The Old Disease That the Treatment Is New For – 1961 – Joe L.

About This Speaker Tape

A career in the garment district of Los Angeles as a lingerie designer ends in a wreckage of 'fruit salads'—the result of Joe L. accidentally colliding two trains on the railroad while drunk. He describes a long dizzying descent through the 'brown whimpers' of wine addiction psychiatric wards where he educated interns in the art of the fake dream and a series of failed geographical cures from California to Texas.

The turning point arrives not through a doctor's prescription but through a grit-toothed realization of helplessness in a back room prompted by a pamphlet and the persistence of a man who refused to be pushed away. Joe's recovery is framed by the irony of his own arrogance and the humbling discovery that the only way out was to stop trying to be the smartest man in the room and accept a gift of love from people just as broken as he was.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Introduction of Joe L. and a joke about bar room spittoons.
• 4:15 Joe discusses the 'first recorded case of DTs' in the Bible (Belshazzar).
• 11:20 Description of his early drinking and the 'pitiful logic' of his addiction.
• 16:40 The 'fruit salad' train wreck story and the failure of the 'perfect' interlocking system.
• 22:10 The story of hiding the engine in an almond shed and going to the bar.
• 27:50 Joe's experience with wine addiction and the 'brown whimpers'.
• 33:15 Psychiatric hospital stay and the 'education' of 135 interns.
• 41:00 The 'iron cure' and the realization of helplessness in a back room in Texas.
• 46:30 First AA meeting and the encounter with a former army buddy who is now sober.
• 52:10 Laughter: Joe tells a story about a 'candidate' who threw up on his shoulder during the AA pitch.