April 11 in A.A. History

In 1939, The New York Times published a small ad [right] prepared by Hank P. for the book Alcoholics Anonymous. It appeared on page 2 and cost $200 [~$4,600 in 2025]. This investment proved beneficial in two ways: it generated a significant number of direct responses, and 2½ months later, The New York Times published a positive review of the book, which was among Hank’s hoped-for outcomes.

In 1939, after Bill W. set aside one copy of the first printing of Alcoholics Anonymous as a Christmas gift for Lois and sent two copies to the Library of Congress as part of the copyright registration process, he and Hank P. sent the next 29 copies to the authors of the stories in the back of the book. The following 40 copies were sent to non-alcoholic subscribers of Works Publishing’s stock. This left only 40 copies availble for sale, which, at the list price of $3.50 [~$80 in 2025], would have raised only $140 [~$3,200 in 2025] for the Alcoholic Foundation.

In 1939, Margaret “Marty” M. [left: at Blythewood Sanitarium, 4 Jul 1938] attended her first A.A. meeting at the home of Bill and Lois W., located at 182 Clinton Street in Brooklyn.

In 1941, Bill and Lois W. moved into their own home [right] in Bedford Hills, which they named “Bil-Lo’s Break.” This followed nearly two years of living in 52 different places—according to Lois’s count—after the mortgage holder foreclosed on the Burnham home at 182 Clinton Street in Brooklyn, where Lois had been born and lived until 1929, except for the last two years before the 1929 stock market crash. In 1944, they renamed their Bedford Hills home “Stepping Stones.”

April 10 in A.A. History

In 1939, Alcoholics Anonymous [right] was published in a run of 4,650 copies (some say 4,730). The publisher, Cornwall Press, was instructed to use the thickest paper available. This large, bulky volume became known as the “Big Book,” a name that has endured. Bill W. later wrote that the intention behind the thick, substantial paper was to assure alcoholics that they were getting their money’s worth. Given Works Publishing's financial situation, Cornwall Press decided to minimize its risk by binding only 1,000 copies, leaving the rest loose. Works Publishing was billed $1,783.15 [~$40,750 in 2025], of which nearly half—$884.26—had already been paid. Bill and Hank P. drove to the Cornwall Press bookbinder’s office in New York City to pick up 112 copies, returning the next day for three more. Bill set aside the first copy from the first box to give to Lois for Christmas.

    Apparently, little thought was given to copyright before the book was published. Once copies became available, Ruth Hock sent a package to Fitz M.—who, along with Florence R., was in Washington, D.C., trying to establish the first local A.A. group—containing two copies of the first printing of the first edition and a letter with instructions [left: application for copyright registration]:

    We are forwarding to you today, two copies of “Alcoholics Anonymous” and a check for $2.00 [~$46 in 2025], and wonder if you would do something which would be very helpful at this end. It is important that “Alcoholics Anonymous” be registered at the Copywright [sic] Office in Washington, D.C. in the name of Works Publishing Company at the earliest possible moment…
    The two books for copywright [sic] purposes are coming forward to you marked special handling, special delivery, so will you rush them through for us?
    A book for you and also one for Florence are also in the mail, but regular delivery.
    Will you let us know the minute you have “Alcoholics Anonymous” registered?

In 1958, the International Conference of Young People in A.A. (ICYPAA) issued a press release [right] for its inaugural conference, scheduled to take place at the Niagara Hotel in Niagara Falls, NY, on 26–27 Apr 1958.

In 1979, Barry L. signed a notarized letter [left] donating his original spiral-bound multilith copy of Alcoholics Anonymous, which had been given to him by Lois W.—he had been a close companion of hers. Barry stated that he would keep the copy until his death, at which point it would be transferred to A.A. World Services, Inc.

April 9 in A.A. History

In 2021, Kansas City Group #1 of Kansas City, Missouri, celebrated its 80th anniversary with an online-only event [right: flyer].

