I’m trying to think of a new Friday series for the blog because I’m tired of the Please Grill Me series and it never really took off anyway.
I couldn’t come up with anything this week, but when I was doing some business downtown, I drove by Persimmon Lofts, which used to be Fleming Potter and after working there for 13 years, a pension plan from there made it possible for me to follow a dream and move to New York City in the summer of 1993.
It made me think about this story I wrote about a year ago and I decided to re-run it today because it’s a story that really changed the direction of my life. So here it is for a second run!
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The Letter That Changed My Life (And Started A Friendship With Dick Stolley)
——
Last week I was on vacation from work and I got shelving units for my storage area in the MBIP World Headquarters Building.
Thanks to my brother Tom for helping me put it all together. Okay, he put it all together, but I did collect up the empty boxes and throw them in the trash. Check it out!
While putting things away, I came across a treasured letter I thought I had lost. It’s not just any letter, it’s the letter that changed my life.
Here’s the story, morning glory.
——
Back in 1993 I had published what would be the last issue of my magazine, POP (originally People Of Peoria). I had funded the magazine with the money I had made off of a game called Trivial Trivia, The Idiot Edition that I had produced with my friend Greg Owens. I was also working a full-time job at Fleming Potter, a local printing company and I was writing freelance features for The Pekin Daily Times.
I was bummed that the magazine that had a three year run, was ending, but I was out of money and advertising for the magazine was always bleak. I was a little bitter, because it was the best-selling magazine in Peoria during its three year run and I had the stats from the Illinois News Service, who did the distribution, to prove it. But a large portion of the business community weren’t about to support it with paid advertisements, even though I had a large audience reading it.
The magazine had articles on local punk rock bands, we did cover stories on Big Al’s strip club, The Untamed Bros., a notorious biker gang in Peoria and Willie York, Peoria’s most famous street person. We cursed in it, a lot of the humor was sophomoric and I was told over and over that I was portraying Peoria in a bad light. My usual retort to this criticism was, “big fucking deal,” which in hindsight, probably didn’t help me win a lot of advertisers.
In spite of that, or more probably, because of that, it was the best-selling magazine in Peoria. But without ads, it wasn’t going to continue and that made me a little depressed.
In March of 1993, I stopped in at The Pekin Daily Times to pick up a check for a feature article I had written and I gave my editor, Kent Davy the latest and last issue of POP magazine.
Kent looked at it and said, “Have you ever mailed your magazine to Dick Stolley out in New York?”
I scrunched my face up and replied, “Who’s Dick Stolley?”
Kent motioned to a chair next to his desk and said, “Do you want to have a seat, so I can explain this to you, because you are one poorly informed individual.”
I shook my head, laughed and sat down.
“Dick Stolley,” Kent continued, “is the founding editor of People magazine and he’s now the Editorial Director for Time, Inc.”
“Okay,” I shot back, “why the fuck would he be interested in anything I’m doing?”
“Because Dick Stolley is from Pekin, Illinois and his first job in journalism was the sports editor of The Pekin Daily Times,” Kent told me. “He ended up at Life magazine in the ’60’s, was the founding editor of People magazine and now he’s the Editorial Director for Time, Inc. I bet if you sent him your magazines and some articles from The Pekin Daily Times you might hear back from him. I’ve never met him, but I’ve heard he’s a real nice guy.”
That perked me right the fuck up.
“I’m going straight home and making up a package to send to him,” I excitedly shot back while springing upright out of my chair.
Kent handed me my check and laughingly said, “There’s the Marty Wombacher we all know and love. Go knock ‘em dead, Killer!”
“Thanks, Kent!” I said while grabbing my check and sprinting to my car.
I went home lickety-split and excitedly put a package together to mail to Dick Stolley. I sent him copies of POP magazine, my feature articles from The Pekin Daily Times and some publicity articles that POP had gotten. It’s funny, I can’t remember what I wrote to him in the letter, but I remember going to the post office and being excited as it got posted and ready to be shipped to New York City!
About a week went by and as I got busy with other things, I kind of forgot about the Dick Stolley package I had sent off to New York City.
Then in the middle of the week, I came home from work, checked my mail and found this envelope among bills, magazines and other pieces of mail.
I looked at the upper left corner and saw, “Time Inc.” But more importantly was the name below the well-known logo: “Richard B. Stolley.”
