Step 4 Pushed Him into a Pleasant Life – 1965 – Bob L.

About This Speaker Tape

A three-way conversation between old-timers in San Francisco featuring Bob L. who entered the rooms in 1945. The wreckage is a blur of Army service bankruptcy and a marriage nearly severed by bourbon.

Bob L. recalls the early days of the fellowship: the red-and-yellow Big Book covers the first paid secretaries and the 'Family Group' that preceded Al-Anon. The narrative shifts between the grit of San Quentin prison meetings—where inmates brought donuts to avoid their cells—and the absurdity of early sponsorship where some sponsors reportedly took newcomers out to drink.

Change arrives not through a sudden epiphany but through the slow grind of meetings and the influence of men like Eddie F. and the 'Blind Man's tape.' The talk is a living history of the Bay Area recovery scene anchored by the image of a redwood serenity prayer plaque on a wall at 143 Bush Street.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Reading of the Eleventh Tradition regarding anonymity and public relations.
• 1:30 Description of the 'hummers' (highballs every four hours) used at Duffy's drying out farm to prevent DTs.
• 8:15 Bob L. enters the conversation and recounts his first meeting on November 17, 1945, at 143 Bush Street.
• 14:20 Mention of the redwood serenity prayer plaque and the first red-and-yellow Big Book.
• 21:10 Laughter: The story of the 'dictionary' sales job in Oakland.
• 26:40 Bob L. describes meeting Bill W. in 1950 and Bill's reflection on not franchising the program for money.
• 33:10 Stan W. describes his 'miserable' first three years and his wife's early involvement in Al-Anon.
• 45:30 Stan W. discusses the 'Blind Man's tape' and his struggle with the Fourth Step.
• 52:10 Discussion of the undercover police unit within AA and the role of Frank S.
• 62:15 Bob L. recounts the 'Family Group' and the early history of the San Francisco office.
• 70:40 Description of the San Quentin prison meetings and the 'three-time loser' inmate's prop papers.
• 81:20 Closing reflections on anonymity and the memory of a bottle of bourbon hidden in a house.