April 8 in A.A. History

In 1932 , Bill W. formed a stock-buying syndicate with two Wall Street figures—Arthur Wheeler and Frank Winans. Gardner Swentzel, married to his wife’s sister, Kitty, had introduced Bill to these two men. All three partners believed it to be a good time to buy stocks. Bill was to be manager of the syndicate. Each would put up capital for the venture.
     Aware of Bill’s growing drinking problem, Winans insisted on a clause voiding the contract and forfeiting Bill’s stake should he drink. As it happened, Bill had recently been fired after a drunken brawl with a cab driver. He had given his wife Lois his $2,000 severance check, but now he took it back to invest with the syndicate. Bill managed to stay sober for only five weeks, and therefore lost his entire $2,000 investment.

In 1939, the first copies of Alcoholics Anonymous were about to be printed by Cornwall Press. Frank Amos [near right] wrote to Willard Richardson [far right] to inform him of their imminent arrival. Knowing that Richardson was ill, he advised him to stay home until he was fully recovered. He also mentioned that he had already asked A. LeRoy Chipman [left] to take delivery of the books that were to be sent to Rockefeller Center. Amos requested that Richardson immediately send five books to:

    Dr. [Harry Emerson] Fosdick; Rev. M. J. Lavelle, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral; Mrs. [E. L.] Ballard [whom Richardson had solicited for funds the previous October]; Mrs. Charles L. Burke, of 375 Riverside Drive [who had given the Foundation an “anonymous” contribution of $50 [~$1,100 in 2025] the previous summer or fall; Mr. [Albert] Scott [another Rockefeller associate and trustee].

     He also suggested that each book be inscribed on the front flyleaf with a note such as “Compliments of the ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS.”

    At the bottom of this typed letter, Amos added a handwritten postscript: “You may want to place a copy in Mr. [John D. Rockefeller] Junior’s [right] hands.”
    All three of these men—Amos, Richardson, and Chipman—were associates of Mr. Rockefeller, as well as Class A (non-alcoholic) trustees of the Alcoholic Foundation.

In 1947,  after a challenging year of discussions regarding policy and structure, Bill W. submitted a 43-page report titled “Our AA General Service Center—The Alcoholic Foundation of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” to the Trustees of the Alcoholic Foundation. The report outlined the Foundation’s history and recommended establishing an experimental General Service Conference, as well as renaming the Foundation the “General Service Board.” It reflected Bill’s concerns expressed in a letter to the Trustees dated 10 July 1946, as he sought to lay the groundwork for A.A.’s “coming of age.”
    Initially, the Trustees reacted defensively, ultimately becoming outright negative, as they perceived no need for change. Their passive resistance evolved into solid opposition.

In 1950, Illustrated magazine [left: cover] (London, UK) published Willi Frischauer’s article, “Alcoholics Anonymous,” which included 8 photographs spread over 3½ pages [below: the 3½ pages].

 

April 7 in A.A. History

In 1939, Ruth Hock [left] wrote to Edward Blackwell, president of Cornwall Publishing, instructing him on where to deliver the first copies of Alcoholics Anonymous once printing was completed. She requested 6 copies be sent to Frank Amos [near right] and 12 to Willard Richardson [far right], both of whom were non-alcoholic trustees of the Alcoholic Foundation. Ruth added, “It is Mr. [Hank] P[—–]’s understanding that these will be delivered on Monday, April 10th, without fail.” Amos planned to take all 6 copies to Ohio where he was going the following day, while Richardson requested 2 for himself and the remaining 10 for the Foundation.

    On the same day, Hank wrote to both men, informing them to expect the book on Monday and asking for payment as soon as possible. Knowing that Richardson was ill, Amos contacted A. LeRoy Chipman [left], another non-alcoholic trustee, and requested that he accept delivery on behalf of the Alcoholic Foundation.

