The Way I Heard It with Mike Rowe - 97: A Very Lucky Lady

Episode Date: April 10, 2018

No doubt about it - Miriam's timing was impeccable.

The ocean delights us as playful otters restore coastal kelp forests. The ocean teaches us how our choices impact even the deepest places. The ocean connects us. Visit Monterey Bay Aquarium.org slash connects. This is the way I heard it. It occurs to Miriam as she walks along the busy streets of Tribeca that she is indeed a very lucky lady. The year is 1997.

It's a chilly November morning in New York City, and everyone's favorite Jewish mother is approaching the building that bears her name. Today, she's armed with bagels, Hershey's kisses, and 250 pieces of Rougallach. Upstairs, a reporter for the New York Times is waiting to interview her because, well, because she's Merriam, and her name is on the front of the building. Good morning, Ralph, so nice to see you again. Well, hello, Miss Meriam, you're looking well. The doorman is correct.

At 70 years of age, Miriam is the picture of health. Her hair is lovely, red, and expensive. Her suit is black with a bright silk scarf. Her jewelry is tasteful, subdued, and most importantly, real. Because Miriam, as we've already established, is a very lucky lady. How are Shirley in the girls, Ralph? Did Candace get into NYU? Yes, Miss Merriam, she did. Thanks to you. Don't give it a second thought, Ralph. It was just a phone call. Now, have some cake. Merriam hands Ralph a slice of Rougalock and walks to the elevator. Upstairs, the kids are waiting with the reporter in the paneled conference room. Not her actual kids. They're out of town making deals, as usual. These are the staff who report

directly to her sons. But they might as well be hers. Miriam enters with a flurry of questions. How did it work out with that girl, you like, Marvin? Has she come to her senses? Sarah, your father. He's doing better, yes? Larry, do you really think that tie was made to go with that shirt, or is this another fashion statement? The kids laugh and Miriam smiles as she remembers what it was like to work in an office. She tells the reporter, when the coffee man came around, I couldn't wait to get away from my desk, and so now I do the same for these kids. We talk, we eat. Aren't these fabulous? Miriam has no business card and no clear-cut responsibilities, nor does she report to anyone.

But she never uses her power to dictate terms or make demands. Her sons are perfectly capable of running the business without her. Her job is that of a morale booster. Miriam knows all too well how business can take a toll. Her own husband, God rest his soul, drop dead on the way home from work at just 52 years of age. Miriam hadn't felt very lucky on that day. No, far from it. But even then, in her darkest hour, Miriam was lucky.

Her boys, 22 and 24, kept her engaged in everything they did. And before long, there would be grandchildren and great-grandchildren. And, of course, there was always the company, the company named by loving sons in honor of their loving parents. She tells the reporter, Sometimes to this day, I'll come into the city, slip into a theater all by myself, and look at the logo as the movie starts. Seeing our names joined like that, it's like we're together again. Miriam composes herself and walks into the office of the chief financial officer.

When she comes out, she's smiling broadly. Well, it has been a very good year, she announces. Did someone mention $75 million in profit? I guess it's time for a trip to Macy's, an assistant says. Macy's, replies Miriam, please, we're going to Bergdorf's. Everyone laughs, and Miriam turns her attention back to the reporter. She talks about the importance of family, of reputation. She talks about the parallels between her husband's business and the one her son started.

Max was a diamond cutter, she says. He spent his entire life considering minute details, ideal forms, the life-giving brilliance of light. This company is really no different. Consider the sacrifices of the people we work with. Consider their talent, their work ethic. Society doesn't respect actors and actresses the way it should. Why is that? Why do they rip them apart at every turn?

Shall I tell you some of the ones I've met? Miriam's eyes sparkle, as she considers the many stars. who have visited this same conference room. Madonna, just a wonderful person. Sharon Stone, charming. Harvey Keitel, whose mother was also named Merriam, an absolute pleasure. Yes, Miriam was a lucky lady, no doubt about it.

And when she died, 20 years after the New York Times published that interview back in 1997, she got lucky again. not because she died peacefully, surrounded by loving friends and loyal family. No, Mariam got lucky because she joined her beloved Max in the Great Beyond, before the New York Times started publishing those other articles, the ones about the man who ran the company that bore her name. It was actually Bob, her youngest son, who suggested they named the company in honor of their own.

parents. But it was the oldest son who made those other less inspired suggestions, suggestions that required actresses to massage his pale and blubbery body, and then watch him shower and then look on as he, how shall we say, took matters into his own hands? Oh yes, Mariam was indeed a very lucky lady because she died before her son turned their once good name into a hashtag and a Me Too. Such is the new legacy of the Weinstein Company, the legendary studio once known as Miramax, now remembered as a feeding trough for a pig named Harvey. Anyway, that's the way I heard it.

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