What on earth is “culture night”? Is it an existential destination or a reality? If you lived in Manhattan during the late 1950s and 60s, if you worked in advertising or publishing you felt a need to have a competitive edge in all matters. While people in Malibu were lining up to get into Alice’s Restaurant, residents of Gotham were anticipating the next opening at the Leo Castelli Gallery, reading the new Norman Mailer or Philip Roth book or dining at Lutece. Being the first in your group to have gone to, eaten at, read or seen “the latest” could propel you to a leadership position. Every group of young couples knew at least one single man who worked on Madison Avenue -- BBD&O or Benton Bowles. This mentor, who made the perfect stirred Martini (called Marts) agreed to lead the idiot children in all things shiny, new and avant garde. The mysterious “Ad Man” became the group's “Go To” person -- its cultural and protocol chief.
“I never make plans for Monday night, it’s culture night.” Our close friend, Doug insisted. He would remind us whenever we planned an event. Everybody joked about Doug’s culture night. He was so secretive about it. Did he purposely mean to annoy us? Doug had chosen Monday night, symbolic of the night that wealthy people dressed in black tie to attend the Metropolitan Opera. Blue-collar workers never went to the opera, let alone doing something special on a Monday night. There was much speculation about Doug’s interpretation of culture. Did he read in Latin, study the plays of Shakespeare, write poetry, paint mustached Mona Lisas, listen to classical music, learn a language? Or, did he play poker with an unsavory group, do anonymous charitable work or just paint his toenails red and dress up in a Can Can outfit? We eventually gave up trying to figure it out. The odd thing was that we took a cue from Doug by doing something we wouldn’t ordinarily do on Monday night. We might try a new ethnic restaurant, watch a foreign film without subtitles, listen to Beat poetry at a Village coffeehouse or take part in a happening. The whole idea was to open our minds and expose ourselves to the new, different and offbeat in an effort to tolerate and try to understand it. Doug was way ahead of his time. Try conversing with younger people, especially millennials. If you ask them questions about history, government, art, or music, you'll realize how little they know. Ask them about the three branches of our own government and their functions. I guarantee their answers will be an eyeopener. It would probably be a good idea to put away all electronics one night a month and institute a "culture night". If you started one, how would you spend it?
