Al Smith drew the intellectual Moses into his tavern-barbershop circle

Evidence

For Moses, during 1921 and 1922, the invitations came more and more often. If, after dinner, old cronies from the Neighborhood would drop by and take Smith out to the local taverns for a drink and a song or two around the back-room piano, Smith always insisted that Moses come along. In fact, discovering that Moses had a passable bass to go with his tenor, he insisted that Moses be a part of whatever quartet was hastily arranged for the evening’s barbershopping, and when Moses tried to beg off, Smith would drag him out of his seat and make him stand beside him and harmonize. — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 574

Categorization

• SEED: The image of the aloof intellectual Moses being physically dragged to sing barbershop harmony is a vivid character-study vignette — the future ‘Power Broker’ learning to harmonize at the knee of the machine man. Could anchor a piece on how mentors humanize proteges.