April 9 in A.A. History

1947: After Bill W. spoke at a large Alcoholics Anonymous open meeting in Los Angeles, California [right: downtown, 1947], he was approached by a local member in the recording industry who offered to record his talks for a small fee. Back home, Bill shortened his talk and made a wire recording, which was then pressed into a 16" record. Bill engaged Rockhill Radio Company, a New York City-based company on 50th Street with no ties to A.A. that agreed to press individual records on demand. This arrangement ensured that the Alcoholic Foundation office would not incur costs or have to manage inventory. Bill also negotiated an agreement whereby the Foundation office would handle all orders and sales revenue, lowering the price of the records for A.A. members.
    The identity of the member in Los Angeles is unknown. However, the A.A. Archives at G.S.O. include a yellowed business card from Specialty Records,^* located at 2719 W. 7th St., Los Angeles, with the handwritten name “Art” on the back. Arthur “Art” Rupe (born Arthur Goldberg) [left] founded Specialty Records in 1946, and may well be connected to this interaction. It is unknown whether Art was the member who made the suggestion, or simply someone whom the member put Bill in touch with.

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^*Specialty Records [right: their Greatest Hits album], an record label founded in Los Angeles in 1945 by Art Rupe, was renowned for rhythm and blues, gospel, and early rock ’n’ roll. The label recorded artists such as Little Richard, Guitar Slim, Percy Mayfield, and Lloyd Price. Rupe initially named the company Juke Box Records but changed it to Specialty in 1946 after parting ways with his original partners. In the 1980s, his daughter, Beverly, revived the label. Specialty also owned music publishing companies, Venice Music (for BMI-licensed songs) and Greenwich Music (for ASCAP-licensed songs). Fantasy Records acquired the Specialty label in 1991, and it is now part of the Concord Music Group, while Sony/ATV Music Publishing purchased the music publishing unit.

Today in A.A. History—April 9–10

2021: Kansas City Group 1 of Kansas City, Missouri, celebrated its 80th anniversary online [left: flyer].

April 8 in A.A. History

1932: Bill W., Arthur E. Wheeler [right, c. 1956], and Frank F. Winans formed a stock-buying syndicate. Gardner Swentzel, Bill’s brother-in-law, had introduced him to Wheeler and Winans. Wheeler, whose father founded the American Can Company, was a director of the company and held a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. Winans was the Resident Vice President of The National City Co., an investment securities firm in Chicago. Believing it was an opportune time to invest in the stock market, the three men agreed that each partner would contribute capital, and Wilson was appointed manager of the syndicate.
    However, Winans, aware of Bill’s worsening drinking problem—which had recently resulted in his firing after a drunken incident involving a taxi driver—insisted on a clause that would void the contract and forfeit Bill's initial investment should he drink anything at all. Bill, who had given his $2,000 [~$47,700 in 2026] severance check from that firing to his wife, Lois, took it back to invest in the syndicate.

1939: As the first copies of Alcoholics Anonymous were nearing print at Cornwall Press, Frank Amos [far left] wrote to Willard Richardson [near left] to announce their imminent arrival. Aware that Richardson was unwell, Amos advised him to remain home until fully recovered. He also noted that he had already arranged for A. LeRoy Chipman [right] to receive the books at Rockefeller Center. Amos then instructed Richardson to immediately send five copies to the following individuals:

    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, at 375 Riverside Drive [who had made an “anonymous” contribution of $50 (~$1,560 in 2026) to the Foundation the previous summer or fall]; Mr. [Albert] Scott

    Amos suggested inscribing each book’s front flyleaf with a note such as “Compliments of the ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS.” In a handwritten postscript to the typed letter, Amos added, “You may want to place a copy in Mr. [John D. Rockefeller] [left] Junior’s hands.”
    Amos, Richardson, and Chipman were all associates of Mr. Rockefeller, as well as Class A (non-alcoholic) trustees of the Alcoholic Foundation.

1947: Following a year of difficult discussions about policy and structure, Bill W. presented a 43-page report, “Our AA General Service Center—The Alcoholic Foundation of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” to the Trustees of the Alcoholic Foundation. Echoing concerns he expressed in a 10 July 1946, letter to the Trustees, the report detailed the Foundation’s history and proposed both the creation of an experimental General Service Conference and the renaming of the Foundation to the “General Service Board.” Bill hoped to prepare A.A. for its “coming of age,” but the Trustees initially reacted defensively, their passive resistance eventually solidifying into outright opposition, as they saw no need for change.

1950: Illustrated magazine [left: cover] (London, UK) published Willi Frischauer’s article, “Alcoholics Anonymous,” accompanied by 8 photographs spread across 3½ pages [right: the 3½ pages].

