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Chapter 2
WHEN I LEFT YOU last month, I was describing how desperate (but brave) the Cowsills were during their lean years. Just before I signed them to MGM Records, they were down to their last penny. No, that's not true - they had already spent their last penny! And this wonderful family was flat broke.
I called Mort Nasair, President of MGM Records (who had agreed to audition the Cowsills), and "er-ed" and "ah-ed" my way through a conversation that ultimately yielded the unsigned Cowsills a $5,000 advance on their unwritten, unrecorded, unreleased first single record!
After we got the check, we still had to go through the scene with the bank creditors in Newport. It was a Friday afternoon and they were going to foreclose the Cowsill family's 20-room house that day if they didn't receive mortgage payments. The Cowsill clan had absolutely nowhere to go. That sparsely furnished, dilapidated house (the electricity had already been turned off) was the only roof in the world they had over their heads.
I finally got the president of the bank on the phone. I introduced myself and told him that I had a check for the mortgage. His answer was very succinet and straight to the point. "I don't believe you!" he snapped, "We're foreclosing. The papers are being drawn up!"
Barbara, who was listening on an extension, burst into tears. Bud sat looking gloomily at his hands. I kept talking and talking and talking to the bank president. I don't even remember what I said. But I must have said something right (or maybe he just got tired of listening), because finally he said, "All right, all right - be at the bank at nine o'clock Monday morning! Or else!" he added in a threatening undertone.
Man, it was just like one of those villain-and-hero silent movies. I hung up the phone. Barbara stopped crying, Bud stopped looking gloomy and, on by one, those beautiful baby Cowsill faces began to light up. Soon my entire office looked like a flower garden. Susie danced, Johnny beat invisible drums, Barry grinned from ear to ear, Paul jumped for joy, Dick and Bob started running around the place - and Bill sat down and quietly wrote a song.
The following Monday morning found us all bright-eyed and bushytailed standing in front of the bank in Newport. The mortgage was paid off and all the bills were paid. The Cowsills moved back into their house. The car was returned from the finance company, the lights were switched on - and , oh yes, the gas for the stove in the cottage was also turned on again. Soon the whole Cowsill family was cooking once more - literally and figuratively.
All out of room again - but don't forget the song Bill was writing and the unsigned record contract, because I'll tell you all about that (plus lots more) in the November issue of 16. The November issue goes on sale September 24. The Cowsills and I will meet you here then!-
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