I came across a note I had jotted down a year ago on shyness, a condition with which I have great empathy. Steve Allen, the comedian, author, composer and Emmy-award winning TV host (d. 10/21/00), was far more comfortable performing on stage than he was off stage in a social gathering. When he and Jane [Meadows – his wife] went to a gathering, he would either go to the piano or to a bookcase and sit down and read. When they met, they were both part of a larger gathering in a restaurant I think it was. Jayne and he were sitting next to each other. During the evening he said not one word to her. As the evening concluded, she said, ‘You are either one of two things. Either you are the rudest man I have ever known or the shyest.’ He turned beat red and then suggested to Audrey (Meadows -- Jayne’s sister) that they go to another restaurant for a concluding dessert ‘and bring your sister with you.’”