Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Now, the rest of the story

Young Paul Aurandt had a smooth baritone voice, who while still in high school in Tulsa, Oklahoma went on radio in 1933.
This son of Harry Harrison Aurandt, a police officer, who died in 1921 after being shot on duty, and Anna Dagmar Christensen, quickly earned radio gigs across Kansas and Missouri and at KXOK-AM in St. Louis where he met Lynne (Angel) Cooper, the station's "women's news" reporter. On the first date, Paul Aurandt proposed to her and she soon became his wife, producer and editor.
According to his profile, he began his "News and Comment" for ABC Radio in 1951 and in 1976, he began his daily telling little-known anecdotes about famous folks or historic incidents, always with "a twist at the end."
Paul Aurandt and Angel had one son, whom they called Paul Jr.
So the other morning, I tuned to local radio and there were the dulcet tones of a broadcaster, whom I thought had died. But I knew he was very much alive, when Paul Aurandt, Sr. said those magic words: "Paul Harvey ... Good Day."
This prodded me into trying to find an original Harvey story, which I knew was buried in an aging scrapbook. It had Harvey's son, Paul Aurandt Jr.'s byline on it, but it was very much in the famous broadcaster's style.
It read (1980 Los Angeles Times Syndicate):
"He was lying there in the grass, hiding and thinking.
He had studied the little girl's habits. He knew she'd come outside her grandfather's house at mid-afternoon to play.
He hated himself for this.
In his whole miserable, messed-up life he'd never considered anything so callous as kidnapping.
Yet here he was, waiting for an innocent, red-haired, two-year-old child to come within reach.
It was a long wait; there was time to think.
Maybe all his life Harlan had been in too much of a hurry. He was five when his Hoosier farmer daddy had died. At 14 he dropped out of school and hit the road. He tried odd jobs as a farm hand, hated it. Tried being a streetcar conductor and hated that. At 16 he lied about his age and joined the army -- and hated that. too.
At 18 he got married and within months, wouldn't you know she announced she was pregnant the day he announced he'd been fired again?
Then, one day, while he was out job hunting, his wife gave away all their possessions and went home to her parents.
Then came the depression.
He tried selling insurance, selling tires. He tried running a ferryboat, running a filling station. No use.
Face it -- Harlan was a loser.
And now here was hiding in the woods outside Roanoke, Virginia, plotting a kidnapping.
He'd watched the little girl's habits, knew about her afternoon playtime. But this day, she did not come out to play, so his chain of failures remained unbroken.
Later in life he became chief cook and bottle washer at a restaurant in Corbin. And did all right until the new highway bypassed the restaurant.
He'd stayed honest -- except for that one time when he had attempted kidnapping. In fairness to his name it must be noted that it was his own daughter he'd meant to kidnap from his runaway wife. And they both returned to him, the next day, anyway.
But now the years had slid by and a lifetime was gone and he and they had nothing.
He had not really felt old until the day the postman brought his first social security cheque. That day, something within Harland resented, resisted, and exploded.
The government was feeling story for him.
His restaurant customers in Corbin said they'd miss him, but his government said 65 candles on the birthday cake is enough. They sent him a pension cheque and told him he was "old."
"Nuts," he said.
He got so angry he took the $105 cheque and started a new business.
For the man who failed at everything was Harlan Sanders. The late Colonel Harland Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame. And as Paul Harvey Aurandt would say in that smooth baritone voice: "NOW YOU KNOW THE REST OF THE STORY."
RULES TO REMEMBER (in the forecasting game) :1. Forecasting is very difficult, especially if it's about the future; 2. For this reason: He who lives by the crystal ball soon learns to eat ground glass; 3.Similiarly: The moment you forecast you know you're going to be wrong, you just don't know when and in which direction; 4. Nevertheless, always be precise in your forecasts because: Economists state their GNP growth projections to the nearest tenth of a percentage point to prove they have a sense of humour; 5. Another basic law: If the facts don't conform to the theory, they must be disposed of; 6. If you've always had doubts about the judgments of forecasters, it's quite understandable because: An economist is a man who would marry Farrah Fawcett-Majors for her money; 7. By the same reasoning, your suspicions about the narrow range of most forecasts are justified: The herd instinct among forecasters make sheep look like independent thinkers; 8. When presenting a forecast: Give them a number or give them a date, but never both. (Remember, the preceding came from an unknown source).
ERMA BOMBECK ONCE WROTE: "If a husband watches more than three football games a week the wife should have him declared legally dead and have his estate probated." Ouch!

1 comment:

Steve F. said...

Thank you - I was searching for the story of Harlan Sanders. I heard it on Paul Harvey's The Rest of the Story years ago, and it's still a great lesson. I miss hearing his voice - and the ways in which he shared life.