In 1941, Ruth Hock reported that the Alcoholic Foundation had received 1,500 letters asking for help following the publication of Jack Alexander’s article “Alcoholics Anonymous: Freed Slaves of Drink, Now They Free Others” in the March 1 issue of The Saturday Evening Post [right: cover].

    It was clear that Ruth, Bill W., and Margaret “Bobbie” B. [left] could not handle the mail on their own. Form letters would not suffice; each letter required a thoughtful, personal reply. Fortunately, they had anticipated this challenge. In preparation for the expected influx, Lois W., Bill’s wife, organized everyone who could type into teams and scheduled those who could not type to answer the phones. Despite their efforts, they were overwhelmed by the volume of requests, which ultimately reached 8,000. It took them 5 to 6 weeks to respond to all the letters.

In 1944, David “Dave” B. [right] got sober in A.A. He became a founder of A.A. in the province of Quebec and served as a Class B (alcoholic) Trustee from 1962–64. His story, “Gratitude In Action,” appeared in the 4th edition of the Big Book, Alcoholics Anonymous.

April 6 in A.A. History

In 1960, A funeral Mass was held for Father Edward P. “Ed” Downing, S.J. [right]. In 2016, Magnificat published an article about him that said, in part,

    He was an old-school priest, made of the kind of fine cloth that prefers to disguise itself as sacking.  His funeral was packed.  From society matrons in mink coats to Skid Row drunks, people came from around the country to pay homage.
    “I really haven’t done anything,” Father Dowling once said. “It’s really simple. I just happened to be around.”

He was buried in St. Stanislaus Cemetery in Florissant, Missouri, near St. Louis.

April 5 in A.A. History

In 1960, an editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, published on the eve of Father Ed Dowling’s funeral, stated:

The Rev. Edward Dowling, S.J., was a kindly man who never allowed kindliness to keep him from speaking his mind. He made friends wherever he went, especially among newspaper people. He left the city room for the Jesuit Seminary, but he was like the old firehorse. Crippling arthritis restricted his activities but a cane always got him to a Newspaper Guild meeting, to a party for a Pulitzer Prize winner, or any journalistic bull session which promised to bring out the “inside story” of what made the wheels turn. Eddie Dowling did not vaunt his kindliness; he used it quietly to help those who needed help. They will remember him as long as those who only learned from him that the world is never too gloomy for cheerfulness—even though it always is a little better with a dollop of bourbon and a touch of branch water.

April 4 in A.A. History

 In 1894, Margaret Mary Pennington was born in Baltimore, Maryland. While abroad, she would meet Count Victor Von Lüttichau of Germany and marry him in Switzerland. The Count would die around 1946, and in 1948, she would marry Dr. William D. Marbury, who had a practice in Washington, D.C.
    As Margarita Von Lüttichau, she would play a crucial role as an intermediary between Carl Jung [near right] and Bill W. [far right], the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. She would become a student of Jung and a protégé of Bill’s, acting as a bridge between their ideas and writings. After World War II, she would frequently travel between the U.S. and Switzerland, introducing the writings and concepts of each to the other.

April 3 in A.A. History

In 1940, the fifth meeting of the Philadelphia Group of A.A. in Pennsylvania, organized by non-alcoholic Drs. A. Weise Hammer [near right] and Dudley Saul [far right], took place at Saint Luke’s Hospital. The meeting was open to the public and attracted thirty attendees.

In 1941, Florida’s first A.A. group was formally organized in Miami.
    The first A.A. contact from Florida was Horace S., a loner in Daytona Beach, who reached out to the Alcoholic Foundation in November 1939. By July 1942, he had moved to Connecticut, leaving no A.A. members behind.

    In 1940, Frank P., a New York A.A. member residing in Miami, became the local contact. In April of that year, Roger C. sought help from the Alcoholic Foundation. Later, in November, Joe T.’s wife also contacted the Foundation, which connected Roger and Joe with Frank P. Together, they began addressing inquiries about A.A. in the Miami area, with support from the ubiquitous traveling salesman and A.A. member Irwin “Irv” M. [left]. That same month, Charlie C. wrote to the Foundation to inquire about starting a meeting in nearby Fort Lauderdale, where he moved in December. Carl C. was recruited in December 1940, and informal meetings began in Miami.

