From Lenin to Lennon

Years ago my sister, Vivian Maddock, spoke with Ted about the Triangle days. Here’s some of what she said:

I worked for Frank when he first started his business. He had great ideas but wasn’t very well organized in terms of the paperwork. His first office was out of his apartment on Superior Street, and then he started managing the Chad Mitchell Trio and he moved over to a wonderful big apartment where the receptionist sat in the front in the living room and there were two small offices for the people who took care of the offices, and then one for me, and Frank took the dining room and the bathroom. From time to time, you’d hear one of his musical groups rehearsing in the kitchen.

It was a nice, informal place. People came in and feIt very comfortable there. And at that time, most of the folk singers were just starting out and they were nice people. After a while, you know, they begin to believe their own press releases, but it was not the kind of time when the contract stated how many cases of liquor they had to have after the show, and how many girls and all the rest of that; that came much much later. These were very talented young kids, and for the most part very nice people.

When Frank had the Gateway Singers playing in Chicago, we had them all for Thanksgiving in our house. That part my mother enjoyed. She didn’t approve of his politics and they fought bitterly. She was genuinely afraid, it wasn’t just paranoia on her part. But from the time we were small our friends were always welcome in the house, made to feel comfortable. So she was delighted, and actually very proud of him at that point.