"Could you ask Peter to call Conrad?

“Can you introduce me to Conrad Black?” I asked Peter Bronfman.

That’s how I landed up in a speedboat rolling up and down in the dirty Thames

heading from London for the Canary Islands and an interview with Conrad Black.

The interview started with a phone call to Peter Bronfman.

Peter Bronfman had become a friend.

He was a beautiful soul who suffered from one thing:

He had been born a Bronfman, one of the richest families in Canada in times past.

(That’s when being a multi-millionaire family meant you were at the top of the heap!)

But he didn’t fit into that money world.

He had a sensitive artistic soul, who played the cello and had a delightful art collection

strewn throughout his Toronto offices.

The Bronfman brothers, Peter and Edward Bronfman, sons of Gerald Bronfman, had been thrown out of

The succession of Seagram’s in Montreal when the eldest brother, Sam Bronfman, wanted only one successor: His son, Edgar Bronfman Sr.

That's how Peter landed up in Toronto and used his 20 million "get lost" pay off to start his own "Empire"

I met Peter at a cocktail party and he gravitated to me because I was a kindred spirit:

I wrote a column for the Report on Business in Globe and Mail, and I had a music background.

One day, chatting with Peter in his office, the conversation turned to Conrad Black.

It hit me that Peter Bronfman and Conrad Black were like two kids playing in a tree house. So out of the blue I blurted. “Could you introduce me to Conrad Black? I would like to interview him!”

The next day I was on the phone to Conrad Black.

The moment I heard the operator answer the call, I knew what I was in for.

The operator articulated EVERY SYLLABLE of the company’s name

(I am sure they hired an Oxford graduate for the job!)

A R G U S CORPORATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“I’d like to speak to Conrad Black."

(I was about to ask to speak to “Conrad” but a little voice cautioned me against that!)

“W H O M SHALL I SAY IS CALLING”

“Claire Bernstein. Peter Bronfman said I should call Conrad Black.”

“I’ll GIVE YOU HIS S E C R E T A R Y. O N E M O M E N T”

Conrad Black’s secretary came on the line.

“Y E S?”

I repeated my shpiel.

“I’LL SEE WHETHER MR. BLACK IS FREE. O N E M O M E N T”

A long moment.

She came back.

“MR BLACK WOULD LIKE YOU TO WRITE HIM A LETTER.”

I almost blurted out. “I NEVER write letters!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Instead, I said I would get back to her,

I immediately phoned Peter’s secretary , told her what had happened,

And asked her “Could you ask Peter to call Conrad.”

Two days later I was back on the phone with Conrad Black’s secretary.

Her voice sounded less than enthusiastic.

“Yes, Mr. Black will see you.”

“I’m available tomorrow”

“Tomorrow Mr. Black will be in Florida for the week”

“Then I am free to see him next week.”

“Next week, Mr Black will be in London…:

And then she ended the sentence on a TRIUMPHANT HIGH.

“MR. BLACK CAN SEE YOU IN LONDON!!!!!!!!!!”

It took a a nano second for me to come to the conclusion

“Why am I doing all this anyway if it's not for the sheer fun of it – let alone the ridiculousness of it all!”

And this time I WAS THE ONE WHO WAS TRIUMPHANT.

“As a matter of fact, I’m going to be in London at that time!

I will be delighted to interview Mr. Black in London!!!!!!!!!!!”

The secretary’s voiced dropped down to the bottom of the elevator shaft.

In a beaten voice she replied woefully,

“I will have Mr. Black’s London secretary call you with the appointment.”

Next week I was on my way on that speedboat from London to the Canary Islands

On the filthy waters of the Thames!!

POSTSCRIPT

A day before the Conrad Black interview, I was having lunch in London with the top columnist of the Report on Business.

He couldn’t get over the fact that I was going the next day to an interview with Conrad Black.

“How did you swing it? I’ve been trying for the past three weeks to get an interview with him but without any success!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

My faithful inner voice gave me instructions: "Keep your mouth shut!"