Remembering three times that Lach Pitcairn whisked Mim & one of his girls up to NYC for a Manhattan adventure. He'd be in some sort of meeting all day, then have dinner with his two tag-alongs.
The first time was with Wynne, who was still in high school. My only real memory of that trip was how disappointed both Mim & Wynne were with where they stayed overnight. They had visions of a grand hotel. Alas, the New York Hilton turned out to be, as Mim described it with utter disgust, "a big nondescript box." A business hotel devoid of even the teeniest touch of cosmopolitan glamour.
Small wonder the two gals later reveled in the glories of the Mark Hopkins -
Compare this...
to this!
My only memory of the Lark overnight was that Mim brought home a classic Raggedy Ann for me from FAO Schwartz (I would have been around 13 or 14).
The best, most vivid of my memories of Mim's memories of those escapes are of her one-day (no overnight) bop up with Brooke, who would have been in upper elementary school. Lach had a meeting - something to do with music - being held in someone's to-the-nth degree swank Manhattan apartment.
The plan was for the three of them to be driven up (Al DiNio?), dropped off at the apartment building; Lach would head up to his meeting, the two gals would head out for some Big Apple adventures; the three of them would tag back up in the apartment lobby & go somewhere wonderful for dinner before heading back to Bryn Athyn.
That's sort of how it all played out, but it would be the wondrously rare time where the reality played out waaaaaay better than expectations.
Mim & Brooke took a taxi to Rockefeller Center, then worked their way up 5th Avenue toward Central Park. They were wowed by the windows at Tiffany & Co., then opened the huge doors & entered its fabled halls.
After checking out each level, they returned to main sales floor. A gentleman seemed to magically appear behind the counter, asking if he could be of assistance. And sounding like he actually wanted to be!
The accommodating fellow hauled out tray after tray of jaw-dropping rings for their perusal (Mim was wowed by his courtesy). As he was putting away the last tray, Mim leaned over the counter, looked him straight in the eye, lowered her voice & asked, "Now, where is the good stuff?"
As Mim told the story, the courteous gentleman behind the counter cracked up as he pointed over to the Tiffany Yellow Diamond.
As pleased as she was by that Tiffany representative's style, Mim was totally ticked off by the officious maitre 'd at The Plaza's Palm Court, who refused them seating - in an apparently exceedingly condescending tone - because Brooke had the effrontery to be wearing canvas walking shoes. Canvas footwear was apparently such a fashion no-no, it would ruin afternoon tea for the rest of the guests.
As I recall, they celebrated the end (or so they thought) of their Manhattan meander with cheesecake at Lindy's.
At the appointed hour of 5:00 p.m., they were back at the clearly exclusive apartment house lobby. No Lach. The doorman said they shouldn't wait for him in the lobby. Mim thought he was about to ask them - both pretty scruffy looking after a full day of tromping mid-town - to wait outside.
Hardly.
He told them to go right on up to the apartment. Mim remembered saying - several times - that they were fine right where they were. Finally, the doorman pleaded, "Here's how it is, ladies - Miss Tully would have my hide if she heard that you two were down here & I hadn't sent you up."
So, up they went.
Which was how Mim & Brooke came to be given a tour of Alice Tully's apartment by Alice Tully herself!
Miss Tully - given a heads up from the doorman - was the one to open the door to two decidedly raggedy-looking gals. Mim & Brooke looked over at Lach, expecting a well-hidden scowl, yet he seemed right as rain with the unexpected situation.
"I am so sorry," Miss Tully told them, "The meeting went longer than expected & we only just recently started on cocktails."
She made sure both Mim & Brooke had reviving drinks & plates filled with luscious nibbles, THEN she gave them a private tour of the priceless treasures in her lofty digs. The lady transcended classy.
In telling us about it later, Mim seemed still shaken, blown away by the whole experience, by the legendary Miss Tully & especially by a small carved image of a calf - from the time of the Exodus!
Blessings on Alice Tully for setting the bar on graciousness & to Lach for letting the two tag along in the first place, for taking as much delight in Mim & Brooke's unexpected adventure as they did (much to their relief)!
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