In 1958, in a letter to Marjorie W., Bill W. [right] expressed “his most succinct later understanding of [his so-called ‘white light’] experience [in Towns Hospital in December 1934]”:

What I really meant was this: I was catapulted into a spiritual experience, which gave me the capability of feeling the presence of God, His love, and His omnipotence. And, most of all, His personal availability to me. Of course this is the ABC of the conversion experience—something as old as man himself. So maybe an awareness of God and some sense of relation to him constitutes a fourth dimension. At least this was true for me, one who had no belief or such sensibility whatever.

In 1960, Father Edward “Ed” Dowling, S.J. [left], 61½, died peacefully in his sleep from a heart attack early this Sunday morning in Memphis, Tennessee. Fr. Ed struggled with compulsive overeating, consuming excessive amounts of starch, butter, salt, and sugar. His weight reached 240 lbs [~110 kg], but he later managed to lose 60 lbs [~27 kg] using strategies based on the Twelve Steps. Unfortunately, by this time, he had already caused permanent damage to his heart and arteries. The first sign of medical problems occurred in June 1952, when he suffered a retinal stroke—a blood clot blocking an artery to his retina—that resulted in his hospitalization.

April 2 in A.A. History

In 1966, Dr. Harry M. Tiebout [right] died from heart disease in Greenwich, Connecticut. An early supporter of Alcoholics Anonymous, he served as the head psychiatrist at Blythewood Sanitarium, where Margaret “Marty” M.—author of “Women Suffer Too” in the first and second editions of Alcoholics Anonymous—and “Grennie” C. found sobriety. Marty, Bill W., and other early members were among his patients. His paper, “The Ego Factors in Surrender in Alcoholism,” was published in the December 1954 issue of the Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol (now known as the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs).

April 1 in A.A. History

In 1926, after three months of courtship, Clarence S. [near right, 1942] and Dorothy Wright [far right] got married.

In 1940, Lawrence “Larry” J. [left] of Houston, Texas wrote the A.A. prayer that was used to begin A.A. meetings in Texas for many years:

Our Father, we come to you as a friend.
You have said that, where two or three are gathered together in your name, there you will be in the midst. We believe you are here with us now.
We believe this is something you would have us do, and that it has your blessing.
We believe that you want us to be real partners with you in this business of living, accepting our full responsibility, and certain that the reward will be freedom, and growth, and happiness.
For this we are grateful.
We ask you, at all times, to guide us.
Help us daily to come closer to you, and grant us new ways of living our gratitude.

Amen.

In 1944, Marty M. [right, 1946] moved to New Haven, Connecticut, to establish the National Committee for Education on Alcoholism (NCEA), which initially had its office at Yale University. During this time, Marty stayed with the Jellineks and attended the Yale Summer School of Alcohol Studies, which had started the year before.

In 1945, [Easter Sunday] Knickerbocker Hospital [left, c. 1940] opened a small ward dedicated to the treatment of alcoholism, making it the first general hospital in New York City to have such a facility. This is significant because many general hospitals at that time would not admit alcoholics; instead, their doctors had to admit them under false diagnoses.

In 1950, The Saturday Evening Post published Jack Alexander’s “The Drunkard’s Best Friend” [right, p. 1], a follow-up to his article about A.A., “Alcoholics Anonymous: Freed Slaves of Drink, Now They Free Others,” which was published on 1 March 1941.

In 1966, Sister Ignatia [far left], born Mary Ignatia Gavin, died at the age of 77 at the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity in Richfield, Ohio. While working with Dr. Bob S. [near left], she treated thousands of early A.A. members at St. Thomas Hospital in Akron, Ohio. She was buried in the motherhouse cemetery.

