(translated from French:)

Pleyel Hall, 252 Faubourg Saint-Honoré (number and street) (northwest of the Arc de Triomphe)

Tuesday July 3 1928 at 9 PM      Doors Open at 8:30

BY GENERAL DEMAND

after their triumph of June 18

RARE EXTRA CONCERT by WARING’S PENNSYLVANIANS

Fred Waring director     Tom Waring soloist

exclusively for Gramophone 78 RPM records   “His Master’s Voice”

‘Collegiate’ Orchestra Without Compare

Sponsored by Pleyel Pianos (French piano manufacturer)

(and at very bottom:)

 Reserved Seating in the Orchestra 70 francs; Orchestra Boxes 100 per seat; General Seating in the Orchestra: First Section 50 francs; Second 40; First Balcony Boxes 40 per seat; 1^st Sect. 35, 2^nd 25 (etc.)

I believe...

“Guru,” someone asked Joey’s guru on tape once: “How do we realize Truth? Is it really possible?”¹

The Waring living room at the Gatehouse was a long, high-ceilinged 'hall' barely reminiscent of the estate horse stable it once had been. Colonial-paned glass doors extended the length of the right side where wooden stable doors once opened. Windows along the left, or west wall were only very high up, and in them Virginia had positioned her collection of colored glass with the result that spots of reflected colored light traveled around the living room slowly. A spotless and shining black grand piano sat in the far right corner and Fred’s famous ‘round table’ was at the near end. The big room was carefully thought out and done in sheep’s-wool white; canary yellow; glass; and stainless steel. And yet it gave off warmth somehow. It was tasteful despite its large dimension.

You must ask the Master how to do it, answered the guru.²

During the ceremony people were seated on, or standing behind, or around, the white wool couches and easy chairs. They were dressed in good winter clothes. Canary yellow area rugs spotted the internally heated stone floor.

Kenny Matthews stood mid-wall on the right, his back to the door-sized horse-stable windows and the spectacle of snow outside them glistening on branches. Bill and Betty Ann faced him and the snow; and Poley, Mark, Paul Waring and Dlune clustered by them, backs to the crowd. Betty Ann wore a baby blue double-knit tight floor-length dress. And her soft blonde hair flowed almost to her trim waist. Dlune wore a long tight brown knit dress that she had worn to three previous weddings. She and Betty Ann each wore one of two Swedish traditional wedding brooches given Betty Ann by her adoptive mother. Bill's full head of hair was prematurely white above his double-knit blue suit.

That was why that power manifested itself into a body, into the Perfect Master, the guru said.³

Mj stood behind a Waring couch dressed in the brown three-piece English wool tweed suit he had purchased on King's Road, Chelsea, during his grand twelve-week motor-scooter tour of Europe in ‘65.

The Perfect Master came and removed all the darkness, and brought the supreme Light into the world, the guru explained simply. Many Perfect Masters had come into the world over the course of human history.⁴

Fred and Virginia Waring had faded into the background somewhere.

The piano processional, a solemn, respectful, anticipatory piece, ended, leaving only silence.

If you find him, you will get it, said Joey’s guru.⁵

Happily, since the stained glass was high in the west windows, and the December sun was setting early, realms of dazzling church-colored light moved slowly up the ceremony side of the room, vibrating when branches blew outside. Their see-through layer of dancing abstract-expressionist color repainted the original canvas of participants.⁶

Kenny Matthews spoke to all: “There was a marriage in a home at Cana in Galilee, and Jesus was invited to the wedding along with his disciples. Jesus affirmed that marriage. He affirmed its celebration, he affirmed its humanity, and he affirmed it as the will of God.”

Now he spoke to the two he was marrying: “Bill and Betty Ann, as we gather here today, God affirms you in the decision that you have made with each other, and in the contract that you have provided to one another.”

He looked at the guests. “Let us all pray. Our Heavenly Father, you have given us life, and life in abundance. And as we gather here this day we celebrate this life. And you have given us life to share, and Bill and Betty Ann have taken this life to share together. And so we praise you, oh God, we praise you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.”

