In addition to the beautiful surroundings and fine food they featured big bands for dancing. You couldn't ask for a better place to enjoy an evening.
Well, it was my good fortune to be asked by my "first time date" to join him for an evening at the Statler Hotel. We had drinks, dinner and that wonderful dessert and danced to the music of a great band.
All in all it was a very enjoyable evening - and then the bill came!! My date did not have enough money to pay the bill and I only had "some mad money." This took place in the 50's, that was long before credit cards were available. I could just see the two of us doing dishes in the kitchen!! What a way to wind up such a nice evening. And my poor date, he was so embarrassed.
My date told the manager that he lived near by and asked could he leave and return with the additional money. Fortunately he agreed and let the two of us leave. When I think of it now, that manager had to be the most understanding person -- he realized what an uncomfortable situation it was for us and just trusted that we would be back.
There are two things that I remember about that fellow: First, the fact that he took me on such a nice date and then couldn't pay the bill.
The second thing I remember about him is expressing his strong feelings about someday the United States would land a man on the moon. Well, I could not imagine that, remember that was in the 50's.
He was unprepared to pay the bill at the Statler but he knew what he was talking about when he spoke about space. Neil Armstrong landed on the moon in 1969. - about 15 years after our conversation.