In 1970, A.A.’s General Service Office (G.S.O.) moved from 305 E. 45th St. to 468 Park Ave. S. (formerly 4th Ave.). Box 4-5-9 reported:

    A building between 31st and 32nd Streets, on the west side of Park Ave. South (formerly 4th Ave.), is the new home for G.S.O. and the Grapevine…
    To find us, look for 468 Park Ave. South here in New York City.…“Why the move? The two main rea­sons are: (1) to save money, and (2) to get more space.”

In 1984, Ron R. founded The Twelve Coconuts Group at Kapiolani Park [right: the Twelve Coconuts], Waikiki, Hawaii. He later recalled,

    For about three weeks I went all over town to different meetings with bookmarks that had the 11th Step Prayer on them, I had gotten them from a Catholic Book Store… [I wrote them] up with “New Meeting in Kapiolani Park, Mon. Wed. and Fridays at seven in the morning. April 1st. I did a lot of writing. The first meeting had 32 people.

March 31 in A.A. History

In 1939, Bill W. drove from Cornwall, New York, to New York City, presumably in Hank P.’s car, to secure enough money to pay the hotel bill for the two nights he, Hank, Ruth Hock, and Dorothy Wright S. had stayed. The four of them had been correcting printers’ proofs of the book Alcoholics Anonymous [left: 1st edition, 2nd printing] based on the hand-edited multilith manuscript, a task that was neither quick nor easy. Together, they had only half the cash needed to cover their stay.
    In New York City, Bill approached Charlie (Charles B.) Towns [right], the owner of Towns Hospital, where he and Hank had gotten sober, and explained the situation. Charlie lent Bill the money required to pay the bill, plus an additional $100 [~$2,300 in 2025].
    Bill later wrote, “Mr. Towns was not too favorably impressed when he heard where we stood, but he came through with the hotel bill and about a hundred dollars to spare.… We all returned to New York in high spirits.”

In 1933, the Chicago Daily Tribune reported, “State to Open 1st Hospital to Treat Alcoholic Pa­tients” [right: article].

In 1947, England’s first known A.A. meeting took place at 8 p.m. in Room 202 of London’s upscale Dorchester Hotel [left, 1931], following an invitation from New York City A.A. member Grace O. [below right]. The Alcoholic Foundation had asked her to reach out to several individuals in Britain seeking information about A.A. The previous Saturday, the 29th, she had met an alcoholic known as “Canadian Bob” at a restaurant on Dean Street in London. The Dorchester meeting was attended by Grace, Robert “Canadian Bob” B., Chris L. B.—who was likely the first person in England to use the A.A. program to achieve sobriety—Sgt. Vernon W. (an American soldier), and Norman Rees-Watkins (from South Croydon and still drinking). Some sources also mention additional attendees: Pat F. (from London), Ward Williams (an American), Tony F. (an Irish airman), “Flash” W. (an American), and Pat G. (a female member from California whom Grace had met on the voyage from New York to London).

    As Bob later recalled the Dorchester meeting:

    It was Grace O. who really triggered off the inception of AA in England. She had written to me before she and her husband, Fulton, embarked at New York on one of the Queens. During lunch in London, her husband and I mapped out on a Saturday plans for a meeting the following Monday. Eight of us met in her hotel room, the last night of March 1947 and the five Londoners chose me as Secretary.

    Subsequent meetings were held at Canadian Bob’s home [left, c. 1946] on Mortlake Road in Kew and in various cafés.

In 1954, Bill W. wrote in a letter to Jack Alexander, “The whole A.A. Tradition is, in a sense, the result of my gradual adjustment to reality.”

