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Charles Clegg, Chapter 2

Last time we left our subject in a bit of a bind, having just been booted out of the family abode for no other reason than it was his 21st birthday! Well, this didn't really cause him any grief, as he simply moved on to Washington, D.C., where later, he was meet up with the living legend, Lucius Beebe.

Upon arriving in Washington in the mid-1930's, Chuck took employment at a 'specialty house' as a junior executive. It seems that 'specialty houses' were an economic outgrowth directly related to The Great Depression and partially to the lifting of Prohibition. As Americans (even wealthy Americans) recovered economically from the hardships of this time, many people found that 'specialty houses' provided them with an opportunity to obtain some of the lost treasures of a more genteel era. Among these indulgences included (Continued next page, column 1)
Dom Perignon Champagne, Belluga caviar, Cuban cigars, and other such indulgences.

However, it wasn't until the eve of WWII that Clegg and Beebe would be, by simple chance, invited to a party given by Evalyn Walsh- McClean, at her abode, Friendship House, in Washington, DC. According to Chuck's account of the meeting (printed as the Foreword in 'The Lucius Beebe Reader'), they were invited to attend one of her celebrated brunches along with several Supreme Court Justices, and other political and social scions of the day. Evalyn, herself a publisher and the one-time owner of the Hope Diamond, had unwittingly acted as a catalyst that led the formation of an enduring relationship that would last throughout Beebe's and Clegg's lifetimes. As for Chuck's first impression of Beebe, (as he recalled in this account) that after the other guests had departed, he found Lucius curled up with a cast iron lioness on the front lawn, glass of wine still in hand -- sound asleep!

From there, Chuck and Lucius developed a relationship based on a common bond: railroading. Chuck and Lucius moved to a New York City where Chuck was to become a departmental executive at yet another specialty shop on Fifth Avenue. However, Pearl Harbor intervened, and Chuck enlisted into the Naval Reserve instead. According to Beebe, this option was vastly superior to being a common foot soldier!
In the Navy, Chuck was given the commission of radio technician (something at which he was well suited for). Chuck' friends noticed that his uniforms were tailor-made and non-regulation, and often included a gold watch chain identical to the one Beebe wore. Proving once again, that simply because one is called upon to serve his country does not mean that he has to look like a common soldier -- nor should he!

Next time: we will follow Chuck's adventures in his military career with the Navy, and his budding relationship with Lucius Beebe.