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Larry and Steve Crandell
Presentation to the SB Council for Self-Esteem - 01/18/08

When I called Larry to tell him the SB Council for Self-Esteem had selected him as one of our four presenters for the year, he said, “Betty, I just have two questions, number one, “Can I be the first speaker?” and number two, “What took your group so long to invite me?”  Larry’s selection was long overdue and we will make that up to him.  There could not have been a better year for him to speak. 

We were delighted Larry said “yes” and to have him be first.   Since 1989 when our Council was formed, I have never had a speaker so excited about his presentation and now I know why.  Larry presented with one of his sons, Steve Crandell.  Steve is a younger and taller version of Larry who has recently written a terrific book about the life of his father called Silver Tongue, Secrets of Mr. Santa Barbara.  It is a beautifully written story filled with love, laughter and delightful, true stories.

The presentation was a loving performance between father and son.  Steve, who said “we can understand our parents better after we have children of our own,” read a touching introduction of Larry from the cover of Silver Tongue.  “Larry grew up poor and virtually fatherless in the Great Depression, was awarded a Purple Heart in World War II…and found his true calling during four decades as a community leader and preeminent emcee in Santa Barbara”… It has been estimated that Larry has raised over $200 million for Santa Barbara charities.

Larry is quick-witted, charming and hysterically funny.  He even began by doing one of his fund raising techniques for us.  He suggested the audience sing a fund raising song he and his sons had written called “Raisin’ Money.”  At the end Larry suggested, with a twinkle in his eye, that perhaps someone might want to donate a couple of hundred dollars so we would not have to sing it again!

The Crandell team played back and forth with Larry telling the jokes on himself and Steve explaining Larry’s self-esteem and making self-esteem suggestions. One was: when we look in the mirror, rather than seeing ourselves as ugly or fat, to look deep in our eyes and see the love we all share within.  Steve said, because of the love Larry found within, he was able to go from “Mr. Nobody in Newark to Mr. Santa Barbara.”

Larry was born in 1923.  His mother was the one who took care of the three boys and made the money to house and feed the family.  The boys walked a mile to school each day taking turns holding their mother’s hand.  She was proud of her boys and they adored her.

During one of the team switches (Larry to Steve), Larry joked, “Now Steve will tell you boring stories and I’ll come right back with a sparkling one.”  Steve’s story this time was the correlation between self-esteem and love.  Self-esteem begins with one’s love and appreciation for one’s self and that esteem grows when it is shared with others.  Steve’s diagram of Larry’s self-esteem starts with thinking positively, which brings a smile; then the smile becomes appreciation and it grows into shared joy, affection and love.

In 1935 Larry was lacking in self-confidence being poor in sports and an ill father who could not teach him.   He also called this his “homely period” describing himself as tall, skinny, awkward and pimply faced.  He claimed to be a very boring boy.  Then he was asked to give his first speech.  It was for the YMCA, where he and his brothers went after school, to stay off the streets. 

He was very frightened seeing all the people in front of him but he made his speech anyway.   Larry doesn’t recall what he said but he remembers clearly the applause he received from the audience, how good it felt and thinking that speaking must be what he was to do in his life!  He learned another lesson after his presentation—by doing what he feared, he raised his self-esteem.

The audience was warned about saying: “I’ll never forgive myself.”  What works is to forgive ourselves of everything and then forgive others as well.  We cannot love until we forgive nor can we connect with others unless we begin by acknowledging them with greetings, smiles, sincere compliments or a wave of gratitude.

Steve told a precious story about his son, who has had a disease from birth that affects his motor function and balance.  He was not expected to walk but surprised his parents when one day he walked holding on to his push cart!  Steve and his wife were so pleased, they began to praise their son with “at a boys” and cheers.  The child, who could not yet talk, looked over his shoulder and gave his parents a wave of gratitude!  He had already learned the value and importance of acknowledging others!

Larry has adopted ways to find out and understand the dreams of others.  That is, “he can appreciate who they are trying to be.”  Many of us are striving to become and continue this process throughout our lives.  Larry makes a point of appreciating not only who others appear to be but also who they wish to become. 

When discussing the importance of timing, Larry spoke of his participation in County Bank saying his timing was “exquisitely bad.”  He often uses self deprecation when telling stories and makes his audiences roar with laughter.  Larry said he failed in the County Bank venture because he is “long on words and short on brains!  He also shared an interesting topic regarding money.  When trying to understand the difference between a million and a billion, he explained if dollars were seconds, it would take 12 days to reach a million.  If we were counting a billion, it would take 32 years!    I imagine he has raised the self-esteem of millions and created a billion laughs by now in his almost 85 years.   

So we had just one question to ask Larry; will you be the first presenter for the Santa Barbara Council for Self-Esteem in January of 2023? 

PS We are very appreciative for the generosity of the Crandells on 01/18/08 for their donation of all the presentation sales of Silver Tongue,  Secrets of Mr. Santa Barbara by Steven Crandell.  Our donations, which enable us to hold the self-esteem presentations, were more than than tripled that day! 

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