're all sitting up here, why don't I drag on my desk and tell you what you already know about the first birthday of the United States of America. What is it? Is that a sad first birthday? I absolutely do. They know that. So, that's a lot of help, really. Thanks a lot. Billy has been here, I think, yesterday, I believe.
And one of the things he did today was go to Omaha at the University of Michigan, basically. Right? Where I understand that he attempted to pick up and kick a small child in the back of his head. It was so embarrassing. It was as embarrassing as this. When he did, he got a big boy's sugar and he did a cigarette case, a cigarette lighter, put it on the Omaha Native tribe, and he was very young, had an Indian wife, had an Indian name, which I understand, but I think you forgot, is Whitehead Sadler.
And after all these little troubles, you wouldn't even want to be married to him. He married me to him. Billy's father has been called by his mother, the smartest woman in the family. She's my baby's mother. My mother's like the best thing in the world. I heard him on television and news last night refer to himself, and I'll abbreviate it as the biggest media actor in the United States of America. He may be injured, but he actually ran on television.
Well, I'm going to call back here, and the ladies and gentlemen, let's hear it for Billy Sadler. Billy Sadler. Well, I want to start off by saying I'm glad to be in Omaha tonight, and the baby slapped me, I think, because babies usually do. But I really enjoyed it today, and I did talk to Omaha Indians today, and some of them are here tonight, and we are seriously considering taking Omaha back over.
I understand you all stole it from the Indians, and you can damn sure steal it back. I'm pretty good friends with them out there now. I want to say I had great reservations of coming here tonight. When Daryl Thompson first called, he talked to Randy Coleman, and by the way, I looked for Randy when I got up here tonight, because Randy had shown me a lot of all the country and all the world. I wondered where in the hell my four ounces of vodka was before I started talking.
[00:40:00]
And I think he's in the audience somewhere. But Mr. Thornton called, and I said no, and he called again, and I said no, and he called again, and I said no, and he called again, and I said no, and Randy said, what in the hell are we going to do about that nut from Omaha that keeps calling? And I said, well, Randy, what are we going to do about it? And I hadn't made an appearance like this, and I had reservations.
I knew, number one, I knew it would be brought up that I was coming here because my brother was in a strong campaign down in this area. But I assure you, I was a drunk a long time before Jimmie was president. I'm not a frustrating evangelist type anti-alcohol man. I have a sister who's an evangelist, and she couldn't cure me, and she tried. It didn't work. And my knowledge of alcohol is mostly personal alone.
I was the most perfect drinker in the United States for a while, and enjoyed every minute of it. And then I became probably the most perfect drunk in the United States, and I quit enjoying it. I've had a problem with alcohol, as I knew, and was kept very quiet by everybody but me. I kind of made it public as hell. I first attended ADL about 20 years ago, and at that time I was living in Macon, Georgia.
And at that time I walked in, and the guy, I remember the door, the old type that Jimmie was talking about earlier, he said, how'd you get here? I said, I drove a car. He said, do you still have your wife and children? I said, yes. He said, have you hocked your wedding ring? I said, no. He said, you ain't needed here. So I went next door and had two drinks and went back home. And my next experience was about 10 years later.
I went back to AA. I didn't like it. I did stay sober for about six months. I got back, and as I'll use the word that Jimmie said earlier, I'm probably one of the greatest bullshitters in the world. After about seven months, I convinced myself that they were crazy as hell, that Billy C. could drink, that he wasn't an alcoholic. And I convinced myself I could, and for about 10 years I did. I was very lucky.
I'm one of the few living people that ever had a beer named after him. One of the main disadvantages, one of them, of quitting drinking, that I no longer had a contract with the beer company, I could have switched to a good beer and drank it from then on. Bitter beer is still for sale. They're selling it as souvenirs, and you buy it for a souvenir, you don't have to drink it. If anybody's still drinking it, I would not advise them to drink bitter beer.
I ain't saying that's what did it to me, but it sure switched me over to vodka, so I could drink vodka out of a beer can and still get by with it. I traveled all over the country, starting in 75 and 76. In the campaign, I became, in 77, 76 and 77, during the time that after Jimmy was elected, and all the national press was in Plains, Georgia, with nothing to do but listen to me and believe half of what I say, with 90% of it was untrue to start with.