Holy screaming shitballs! He wrote me back! I ran up the stairs to my apartment, ran in and tore open the letter like a five-year-old kid excitedly opening up his first present on Christmas morning.
Here’s the letter.
I probably read that letter 57 times that night. He was so complimentary and nice!
And a true editor too, he threw in that “some of the layouts look a lot alike.” Ha ha ha! That cracked me up! And it showed he was being sincere.
The crown jewel of the whole letter was that he said some of my stories were funnier than the ones in People magazine!
I opened up a celebratory beer and decided upon one thing: I had to meet Dick Stolley! I became obsessed with this and when I’m obsessed with something, I can’t let it go!
With the magazine ending, I was feeling kind of lost as to what to do next with my life and I thought that maybe if I met Dick Stolley, he might have some answers or advice for what avenue to pursue next.
I decided to call him and ask him out for lunch. I know that sounds crazy, but here’s what I did the next morning.
I called the phone number that was listed in the upper right corner of the letter. It started ringing and my heart started racing. On the third ring a woman picked it up and said, “Time & Life Building, how may I direct your call?”
I took a deep breath and said, “I’d like to speak to Mr. Richard Stolley, please.”
“Please hold while I connect you to that number,” she shot back in a monotone voice.
I remember thinking to myself, “Holy mother of fuck, this is actually happening!”
It rang twice and then a woman with a decidedly British accent said, “Mr. Stolley’s office, how can I help you?”
Once again I took a deep breath and as I exhaled, I nervously said, “Could I speak to Mr. Stolley, please?”
“May I ask who’s calling and what this is in reference to?” She asked.
“I sent Mr. Stolley a package of some magazines I publish and some of my freelance writing articles and he wrote me back a really nice letter. It just so happens, and I can’t get into what I’m going to be doing, but it just so happens I’m going to be in New York next week, Monday through Friday. I’m free every day at lunch time and I was just wondering if Mr. Stolley would like to have lunch with me. I’d really like to meet him,” I told her.
“He’s in a meeting right now, but could I get your name and phone number and I’ll talk to Mr. Stolley about this and get back to you,” she answered back in a friendly tone.
I gave her my name and phone number and she said she’d call me back as soon as she had a chance to talk to Mr. Stolley. I thanked her and then we both said, goodbye and I hung up the phone and just stood there staring at it. I was trying to will it to ring.
After about 27 long-ass minutes the phone rang. I skittishly jumped and then grabbed the receiver and said, “Hello.”
I was delighted to hear that now-familiar British accent on the other end as she asked, “Could I speak to Marty, please?
“This is Marty,” I shot back excitedly.
“Hi Marty, this is Sally, from Mr. Stolley’s office,” she replied.
“Thanks so much for calling me back,” I told her.
“That’s no problem at all. Well, I spoke with Mr. Stolley…”
“There was the slightest pause then and it felt like eternity times twelve. I was certain I was going to hear some sort of reason or excuse why he couldn’t meet with me. Then she continued.
“He said he would love to meet you for lunch,” she told me.
My mouth flew open, my eyes exploded and I was doing a little dance in my kitchen out of pure joy!
Sally continued, “Have you ever been to New York, Marty?”
“Yes I have, Sally,” I answered.
“Great, Mr. Stolley said he could meet you Wednesday at 1:00 in the afternoon at the Rainbow Room, which is located in 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Are you familiar with that?” she asked.
“I sure am, I know right where that is,” I shot back. I was so excited I thought I was going to burst!
“Wonderful,” she said. “You’re going to need to be wearing a coat and a tie for lunch, it’s a private lunch club in the afternoon.”
“Perfect, I’ve got one sports jacket and one tie, so I’m all set!” I jokingly shot back—although it was the truth!
Sally laughed at that and said, “I think you and Mr. Stolley are going to have a fun lunch! If you have any further questions, please feel free to call!”
“Thank you so much, Sally and please tell Mr. Stolley that I really appreciate him taking the time to do this!” I told her.
“You’re very welcome, Marty. Have a safe trip to New York and I know you and Mr. Stolley are going to have a jolly lunch together,” she said.
I thanked her again and we said our goodbyes and I hung up the phone and immediately dialed Kent at The Pekin Daily Times and told him I was going to have lunch with Dick Stolley.
