THE GUARDIAN, NEW YORK
Thursday, Aug 24, 2006, Page 6
from the Taipei Times
New York's oldest bartender learned early in his career not to be over-awed in the presence of celebrity.
Fast beginning, using what is called "cataphora"; that is, referring to someone or something before it has been identified. "New York's oldest bartender" has not been identified yet, so it adds suspense to the profile, like beginning a crime story: "He was walking behind me. I could hear his footsteps, pat, pat, pat, on the cement pavement. . . ." Note the catchy opening sentence, concluding on the word "celebrity." Also the adverb, "early," clues us that this person has lived long. Then the writer uses only a snatch (bit) of a quote, filling it out with indirect quotation:
Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were "just regular people," and never gave him any trouble; Judy Garland was "sad," and sat in the corner drinking whisky, but was otherwise pleasant. John Lennon liked a scotch. And Marilyn Monroe?
A dramatic rhetorical question introduces the first complete quote and the identification of the profile subject, Hoy Wang. Notice how the writer economically combines desription ("leaning forward at a table") and identification of setting ("at the Algonquin Hotel"). "I'll tell you this" nicely sums up this person's manner of speaking, by selecting a colorful phrase.
"I'll tell you this about Marilyn," Hoy Wong said on Tuesday, leaning forward at a table in the bar of the Algonquin Hotel. "She always wore really low-cut dresses."
Now more description follows, including important background:
Mr Hoy, as he is universally known, turned 90 yesterday, and last night his colleagues in midtown Manhattan, were preparing to throw a party for him, along with 350 friends and customers.
After 58 years behind the bar, pouring some 750,000 drinks, the Hong Kong-born Hoy was enjoying the attention. Antithesis ("but") allows for a good transition between one idea and the next: But he had no plans to get drunk: He has not had a drink since a heart attack in 1982.
Note the order: from present, back to past (1940), then forward again to present. This is fairly typical of profile writing. Note how the writer surely summarized a lot of profile interview answers in a short narrative paragraph. Otherwise the profile would be too long. But this takes work. The writer finds how certain material connects together and then arranges that material, finally finding the best way to present it, either amplifying or condensing ideas in it. Here the writer has chosen to condense ideas and facts:
After coming to the US in 1940, Hoy served in the army for three years, seeing out the end of World War II in India and China, and learning, from his experiences as a mess sergeant, that he would not relish a career as a cook.
Once again, a good transition device, linking cooking to the next subject, bartending. Then we get a selective use of dialogue. Note how the writer selects colorful idiomatic expressions for his direct quotes: "easy living"; "good money."
"Being a bartender, it's easy living, and you get to talk to people every day, pay attention to the customer," he said. "And it's good money."
Now we go to the past again. Every writer must choose the best order for the material. In a massive (big) biography, probably a strict chronology would be better. But in a short work, like this profile, an alternation of present and past events allows for a more colorful order to the material and easier transitions to dialogue. I the dialogue quoted at the end of this next paragraph, once again only two words are chosen, while the rest is in indirect discourse. The point is: there must be a PURPOSE to every scrap (bit) of dialogue. In fact, there must be a purpose to every single word, though sometimes only the writer knows it for sure.
Hoy met most of his star customers while at Freeman Chum, a Chinese restaurant that has long since closed. At another bar job, in 1961, he took an order from the Duke of Windsor, for a House of Lords gin martini "on toast."
Next paragraph shows an interesting detail in the person's life. Once again, the principle of selection is important. The writer doesn't just write anything; it must be colorful, significant, odd, unusual, funny, bizarre, offensive, vulgar, silly, whatever. At the same time, this little tidbit of information shows that this bartender already was more experienced than his peers:
The request baffled other staff, one of whom was ready to get the kitchen to prepare some toast. But Hoy knew he wanted a Martini with a lemon-peel spritz, set on fire. The former king ended up ordering two.
Now we get a little background on the famous hotel, the Algonquin, which doesn't really add to the profile; yet readers who know the Algonquin's history might ask if this person knew the hotel at its peak glory years. In other words, good writers ANSWER questions the average reader might ASK. One might almost define good writing as a good dialogue between a real writer (YOU) and an imaginary reader.
Hoy moved to the Algonquin in 1979. The wisecracking members of the 1920s Algonquin round table -- Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley and others -- had long since moved on. But they had been replaced by other high-profile customers such as Anthony Quinn and Henry Kissinger.
Then we get concluding dialgoue for this very simple profile. It's not much, but it shows what can be done with little material to go on, if its well organized. The writer returns to the beginning, with the subject of age and retirement. This oldest bartender in New York is "not going to retire." We get a cause-effect reason and then funny final dialogue about paying his taxes, which concludes on the same motif with which it began: bartending. Again, the one thing missing here is some description of the person, so one doesn't really see this person as well as one should. Otherwise, it's a good model for a profile, especially since it's short enough to be studied in a few minutes, even with my commentary.
"I'm not going to retire," Hoy said. "As long as I'm healthy like this, I'll keep going. You know why? I figured it out. President Bush -- he needs the money. So I've got to keep working to pay the tax."
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