And a lot of it still is. But I talked to them, and I did, then I went on the, we gave up our family business, which I'd been in for 20 years, and the family farm, we gave it up because of the government laws on conflict of interest. So I went on the celebrity circuit and the cocktail party circuit, which, believe it or not, a cocktail party is the worst thing in the world for an alcoholic. People look at you funny as hell when you get four doubles at one time because the bartender can't keep up with you no way else.
So normally, to be mild and normal, I did drink at cocktail parties. I drank soda. We always carried a briefcase. Mark Fuller, who's now my son-in-law, and Randy Coburn, who's here tonight. I hate to say it, but everybody in town, when we'd get back to Plains, everybody thought they were the drunks and I wasn't. And the poor bastards had to drink to kind of get over the trip with me trying to keep me sober enough to do anything.
But I did that, and in January of this year, I didn't realize I had a problem. Everybody around me did. My wife had got to be the biggest bitch in the world. And my children didn't speak to their daddy too much because I never was at home. I never did drink much at home. I was an automobile drinker and a bagroom drinker. And I drank beer in public and vodka on the side. And in January of this year, I had had a babysitter, and I won't quote anything here for almost three years.
I had traveled with somebody full-time. My wife went in the hospital and didn't allow it. My wife went to the hospital in Atlanta for treatment for eight days. I went to Atlanta with her, stayed at the hotel.
[00:45:01]
The man I was in the hall with had the bar still open at four o'clock in the morning, and I knew her well, and he fixed a picture of the screwdriver before they closed up the bar every night so I could make it down to the elevator after I had two drinks in the room when I got up. And I stayed there for eight days, and I came out and I went in the hospital. I went in for the drunkest bronchitis anybody in the world ever went in for bronchitis.
My doctor talked to me, my wife talked to me, my friends talked to me, and I think primarily I moved up and home, and I still had some friends left. I'd run some of them off, and they were scared to let me drive anymore, so it got right bad every night. It would take two of them to take me home because my wife had raised so much hell that somebody drove me home. But two of them wanted me to drive back to Plains, which was 22 miles away.
So I went in the hospital. My doctor, Dr. Paul Brown, who's a close personal friend, he's a pretty good doctor. He'd rather hunt feathers than a doctor. He ain't got many patients left either. But he's kind of a, well, Paul's a good doctor. Paul's a good doctor. He did start me on with Paul's account. He went and moved something in Alaska about two months ago and had the head mounted. It was 6'8", and the widest wall he's got in his house is a little over 5'.
He's got two doors he can't open now, but he doesn't mind. He can see the moose. So Paul sat me down. He said, Billy, I think you ought to go off for treatment. I said, for what? He said, I think you might be drinking too much. I said, man, you might think that, but I don't. I notice a lot of people around me can't drink as much as I can. They're kind of in bad shape. They're passing out before I do.
I wasn't drinking any more than the friends I was drinking with, but God knows we was sporting three bars around home right well. Only two of us, too. I knew I was drinking a little too much the Christmas before that because the liquor store I did about a fourth of my business with gave me a gallon of Chevy scotch for Christmas, and I only drank scotch when I wasn't drinking. I mean, I drank vodka regularly, but he thought that's what I drank regularly.
I realized I was talking about that when I was really on the wagon for a while. So I went in the hospital, and I was like a typical, well, drunks are supposed to be the smartest people in the world. I thought I was. So I went in the hospital, and when they went in, they said make a list of the people you want to see. They were going to put me in seclusion. I knew I was on the hospital board for years before I moved out of the county.
I knew where the paddy room was, and I didn't go in there. I needed it before it was over with, but I didn't go in it. I put down about ten names, and two of them were strange names, and I happened to put down the same phone number for them. My wife and Paul checked them out, and they were both the people that worked at the one liquor store that was a little bit out of town that would deliver. But after much persuasion and friends coming from all over, and absolutely no pressure from the White House, which has been said, I did get pressure.
He was worried. He called every day. I found out later. I agreed to go somewhere. I gave a list of three places, three treatment centers I would go. All three of them taught social drinking. I had a close friend that was in one, and I'd like to go out and visit him. At 5 o'clock every afternoon, they'd bring the crowd down, and they'd pour them two cocktails. Me and my friend, I'd go up to see him in the afternoon at about 2, and we drank a fifth before we went and got the cocktails.