I just remember him yelling out in a tone of disbelief, “What?”
I told him what I had done and he said, “I didn’t know you were going to go to New York next week. What are you doing out there?”
“I’m going to have lunch with Dick Stolley,” I fired back while laughing. “I’m just going to fly out Tuesday have lunch with him on Wednesday and then fly back Wednesday night.”
Kent laughed and said, “This is going to be epic! I can’t wait to hear how it goes!”
“You’ll be the first one to hear all the details,” I shot back. “Now I have to run, I have to go get plane tickets and make a hotel reservation.”
That afternoon I got the plane tickets, got a hotel reservation went in to work and told them an emergency happened and I had to take off the following Tuesday and Wednesday.
I wondered and obsessed over what would happen at my lunch with Dick Stolley.
I had no idea that it would change the course of my life!
So Tuesday came and I flew out to New York and got to my hotel around three in the afternoon. I was staying at the Wellington Hotel, which is still there. It used to be a budget hotel and it was just short distance from The Rainbow Room which is in 30 Rock.
I wandered around midtown after checking into the hotel that evening, ate at a diner and went to a couple of bars. I was too nervous to properly sight-see in New York, so I just took it easy.
Wednesday morning came and I walked around in Central Park and was really nervous. I had a gut feeling that something good was going to come from this lunch and I was hoping I was right.
At about 12:40pm, I walked to 30 Rock and took the elevator up to the 65th floor and there was The Rainbow Room in all its decadent glory!
It was so New York City!
There were sparkly chandeliers hanging from the high ceiling and floor to ceiling windows with a breath-taking view of Manhattan.
I adjusted my tie and walked over to the Maitre D podium.
The man behind the podium appeared to be in his fifties with salt and pepper hair and was a large fellow. He kind of looked like Jackie Gleason!
“Can I help you sir?” He asked with a smile.
“I’m meeting Dick Stolley for lunch today,” I nervously told him.
He scanned the reservation book and said, “Ah yes, he has a reservation for two, today. You’re a little early, can I take you to the table so you can sit and wait for Mr. Stolley?”
“No thanks, I’ll just wait up here until he arrives, if that’s okay,” I said.
“Certainly, sir, if you change your mind, just let me know,” he retorted.
I thought it would be rude to sit at the table before Dick Stolley arrived, so I just paced around in a small area for about ten minutes.
After about twelve minutes the elevator opened up and a lone man emerged from it. Even though I had never seen his picture (this is pre-internet, folks) I just knew that it was Dick Stolley.
He was tall, handsome, silver-haired and appeared to be in his early ’60’s. He took one look at me, pointed and said, “Marty Wombacher!”
I stuck out my hand to shake and said, “Mr. Stolley, it’s an honor to meet you! Thanks so much for taking the time to have lunch with me!”
We shook hands and he said with a smile, “Call me Dick, Marty. How could I not have lunch with a fellow Pekin Daily Times writer!”
We both laughed and the Maitre D showed us to our table.
The lunch conversation was fast and lively. I was quizzing him about his career and found out that he got the Abraham Zapruder photos of JFK getting shot for Life magazine as an exclusive. I told him I remembered looking at those when I was just a small kid. He also regaled me with stories of spending a weekend with Elvis Presley and that a Life magazine article he worked on that helped launch the career of Ann-Margaret!
But he didn’t just talk about his storied career, he was full of questions about Pekin, The Pekin Daily Times, Peoria, the midwest, he was really an inquisitive person and I could tell he genuinely wanted to get to know me. And then the moment happened.
This is the question he asked that changed the course of my life.
We were in the middle of talking about The Pekin Daily Times and he said, “Hey, what about your magazine? How’s it going with that?”
I shook my head and explained how the magazine was all over because I was out of money to keep it going.
I told him I just didn’t know what to do next, but I wanted to continue to write. I explained to him that the local paper, the Peoria Journal Star wanted nothing to do with me and that an editor once had told me, “You just don’t walk in off the street and write for the Peoria Journal Star.”
Stolley shook his head in disbelief and said, “An editor said that to you? That person’s probably jealous of what you’ve accomplished. What about The Pekin Daily Times, could you write full-time there?”
