Bill Lederer would probably not have gotten along with Nina Gitana. Where he celebrated life’s physical manifestations, the million million narratives in the world, she strove only to leave them behind. Where he was profane and lusty, she was soft-spoken and chaste. Bill, despite having worked in the rigid hierarchy...
Eventually, Bill got old and died. He just couldn’t help it. Didn’t make it to 138. In the long run, I think I failed him as a friend. At one point, when he knew he was getting downright ancient, he asked my wife and me to come live on...
This is the fourth post on my friendship with William J. Lederer, exploring different dimensions of this unusual, remarkable man. I think Bill knew my type: the artistic, mystic type who lived on the edge and was always broke. So to his long list of projects, he added helping...
This third post about William Lederer relates one of Bill’s most charming tales: his writing tutelage under Ernest Hemingway. The basic facts are verifiable: Yes, Bill did spend time in 1940 and 1941 on a gunboat in the Yangtze River, and during that period Hemingway did indeed accompany his...
This is the third installment of my series “Meetings With Remarkable People” and the second on my friendship with William Lederer. I badly needed the money I’d get for private lessons, but I had to be frank with Bill Lederer that he should not get his hopes up. Starting...
I can’t resist writing about Bill Lederer as the first installment of my series on Meetings With Remarkable People. In 1975, or around then, I was living in Plainfield, Vermont, and eking out a living by various means, including teaching classical guitar. It was my first full winter in...