March 30 in A.A. History

In 1910, Searcy W. [right] was born in Funston, Texas, to James and Etta W.
    He was an active member of Alcoholics Anonymous for 57 years. In 1948, at the urging of Bill W., Searcy began attending the Yale School of Alcohol Studies and later graduated. In 1950, he founded the Texas Clinic-Hospital for Alcoholism in Dallas. It was at this facility that Ebby T. sobered up in 1953; he remained sober for most of the next 13 years.
    His motto was, “Trust God, clean house, help others,” to which he would add, “... and it doesn't have to be done in that order!”

In 1939, Bill W., Hank P., and Ruth Hock [left, respectively] spent a second day in Cornwall, New York, correcting the galley proofs of the book Alcoholics Anonymous. The number of changes was so extensive that Cornwall Press charged Works Publishing an additional $33 [~$754 in 2025] for “Author’s corrections,” noting that this amounted to 13.2 hours at $2.50 [~$57 in 2025] per hour. With the job finally complete, they found themselves with only half the money they owed the Cornwall Inn, prompting them to stay an extra night.

March 29 in A.A. History

In 1939, taking the copy of the multilith manuscript of the Big Book with all the handwritten edits, Hank P. [near right] drove with Bill W. [center right, 1937] and Ruth Hock [far right] 60 miles north from New York City to Cornwall, New York, where the book was to be printed by Cornwall Press [left, early 1900s]. They all went, as Ruth later explained, because “we couldn’t afford anyone to correct the pages as they came off [the press, and] edit them…” It’s also true that no one but these three could have done the job.

    Dorothy Wright S. [right]—wife of Clarence S., who started Alcoholics Anonymous in Cleveland, Ohio—joined them on this trip; Ruth said that she was already in town visiting her sister. Dorothy had called Bill, who invited her to meet them in Cornwall, which she did. The four of them spent the day working on corrections, shared dinner, and then retired to three hotel rooms at the Cornwall Inn [left].

    Ruth and Dorothy “immediately developed a perfect rapport,” which was fortunate since they shared the third room, which had a large double bed. They “were talking, and talking, and talking” until about 1:30 or 2:00 in the morning when they heard a knock on their door. It was Bill, who couldn’t sleep. The three of them spent the rest of the night talking, with Bill positioned between the two women. It was all very innocent, and Ruth later wrote to Bill that it was “one of the most satisfying and joyous memories of my life.… How wicked that sounds, but how innocent and wonderful it really was.” Bill agreed, calling it “one of my precious moments.”

In 1943, the Charleston Daily Mail reported that Bill W. spoke at St. John’s Parish House, which may have been the first A.A. meeting in West Virginia, established in March 1942 by Irwin “Irv” M.

---

Note 1: The Parish House may be associated with St. John’s Episcopal Church, located at 1105 Quarrier St. in Charleston [right, c. 1972], built in 1884. The Parish House was designed as an expansion in 1927, with construction beginning in 1928.
Note 2: Rule 62 originated with one of Charleston’s groups.

March 28 in A.A. History

In 1945, Variety published “Alcoholics Anonymous Doing Great Job in Its New Times Square Clubhouse” [right: highlighted story on pp. 1, 19], which began:

Alcoholics Anonymous has come to Broadway. The organization that has helped life 12,000 drunks onto the water wagon, many of them straight from the gutter, is now established in a new clubhouse on West 41st street, a few minutes from Times Sq.

This article was later condensed and republished by The Catholic Digest (Vol. 9, No. 7, May 1945, pp. 79-80).

In 1946, Newly sober John “Captain Jack” S. [left: as a young man], skipper of a Socony-Vacuum oil tanker, wrote to the Alcoholic Foundation’s General Service Office (G.S.O.) in New York City, requesting contact information for some member of Alcoholics Anonymous. He explained he was “… still at sea on oil tankers, on which I have served for ten years. I have few contacts ashore with A.A., and have to rely on the Book and the guy upstairs.”
    A G.S.O. staff member responded by providing Captain Jack with the names of A.A. contacts in port cities and encouraged him to reach out to other seagoing members, which he did. This marked the beginning of The Internationalists in A.A.