“No, there’s only so much you can write about in Pekin and I’ve kind reached the end of the line there as well. I’ve been kind of depressed because I just don’t know what to do, I feel a little lost, to tell you the truth,” I confessed.
Stolley’s face looked like a lightbulb went off over his head and he spat out, “Have you ever thought about moving to New York?”
I remember looking at him and just saying, “No, that’s never crossed my mind.”
Now Dick was getting really excited and he told me while pointing to the windows that looked out at Manhattan, “Well New York is the place for a creative and talented guy like you. There’s all kinds of writing opportunities here. Newspapers, magazines, TV, radio…”
As he was telling me what a good fit New York would be for me, I remembered his line from the letter that some of my stories were funnier than the ones in People magazine and I blurted out, “If I moved here could you get me an interview at People magazine?”
Dick smiled and said, “You think quick on your feet! I can get you an interview at People, but there’s no way I can guarantee you that you’ll get on as a staff writer. Those jobs are incredibly tough to get. But I definitely can get you in the door, but don’t think about moving here solely on the fact of that.”
I never dreamed that I could score an interview for a staff writing job at People magazine! Who knew that you don’t just walk in off the street and write for the Peoria Journal Star, but it could be possible to move to New York and write for People magazine!
After over an hour of fun and lively conversation, Dick said he had to get back to work and I thanked him for taking the time to have lunch with me.
He graciously said it was his pleasure and told me to keep in touch and let him know if I decided to make the move to the Big Apple. I walked him back to the Time-Life Building and we shook hands and I watched him walk into the legendary building.
I decided right then and there that I wanted to move to New York City. My only problem was I had spent all my Idiot Trivia money on POP magazine and didn’t know how I would be able to afford such a move. I flew back to Peoria that afternoon and the next night at work, I discovered how I could do it.
I went to work at Fleming Potter and excitedly told a co-worker about my lunch with Dick Stolley. I told him that I really wanted to move to New York, but I was broke. He asked how much money was in my pension plan and me being the financial genius that I am, I told him I didn’t know I had a pension plan.
He laughed, shook his head and asked how long I had worked at Fleming Potter. I told him 13 years and he told me that he was sure I had built up thousands of dollars and if I quit, I could get it from the Graphic Arts Union.
I went home that morning after work and called the Graphic Arts Union. I discovered I had a little over 23,000 dollars in my pension fund. The woman on the other end of the line said I shouldn’t take it out and that the only way to get it was to quit my job.
Well fuck that, it was time to get this money, honey!
This was in April of 1993. To make this long story a little shorter, I put my notice in at work the next day, sold my car, my 5,000 record collection, my furniture and most of my clothes in the next two and a half months.
I wrote a letter to Dick Stolley about my decision and he wrote me back and said I was making the right move with my life and to call him a week before I moved.
I took a week’s vacation in June, went to New York and got a tiny studio apartment in the Beacon Hotel at 75th and Broadway.
Most people told me that I was stone-cold crazy to leave a great union job at Fleming Potter and move to New York, where I didn’t have a job, didn’t really have any friends and my future there was somewhat questionable to say the very least.
I didn’t listen to any of them, all I knew is that I wanted to live in New York City and see where my writing would take me in the city that never sleeps! I’ve always been an insomniac, so I figured I’d fit right in!
Back when I made this decision, I was concerned about what my parents would think. After I discovered I had a small fortune with my pension fund that would stake my move to New York, I went and had dinner with my parents at their house.
After dinner I told them about my plans to yank my pension fund and move to New York. I told them that I had taken my writing as far as I could in Peoria and that Dick Stolley said that it would be a good move for me.
They both looked surprised and after a couple of uneasy minutes, my mom said, “You know, if you don’t do this now, ten years from now you might really regret it. So let us know how we can help you and if it doesn’t work out, you can always move back in with us and start all over.”
If this doesn’t prove I had the best parents in the world, then you didn’t read that last paragraph.
On July 7th, 1993, I moved to New York with one suitcase and a computer. I had two pair of blue jeans, about four shirts and a coat and tie for my People magazine interview.
I remember getting on the plane and thinking, “What in the holy mother of fuck are you doing?” I was scared out of my wits, but there was no turning back.
