Something that didn’t make it to the book:  In the early 1950’s, during one of my first visits to Chicago to visit my grandparents, my grandmother and I boarded a small ship moored in the Chicago River near the Michigan Avenue Bridge for a trip out into Lake Michigan.  Our destination: the resort town of Michigan City, Indiana.  I remembering asking her if those in charge weren’t mistaken — since the name was “Michigan City”, wouldn’t it be Michigan to which we were headed?  (She straightened me out.)

As the ship began moving east toward the locks that would take us and the other passengers out on the open water, I looked up as we passed under one of the bridges. Looking down at us, pointing and waving as they did so, were all four of the Ames Brothers – a popular singing duo during that time, who were currently booked at the Chicago Theatre. I recognized them because I loved their hit tune “The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane”, still popular at the time, and had read about them in magazines. 

The lead singer in that group, Ed Ames, went on to success as a solo act, with the perennial popular song “My Cup Runneth Over”, and as a regular on the popular TV series, “Daniel Boone”.

The response to my book has been surprising and much appreciated; we’ve already added a few new testimonials and will post more, with permission, as they come in.  If you like what you’re reading, we’d love to hear from you.

Meanwhile sales are doing well.  We’ve also added a chapter pulled from the book, a feature that we will update from time to time.

Thanks for your support of Thumbs Up, ‘V’ for Victory, I Love You.
norman@normanrobert.com