An Unfortunate Incident at Give em' Hell Harry

 An Unfortunate Incident at Give em' Hell Harry

     This was a story Greg told that would always get me convulsed with laughter because I loved the principals and the  telling of it was hilarious. It involved a rare visit to the theater with Greg, his father and Mother to see James Whitmore perform in the excellent one-man show "Give Em' Hell Harry" at the Ahmanson Theater. It was 1975 and the sophisticated college grad was ready to dress up and attend live theater at one of his favorite places in the world. The entire Music Center was just red meat for Greg and he felt completely at home in the Ahmanson, the Taper, or the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion where he might attend a concert by himself just to expand his cultural horizons. In this case, he was a dutiful son with his Mom and Dad who revered Harry Truman and were excited to see the show that had drawn raves from LA Times critic Dan Sullivan. The title comes from an incident that took place during the 1948 presidential election campaign. In Bremerton, Washington, Truman delivered a speech attacking the Republicans. During the speech, a supporter yelled out, "Give 'em Hell, Harry!" Truman replied, "I don't give them Hell. I just tell the truth about them, and they think it's Hell." The Sheehy trio settled into their good seats in the orchestra after a dinner out where the family filled themselves with fine rich food. James Whitmore, ironically a classmate of Greg's future father in law was outstanding and the show was four stars all the way. However, toward the end of the one hour and forty-five minute peformance the heavy meal began to percolate in the older bowels of father John. Thinking he could get away with it the old Sheehy let go of what was often termed an SBD or "silent but deadly" fart that undoubtedly felt warm as it fluttered out of his butthole and off his theater seat. The entire section got a snootful of this ill wind and a man in the row behind the family said angrily "for Christ's sake!" because the stink was so terrible. With Greg's young nose he was alerted to this breach of theater etiquitte quickly and he knew exactly from where the fetid poot was issued. The man next to Greg jerked his head angrily and stared at the innocent youth who was then humiliated and enraged at his fathers boorish release of gas in a crowded theater. While the crowd cheered the triumphant James Whitmore, all Greg could think of was that he wanted to get out of the "contaminant ball" that Dad had created thinking he would not be detected as the culprit of this dastardly noxious cloud. When Greg would tell the story he would grit his teeth and say "where did this guy get the balls to pull off a stunt like that!?" I laughed as hard the last time he told it as the first time he told it in 1975.