But he learned. He got where he liked it so well, he finally quit his job and didn't go to work for the hospital, but his family put him back in there, and he'd volunteer, and they thought he was doing great. But I wanted to go there, and there were three of them I named. Paul came in one day, and he said, you're going to the hospital, and we finally got it worked out. Me and Admiral Lukacs, I said, where am I going?
He said, you're going to Long Beach Naval Hospital. I said, man, I ain't going there. That would be too much flack with the line in the Navy to start with. Senator Herman Talmadge called me. Senator Talmadge is a close family friend, and he had just got out of Long Beach Naval Hospital, and he persuaded me. So the day I started to leave, I had no idea in my mind to quit drinking. I was going to get somebody off my back and go on a vacation and enjoy it for a while.
[00:50:00]
My wife came to the hospital with my bags packed. I had told her I'd come home. I wanted to get my passport. I had it all planned. I was going on a trip to London, and I knew I had got in my mind after nine days in the Americans in Sumter County Hospital. I will say now before I forget it, the first thing I did when I came back out of Long Beach, I went over and apologized to the nurses on the third floor.
I had, I think, three of them quit while I was there. I got where they were feeding me, and I threw food, and they had a stomach pump, and I threw stomach pumps, and I broke out a couple of windows. Somebody asked me if I'd go through DT. I told them I didn't go through bad. Most people saw pink elephants, red elephants, yellow elephants. All mine turned out to be blue. I did go through DT. I did have a, I realized I had a drinking problem.
I figured once I sobered up, I could taper back up again. But I started to leave that day, and my wife came over and said, I have your clothes packed. She said, I'm going to California with you. I said, no, you're not. You can't leave the kids. Randy Coleman is here with me tonight. He's worked with me for 11 years. Randy said, well, I'm going with you. Randy was supposed to have made the trip to London with me.
I wonder why in the hell he was there. Mark Fuller, who traveled with me all this time, said, well, I'm going with you. I said, no, I'm going by myself. Paul Brown, who does have a big practice in America, said, well, Billy, I'm giving him my practice for a week, and he'll take you to Long Beach. I said, man, I've flown to California several times by myself. I can make it. I had one idea. I was going to Venezuela.
I've got a real good drinking partner who lives in Venezuela. I had a ticket, a round-trip ticket to London, about $1,800. I figured I could stay in Venezuela with him for six weeks and really make out. So after I saw everything was gone, nowhere to get my passport, nowhere to leave, I agreed to let my wife go to Long Beach with me. I thought in my mind, I got to Atlanta, and they met me in Atlanta, and they had everything set up.
We were going through Houston, Texas to miss the press. I talked to Hank Aaron, who's a good friend of mine. I talked to Hank for about an hour at the airport. He had stayed around until my wife talked to him just to keep me calm while I was out. The main thing I wanted to do was slip out. Every time I'd go to the bathroom, one of the Eastern attendants would go with me. So we left Atlanta, went to Houston, Texas.
No, I didn't have a drinking problem. Everybody else did. I was fine, but we went to Houston, and the worst thing, when I got on the airport, on the plane, I fly Eastern all the time, and when I got on the plane to Atlanta, the first thing the girl did was bring me four milliliters of vodka and one glass of orange juice. And I swear, tears run out of my eyes, and my wife looked at it hard, and I told her to bring me a tab.
But I got to Long Beach, and I figured, I said, it's a naval hospital, my brother's commander-in-chief. Man, I got it knocked here. We got there. I was met at the Los Angeles airport by a doctor. He says, I'm Dr. Griffin. I'll be your doctor when I'm here. I'm an alcoholic. I'm an alcoholic. I said, oh, shit. So they had a Navy first-class driving the car that picked us up. My wife was still with me.
I said, well, maybe I can talk to him. Maybe he'll help me get out of this mess before I get in it. It had already gone a lot farther than I ever planned it to. I said, what are your duties at the hospital? He said, I don't have any duties. I'm a patient. I said, oh, Lord, ain't he? He said he'd been sober three weeks and driving the L.A. traffic. That was five weeks before I actually got sober, but we made it.
So I went to Long Beach. I did get a rude awakening there. I went from Billy C., the number one man in planes, number two, number three. I consider myself number one. Everybody else considers themselves. I must have been pretty good. I ran for election in planes six times and got beat five times. I was kind of like the mayor here. The time I won, I had a right-hand opponent. But I wasn't quite as popular.
