Update 6-24-03


Hi,

First letters, then trivia.  Let's keep our priorities straight.

From Neil Guberman:  OK, just because you've managed to get 250-or-so old farts talking to, or visiting each other, or even getting them all together in one place for a truly wonderful reunion doesn't mean we have to sing your praises to the great spirit!
You know, get a life.  Get out a little bit.  Travel.  See the world or even Nebraska.  This computer stuff will never really catch on anyway.  You'll never find me sending out personal info about myself, like that my band, The Love Pigs, just played their semi-annual geezer fest to a sold out hall, or that my 14-year-old daughter is entering 10th grade as #1 in her class, or that my son and his wife are in Kenya in the Peace Corps, or that my oldest daughter is raising my two grandsons in Phoenix as she continues her work as an RN in Labor & Delivery.  No, not me, even if really famous people like Barnet Kellman drop my name into one of these so-called updates.  By the way, the Guberman-Bittman act split up due to irreconcilable differences -- I was funny and Bittman wasn't!
      Anyway, just 'cause I look forward to these things and read every one of them, don't think your kind effort really is so special and outgoing.  Enuff!

From Donald Faber:  When I wrote you earlier this completely slipped my mind -- I tried Eric Hilton's recipe for Shrimp Scampi and just wanted to tell EVERYONE to try this recipe!  I know taste is a subjective matter, and I've certainly scarfed my fair share of shrimp dishes over the years both at home -- my wife is a cookbook editor and so the great perks have always been a never-ending flow of new cookbooks and a growing library of cookbooks over the years -- and also at some pretty excellent restaurants in New York City and other ports of call.  "Great, great, great,  Mr. Hilton!" cry all the Fabers, large and small.  Still, if I can make one small suggestion to the chef, it would be to rewrite the prep instructions.  They can be a little confusing, but that's not unusual for most cookbooks, says Mrs. F.  And if the other recipes match this one, Chef H., I can't imagine that you won't sell this book!  And just for the record, Falcons, the line starts behind me...

From Judy Hartstone:  How weird!  Just after reading the update about Buddy Hackett, I was channel surfing, and there was Buddy Hackett.  But not in Stanley -- it was a clip from some talk show.  Just a little synchronicity.
      Also, if anyone is going to be in the Seattle area at the end of July, Marilyn Horowitz Goldhammer is coming for a visit around then, and we could have a little mini-reunion.  So, let me know.  Or make plans to be here!
      I'm feeling depressingly old today, the actual 38th anniversary of my high school graduation (in California).  Last week, a good friend and colleague (age 56) died suddenly of a brain aneurysm.  Several friends have kids who were born the year I moved here; they're bar and bat mitzvahs.  When I got my puppy 12 years ago, we used to wait with the kindergartners at the bus stop; now they all just graduated from high school.  Time, she do march on!

From Peggy Galinger Menaker:  Jerry, I love your cousin Mark's book and have bought copies for both my daughters.  I am a freelance cooking teacher in New Jersey and New York, am involved in some professional cooking organizations, and am delighted at your connection with one of my favorite culinary authors.

From Hy Rosov:  Thanks for the update.  It is amazing how many names I remember and the faces I recollect that go along with the names (eighteen-year-old faces).  You will never grow old in my mind.

From Bernie O'Brien:  Many thanks for your note.  It was great hearing from you.  The web site with all the pics is a great idea.  Brings back so many wonderful memories.  I am a real "greenhorn" when it comes to the computer.  Our son gave us this one when he got a new one.
      Will you and your classmates be planning a 40th reunion?  I am going to the Class of '63's 40th in July.  Also, now that the computer makes it easier to "find" people, has anyone ever thought of starting an "Alumni Association" for South?  I would be glad to meet with a group if anyone is interested.
      Hope this finds you and yours well.  I'll try my best at "corresponding."  Thanks again.  My e-mail address, for all those interested, is:  ob11@optonline.net

From Barbara Blitfield Pech:  Hi there.  Please pass this along to Mark Perlman and anyone else.  If I recall correctly, just recently someone mentioned to me that the Cracker Barrel chain of restaurants stocks Sky bars at their candy counter.  And I have also seen them in the Dollar Tree chain, along with Clark bars (guess how much I spent on..."inventory" and back-stock-piles?)  Let's just say.....YUM!

A probably all-too-familiar East coast weather report, from Linda Cohen Greenseid in Long Beach:  We opened the pool, an exercise in futility.  There has been, at most, one day per week without rain, and even then, it's not very warm.  On weekends, we mostly hang around the pool or beach and entertain in the summer.  During the week, in the evenings, we go into the city for some "culcha."  We enjoy plays, music, museums, strolling ... and, all of a sudden, this sounds like an ad in the personals.

Which leads to the trivia, in the order received:

From Donald Faber:  In answer to Steve Gootzeit's trivia question regarding Life of Riley -- the original Chester Riley was played by ... Jackie Gleason (this, of course, was prior to his own show).  It's so nice to see that my childhood wasn't completely wasted.  Whoever knew such info would come in so handy 50 years later!
      By the way, for all of you attempting to survive in TV-land, did everyone know that Les Moonves of CBS-TV attended (and I believe graduated) from Valley Stream Central?  I thought someone might be able to leverage this info into something more economically satisfying than playing 6 Degrees of Separation from Jerry Bittman.  And speaking of Johnny Podres and the old Brooklyn Dodgers, our ex-classmate Roger Brown (from whom we never hear) had a cousin living on Long Island (I believe it was Bellmore, but I may be wrong) who was next door neighbor to Duke Snider -- and a very nice and accessible man he was.  The thing I remember most, however, was that Duke's son was himself not very talented as a ballplayer.

From Paul Zegler:  Hi.  Just a quickie.  I think it was Jackie Gleason who was the original Life of Riley.  Maybe not.  Anyway, be well.  My best to the rest of the greatest class to come out of South.

From Ray Staley:  Hey, Steve!  I believe it was Jackie Gleason, in 1949, and only for one season.

From me:  I was totally wrong.  I thought it was Broderick Crawford.

Finally, some thoughts from the man who started all this, Jerry Bittman:  Mind if I add a new section to the updates each week?  General Trivia, since so many liked the one on Buddy.  Anybody who wants to submit a trivia question, please do.
  OK, this week's trivia is on music.  No cheating, everyone -- promise!  What was the first record recorded by Simon and Garfunkel, and what name or names did they record under?
  Plus, some Internet humor:  A guy decides to write a book about churches.  He
is going to start on the West coast and work his way to the East coast.  About six times, he enters churches on the West coast and sees a phone in the lobby.  On the
wall above it is a sign saying Golden Phone -- $10,000 per minute.  When he gets to Tucson, he sees the same thing.  Finally, he asks the preacher about the phone, telling him he has seen it in at least six other churches.  The preacher tells him exactly what it is.  For $10,000 a minute you can have a direct line to GOD.  Well, eventually the guy gets to Kearney, Nebraska, and sees the phone.  But this time the sign says Golden Phone -- 35 cents per minute.  When he asks the preacher for an explanation, the preacher replies, "Son, you are in Nebraska now.  So it's a local call."
      Barnet Kellman, thank you for the compliment, but the funniest person I ever knew is Andy Dolich.  Even though Mr. Kaufman told me, many years later, that he, Mr. Cid, and Mr. Stevens were discussing the biggest clowns who ever attended Forest Road, and they selected me.  What a great honor.  

The home page:  http://hometown.aol.com/falcons1965a


Rich