My Father and the Man in Black2012

Saul Holiff:
The situation was that Johnny was on the floor of the motor home totally unconscious. No one could pick up any pulse whatsoever. For all intents and purposes, HE WAS DEAD. Harold Reid had his ear on Cash's chest saying, "I can't hear anything." Another member of the group is saying, "I wonder where he hid the pills;" another is saying, "I'm not going to cross the border, because WE'LL ALL GO TO JAIL." Another is saying, "Wellesley Hospital is right around the corner, why don't we take him there?" It is about ten o'clock. It is snowing by now. The fact is we REALLY didn't know just how ill he was. Do we put him in a hospital in Toronto and cancel the Rochester show and risk physical threats to ourselves? Do we risk the possibility that Customs will search the motor home and find the pills? What really do we do? As far as Barbara and myself, we were concerned about the baby. And, most of all, we were concerned about whether Johnny was going to make it. The decision finally, was go. Go to Rochester and see what would happen. I changed my reservation from the hotel we were supposed to stay at to another one, so the promoter would not know where we were staying, arranged for someone to look after the baby. We made it to Rochester at about 2:30 in the afternoon. We drove down to the Rochester Memorial Auditorium. And this is what we saw: Johnny had REVIVED, was FULL of energy, had made an extraordinary recovery, and he went out, and he did two CLEAR-HEADED, SENSATIONAL, SOLD-OUT SHOWS. I think we even got an honest count from the promoter that night. [Original Source: Saul Holiff Audio Diary 1966]