[00:55:01]
I won by nine votes. And frankly, I didn't think there were 38 people in planes that could write. But I went to Long Beach, and I got there. When we got there, the press was there, and they put me in the detox ward. Frankly, when I got there, I was in such bad shape that they thought I was still drunk. And I had been in the hospital in America for nine days. It was the 10th day without a drink. And everybody there thought I was being admitted to detox.
And I think I probably need to stay there one night because they got a room for me. Dr. Persh came in, Dr. Joe Persh, who I have a heap of arguments with and had while I was there and hated his guts as long as I was in Long Beach. As I said, I have done some television appearances. I will say this. I did the first one with Dr. Persh, the Donahue show. I did the Tomorrow Show with my wife and the Good Morning America show with my wife.
I did do the day show by myself. Scared to death on that, too. But I got there, and I went in the program at Long Beach. And it's an AA-oriented program with group therapy and what have you, the same, I'm sure. Some of you have gone through it. I figured I'd get a good job. When I got there, it was one thing. When I left America, I figured I was the only one in the world with that problem. I got there, and the first people I met were the doctors there and then the patients, which were about 40% doctors at the time, Navy doctors and Army doctors who were there as patients.
And I was given the job of a great job. I was put in a four-man room, and I was given a job cleaning up the head. Man, I ain't even picked up my own dirty clothes in 20 years. I really thought that's what a wife was for. She didn't. But the important thing about Long Beach, I think, and the best thing, when my wife got there, she went with a planning to stay one day. She ended up staying four weeks.
My wife never had but one drinking problem in her life, me. But alcohol is a family disease, and I will go back a little bit. When I first decided to go for treatment, I was… I'm kind of brave drunk. I'm shaking as hell sober. But I wouldn't tell my wife. I got the doctor to go tell her, and whether she was coming or not, I didn't know. And I talked to her about going for treatment. I didn't think I needed treatment.
I felt sure she would agree with me. And she didn't agree with me at all. And so I said, well, I want to tell the kids. I have six kids. One of them's 23, one of them's 21, one of them's 19, one of them's 17, one of them's 12, and one of them's 3, and I ain't Catholic. But, uh, I think the worst day I had in the hospital in America was I told my wife to go back and tell the kids that I was going off for treatment for alcoholism.
I didn't know whether I'd ever see them again. They were all, two of them, one of them was married, one of them was gone. And that afternoon, all four of them came over, and I think what hurt me worse than anything else, me, who was high and everything, that every one of my kids had to go through the same thing that I had to go through. And I didn't know what to do. I mean, every one of my kids that were old enough came over and told me, Daddy, they were glad I was going.
They knew I needed to go a long time, and I didn't realize until then how much I had hurt them. It really hurt me. Alcoholism is a family disease, and I'm sure both drinkers and non-drinkers here have somebody in their family that is an alcoholic. I had an uncle who was a problem drinker. That's the way it goes down. He was a problem drinker. He was not an alcoholic. He died in Albany jail during withdrawal from alcohol.
But we never considered him an alcoholic. Now, in my part of the country, not all people, but most of them are people that can afford it are not alcoholics. I am an alcoholic. But to get on with the story of Long Beach, I went to Long Beach. I stayed there three weeks before I made up my mind to quit drinking. I found out through the rumor mill there, which is like the lowest man on the totem pole knows about it before the CO does, that they had a review board meeting on the patients.
And I was the only one. I was the one. I was brought up. And at the review board meeting at that time, out of the ten people on the review board there, there were psychologists and counselors and a couple of doctors. My college and counselors and a couple of psychiatrists, nine of them had voted to kick me out of the hospital as a hopeless case. And at that time, I decided I would quit.
[01:00:02]
I didn't cooperate with the program, I hadn't so far, I hadn't cooperated, and at that time I decided that I would quit drinking. And before I said I was going to quit for my wife, I was going to quit for my children, this time I decided I would quit for Billy C., because Billy C. wanted to quit drinking, no matter what. My wife was at the program, and she was going through the same program I was, my son came out for the program, my oldest son, because he was reading in the press, I mistreated I was in California, he had to make sure his daddy was alright.