A week after I had moved into my tiny one-room New York apartment, I had lunch with Dick Stolley at the Rainbow Room. He once again told me I had made the right move and he had gotten me an interview at both People magazine and Entertainment Weekly, which was a fairly new publication at the time.
I thanked him profusely and he reminded me that staff writing jobs were tough to get at Time, Inc. and that I should start looking for freelance writing assignments. He told me that it was best to start pitching ideas to editors at the weekly newspapers and that was great advice.
Dick told me to keep in touch and as I walked to my new apartment on the corner of 75th and Broadway, I remember thinking, “I did it. I’m a New Yorker!”
——
POSTSCRIPT
I immediately starting sending my writing portfolios and pitch list ideas to editors at the weekly papers and within a week, I had a couple of assignments and I can’t tell you the thrill of seeing my first byline in a paper called, NY Weekly!
In my third week in New York City, I had my interviews with editors at People magazine and Entertainment Weekly that Dick had secured for me. Both of them went what I would describe as beyond horrible!
At People, I interviewed with the managing editor, Cutler Durkee and he was a yuppie and what appeared to be a real snob. He looked down his nose at my writing portfolio and actually made a disgusted looking face at the article on Willie York which started off with a photo of him with a cat’s paw in his mouth. I explained to Cutler that Willie was a real character that lived on road kill animals and that I had gotten high with him while doing research on the article.
He looked at me and made a face like he was about to vomit. The interview went downhill after that in a very fast fashion.
Things didn’t fare any better at Entertainment Weekly where I interviewed with the managing editor, Jim Seymour. The interview started off with him asking me what I thought of Entertainment Weekly.
I proceeded to tell him I hated the top ten lists they did in the front of the magazine, that I thought their celebrity interviews were pure fluff and kissed the celebrities asses and that they were downright embarrassing and that I thought they copied a lot of their page layout and design from Spy magazine.
Towards the end of this diatribe against a magazine I was trying to get a job with, I thought, “What the fuck are you doing?”
I promptly said, “I shouldn’t have gone on like that, there’s a lot about Entertainment Weekly that I really like.”
Jim Seymour had a troubled and pained look on his face and said, “Oh yeah, like what?”
There was a long pause and then I said, “Ummm…” and I couldn’t think of anything.
The interview ended shortly after that!
Needless to say, I didn’t get a staff writing job at either magazine.
But I was keeping busy doing freelance writing for the weekly papers, so all hope for a New York writing career wasn’t over.
Shortly after the interviews, Dick invited me for lunch at the Rainbow Room to say he was sorry I didn’t get on at Time, Inc. but he encouraged me to keep up the freelance writing and he assured me that it wasn’t a mistake to have moved to New York.
He told me that when he was the editor of People magazine, he always wanted one writer like me that was kind of a wild card. But he said things had changed and gotten more conservative and they probably viewed me as a trouble-maker.
I told him that both editors asked me the same question as I walked out of the offices and the question was: “Before you leave, how do YOU know Dick Stolley?”
I told him they both accentuated the word “you,” as if I was a walking piece of shit and a horrific excuse for a human being.
Dick really laughed at that and said, “Marty, I wasn’t going to tell you this, but in light of you sharing that with me, I have to tell you, both Cutler and Jim called me up after your interviews and said, “Who the hell is this guy?”
We both laughed and it was the start of one of the best friendships that I ever had in my life.
I ended up working a night job at a graphics company, I wrote freelance articles for the NY Post, NY Daily News, NY Newsday, Time Out NY and the NY Press among others.
I published a magazine called fishwrap that ridiculed the world of mainstream media and it got national attention in the press. I wrote two books, 99 Beers Off The Wall and The Boy Who Would Be A Fire Truck. I also published four blogs during my time in New York and one of the blogs got international attention.
I lived in New York City for 19 years. I would have lunch with Dick two or three times a year, almost always at the Rainbow Room and we’d swap stories about our lives and we continued to keep in touch after he retired and moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Dick passed away a little over a year ago, but he lived a life like no other that was rich and full of vim and vigor.
I’m happy and proud that we were friends for decades and I’ll be eternally grateful for the letter he sent me that changed the course of my life, back in 1993.
I’ll always treasure our lunches, his stories, his advice and his kind and warm friendship.
Cheers to the memory of Dick Stolley, a legendary editor, a great guy and a fabulous and supportive friend.
