Thank you, Millie. Well, she just made such a terrific talk up our way, I guess she’s sorta ensuring herself for posterity, kicking out the recorder on me. Oh, that gal’s lovely, but she’s an awful sneak. Give that cord a boot, and that’s it. Thank you, Millie. You know, Millie’s a real nice gal, and I’ve known her a long, long time, and so has my wife, June. And she’s a good Catholic gal, you know, that got mixed up and married a Jew. And the Church forgave her, and we’re awfully glad because we love that guy, too. As Millie said, my name’s Frank, and like many of you, I’m powerless over alcohol. And like all of you today, I hope I’ve been sober so far. And that’s really the whole story, or as the youngsters would say, “That’s my bag.” We say our names, it’s Frank in my case, because your tradition says that’s all that’s important. It wouldn’t matter what name I carried into this room, whether it was the lowliest in the land or the highest.

For you see, when you walk through those doors, you’re gonna deal in principles and not personalities. And that’s pretty rough for a drunk like me because, you see, all my life, all my life, I always wanted to be number one. And all my life, I really believed that when God made me, He threw the mold away, and never again shall walk the earth the likes of I. But then I don’t think I’m much different than most drunks because any good drunks, and I’m not talking about the sherry s- sippers or the parlor drunks. I mean, sorta drunks like I came in here tonight, and I’m really at home. You know, I’m ready. I met Leroy. Leroy’s only in 30 days, he tell me, but you got yourself a bonafide drunk. He’s gonna be a good one if he hangs on because he’s been there. He’s my kind of drunk. Now, I know that a lot of you might object to the, the word drunk. Well, you see, that’s all I am today. I’m a drunk who’s not working at it.

I got 150 police blotters around this country that has my name on it, and right after it, it says, “Arrested, common drunk.” And then usually after that, they used to add little things because you can take one look at me, and you can see I’m nine foot tall. Nine foot tall. Two drinks, and I was nine foot tall, and I never went anyplace with one policeman. It wasn’t that I was that strong. I was slippery as hell, and there was no one cop could hold on to me. And so I, I came to AA. But before I came, I was a prime candidate for AA because this is a tremendous experience. You know, I’ve been sitting, talking to Leroy, really enjoying myself, and I said, “Hang in there, baby, because you’re really gonna enjoy it.” You see, when you’re a skid row drunk like I was and like I finished up, you’re always where the action is. And I just.. As a matter of fact, I’m bored to death with the world today. I have lived 20 years sober in a very normal world, and they’re boring as the devil.