So I went through the program, the Long Beach program is a two-week program for some people, a four-week program for some people, a six-week program for a very few people, and nobody ever had been known to stay in the same program for eight weeks before the release, I stayed there eight weeks and two days. I got out, I had a press conference when I left, that we had agreed with the press in Los Angeles, which they are fairly rough, and they did bird-dogging for a few days in the same hospital that Betty Ford went, Herman Talmadge went, and we had a lot of flack from the press and from the naval base, because I was there, I was there, and I would never have gone to Long Beach, I had one, no right to be there, except I was the brother of the commanding chief, and he set it up for me to go to Long Beach, and he set it up through Admiral Lukacs, who was his doctor, who was stationed with Captain Purce, and I never knew the program.
But we had a press conference, and Dr. Purce, some of you here I'm sure have heard him or met him, all around the country, Dr. Purce said, Billy, what are you going to tell them? I said, I don't know, Dr. Purce. And he said, oh, you don't know? And I said, no, I don't. And then when they asked me, the first question was, what were you doing in Long Beach? I had them milked all I could out of the bronchitis.
So the hardest decision I ever made, besides convincing myself I was an alcoholic, was to go, to come out of the closet with it, and tell the people that I was an alcoholic. And I felt like a load was taken off my back when I did say it. I don't think I'm qualified to speak here. I've only been sober eight months now, but I haven't had a drink in eight months. I had a, after I quit drinking, I had got in the stage at that time, it was almost five weeks before I was perfectly free of alcohol, before my senses came back, and before my, I got word that I thought I was going blind one time after three weeks, and I realized I was still going through withdrawal.
This is my first speech, and this, after I got back, another hard thing, when I got back to America, how to face my friends. It was a hard thing to do, it was a hard thing for me to do, because I'd always been the beer-drinking Billy, the, I didn't think I'd have any left. When I got back, the friends I hadn't seen while I was in the hospital, and some I had, I think without one exception, they all came up and said they were glad I'd done it, and I found out one thing, even though some of them drink now, I put a hell of a damper on a party now.
But seriously, I think the worst thing about quit drinking is I drink a lot of coffee and soft drinks, and you have to go to the bathroom just as often, but you have to be a little more careful where you go. But I want to say again, I'm glad to be in Omaha tonight, and I'm glad to have the opportunity to speak here, and I'm not much of a speaker, and I do, one thing, it's the first thing that I've ever spoke on that I really knew, I know about Billy C.'s drinking problem, and they were bad, regardless of what some people have said and what have, I had a terrible problem, and Lord knows, if I apologized to everybody I might have hurt, I wouldn't have time to eat.
So I'm going around, I did apologize to my family, and my close friends, and I want to say I'm glad to be here, and I'd rather answer questions, if anybody has any questions, I think they have a microphone set up back there, if anybody has any questions about my problem, anything else, I'd be glad to answer them for you. This is my first speech, I am not doing, I am, it's not a shame to say, I have my own program, I am not, at the present time, I am not attending AA, I have not since I left Long Beach, it is an AA oriented program, for two reasons, I travel a lot, and I don't
[01:05:02]
really have an excuse, I'm just not attending, right now I'm staying sober, and as long as my program works, I haven't really had the desire to have a drink, at home, it's a little bit different, alcohol is anonymous, which I don't agree with, I don't think it's going to, at home, it's extremely anonymous, you can't even find out where the meetings are. I have attended, I said I don't have any regular AA program, I have attended meetings in New York and California since I got out, but I have not attended any local meetings, and I get a lot of static from some of the AA members at home, they send me notes, why I am not coming, because they don't sign the name.
Oh yeah, I'd like to say, I went up to Macy's today, and it's the first hunting trip I've been on in a long time, they'd give me any shells, but I really had a good time at Macy's, at the reservation there, and there were great people, and I ate buffalo for the first time, it was great, and feather hunting for the first time, I didn't miss any, but I didn't shoot any, some of them, well Darryl over here was supposed to be a great feather hunter, I heard him shooting a lot, but then he denied his shot, and he's the only one in the crowd up there, but I really enjoyed it, I enjoyed Omaha and I enjoyed Nebraska, and it was one of the best days of my life, it was the first time I'd really been on the road and really been out with a group of people, when I wasn't drinking, if somebody told me a year ago, or ten months ago, that Billy C. could live without alcohol, I'd say you're the craziest son of a bitch in the world, man, but I think Billy C. can, and Billy C. is, and I want to thank y'all very much, no more questions, I'll let everybody go home, thank y'all.
