Reflections on the Convention in Philly
It was good to attend Hillary Clinton’s convention after spending time at Donald Trump’s. When you’re at Trump’s, you can’t believe the man is a major party nominee for president of the United States. When you’re at Clinton’s, you can’t believe the woman is a major party nominee for president of the United States. But here we are.
I will say that my personal experience in Philadelphia, as in Cleveland, was pleasant. Obviously there are fewer long-time friends or acquaintances, or for that matter TWS readers, at the Democratic gathering. But I went out of my way to spend a little time last week on the floor of the convention, and people were mostly good-natured. My presence was greeted sometimes with astonishment (“What are you doing here?”), sometimes with amusement (“Having a good time?”), and sometimes with minor hostility (some glowering and grimacing).
But the good news from both conventions is that, despite everything else about 2016, the basic traditions of civility and tolerance seem to obtain among most of the politically engaged types who become delegates to, or who volunteer at or choose to attend, the conventions. This brought home to me that, for all the legitimate criticism one can level at our “political class,” its members deserve better than the presidential candidates we’ve produced this year. You can see that by considering Mike Pence and Tim Kaine, two fairly representative, successful members of the political class, who are manifestly superior in character and qualification to their running mates. Obviously and unfortunately, they’re the vice-presidential candidates.
All of this is perhaps one piece of evidence for the (relative) optimism expressed in my editorial this week, “We’ll Survive.” And I do think the project of rebuilding and renewal that I sketch will be an invigorating one for all of us involved in American political life, especially on the conservative side. If I may quote myself:
This project of rebuilding and renewal is one to which I trust and expect The Weekly Standard will contribute in significant ways–certainly after Election Day, but even beginning this fall.
Which reminds me of our post-Election Cruise. I’ve changed its focus not to be on the election–who will really want to look back on that?–and more to where we go from here (which of course means learning some lessons from this past year). In any case, details on our December Caribbean cruise are here. There will be a fine cast of speakers, including Mary Katharine Ham, Mollie Hemingway, Matt Continetti and Kirsten Powers, as well as the terrific cartoonist Michael Ramirez, and of course TWS regulars like Fred Barnes, Steve Hayes, Jonathan Last, Mark Hemingway, Mike Warren, John McCormack, and me.
The cruise will be taking place at an interesting moment, to say the least. When we depart Ft. Lauderdale on December 4, the battle for the White House will have been decided, but a new era requiring fresh thinking and acting will be just beginning. I do hope you can join us in this endeavor. For more information, and to register, go to weeklystandardcruise.com.
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Meanwhile, a word about the city of Philadelphia, as opposed to the Democratic convention that happened to be held there. Susan and I taught at the University of Pennsylvania 35 (!) years ago, and we have fond memories–the memories one has when one was footloose and fancy free, pre-kids, with no real money to speak of but where all one’s income was disposable income.
Some of the fondest memories involve going out for relatively cheap Italian meals in South Philadelphia. We and our friends had two favorite restaurants. One was called Cous’ Little Italy, at 11th and Christian. It closed just after we moved from Philadelphia to Boston, in 1983. You can get a sense of what it was like from the Philadelphia Daily News obit of the chef, “Cous”, in October 1986.
Vincent “Cous”‘ Pilla Sr., a Runyonesque character whose Italian cuisine and quick wit made his South Philadelphia restaurant a favorite stop for movie actors, mob bosses and Mom and Dad, died Wednesday. He was 58 and lived in South Philadelphia.
A chef for more than 40 years, Cous worked at and operated a number of restaurants. His most famous eatery was Cous’ Little Italy at 11th and Christian streets.
Philadelphia organized crime boss Angelo Bruno had his last meal there before he was murdered the night of March 21, 1980….
The talented and gregarious Pilla was known throughout Philadelphia for his Italian specialties, which included chicken Neopolitan, sausage Genovese, shrimp scampi and an array of delicate combinations with veal.
His pleasure didn’t end with the cooking. He loved to watch his customers and friends eat and enjoy. Often he would pull up a chair and tell jokes….
In a July 27, 1986, Inquirer magazine article by Mary Walton, Cous recalled:
“I got the name ‘Cous’ from 7th and Washington Avenue where we hung out on the corner as little boys, the Sunshine Playground. And while I’m in there, my name was Pilla and the toughest kid in the gang was named Pilla too. And he didn’t know my first name, and I didn’t know his, but he told them to leave me go, ‘He’s my cousin.’
“From then on in, it was ‘Cous.’ Eighty-five percent of the people you stop will not know that my name is Vincent. My mom, when she died, called me Cous.”
Pilla dropped out of school in the ninth grade and joined the Merchant Marine at 16, the Army at 18 and married the former Anna Amato at 19.
After the Army, he went to work as a soda jerk in his aunt’s restaurant. He remembered for reporter Walton the night behind the grill that changed his life:
“Once there was a black fellow by the name of Scotty. I was on night work, and he comes in, and he said, ‘Can I have two eggs?’ At night we didn’t do anything like that, so I says, ‘Yeah, sure Scotty.’ I always felt a little sorry for him.
“So I scrambled him three eggs. To me, an omelet always called for three eggs. I put salt and a little grated cheese in there, and I mixed them, and I scrambled them on the grill and made him a flopover omelet.
“He went to eat. He says, ‘I ain’t never tasted anything like this in my life.’ This was the turning point in my life. This was satisfaction.”
A lot of people loved the Cous touch and would trek to a restaurant to eat his cooking whether it was his place or another place where he was working.
Customers included actor Sylvester Stallone and ex-Eagles coach Dick Vermeil. City Councilwoman Joan Specter invited him to teach a class at her cooking school. The “boys” also came to eat.
Of course, this attracted the people who follow and keep tabs on the ”boys.” As Daily News columnist Larry Fields pointed out once, “Cous’ only crime is making the best pasta in town.”
I remember reading about Angelo Bruno being gunned down, and (as I recall), after that trips to Cous’ always had a little special frisson of excitement. But as lowly assistant professors at Penn we didn’t rate the ultimate tribute: being seated at the table at which Mr. Bruno enjoyed his last meal.
Our other favorite in those days–more for pizza, while Cous’ was for pasta–was a place named Marra’s, at 1734 E. Passyunk, which, I was glad to discover, is still going strong. (Read about it on Trip Advisor here). Founded in 1927, Marra’s is now, it proclaims on its menu, in its fourth generation as a family-owned and operated restaurant. A few of us went for lunch Tuesday. I mentioned to the woman who seated us that my wife and I had been there many times over 30 years ago, and asked her whether the ownership and food were the same. She responded cheerfully, “Sure, honey. Nothing’s changed here.”
So far as I could tell, she was right: There were the same old-school Italian dishes, pizza and subs at reasonable prices. South Philly seemed little changed too. It was always a very safe part of town (unless you happened to get caught in mob crossfire). Indeed, when we parked on the street near the restaurant Tuesday, we were so caught up (well, I was so caught up) in the excitement of returning to Marra’s that I forgot to close the sliding door of our van. It was wide open for the entire time we were there, with a couple of bags with laptops inside. Needless to say, all were untouched when we emerged from our lunch. Potential thieves probably figured that if we were confident enough to have left the door open, we must be major figures in the underworld, and that we weren’t to be messed with. As Hillary Clinton said in her acceptance speech and to her credit she did not misattribute this to Alexis de Tocqueville, a pet peeve of The Weekly Standard, “America is great because America is good.”
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Onward!
Bill Kristol
