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I wouldn't want to spend much time partying now, but as a teenager I couldn't get enough. My father had died when I was quite young, and my family was impoverished. Girls liked me, and so did their mothers; I showed promise. Also I was a good dancer. I could do the Charleston and the tango and had a good sense of music, especially rhythm, and I got really excited by the music. I loved Lester Lanin.

I liked the days and nights when we went from one party to another and wound up at the home of somebody we'd never met before early in the morning. I had a few friends whose families were legendarily rich and well known, and their parents liked me too. It was fun being entertained by people with lots of money, and I learned a lot and met lots of interesting people.

Also, I was naturally sensative and kind, which was well received, and I liked people and found it easy to love them. I remember one evening, the escort of a girl who was not pretty but whom I liked very much was acting like a jerk. He brought her to a poolside party as part of the invitation. He had been rude to her all evening, and I heard tell her that it was time to go home. Then he suggested that maybe I would take her home. "I would love to take her home," I said, and she agreed. Her feelings had been hurt badly by him. He left. I never saw him again and never wanted to, but the girl and I had a terrific time for the rest of the night. She was older than me--in fact, I must have been 15 years old because I asked her out again, several times, and she had to drive because I was too young. Maybe I was 15 when my sister made her debut. The girl and I became good friends. She developed a heavy crush on me, and we had a few semi-passionate exchanges. She married a wealthy man and her life turned out very well. I haven't seen her many times since growing up, but when I have we have it's been good, and we have remained good friends. Once on my birthday, she surprised me with a small party and a birthday cake. I didn't even know that she knew when my birthday was. We went nightclubbing and dancing together some times, but I didn't have any money. She was thoughtful about that and planned a number of dates for us--and others--at her home, which took the financial pressure off me.

There were some real jerks making the rounds then, but most people were really nice. I still love some of the peole I knew back then.

Maybe I'll write a book about all this.

I grew up and became successful. I still have many friends from those days. Some are my closest and most cherished friends.

My wife thought it was all for the birds. She always hated inane cocktail parties, and after a while I came around to her way of thinking. However I still like social events, if not too frequent or too taxing, and my wife came around to my way of thinking enough to consent to our daughter's debut. Our daughter--midway between my wife's thinking and mine--didn't care one way or the other. My wife insisted on doing the events her way and had definite ideas about propriety.

I had a very difficult time growing up. Serious problems confronted me, and I suppose I grew up and solved many problems during this time. Maybe that's why I feel good about it all.