Thank you very much Billy C., ladies and gentlemen, Mayor Vays has asked me if I would give him some time to present a special award to our very special guest tonight, and indeed we're honored to do it, here's our own Omaha Mayor Al Vays. Thank you very much, you know I enjoyed this whole program very much, and I kind of reverse back to when Don first talked to me about it, I've never had a problem, because when my father, when I was young, he used to make homebrew, and I had the darn distasteful job of sucking that darn hose and filling the bottles and capping it, I got so darn much yeast in me, I can't even go near this stuff anymore, but you know, when you travel around as Gene and I do, and you go to cocktail parties, it's quite true, you know you meet quite a few people who probably don't realize that they have a problem, but they definitely do, because whenever they come up and, some of the words of wisdom they give me are running a city, I'll tell you what, they really screw it up good. Don has always been my ideal, he is even much more so today, certainly I think it's just very fine of the work that he's done, and I heard from some of the people that were with him when he went to the schools and some of their reactions, it's tremendous. Gail Storm of course was always my ideal, when she was my little Margie, I always thought that was a beautiful program. Billy, we've got a lot of bullshippers in South Omaha, but I think you probably were the best at your days. The one hope that I have, and I've got a key to the city for each one of them, if this is your first talk tonight Bill, may I hope and pray that it's not your last, and that you will be a guiding light to people throughout the country who absolutely need help in this dread affliction. We in the city government suddenly realize that
[01:10:01]
we have problems there, and I'm delighted to participate in the program, and I want to be sure and each one of you have one of these keys. This is for you Bill. Billy C.. I want to thank Mayor Fettings very much, I'm sure a year ago I would ask him would he get me out of jail, but I don't think I'll need to get out of jail now, thank you very much Mayor. My little Margie, here is your key. I never thought it would ever ever happen, how about that. Somebody told me there was nice things about this job, that's it. Don, last but not least to a great guy, I gave you one of the loose ones before, but this is to hang in your office, and to thank you officially on behalf of every person in the city of Omaha, and every person in the United States for the wonderful job you're doing. Thank you very much Mayor. I for one, I'm sure everybody shares the feeling what an honor it was to have Billy C. make his first public engagement speech off of television. Aside from the TV programs he's done, this was the first time he's spoken to a public gathering of this size. Since he stopped drinking eight months ago, I think that's a very special honor for us, I'd like us to give him one more big hand. You're going to make the closing remarks or Mike? Mike. Okay, with the closing remarks ladies and gentlemen, the honorary chairman of the whole alcohol awareness week here in Omaha, Mr. Charles M. Mike Harper with our closing remarks.
Thanks Jimmy. I've been selected for this honor because this is the one thing that I'm very good at. It seems like every time I make remarks, everyone leaves, and they will be simple. I think the most appropriate way to end the formal part of the program is to just say thank you. I'd like to say for each one of us, a special thanks to Daryl Sorenson, to Mayor Al and Jean Vays, if you're still married, to John Kennefecht and Phil Jordan, Father Foster, Jimmy O'Neill, and our very honored guests, Don Newcomb, Gail Strom, Billy C., and a very special thanks to each one of you. And I think maybe it would be a fine way to end is if each one of you would look at each other and thank each other. Give yourselves a round of applause. I would like to announce that my good friend, Mr. Dick Martin, who is the sales manager of Radio Station W.O.W., although we are rivals, we are friends, has been recording the highlights of this evening's program, the keynote address with Billy C., the panel discussion with Don and Gail and myself. And would you believe the cassettes will be available any moment immediately following the event? And I believe they're selling them for only $3, which just covers the cost of the cassettes. So if any of you would like to preserve the memory of this evening forever, you can have it on tape cassette. They're recording it right over there. Just stop by the table. I'd be glad to let you have one for $3.
Shirley Miller, are you backstage, my dear? Shirley's going to lead us all in a little final sing-along here. Gentlemen, have you got your orchestra all ready, Shirley? Why don't we do this more often? It's just what we're doing tonight. See what it's great to get together again. Why does it only happen now and then? We ought to do this more often. Bound to agree that I'm right. Spring that I'm right, we make each other laugh, we make each other stay, and you can never ever overdo a good thing, cause when you're smiling, when you're smiling, the whole world smiles with you,
[01:15:13]
when you're laughing, when you're laughing, the sun comes shining through.