April 7 in A.A. History

1939: Ruth Hock [left] informed Edward Blackwell, president of Cornwall Publishing, where to send the first copies of Alcoholics Anonymous upon completion of printing. In her letter, she requested that 6 copies be sent to Frank Amos [right] and 12 to Willard Richardson [left], both non-alcoholic trustees of the Alcoholic Foundation. Hock added, “It is Mr. [Hank] P――’s understanding that these will be delivered on Monday, April 10th, without fail.” Amos intended to take all 6 copies to Ohio the following day, while Richardson requested 2 copies for himself and the remaining 10 for the Alcoholic Foundation.
    That same day, Hank wrote to both men, telling them that they should expect the book on Monday and requesting prompt payment. Knowing that Richardson was ill, Amos contacted A. LeRoy Chipman [right], another non-alcoholic trustee, and asked him to accept the delivery on behalf of the Alcoholic Foundation.

1941: Following the March 1 publication of Jack Alexander’s article, “Alcoholics Anonymous: Freed Slaves of Drink, Now They Free Others” in The Saturday Evening Post [left: cover], the Alcoholic Foundation received 1,500 letters requesting assistance, according to Ruth Hock. Ruth, Bill W., and Margaret “Bobbie” B. [right] quickly realized they couldn’t manage the correspondence alone. Form letters were inadequate; each required a personalized, thoughtful response. Anticipating this surge, Lois W. had already organized typing teams and scheduled non-typists to answer phones. Despite these preparations, the volume of requests overwhelmed them, eventually reaching 8,000 letters and taking five to six weeks to answer.

1944: David “Dave” B. [left] got sober in Alcoholics Anonymous. 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

1917: The U.S. enters World War I [left: p 1. of The New York Times, 6 Apr 1917].
    President Wilson [right] had asked Congress for a Declaration of War against Germany four days earlier, on Monday, 2 April, saying, 

    Property can be paid for; the lives of peaceful and innocent people cannot be. The present German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind.
    It is a war against all nations. American ships have been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very deeply to learn of, but the ships and people of other neutral and friendly nations have been sunk and overwhelmed in the waters in the same way. There has been no discrimination. The challenge is to all mankind.…
    The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve.
    We desire no conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for ourselves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights of mankind.”

Not everyone in Congress wanted war. Nonetheless, the Senate approved the measure 82-6 that same day, while it was not until Friday at 3:12 am that the House voted in favor 373-50. President Wilson signed it that same day.

1960: A funeral Mass was held for Father Edward P. “Ed” Downing, S.J. [right]. An article about him, in Magnificat in 2016, stated 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, located in Florissant, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis [far left: grave site; near left: inscription].

April 5 in A.A. History

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

1894: Margaret Mary Pennington [right: passport photo, 1915] 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 become a student of Carl Jung [far left] and a protégé of Bill W. [near left], playing a crucial role as an intermediary between them. After World War II, she would frequently travel between the U.S. and Switzerland, introducing their ideas and writings to each other, acting as a bridge between them.

April 3 in A.A. History

1940: The fifth meeting of the Philadelphia Group of A.A. in Pennsylvania was held at Saint Luke’s Hospital. Organized by Drs. A. Weise Hammer [near right] and Dudley Saul [far right], both non-alcoholic, the meeting was open to the public and attended by thirty people.

1941: The first Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) group in Florida was formally organized in Miami.
    However, the earliest known A.A. contact in Florida was Horace S., a Daytona Beach resident, who contacted the Alcoholic Foundation in November 1939. By July 1942, he had moved to Connecticut, leaving no A.A. members in Daytona Beach.
    In 1940, Frank P., an A.A. member from New York living in Miami, became the local point of contact. That April, Roger C. reached out to the Alcoholic Foundation for assistance. Later, in November, Joe T.’s wife contacted the Foundation, which connected Roger and Joe with Frank P. Together, with the support of traveling salesman and A.A. member Irwin M. [left], they began responding to A.A. inquiries in the Miami area. That same month, Charlie C. wrote to the Foundation inquiring about starting a meeting in Fort Lauderdale, where he moved in December. Carl C. was recruited in December 1940, and informal meetings commenced in Miami.

1958: In a letter to Marjorie W., Bill W. [right] offered his most succinct, mature understanding of the “white light” experience he had 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.

1960: Father Edward Patrick “Ed” Dowling, S.J. [left], 61, died peacefully in his sleep early this Sunday morning in Memphis, Tennessee, from a heart attack. Fr. Ed had struggled with compulsive overeating, consuming excessive amounts of starch, butter, salt, and sugar. Although he once weighed 240 lbs [~110 kg], using strategies based on the Twelve Steps, he had managed to lose 60 lbs [~27 kg]. But unfortunately, he had already caused permanent damage to his heart and arteries. The first sign of these medical problems occurred in June 1952, when he was hospitalized for a retinal stroke caused by a blood clot blocking an artery to his retina.