In 1952 I was 7 years old, and the largest (2736 seats) ) and most popular movie house in my hometown (Bayonne, New Jersey) was the DeWitt Theater. Here is how it looked in that summer of 1952:
Inside was a friend of his, a young girl also my age. Juan asked me to drop my pants and underwear. Now I have to tell you, I was neither embarrassed nor did I feel that something bad was going to happen because I trusted Juan. I recall thinking this was some kind of game and so down went my pants and underwear.
Now that the Democrats have lost Ted Kennedy's seat and vote in the Senate, they will need to figure out how to ram the HealthCare Bill down our throats using even more secret meetings and backroom deals.
When I moved from New York City at age 7 (1952) to Bayonne, New Jersey, I was supposed to go into the second grade. Sadly, the first grade in New York City schools at that time did not cover spelling or even the alphabet. It seems the school administrators in Bayonne knew this because they asked me to spell apple.
When I was fourteen years old (1959) I used to hang around in the Village spending most of my nights explaining the origins of the Universe to a small crowd who would gather at the Cafe Wha? to hear me. I vaguely recall my lectures, basically rehashing theories I read in physics books and embellishing those with my imagination at the time. What I do remember quite clearly is that almost every week some listener would ask me if I had read "The Fountainhead."
I went to Catholic school for the fourth grade and it was then that I made my Communion (yes I am an atheist Jew who made Communion). I tried to get out of it by reminding my teacher, Sister Melody, that I was Jewish; I still had to go, according to her, "Don't worry - it's good for you." Earlier in the year I tried the same tactic to get out of Catechism classes and attending mass.
It was 1955 and I was 10 years old when I first saw him come into my father's ladies' shop with his smudged shoeshine box filled with a half dozen assorted cans of polish...
If it said "Made in Japan" it was junk.
Buses were a nickel and you could pay in pennies.
People picked up pennies in the street.
All the dimes and quarters in your pocket were 90% silver.
When I was 12 we acquired an albino German Shepherd puppy, a breed known to be superb animals as to obedience training, however, as we were later to learn,
Here I am at 19 (1964) - had I any acting talent and a great amount of luck I might have been a hollywood heart throb. My son went on myheritage.com and got this widget to amuse me.
