Letter from FFN Founder Surfaces

Ed. note:  I should not be away from this blog for such long periods of time.  Here is another story that has been languishing in the archives.  Enjoy!

Steven Fieg, son of Lothar "Bud" Fieg Jr.,  recently re-discovered a letter written to him on New Year's Eve, 1979 by Victor Philip Fieg, the founder of the Fieg Family News, and he forwarded a copy to your editor.

Philip, as he was known, was responding to a letter from his nephew Steven and, simply because he couldn't help himself, not only answered Steven's questions but also included some thoughts on life, jazz and the Fieg family ethos.  He also was looking forward to the publication of his children's book, "Why There Aren't Many Witches and Other Tales" and had sent some of the advance copies to his siblings and other family members, which he mentions in the first paragraph.

Dad occasionally used poor grammar ("You buy them 2 records....") or deliberate misspellings ("yer father")as an emphasis, for humorous effect or, I suspect, sub-consciously as a way to add a bit of self-deprecation to his speech and writing.  It is a trait I find myself using at times.

Anyhoo.... Here is the letter, lightly edited, that so excited Steve and is so quintessentially my dad:

Dear Steve,

How nice to get your letter! 

Wait a few days to go over to your father's, and you can see my book.  I put it in the mail today.

He (yer father) is a workaholic because of his birth and upbringing.  That father of his, born in Pforzheim, Germany, brought up in the Protestant Work Ethic, passed on to us the same viewpoint of life.  "Man was made to work."  And "Man was not put on this earth to enjoy himself."  Or "Life ain't no joke."  And in another way, "Nobody said life was supposed to be easy."

.... It is true that he does seem to be taking more opportunities to do things he enjoys, like the long auto trip in October.  You know.  New wife -- new life.  Happen to any of us....  Hope new outlook is good.  Can not, in any event, cast aside Protestant Work Ethic one has lived with for 60 years.

And anyway, your father is a good guy.  Great guy, right?

I never did own a 'bone.*  Used the school's....  Dorsey never did play jazz.  Played pop.  Go to your record store and buy 2 J.J. Johnson records.  Any 2.  Listen to them.  That's jazz.  That's what I like.  And Phyllis.  Right now while I'm at the typewriter off the kitchen, she's playing jazz records in the family room....

You buy them 2 records, listen to each one of them 12 times.  Then you write back and tell me what you think of jazz.

....  Phyllis is writing short stories, sending them to magazines, getting rejection slips, but still writing.  I tell her she'll be successful in 5 years if she just keeps it up.

Write again.  I enjoy talking to you.

                                   Uncle Philip
*Trombone