Mario Cuomo
Page 30
Stickball champ! “Don’t name a bridge or tunnel after me—just a remote stickball alley somewhere in Queens!” (Don Pollard)
“Is this the way they dress in Westchester, O’Shaughnessy? I want this coat! I mean I must have it!” (Don Pollard)
A personal note, one of many that I treasure—as I do his generous friendship. And Matilda’s of many years.
Mario had some fun at my expense during one of our earlier book parties. “That face, that face . . . ! I can’t stand it!” The governor always said he had a face for radio! (Whitney Media Archives)
America’s greatest orator! Mario appeared often over the years at the New York State Broadcasters’ high councils like this one back in the 1970s at the fabled old Otesaga Hotel in Cooperstown. (Don Pollard)
“Look, a Republican—no socks!” In this marvelous scene at Grossinger’s in the Catskills, Mario couldn’t resist pointing out that I was a “sockless wonder”! (Whitney Media Archives)
Leaning in to the mike to make a point. The governor appeared on WVOX and WVIP many times, during which the conversations went in directions both temporal and spiritual. (Whitney Media Archives)
After a delightful lunch (one of several) with legendary New York Post columnist (and “Page Six” founder) Neal Travis, who observed, “Look at those damn moguls watching us . . . they’d never believe we were talking about our bloody souls!”
Maestro Sirio Maccioni, ringmaster of Le Cirque, fed Presidents Reagan, Nixon, and Bush. Also many kings and potentates . . . including Frank Sinatra and Jack Kennedy. But Mario was a special favorite. “Sirio does look like John Wayne!” said the governor when they first met. (Wendy Moger-Bross)
Greeting folks on Madison Avenue. “Just remember, I’m the governor!” (Don Pollard)
The governor and Matilda commissioned a painting of a white-haired friend for a birthday celebration of some significance (7-0)! (Whitney Media Archives)
No free lunch! The governor at the prestigious Dutch Treat luncheon club. “I wanted to just do a Q&A session. But O’Shaughnessy said, ‘No—you have to pay for your lunch with a full speech!’ ”
Airborne over upstate New York during Mario’s first campaign for governor in 1982. (Or is it Kevin Spacey, who, I’ve always said, should play Mario Cuomo in the movie version of a remarkable life.) (Don Pollard)
(Left to right) The author; Matilda Cuomo; Ambassador Ogden Rogers Reid, a great First Amendment champion and our first U.S. ambassador to the infant state of Israel. He was also publisher of the Herald Tribune and a congressman; and MMC. (Wendy Moger-Bross)
The governor loved to tell pals about the time President Reagan mistook him for Lee Iacocca. Here he poses with a cardboard cutout dummy of the president at 55th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
“Now I’ve really made it!” Workers at the General Mills plant in Buffalo put the governor’s mug on the iconic Wheaties box during a visit in 1990. (Don Pollard)
MMC, deep in thought. He was always looking toward the light. (Don Pollard)