March 27 in A.A. History

In 1940, Dave W. of Seattle, Washington [right: aerial view, 1939], had read about Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) and John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s interest in the organization. He wrote to Rockefeller, who had forwarded his letter to the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City. In his letter, Dave mentioned that he had stopped drinking three years earlier, had a strong faith in God, and had attempted to help others quit drinking, though without success. He seemed particularly interested in assisting those struggling with alcoholism. The Alcoholic Foundation responded by mail on 16 April 1940. Dave would go on to become one of the three founding members of the first A.A. group in Seattle.

In 1942, Irwin “Irv” Meyerson’s wife wrote to Clarence S. from Knoxville, Tennessee, stating that “Irwin started another club in Charleston, W. Va.”
    Irv [left] had gotten sober in Cleveland, Ohio and Clarence was his sponsor. Irv himself had already written the Alcoholic Foundation in New York City that three alcoholics—“Bill” S., George S. and Louis J.—were forming what would be West Virginia’s first Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) group in Charleston. Separately, Bill S. had written to National Secretary Bobbie B. at the Foundation and said that Irv was recognized as the “sponsor” of that first Charleston Group.

In 1960, the weekly half-hour radio program, The Catholic Hour, aired Part II of “Alcoholism: The Problem and the Hope”, featuring Marty M. [right, 1964], along with an unnamed staff member from the General Service Office.

March in A.A. History, day unknown

In 1940, Mort J. [right] had bought the book Alcoholics Anonymous in September 1939 and tossed it into his suitcase without even glancing at it. He had then embarked on a multi-week spree, traveling from Denver, Colorado, to California, through Arizona, and into Nogales, Guaymas, and Hermosillo in Mexico, ultimately arriving in Palm Springs.
    There, he had regained consciousness and discovered the book in his luggage. “Shaking violently,” he began to read it. From that day in November 1939, he never drank again.
    In Los Angeles, he contacted the Alcoholic Foundation, and Ruth Hock provided him with the phone number and address of Kaye Miller, a non-alcoholic who had been the driving force behind the first A.A. meeting and group in Los Angeles.
    Mort called on Kaye at her home and asked, “Where's the meeting?”
    “There are no meetings anymore,” Kaye replied. “I’m disgusted. I’m going to Hawaii or Europe.”
    “Where are all the members of A. A?”
    “They are all drunk,” she said bitterly.
    “Do you have any names for me? I want to get in touch with some alcoholics in town.”
    “You’re wasting your time.”
    She had cleaned out her apartment and thrown all the names of prospects and letters of inquiry into a wastebasket. Mort picked them out of the trash, pocketed them, and then left.
    Kaye’s last words to him were, “Don’t waste your time on them. I’ve called on them all. They can’t stay sober.”
    As Mort walked home, he sifted through the contacts and letters he had taken from Kaye. He found the address of Cliff W, whose wife had written to A.A. in New York for help after reading about the organization in the syndicated column of Beatrice Fairfax, the “Dear Abby” of that era.

    He went to Cliff’s house  [left: 4222 Vantage Ave, Studio City, likely his home in 1940] and rang the doorbell. Cliff opened the door.
    “My name is Mort J. I’m a member of Alcoholics Anonymous; may I come in?”

    Cliff let him in. Mort explained his dire need to share his story with somebody, anybody, in order to stay sober. Cliff listened to Mort’s story, despite having no desire to stop drinking or attend A.A.meetings. However, was spellbound as Mort recounted the story of his last roaring drunk. Mort explained that, as he understood it, he could not stay sober unless he carried the message to other alcoholics. Would Cliff come to a meeting? Could he help organize one?
    Cliff liked Mort, and more as a favor to him, to help him stay sober, he agreed to help.

   Years later, after he had joined A.A. himself, Cliff reflected, “I had no desire to join Alcoholics Anonymous. But I had to see Mort again. He attracted me. And years later, when Bill W. came out with the 11th tradition, I realized how true it was when he said A.A. is a program of attraction rather than promotion.”

