The Louis Armstrong Story

In 1996 I worked with a German woman who was in her mid-60s. Her name was Maren and she was super sweet and I loved leaning over the coats to chat with her. Maren told me that as a teenager in Germany, she worked at a highfalutin Chocolate House and that one day a group of black men came into the shop. Having never seen a black person in her life, Maren was slightly frightened, as is a normal human reaction to the unknown. She ducked into the back room and told her boss about the strange men in the store. He peeked out and saw them. He immediately directed Maren to get out there and give them the best possible service, for those men were Louis Armstrong and his band. They were performing in town that very night! Now Maren was really scared. She, in her best English, spoke with shaky hands to Louis Armstrong who asked her to put together a five pound box of chocolates and wrap them as a gift. Maren painstakingly selected the chocolates, arranged them delicately in the box, and wrapped them to perfection. He then asked for a one pound box of the house's finest chocolates and to wrap that box with specific care. She did so, rang him up and as Mr. Armstrong turned to leave, he passed the one pound box back to Maren as a token of his appreciation for her service. "Well, I will tell you," Maren began, "I went right down to the record shop on my lunch break and bought every Louis Armstrong album they had and I've been a fan ever since. He was a lovely, lovely man!" Top that story, kids. I double dog dare ya.

(photo kidnapped from imdb)