The art of being a Veeck
10:30 p.m. May 4
We had Mary Frances Veeck—who turns a glorious 90 years old this fall—and her daughter Marya on our little weekly radio show this afternoon:
http://www.talkzone.com/shows/199/fancave.html
They talked about their life with late Baseball Hall of Famer Bill Veeck and his underreated appreciation of art. I nudged Mary Frances about the story she told me in 1986 where she and Bill would send off a bottle of Champagne to a celebrating couple.
”We had a history of that,” she said in a 1986 interview at Bill’s beloved Miller’s Pub in Chicago’s Loop. “We were married about six months and we went to a restaurant at a racetrack in Arizona. We arrived a little early and we saw this long table set up. Whenever Bill saw a long table, he immediately thought he was supposed to make a speech.
“Well, the people who owned the restaurant told us this was to be a rehearsal dinner for a wedding,” she said. “Bill immediately says, ‘You and I didn’t have a rehearsal dinner; maybe we’re not really married.’ The people later sat down and we were looking at them, saying that’s the bride’s side and that’s the groom side and they seem to hate each other. Bill was a wreck and he was worrying about this.
“So we sent over some bottles of Champagne, and as they drank it Bill said, ‘See, they like each other’.”
After talking to Mary Frances and Marya today I know old school class never goes out of style.
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