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Cab & Gondola. At 60, Russian-born Louis Schweitzer sits atop a colorful legend, built by spending his money both wisely and well. He married Broadway Actress Lucille Lortel in 1931, gave her off-Broadway's Theater de Lys for a 24th anniversary present ( The Threepenny Opera has been running there since 1955); earlier he had built the White Barn Theater in Westport, Conn. To help himself and his wife get around the city, he bought a Mercedes-Benz 190, had it equipped with a meter and a rooftop light, coughed up another $17,000 for a hackie's license and medallion. Then he hired a driver who ferries the Schweitzers around and spends the rest of his time hacking on his own (he and the boss split the fares fifty-fifty, giving the cabbie 5% more than he would ordinarily get). The driver, whose name was noticed by a Schweitzer employee on her way to work, is also Louis Schweitzer.
In Venice, a gondolier named Bruno is as happy as the New York cabbie; Schweitzer owns his gondola. A Manhattan barber was full of apologies one evening a year ago when his bald client asked to have his fringe trimmed at 6 p.m. The union would not allow the barber to stay that late. Schweitzer now owns the barbershop in the Chrysler Building, where the barber ("He's also my psychiatrist, the only man I tell my troubles to") is now a full operating partner, hence free from union regulations.
Massive, jowly, with an agreeable appearance that could help him pass for Mr. Clean's father, Schweitzer is playfully vain. Asked for his picture, he supplies one of himself at the age of one year (see cut), says: "I was bald then and I'm bald now." His dome will be familiar around WBAI for only one month, and then he will leave the station entirely to Pacifica. "I have to keep a free hand," he said last week, "so I can do new things."