Ever heard
of a “Clutter Angel”? Well neither have
I, but I’m inclined to believe that there is such a being. In our lives we all
have clutter to some extent … some more than others. Unlike our “Guardian Angel” who protects us
from harm, the Clutter Angel prevents us from disposing of stuff that may be of
value at some far distant future time … in my case nearly 50 years. Of course the Clutter Angel may also be our
Guardian Angel.
I’ll take
you back to 1994. As many of you may know
I’ve been involved with motion picture production since 1960 and have garnered
a substantial volume of checks for Ads and film roles I’ve had the good fortune
of contracting. Besides session fees, I
routinely get residuals in the mail for reruns and foreign distributions. My Clutter Angel “insisted” that I keep all
my check stubs. I did and I still do. My wife, Gloria, once challenged my logic,
asking “Do you really think you’ll ever need all this old stuff?” I would simply respond with “You never can
tell.” My Clutter Angel was probably
pulling my “puppet strings” or maybe it was just intuition, but who can say
that our “Clutter Angel” is NOT what we call intuition?. Now don’t misunderstand. Gloria also has a Clutter Angel but not for
business records. She keeps every
greeting card, letter, McDonald Happy Meal toy, report card, etc, etc. But I dare not challenge her rationale. Very often when she runs across one of these
treasures, she swells with emotion. Why
would I throw cold water on such moments?
OK, getting
back to the 1994 story….. I failed to mention that I had set up a Lotus 1.2.3 spreadsheet
back in the early 80s to log all of my SAG (Screen Actors Guild) earnings. I had learned in 1994 that with 10 years of
qualifying earnings credits I would be able to take SAG retirement. Wow!
So I decided
to make a call to SAG. I was connected
to a Ms Lynn Hamm, a very nice and helpful lady, who confirmed that 10 years of
qualifying earnings does indeed allow an actor to take a SAG retirement. Also SAG sends an earnings statement
annually indicating whether or not that particular year was a qualifying
year. Having gone through all of my
earnings statements I had found that I had 9 years of credit. Lynn checked her records and agreed. She did admit, however, that often the SAG
office makes mistakes. Realizing the
likelihood that I had not kept all of my check stubs since 1960, she nonetheless asked if I might just happen
to have my old check stubs just in case I might have failed to make Lotus entries
on any. When I said “Yes, I do have them”, she
responded “I mean ALL going back to 1960.”
I again said “Yes.” There was a
slight pause, then she said “REALLY? ALL
OF THEM?” I said “Yes, all of
them.” She said I was the first actor
she had ever dealt with having kept nearly 40 years of film earnings records.
She asked if
I would mind bundling them and sending them to her so she could check them
against her records. She suggested that
I first copy them since she would need the originals. I agreed and within the week I had sent them to
her via UPS.
It was about
a month after that that I received a call back from her. She said “Jerry, you actually have 11 credit
years, not 9.” I was elated and asked
“Then does this mean I can take retirement now?” She said “Very definitely. It makes no sense NOT taking it since there
are no penalties. And your earnings
credits will continue to grow as long as you continue to work in union films.” Thank you,
Clutter Angel.
My Angel was
on a roll now. A year after my SAG
retirement commenced I attended a voluntary meeting at the Catholic Life Center
where I was working at the time. The
subject of the meeting was “Social Security Retirement”. In
this session a very nice lady named Betty from the Baton Rouge Social Security office
that was then located on Donmoor Ave introduced
herself and proceeded to enlighten all of us about the latest provisions
offered to prospective SS retirees. She
also provided forms we could complete to receive information about our own SS
status. About a week after this meeting
I received a call from Betty (did I mention that she was also drop-dead
gorgeous?). Anyhow, she asked if I could
visit her in her office on Donmoor Ave.
Hmmm. What was this all
about? I agreed and at the appointed date and time I kept
the appointment.
I was not
pleased with what she revealed. She had
processed my request form and said there was a problem. Jeez!
What kind of problem? Having
succeeded a year prior in getting my SAG retirement, was my Clutter Angel now
letting me down? What could be the
problem with my Social Security?
She said “Mr.
Leggio our records show that your earnings go back to 1951. Is this true?” It was true.
And she continued “Have you ever worked in Michigan or with an employer
whose home office was in Michigan?” I
responded “I’m not sure. Can you give me
a company name?” She gave a name which I
had never heard of and told her so. So
she decided to get to the crux of the problem.
She said “Your SS number was apparently assigned (erroneously) to a
gentleman back in 1967 who came under the care of the U.S. Marshall
Service.” SAY WHAT!!?? From
my casual knowledge of the Marshall Service, I had to ask: “Am I to presume that this gentleman’s
identity was changed and he and his family was secretly relocated because he
may have been a mob informant, turning state’s evidence against a mod boss or
something to that effect?” She said “I
don’t have any information other than what I’ve told you.” To which I responded: “Then having my same SS number, wouldn’t that put me at risk?” She reminded me that this assignment happened
nearly 20 years earlier. She said that,
based on his birth record, if he is still living today, he’d be about 96 years
old. She continued: “Mr Leggio, in order for us to reconcile this
issue is to review your tax records going back to 1951 and since that is not
possible ….. “, but I interrupted with “I’ve got them.” Almost identical to my SAG experience she
said: “We would need ALL your W2s going back to 1951.” Again I said “I have them.” A pause, then from her: “ALL? You have ALL your tax records going back to
1951?” I said "ALL". Her jaw dropped.
Anyway I
agreed to bring them into her office.
The following evening I went to our warehouse and pulled out 4 banker
boxes filled with all of my tax records going back to 1951. I loaded them into my car along with my
2-wheel dolly and carted them over to the Donmoor SS office. I asked the receptionist if she would mind
summoning Betty (her last name eludes me).
Betty came out to the lobby, saw me and said “And these are really ALL
your tax records?” I said yes and she
immediately asked the receptionist to tell the staff to come look. About 10 staffers appeared and she said to
them “Mr Leggio has kept all of his taxes records going back to 1951.” In unison the entire group expressed their
amazement.
Betty said
she would take good care of them. She
would have to go through them to reconcile against my “mob twin.” She would get back to me within 2 or 3 weeks.
True to her
word she got back to me within the 3 week period and asked if I would come to
her office. I did and she said that Mr
mob twin had actually worked about a year since his Marshal relocation
back in 1967. She said that those
earnings would be credited to my account.
I asked if his earnings during that year were substantial. She said “Afraid not, but you will still get
the credit.”
Well, so far
I am still upright and above ground, so I’ll refrain from looking over my
shoulder ….. unless of course someone reads this blog piece and gets some
ideas. Hmmm.
Oh, I almost
forgot. Betty asked that I please
retrieve my tax records. I told her I
probably would not ever need them again, but she politely said that her office
could neither keep them nor dispose of them.
So, back to our warehouse they went and where they rest today.
