William Inge’s PICNIC
My red Sbicca shoes from the 1960s
January 9:
“Millie Owens: When I graduate from college I'm going to New York, and write novels that'll shock people right out of their senses. I'm never gonna fall in love. Not me! I'm not gonna live in some jerkwater town and marry some ornery guy and raise some grimy kids. But just because I'm a dope doesn't mean you have to be.
Madge Owens: Millie.
Millie Owens: Go with him, Madge.
Madge Owens: Millie?
Millie Owens: For once in your life, do something right.”
Madge and Millie in William Inge’s Picnic
I am not generally a “woulda coulda shoulda” sort of person. I have had many options in my life when I might have taken a left instead of a right turn. And I realize that many times when I made a decision what happened and what I wanted to have happen were strikingly at variance.
Though I do not really regret or dwell on such choices, a couple of the “other alternatives” are intriguing. Like Robert Frost’s road not taken, splits in the path represent the crux of destiny and autonomy. Are we really choosing freely? On this side, we never really know what we are settling on — or settling for. So, what we pick is a combination of chance and choice.
When I was an art student in high school, my design was selected for a Loveman’s window display competition when downtown department stores were still at their zenith in Birmingham, Alabama. The time was the mid-1960s and fashions were dominated by the British mod style: Mary Quant mini skirts, Twiggy false eyelashes and pale lipstick, bell-bottomed trousers, and Beatle-girl-friend-Liberty-print dresses. I was a shoe nut and filling my closet were patent leather heels, knee high go-go boots, and Mary Janes in vibrant colors.
Besides having my fashion display sketch actually come to life in one of the store windows, I got to spend my entire spring break “working” during a fashion week at the retail giant. One of the celebrities who was in residence that week happened to be my favorite shoe designer, Mr. Sbicca. His company, which originated in Philadelphia in 1920, had moved to California following World War II. The Sbicca Brand was wildly popular in the 1960s and I had two pairs. As I traveled throughout the store doing odd jobs with the fashion crew that week, I ran into Mr. Sbicca a number of times, and one day, we had a lengthy conversation. I showed him some of my artwork and he liked my creations. He invited me to come to California and join his shoe design team. It was a family business, he said, and there was no one coming up among his relatives who wanted to go through the ranks of the company.
Wow! I was sixteen years old. How could I have possibly said, “Yes”? But how could I have possibly said, “No”? Not being an adult, my father would have been hard to convince. He wanted me to go to college. He wanted me to have an education and a future. I had heard it a million times. But, what would my destiny have been if I had taken Millie’s path and shunned the family life for that career in a faraway place? What if like Madge I had “gone with him” — in this case “him” being the big kahuna boss? With my choice not to go, did I do something right or wrong, perfect or detrimental for my life? I will never, ever know for sure.