Depending Upon The Requirements Of A Situation, An EFFECTIVE Attorney Must Be PART Butkus, PART Baryshnikov, PART Mother Teresa, PART Attila The Hun, And ALL Dedicated To Advancing The Interests Of A Client --

And, Contrary To (My Earlier) Beliefs, If She Or He Has Never Litigated, She Or He Is -- Very Sadly Put -- Neither Butkus, Baryshnikov, Teresa, Nor Hun.

I Would Be Pleased To Discuss Whether A Problem Of Yours Warrants ACTION, And Whether I Would Be An Appropriate Person To Help.

Every Attorney At My Firm Who Personally Handles A Matter Of Yours Is A Graduate Of Harvard Law School, Harvard Business School, And Yale, And A Member Of The California, New York, And Massachusetts Bars, With Commanding Litigative, Strategic, Consultative, And Other Real World Experience -- Both Legal And Other -- In Addition To Unwarranted Modesty [Hey, Did You Expect No Hype - And From A Creative Individual Such As, No Doubt, Yourself?!].

(Why Aren't Other Firms Able To Say All This?!)

A WORD ABOUT THE HASTY PUDDING CLUB -
FOR THOSE WHO APPRECIATE THINGS NIFTY -
AND CAUTIONARY TALES!

(This Is Written To Help Preserve Its Memory As To What It Was,
And In The Hope That It May Some Day Be Restored To What It Was -
By Some Exceptional People!)

The Hasty Pudding - Institute 1770, less formally called, "The Hasty Pudding Club," or merely, and usually by its members, "The Pudding," was a wonderful Harvard institution which now exists only in the form of a theatrical organization. It is said to be the oldest social organization in the United States.

The Pudding was a very effective dating tool, for once ushered up to its second floor, a young lady would be greeted, at the top of the steep staircase, and at the entrance to the club's bar, by a red leather couch under an ostentatious, tongue-in-cheek sign, illuminated by an ostentatious, tongue-in-cheek neon light, which stated, quite simply, "From The Pudding To The Presidency." The sign depicted, in a row, five individuals: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Jack Kennedy - amazingly, all members of The Pudding while they were Harvard undergraduates.

The Pudding was an amalgamation of two clubs: The Hasty Pudding and the Institute 1770.

At least the latter - and likely the former also - existed before the Revolutionary War as a drinking and debating society - and, indeed, part of our nation's birth resulted from such activity!

The "hasty" part of the pudding existed as some molasses-included offering - the recipe for which may still exist - but, alas(!), "somewhere." Is this the "somewhere"?!

On the theatrical side, former Pudding members included Jack Lemmon - and, annually, The Pudding gave its well-known Man Of The Year and Woman Of The Year awards, with much press fanfare and a formal dinner, to major stars and starlets, the likes of John Wayne and Jane Fonda (unlikely politic bedfellows, in the case of those two!).

On the human side, I will continue to remember such people as Jerry - a long-time bartender with a wonderful Irish sparkle in his eyes. The then white-haired Jerry was especially fun to reminisce with - and was full of tales regarding happenings and members long past - such as fellow Irishman Jack Kennedy - with whom he had also exchanged tales - even some tall, perhaps!

One fall, Jerry did not return. He was no more - to the loss and sorrow of those who knew him (- as was one day the case with "Mac" McFarland, the chef and, behind the scenes, a large part of all else of The Lincoln's Inn Society, the eating/social club institution at Harvard Law School - whose past members included Adlai Stevenson, Robert Taft, etc.). (Annually, The Lincoln's Inn Society hosted its black tie Christmas Dinner. By tradition, a member would craft an impressive, poster-sized painting commemorating the event. One year, a wonderful such offering depicted the progression from applying to Harvard Law School through graduating from it and (having to!) seek employment in the real world. The metaphor used in the painting was a challenging mountain that one had to climb to attain the goal:

"Now, what was that you were after????"

What the grinning worm said,

Which was sticking out of the apple,

Which was situated atop the mountain,

Whose tortuous path to the top,

Represented the treacherous progression through law school,

In a wonderfully illustrated painting,

Celebrating an annual Christmas dinner,

Of The Lincoln's Inn Society --

A Harvard Law School club.)

Which brings us to...

THE CAUTIONARY TALE

Even wonderful institutions ebb and flow to and with the rhythms of time.

At critical moments, their health - and, sometimes, their survival - depends - depends - upon at least a little vision and more than a little effort on the part of those who are in a position to make a difference - and, happily for this world, there do exist - but too few in number - and at times too few - people who will take on the tasks necessary to keep an institution going - for little or no discernable reward other than self-satisfaction from having helped - often in the form of a felt duty to give back = to give back more than they take.

In part because the times became less formal, The Pudding eventually suffered financial pressures, experienced trouble fund-raising, and retreated to its present theatricals base - leaving behind, at least for the moment, the social club aspect that had been an integral part, to say the least, of making The Pudding what it was for a great number of decades.

The admission of some Harvard graduate students in the 1970's (for which I was appreciative!) helped - but did not spell the difference - because successive undergraduate members, while fund-raising, forgot to tap them (and, if the truth be known, did a bad job of fund-raising in general)! (I telephoned - and attempted to lose money by pointing out this error.)

Will The Pudding ever revert to its former glory?

Nothing ever "reverts to its former glory" - without exceptional people achieving the reversion!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Here's to The Pudding - and the hope that all wonderful associations of people will always include such exceptional people - with at least a little bit of vision - and more than a little bit of effort!

Thank You - And All Best Wishes Always And In All Ways!

A Link To:

© 2003-2007, G. Darrell Berglund, Esq., all rights reserved, and don't even think of doing so!

Aside from that, have a great day!