The Doctor Who Was in the Rockefeller Office with Bill W. – Gail L.

About This Speaker Tape

88th Anniversary Founder's Day - 2023

A half-gallon of wine and a down zipper in Slade Kentucky marked the wreckage of Gail L.'s early days before she found sobriety in 1978. Now a seasoned archivist Gail L. weaves a gritty history of the Big Book's birth moving from the rubber-town industrialism of Akron to the high-stakes offices of the Rockefellers. She details the 'unholy' and audacious scramble to fund the first edition—peddling stock to drunks fighting imaginary ulcers and the sheer desperation of Bill W. and Hank P. as they tried to keep the movement from going bankrupt. The narrative tracks the 'slender threads' of chance: a nickel in a payphone a reluctant call to Henrietta S. and the 'audacity' of selling a book that hadn't been written yet. It is a story of hunger financial ruin and the eventual miracle of the Saturday Evening Post article that pulled the books out of the warehouse and put the fellowship on the map.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Gail L. opens with a high-energy greeting to the Akron crowd.
• 5:15 Laughter: Gail L. shares a photo of her blackout days in Kentucky with a half-gallon of wine.
• 12:40 Gail L. describes her training as an archivist under Nell W.
• 22:10 The story of Bud F. and the 'soul surgery' (12 Steps) on the train.
• 32:45 Step 1: The 'set-up meeting' where Dr. Bob admits he is a secret drinker.
• 41:20 The 'slender thread' story of the nickel in the phone and the call to Henrietta S.
• 55:10 The 'unholy' way the Big Book was funded, including peddling stock to drunks.
• 1:10:15 The failure of the Gabriel H. radio show and the discovery of only two book orders.
• 1:22:30 The impact of the Saturday Evening Post article and the 'attraction' principle.