Look Out, Baby, I’m Your Love Man
Les Brown and his twin brother
were adopted by Mamie Brown, a kitchen worker and maid, shortly after
their birth in a poverty-stricken Miami neighbourhood.
Because of his hyperactivity and
nonstop jabber, Les was placed in special education classes for the
learning disabled in grade school and throughout high school. Upon graduation,
he became a city sanitation worker in Miami Beach. But he had a
dream of being a disc jockey.
At night he would take a transistor
radio to bed where he listened to the local jive-talking deejays. He created
an imaginary radio station in his tiny room with its torn vinyl
flooring. A hairbrush served as his microphone as he practiced his
patter, introducing records to his ghost listeners.
His mother and brother could hear
him through the thin walls and would shout at him to quit flapping
his jaws and go to sleep.
But Les didn’t listen to them. He was wrapped up in his own
world, living a dream.
One day Les boldly went to the
local radio station during his lunch break from mowing grass for
the city. He got into the station manager’s office and told him he
wanted to be a disc jockey.
The manager eyed this disheveled
young man in overalls and a straw hat and inquired, "Do you have
any background in broadcasting?"
Les replied, "No sir, I don’t."
"Well, son, I’m afraid we don’t
have a job for you then."
Les thanked him politely and left.
The station manager assumed that he had seen the last of this young
man. But he underestimated the depth of Les Brown’s commitment to
his goal.
You see, Les had a higher purpose than simply wanting to be
a disc jockey. He wanted to buy a nicer house for his adoptive mother,
whom he loved deeply. The disc jockey job was merely a step toward
his goal.
Mamie Brown had taught Les to
pursue his dreams, so he felt sure that he would get a job at that
radio station in spite of what the station manager had said.
And so Les returned to the station
every day for a week, asking if there were any job openings. Finally the
station manager gave in and took him on as an errand boy - at no pay.
At first, he fetched coffee
or picked up lunches and dinner for the deejays who could not leave the
studio. Eventually his enthusiasm for their work won him the confidence
of the disc jockeys who would send him in their Cadillacs to pick
up visiting celebrities such as the Temptations and Diana Ross and the
Supremes. Little did any of them know that young Les did not have
a driver’s license.
Les did whatever was asked of
him at the station - and more. While hanging out with the deejays,
he taught himself their hand movements on the control panel. He stayed
in the control rooms and soaked up whatever he could until they asked
him to leave.
Then, back in his bedroom at night,
he practiced and prepared himself for the opportunity that he knew would
present itself.
One Saturday afternoon while
Les was at the station, a deejay named Rock was drinking while
on the air. Les was the only other person in the building, and he
realized that Rock was drinking himself toward trouble. Les stayed
close. He walked back and forth in front of the window in Rock’s booth.
As he prowled, he said to himself. "Drink, Rock, drink!"
Les was hungry, and he was ready.
He would have run down the street for more booze if Rock had
asked. When the phone rang, Les pounced on it. It was the station
manager, as he knew it would be.
"Les, this is Mr. Klein."
"Yes," said Les. "I know."
"Les, I don’t think Rock can finish
his program."
"Yes sir, I know."
"Would you call one of the other
deejays to come in and take over?"
"Yes, sir. I sure will."
But when Les hung up the telephone,
he said to himself, "Now, he must think I’m crazy."
Les did dial the telephone, but
it wasn’t to call in another deejay. He called his mother first, and then
his girlfriend. "You all go out on the front porch and turn up the
radio because I’m about to come on the air!" he said.
He waited about 15 minutes before
he called the general manager. "Mr. Klein, I can’t find nobody,"
Les said.
Mr. Klein then asked, "Young man,
do you know how to work the controls in the studio?"
"Yes sir," replied Les.
Les darted into the booth, gently
moved Rock aside and sat down at the turntable. He was ready. And he was
hungry. He flipped on the microphone switch and said, "Look out!
This is me LB, triple P - Les Brown, Your Platter Playing Poppa.
There were none before me and there will be none after me. Therefore, that
makes me the one and only. Young and single and love to mingle.
Certified, bona fide, indubitably qualified to bring you
satisfaction, a whole lot of action. Look out, baby, I’m your lo- o-ove
man"
Because of his preparation, Les
was ready. He vowed the audience and his general manager. From that
fateful beginning, Les went on to a successful career in broadcasting,
politics, public speaking and television.
By Jack Canfield
from Chicken Soup for the Soul
Copyright 1993 by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen