Education

Grade School

Attended grammar school in a country setting. The first grade teacher wanted to skip me to the second grade because of my facility in reading. But since I was only five and one-half years old and of moderate size, my family decided against it. The school was coeducational, so one got one’s first exposure to the charm of the other sex.

The sixth and seventh grades were located side by side in the same room. The same teacher, an attractive brunette, Miss Leche, taught both grades. While she taught one, the other was supposed to study. When in the sixth grade, I would usually listen to her lectures to the seventh. So she permitted me to join in some of the activities of the seventh grade, such as drawing maps.

Since the students came to the school in buses from up and down the River, there was a wide variety of rugged “country boy” types. Every one had a nickname, such as “Pistache”, which was applied without logical reasoning. Friendships were forged with many of them. As we all remained barefoot until the cold weather came, there was competition to see who could hold out the longest, before wearing shoes each winter.

High School

When high school age was reached my parents decided that I should be afforded the best education available in the area. The Carville brothers, from nearby Carville, had been driving to the “Brothers” in Baton Rouge. It was arranged that I would ride with them there each day. I did this until the fourth year, when the Carvilles having graduated, I had to buy my own model A. A dealer cousin of the family sold me a good one for one hundred dollars.

Attending this school was a mind opener. One was introduced to French by a Brother who spoke Parisian French, to the sciences of chemistry and physics by a capable Brother in those fields. But the azimuth, was becoming the protégé’ of a renowned educator as well as competitive sports promoter, Brother Peter. He named me the editor of the school paper in its first year of publication. “The Golden Bear” became quite successful. In addition to his other talents, Brother Peter was a Shakespearean scholar and he introduced me into that intellectual universe. I finished as valedictorian.

College - Undergraduate

Of course, my father would consider nothing other than the State university, which he and his brother, who had taken sugar chemistry there, deemed quite good. Also, there was still an economic depression and no one that we knew sent their offspring to a university out of State. My high school background having been so superior to that of the graduates from the rural Louisiana high schools, the undergraduate courses were a breeze.

One outstanding instructor was encountered. He was a recently returned Rhodes scholar, specializing in government, as it was then more appropriately called. He knew all about Harold Laski, G.D.H. Cole and others of the period. He knew a lot about foreign governments and United States Constitutional law. So I majored in government, receiving top grades. Much time was spent in the library and keeping up with current and foreign affairs, devouring books, specialized magazines and national newspapers.

Year of Science

I do not recall why, but probably because of my zest for learning, decided to go to medical school. So, I took a year of science and was accepted into medical school.

Playwriting

Changed mind and studied playwriting for a year in Columbia Graduate School. Encountered my first “open stacks” library and found it mind boggling. Spent much time absorbing New York City, primarily by walking all over it from the Bowery to Harlem. One was not afraid to walk these streets at night.

To this day I probably know the layout of the City better than most New Yorkers. Attended every play that was on Broadway, and some off, at the zenith of the American theatre, and many outstanding concerts and ballet performances.

Cross Country

I then hitchhiked to Boulder, Colorado, attended the Writers Conference, and met well known authors. Took a course in Shakespeare under a professor from Princeton, who noted on one of my papers, "You have an ability to brush aside the obvious."

Then caught rides to Clatskenie, Oregon, near the mouth of the Columbia River, where I earned my board and room by painting a farmhouse. Hitchhiked through the Olympia National Forest, caught a boat to and explored Victoria Island, then another to Vancouver and, actually to the amazement of the border patrol, arrived at the border as a pedestrian.

After another lift to Portland, Oregon, I called my father and he sent money to buy a bus ticket. Took the route down the Pacific coast all the way to Los Angeles, with stopovers in San Francisco and San Simeon. Upon arriving home told my father I wanted to be a writer. He said, "First, you make a living!"

Law School

So I decided to go to law school, which I finished in two and one-half years by attending both Louisiana State University and Tulane University. Passed the bar examination, with high marks, and entered the United States Navy for four years duty during World War II.