Curator's Corner: Citizens for Lenny Lane

Prior to both parties, first the challengers - the Democrats - in New York City July 12-16, 1976, and subsequently the incumbent Republicans, in Kansas City in August, nominated their candidates for President of the United States; Lenny Lane running unencumbered by platform or running mate announced his candidacy for President of the United States. It was an uphill fight but not an unwinnable one. For, if all 25 patrons present at the Wheatland Inn the night Lenny announced told someone else to vote for him the next day and if those 50 told another the next day and so on, within 22 days Lane's support would have totaled 41 million votes; within 25 days every man, woman, child, in the country would have been for him and, do the math, after 33 days everyone on the planet would have been solidly behind his candidacy. Imagine if he had a platform.

Sadly, after about a week and at a time when he had approximately 1600 supporters, Lenny - for reasons known only to him - spit on the barmaid. Al Trimble, ever the gentleman, suspended Lenny from his job as piano man and the campaign was suspended. Was this a conspiracy? Was Lenny Lane politically assassinated by similar sinister forces that done to same by bullet to Kennedy and by framing Richard Nixon. Funny, Howard Hunt was in Dallas in '63, and the Watergate Hotel in June 1972, and a customer in the Wheatland Inn on several occasions that summer. Hmmmmm?

Whatever the case … Phil, Sil & I had to go to Montreal to attend the Olympics and to find the translation for Lenny of the phrase “but then again.” It wasn’t until we accomplished that task that we returned and immediately sprung into action. We drew up the petition that you see in this week’s Curator’s Corner.



It reads: We the undersigned are concerned about the incident which occurred at the Wheatland on August 4, 1976 [NOTE: Okay so it didn’t happen before we went to Montreal but why ruin a good story}. We feel some mistakes were made that must be rectified. We recommend the following:
1) Lenny Lane apologize to all employees of the Wheatland and he apologize to any patron he owes one to
2) The Sweeper Man must not be silenced; Lenny Lane must be reinstated as piano player, philosopher and presidential candidate of the Wheatland.
We hope this predicament can be cleared up without delay or hard feelings
But then again – AGAIN!!!!!!

I signed in the John Hancock position (despite whatever threat Howard Hunt carried) and was followed by Steve Burke, Phil Martin and Mike Burke my co-mowers on the Columbia hills. Then by Veryl Lincoln, my dad Theo L. Knorr, the late great Gene Segro, 340 Clubbers (and fellow virtual Club bloggers) Sil Simpson & Phil Zangari, Tom Simpson, 340 Club resident James Lewis Shay,Mark Somebody, Barry Yoder, Ronald S. Metzger, Michael Showalter, 340 Clubber Tim Lutter, John & Ginny Kinard (aka Ma & Pa of Barn Door fame), John Shipman, Kirk Suydam, Mick Walton, unintelligible, Glenn C. Schneider, Kathie Hughes, David Marshall, David Zellers, Carl La Fong (note - some of these names may be fictional or not really who they appear to be), six folks named Lyne, Jim Kauffman (the great softball pitcher I believe), Brian Hiltz, Tom Stumpf & an intelligble Stumpf, John W. Lyons, Jack Lyons, Larry Miller, Jack Young, Tom Diller, Debbie Dougherty, unintelligble, Cliff Royer, Dale Witmer, unintelligible, Chip Snyder, Terri Pott, Rick Ulmer, Benny Vela, Joe Ganse, Skeet Carr, Sue Kiley, Tim Getzloff aka City L or Slick of 340, Doug Davis, Linda Garreth, John Walton, Roche Fitzgerald, Mike Conlin, the weatherman Bill Saylor, Dick Hoxworth (still on TV), Bob Scott, Vickie Heinley, June Walker, Barry Leed, Daryl Bish, six unintelligibles, Mary Gildea, unintelligible, Jack Booth, Patti King Ward, Borba Bhasin, John "Boat" Chever, Geoffrey Renshaw, Kevin Neary, Jere Bitzer, Tom Chever, Greg Lansing, ? Forney, unintelligible, Barry Hogan, unintelligible, L. Kozloskie, The Summ Brothers Flying Circus: Want, Gotta Have, Need; Susan Dutt, Richard Allen Y????, Mugzi Magic, guys named Steve, Carl, Ed, and Nancy, John Valori, Robert Sharkey, Dave Harnish, Rick Lewis ... at this point the petition was hijacked and someone started a counter petition to keep Lenny Lane out of Lancaster ... after three names sanity was restored and the signatures continued: Chuck Erisman, Michael Capp, Larry Stankowski, Millie Seifred, Becky Jones, Mike Walsh, Gerry Walsh, Ronald Harkins, Deborah Burk, Vicki Fisher, Mike ???, Doug ???, William Bull, Esquire(whom I would later engage as his oppenent in the courtroom), Mikey ???, Tom Lichty, Marilyn Lehman, Pete Douht, Jeanne Fisher, John Shelley, Curt Sensenich, unintelligible, Vaughn ???, Harry D. Bodine, Duggy Lopez II, Rod Geist, Vance Hines, Mary Jane Landis, Gloria Fetter, John Chancellor, Frank Sinatra, Richard Nixon, Jerry Harkins, Jill Hynman, Jack Hughes and last but crtainly not least Christopher E. Joyce, the poet laureate of the 340 Club. 138 valid signatures in all.

Lenny got his job back. However the damage to the campaign was done and he finished third in the race that year to Carter's 40.9 million votes and Gerald Ford's 39.1M. Lenny's 840,609 votes (recorded in most Almanacs as for "other" but we know) was enough to beat Eugene McCarthey's 700,000 votes to finish third. Oh what could have been but for an expectoration. But then again.