He addressed all, but mostly the special couple: “As God's chosen representatives of the new humanity, that which is purified and beloved of God himself, let us be merciful in action, and kindly in heart, and humble in mind. Accept life and be most patient and tolerant with one another. Forgive as freely as the Lord has forgiven you. And above everything else, be truly loving; and let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, remembering that as members of the one Body you are called to live in harmony. And never forget to be thankful for what God has done for you, and what God has given you.”

He spoke more softly, looking carefully at the groom first, then at the bride: “Bill..., and Betty Ann..., you have come together according to God's wonderful plan for creation, and now before these people I ask that you say your vows together. Bill, do you take Betty Ann to be your wife?”

“I do,” said Bill quite softly.

“And Betty Ann, do you take Bill to be your husband?”

“I do,” she said, just as softly.

In silence the rings, just salvaged from the warm stone floor where they had been dropped by little Mark, ‘plink plink plink’, were exchanged with extra care.

Bill repeated solemnly after Ken, barely audibly: “Betty Ann, I ask you to dwell... to dwell in the warmth of understanding... and love.... From this moment on... we will share our troubles and joys,... our triumphs and defeats,... as a family... performing the will of God.”

Betty Ann repeated solemnly after Ken, even less audibly, the same vow, which she and Bill had composed together: “Bill, I ask you to dwell... to dwell in the warmth of understanding... and love.... From this moment on... we will share our troubles and joys,... our triumphs and defeats,... as a family... performing the will of God.”

In the silence many handkerchiefs were noticeable.

Ken continued after a pause with his voice raised slightly: “The Apostle Paul said that Love is slow to lose patience. It looks for a way of being constructive. It is not possessive. It is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance. Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. It is not touchy; it does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when Truth prevails. And love knows no limit to its endurance, and no end to its trust, and no fading of its hope: it can outlast anything. And it still stands when all else has fallen.⁷

“Let us all pray. Eternal God, without your grace and your love, no promise is sure. And we pray you will strengthen Betty Ann and Bill with the gift of your Spirit, so they may fulfill the vows that they have taken and remain faithful to each other and to you. Help them to appreciate in each other their humanity. Help them to understand and to be forgiving. And fill them with such love and joy that they may build a home where no one is a stranger. Guide them by your word to serve you all the days of their lives. For we pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be honor and glory for ever, and ever. Amen.”

The piano introduced a piece that was a collation of 'I Believe', sung in English by the men of the Pennsylvanians, and 'Ave Maria', sung in Latin by the women, all without their usual conductor, a terrible, maybe even devilish, plan.⁸

A-ve Ma-ri-a... I BE-LIEVE!... gra-ti-a ple-na...

For ev-'ry drop of rain that falls,... Do-minus te-cum.

A flow-er grows.

I BE-LIEVE that some-where in the dark-est night,

Be-ne-di-cta tu,

A can-dle glows....  Be-ne-di-cta tu in mu-li-e-ri-bus,

in mu-li-e-ri-bus, et be-ne-di-ctus fru-ctus ven-tris tu-i

Je   -   -   -   -   -   -   -    sus.

Sancta Maria...

I BE-LIEVE for ev-'ry-one who goes a-stray,

Some-one will come to show the way...

The poor Pennsylvanians were falling apart without a conductor. Fred came forward to lead them and they continued with added conviction:

I BE-LIEVE, I BE-LIEVE...  o-ra pro no-bis,

O-ra pro no-bis pec-ca-to-ri-bus,

Nunc,... I BE-LIEVE a-bove the storm the small-est

pray'r...

Will still be heard.

I BE-LIEVE that some-one in the great some-where hears

ev-'ry word... et in ho-ra,

Nunc et in ho-ra mor-tis no-strae.

Ev-'ry time I hear a new-born ba-by cry,

Or touch a leaf, or see the sky,

Then I know why

I BE-LIEVE!

A    -    men,     a     -    men.⁹

After a brief silence Ken said: “So now in the name of the Holy Catholic Church and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I pronounce you husband and wife. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Grace be to you. May God's love fill your lives. And as you are a family together, may God's peace be always with you. And now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.”

The piano played a bouncy baroque recessional while Bill and Betty Ann kissed and hugged the guests gathering around them.

We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.¹⁰

If you didn't find a Master to show you the way, you wouldn't get it, the guru said. He wasn’t to be found in caves or mountains. If you searched, though, he said, you would find him.¹¹

¹  The Living Master, p. 25.