    Looking for a meeting place, Mort contacted Dr. Ethel Leonard, who worked with alcoholics and happened to be the house physician at the Hotel Cecil [right, c. 1928] on Main St. in Los Angeles, California. Through Dr. Leonard’s assistance, Mort rented a large room on the mezzanine for $5.00 [~$113 in 2025]. This was the first public meeting of A.A. in Los Angeles, held on a Friday at 8 p.m. in March 1940. It was open to anyone who desired to stop drinking. Ted LeBerthon, a columnist for the Los Angeles Daily News, wrote about the meeting in his column, noting that it was held in the heart of Skid Row.
    “I chose this location,” Mort J. later recalled, “because the price was right, and there was a good psychological reason for holding a meeting down there because I knew it would show us where we were headed unless we did something about it—that was our destination, Skid Row, the drunk tank, sleeping in the alleys and under the bridges, winos, dead men…”
    Besides Mort and Cliff, about 10 other men attended—men who had failed to sober up at Johnny Howe’s classes or Kaye Miller’s meetings earlier that year. Mort urged them to give A.A. another chance.
    Mort didn’t know how to run an A.A. meeting. There was no coffee, no doughnuts; all he had was his copy of Alcoholics Anonymous. He opened the meeting by stating that he had not had a drink in five months. He asked if anyone would read a few pages. When no one volunteered, Mort opened the book to Chapter 5 and began reading, “Rarely have we seen a person fail…”
    Thus began the practice of reading a portion of Chapter 5 at the beginning of the meeting, which eventually spread throughout much of A.A.

March 25 in A.A. History

In 1940, the Los Angeles, California, Daily News published Ted Berthon’s syndicated column “Night and Day,” which, on this Easter Day, provided a glowing report about an organization he had recently discovered: Alcoholics Anonymous. Here is an excerpt:

     It seems that “Alcoholics Anonymous” got under way originally through the Oxford movement, i.e., the modern Buchmanite movement, but is now detached and independent. Not long ago John D. Rockefeller underwrote the publication of a huge, well written book called “Alcoholics Anonymous.” All public libraries now have long waiting lists for it. The organization “Alcoholics Anonymous” exists in virtually every major American city—without either officers or offices, dues or rituals, halls or funds.

In 1965, Richmond W. [left], 72, died in Daytona Beach, Florida, with 22 years of sobriety. He remains the second best-selling early A.A. author, after Bill W., having published several influential works, including For Drunks Only: One Man’s Reactions to Alcoholics Anonymous (1945), Twenty-Four Hours a Day (1948), and The 7 Points of Alcoholics Anonymous (1989). In 1958 (or 1959), he shared his thoughts on life and death in a lead he gave in Rutland, Vermont:

My problem, in what is left of my life, is to keep my mind or intelligence in the proper condition—by living with honesty, purity, unselfishness,  love, and service—so that when my time comes to go, my passing to a greater sphere of mind will be gentle and easy.

In 2005, Nancy O. [right], founder of the AA History Lovers (AAHL) email list, died.
    Shortly after completing her book, With a Lot of Help from Our Friends: The Politics of Alcoholism, in 2003, she suffered a series of small silent heart attacks that left her heart severely weakened. She then moved to Fredricksburg, Virginia, to be loser to her family. In July 2004, she was hospitalized with congestive heart failure and was given only a few months to live. Despite this prognosis, Nancy remained active until the end of her life, speaking to various groups in New York City, Washington, D.C., New Orleans, Louisiana, and, as one of the great thrills of her life, at an A.A. history conference in Bristol, England, where she showcased a pre-publication copy of her book. She was buried at Fern Knoll Burial Park in Dallas, Pennsylvania.
    Her AAHL co-moderator, Glenn Chestnut, created a two-part memorial for her, which can be viewed online by visiting “web.archive.org” and searching for the URL “http://hindsfoot.org/nomem1.html”.