NPR 12-10:As First Dates Go, This One Was a Doozy 我和她不寻常的初次约

Sigmund and Bonnie Stahl's first date wasn't that unusual — a night out at the movies. But what they saw was ... a bit different.

This is Dave Essay, creator of StoryCorps, the project that records the stories of everyday Americans. StoryCorps airs each Friday on NPR's morning edition. Support for StoryCorps comes from AT&T, proudly bringing StoryCorps listeners of America's past, present and future. The new AT&T, your world delivered.

Welcome to the storycorps podcast, I'm Michael Graffiler ,a producer here at storycorp. In this episode 1, one family story that they never get tired of telling. Sigmund Stahl met Bonnie N. on a blind date. It was the early 70s in New York city, and Stahl was a college professor at the time. Here he tells his grandaughter about that first meeting.

The colleague of mine in my department decided 2 that he was gonna fix me up. He had a list of I don't know how many people, and he would ask me every week, 'Did you call anybody — did you?' I would say no because I wasn't particularly interested.

And I had to get him off my back really, so I said, okay, who's the No.1? I'll call that person. I decided we gonna have a drink and if i dont like it, I'm gonna say 'I have to go home", that'll be the end of it.

So we met and we sat down and we talked and I said to her, 'What would you like to do now if you could — anything you want.' And she said, 'Well, I'd go to an island in the Pacific somewhere where it's nice and sunny.' it was winter.

And I said, 'That we can't do. That's a little difficult.'

So she said, I'd like to go see a movie.

I said, that's reasonable.What's the name of the movie?

She said that did you hear of a movie called Deep Throat?

And I said no, never heard of it. I don't go to movies so I knew nothing. She looks like a respectable 3 and she was a very well known public relations expert, well, must be a respectable movie for the line around the block .

It was a porno 4 — it was the biggest porno of its time. I didn't have the guts 5 to say, 'Let's go.' I was going to sit through that come hell or high water. And then we left and I took her home.

I went back to my apartment in the Village. I thought about... what gall 6 of this woman. She doesn't know me from Adam — and take me to a movie like that. I wouldn't go to that movie if I'd known what it was if they'd paid me for it.

And then I thought, she has that chutzpa, that gall. I'll call her again.

And my granddaughter still laughs about it, that She probably heard that story for million times.

Sigmund Stahl with his granddaughter Elizabeth D, in New York city. That awkward 7 first date led to a marriage for Sigmund and Bonnie, when they lasted over 30 years untill Bonnie passed away in 2005.

You can read more of these stories in the new Storycorps book, listening is an act of love,available now in your local book store. Also look for the companion CD featuring 20 stories recorded all cross the country. Major support for Storycorps is provided by AT&T and by the corporation for public broadcasting. This Storycorps archives is housed at the America Folklife center at the library of congress.

Tune 8 into storycorps broadcast Tuesday on NPR's news and notes and Friday's on NPR's morning edition. I'm Michael Graffiler . Thanks for listening.