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in pencil in top margin Hecht, Mike in red ink in top margin JACK: Hope you like. Mike

cc: Studs & Ida Terkel Henry Kisor My Wife

To: My children ad friends From: Mike Hecht

The remarkable man in the two loving articles, by Studs Terkel and Henry Koser from the 3-2-80 Chicago Sun Times, attached has been my friend for over 30 years. The adjective, indomitable, in the headline is precise -- The headline writer must know him..as is the adjective, ebullient, in Studs' lead paragraph. His underlined: The Disinherited, is not only one of the most powerful novels of the '30's, but, like John Steinbeck's underlined: The Grapes of Wrath, is crossed out: one of a great and enduring book, a revelation of its time, which will enter--if it already hasn't--into the classics of world literature. If you've not read it, and if you want to know what it was like to be a factory worker --as Steinbeck showed what it was like to be a farm worker--in the richest country of the world during its Depression years, read it. And, as Studs indicates, his folk tales will live, too, long after he is gone...as will his autobiography, or whatever portions of it will get into print before he dies.

  It is a commentary on the crazy, chaotic, inhuman and inhumane structure of our society that writers and performers of garbage are wealthy beyond description, and Conroy's largest source of income is a royalty check Stephen Wade sends him each month for using 2 Conroy folk tales in his 1-man underlined:  Banjo Dancing show, at the Apollo Theatre (and maybe soon on Broadway).
  I was one of those aspiring young writers (I was young once) Conroy gave encouragement and time to.  That I didn't have the talent, or the perseverance, or both, was not his fault.