The Perseus Books Group Message Boards

[Gary]

I was inside the Dakota a couple of times with my brother in the mid seventies, as he was a friend of one of the tenants there. My brother was an interesting guy, a true New Yorker who was in show business and usually had a unabashed show-biz based opinion on different situations I remember something that my brither had said that I never forgot. My brother criticized the security guards outside the Dakota! I mean, think about it. What is a security guard supposed to do? And really, what did the guards accomplish, or effect, that day! Not much! You've all seen the outside of the Dakota, in person or in pictures. There was a glass-enclosed booth wherein the guard was stationed. It is fact that the evildoer (I won't say his name) was there for a large portion of the day, received an autograph from John and even spoke to John. Okay, now it is after 10:00 on Mondaynight , the eighth of December. Haven't one or more security guards noticed that this malingerer is on the street hanging about? Didn't a guard notice that? Ask him what he's doing? Tell him to move on? Inform him that he cannot loiter, ask him who he wants to see? That's what I discussed with my brother, and it's valid, and no one ever talks about it, so I'm saying it here- and now. Too many people go to their jobs and keep a chair warm and don't do much else. An edgy word directed at this dropout and he might gone back to Hawaii or in desperation turned the gun on himself and saved the world from a lot of pain.

[oc93]

That's a really interesting point!

Olivia C.