²  Ibid.

³  Ibid.

⁴  Ibid., pp. 25; 95.

⁵  Ibid., pp. 25.

⁶  Virginia Waring described the living room of the Gatehouse in her biography of her husband, Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians (p. 272): “The living room, formerly the garage for the carriages, is fifty feet long and twenty-four feet wide. Fred installed Vermont slate on the floor with radiant heating pipes underneath – a toasty warm place in winter. My Steinway piano and the fireplace are at the far end, and the large lazy Susan dining table at the other end. Comfortable yellow and white sofas with coffee tables fill the space. With the sun streaming in and its variety of furniture, the living room exudes an air of friendly welcome. High up on one long wall in front of the original half-round windows, an extensive collection of antique bottles sits on a shelf. They glow like stained glass when lit from below. (Passersby used to think we ran a bar.)... The opposite long wall has floor-to-ceiling double paneled windows that look out on a courtyard....”

⁷  I Corinthians, 13:4-8.  J. B. Phillips translator, The New Testament in Modern English, London (Geoffrey Bles Ltd., 1960), p. 361.

⁸  The Ave Maria (‘Hail Mary’). Translation from Latin: “Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord be with you. Blessed art thou among women and blessed be the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, pray for us sinners, now, and in the hour, now and in the hour of our death. Let it be so, let it be so.” The first part of the prayer, up through the word 'Jesus', traditionally called 'The Annunciation', is a condensation of Luke chapter 1, verses 26-38, where the angel Gabriel appears to Mary and informs her of Heaven's plans for her to bear a very special child. The words after 'Jesus', however, are not in Scripture. Nor are they supported by Scripture in any way, as Protestants have always decried. They were added by an Early and/or Medieval Roman church increasingly obsessed by the notion that ordinary people, like little children in a household dominated by a power-proud hierarchy of aloof males, little everyday people not authorized or sanctified by Supermommy or The Official Bureaucratic Hierarchy In Rome were too imperfect and unholy to enjoy a direct devout prayer relationship with God, so had to rely on the beneficent approachability of  'proper channels' like officially designated saints and 'mothers and grannies of God' or priests of a thousand bewildering kinds to get access to God, an idea which every reformer of the church debunked as contrary to all Judaeo-Christian tradition, contrary to the entire thrust of the Old and New Testaments and everything Scripture had ever taught. And the whole prayer, then, as used forever nevertheless and even still today among 'stubborn' Roman Catholics who refuse to be 're-formed', de-deluded and de-superstitionized of it (and, as ardent conservative Protestants would complain, as prayed and repeated self-hypnotizingly again and again, and again and again, and some more, until one feels as disempowered, as immobilized, helpless, stripped of worth and passive and ugly as a rotted vegetable, while also as self-hypnotized and self-stoned as a pothead, during masses and in-home funereal services after someone like Hechizo is pipe-bludgeoned and dies in the street, in countries like Catholic Mexico) is called the Ave Maria. BUT: as the Dr. said, 'were all that as it were', the Ave Maria was a beautiful thing AS A SONG, especially when combined with "I Believe,' especially when sung by The Pennsylvanians, and most of all, especially when sung at the wedding of friends as good as Bill and Betty Ann.

⁹  "I Believe," words and music by Ervin Drake, Irvin Graham, Jimmy Shirl and Al Stillman. Copyright 1952 Cromwell Music, Inc., 666 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y.

¹⁰  Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), ‘Eleventh Step’.  The ‘Twelve Steps’ are the stages of self-healing by which AA members organize chronologically their recovery from dependence on alcohol. The guidelines for the 12 steps are detailed in a big thick book which AA members call ‘The Big Book’. Dr. Lorenzo referred to most of the earlier ten steps in his second book, Tales of Waring, which recorded the first interview (of three) with the Blackburns, and included many of Bill’s funny (but not so funny) stories about severe endemic alcohol abuse in the Waring Organization. It was a subject that interested the Dr. for many reasons, including the fact that throughout the three years he lived in the Poconos area he was Director of the Tri-County Drug and Alcohol Program.

¹¹  The Living Master, p. 25.