by Arlene Alda
They are also known for their memorial murals, dedicated to young victims of violence.
Tats Cru has been part of the artists-in-residence program at MIT and has traveled and lectured all over the world, including England, France, China, Ireland, Italy, and Germany.
Their studio is in the Hunts Point section of the South Bronx.
Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist, science communicator, director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space in New York City, and a research associate in the department of astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History. He also has hosted the PBS television series Nova and the current Fox series Cosmos.
Dr. Tyson majored in physics at Harvard University but was active in wrestling and rowing as well as various dance styles, including jazz, ballet, Afro-Caribbean, and ballroom. He did his graduate work at the University of Texas at Austin, getting a master of arts in astronomy in 1983. Dr. Tyson attended Columbia University and earned a master of philosophy degree in astrophysics in 1989 and a doctor of philosophy degree in astrophysics in 1991. He collaborated with Brian Schmidt, a winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics, in the study of the measurement of distances to Type II supernovae and the Hubble constant.
Dr. Tyson lives in New York City with his wife, Alice, a physicist, and their two children.
Luis A. Ubiñas graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, where he was a Truman Scholar. In 1989 he graduated from Harvard Business School with highest honors.
Mr. Ubiñas spent eighteen years at McKinsey and Co. and led McKinsey’s media practice on the West Coast, and in 2007 became the president of the Ford Foundation. He stepped down from the Ford Foundation in September 2013.
He serves on the board of trustees of the Collegiate School and the New York Public Library. Luis Ubiñas is also the northwest regional chair for White House Fellows.
He is married to Deborah Tolman and they have two sons, Max and Ben.
Lloyd Ultan is a historian, author, and educator. In 1966 he was named the official Bronx Historian by the Bronx borough president and has served in that position under five consecutive borough presidents. He teaches history at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, New Jersey, and at Lehman College in the Bronx.
Mr. Ultan has written ten books, including The Beautiful Bronx: 1920–1950, The Bronx in the Innocent Years: 1890–1925, and Bronx Accent. His latest book is Blacks in the Colonial Bronx. He also writes some fifty articles a year for newspapers, magazines, journals, and Internet sites.
Mr. Ultan has lived in the Bronx his whole life and is a devoted advocate, giving walking tours regularly. He is a cofounder of the Bronx County Historical Society journal.
Howard West graduated from Long Island University with a degree in business administration. After serving in the army he joined the William Morris Agency and eventually moved to the Los Angeles office of the agency, where he represented writers, performers, and directors as well as actors. Mr. West specialized in television packaging, bringing together the creative talent and selling the project to the network. The television shows he packaged included The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour and The Bobby Darin Show. Howard West is partnered with George Shapiro in the management firm Shapiro/West Productions.
David Yarnell became a lawyer, practiced law for two years, hated it, and ultimately landed a job at radio station WNEW and loved it. He became program director of Channel 5 in New York, and then vice president of RKO General, where he formed a network of independent television stations carrying sports events emanating from Madison Square Garden. Mr. Yarnell later became an independent producer of television shows and documentaries. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Toni Howard, a talent agent for ICM.
In June of 2010, while a senior at Bronx High School of Science, Erik Zeidler won the American Museum of Natural History Young Naturalist Award for his survey of the snapping turtle population of the Bronx. After leaving the University of Kansas, Mr. Zeidler formed his own educational company, New York World, which brings exotic animals to schools, camps, fairs, and special events. His mission is to provide creative and innovative ways of exposing the urban children of New York City to nature.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Without the generosity and trust of all the interviewees, Just Kids from the Bronx would not exist. My heartfelt, deepest gratitude to them, and especially to Millard (“Mickey”) Drexler, whose trip back to our Bronx building inspired my thoughts and ideas. A special thanks to Shirley Lord Rosenthal, for her abiding friendship and generous donation of A. M. (“Abe”) Rosenthal’s chapter to the book.
Sincerest thanks to Jason Epstein, and to Andrew Blauner, my always receptive, incredibly supportive agent, who brought the book to Steve Rubin at Henry Holt and Co. I couldn’t ask for any better publisher than Steve for Just Kids from the Bronx. His support has been steadfast and vigorous. And how fortunate I was to have Barbara Jones as my editor at Holt. Her intelligence, understanding, and warmth made her a total joy to work with. And thanks, too, to Joanna Levine, Stella Tan, Maggie Richards, Pat Eisemann, Leslie Brandon, Richard Pracher, Meryl Levavi, and the whole team at Holt; an extraordinary group of dedicated people.
I owe an enormous debt of gratitude and deepest thanks to Jean Chemay, my ever-helpful, smart, willing, and therefore overworked assistant, who always makes my work not only easier, but possible. And thanks to Nico and Grace, who assisted Jean.
Special thanks to dear friends Henry Schleiff, Roger and Ginny Rosenblatt, Carol Kitman, Marlo Thomas, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, and Abigail Pogrebin, who gave of their time with encouragement, professional advice, expertise, and smiles of approval.
And to Holly Block and her always helpful staff at the Bronx Museum of the Arts. Thanks, too, to Nikki Gonzalez, who willingly gave me a teenager’s perspective of her current life in the Bronx. And to the wonderful Connie Rosenblum, whose positive comments were unwavering. Her remarks, right on.
Special thanks, too, to Michael Bregman, a friend in need, and to Toni Howard for her personal friendship, caring, and help in locating some of the interviewees.
Thanks to my sister Shirley Rubman, and my niece Beverly and nephew, David, who knew the Bronx intimately for many years after I had left, and whose stories awakened my own. And to my wonderful daughters, Eve, Elizabeth, and Beatrice, always interested in, and encouraging of, my work. And to Jennifer, Bea’s partner, an avid listener and questioner.
And deepest gratitude to dear Alan, my spouse, best friend, and confidant, never wavering from his willingness to break the routine by going out for a walk and lunch.
ARLENE ALDA
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ARLENE ALDA graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Hunter College, received a Fulbright Scholarship, and realized her dream of becoming a professional clarinetist, playing in the Houston Symphony under the baton of Leopold Stokowski. She switched careers when her children were young and became an award-winning photographer and author who has written nineteen books, including Just Kids from the Bronx. She is the mother of three daughters and the grandmother of eight. She and her husband, actor Alan Alda, live in New York City and Long Island. Sign up for email updates here.
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THE KIDS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraph
Foreword
PART ONE | FRESH AIR … A LUCKY BREAK
A. M. (“Abe”) Rosenthal
Carl Reiner
Martin Bregman
Leon Fleisher
Lawrence Saper
Mary Higgins Clark
Jules Feiffer
/> David Yarnell
Milton Glaser
Mildred S. Dresselhaus
Regis Philbin
George Shapiro and Howard West
Mark Cash
Arlene Alda
Michael Brescia
Emanuel (“Manny”) Azenberg
Avery Corman
I. C. (“Chuck”) Rapoport
Colin Powell
Lloyd Ultan
Dion DiMucci
Barbara Nessim
PART TWO | I SAY IT’S THE TEACHERS … DESTINY
Al Pacino
Robert F. Levine
Suzanne Braun Levine
Steve Janowitz
Margaret M. O’Brien, S.C.
Joyce Hansen
Robert Klein
Julian Schlossberg
Anonymous
Rick Meyerowitz
Joel Arthur Rosenthal (JAR)
Millard (“Mickey”) S. Drexler
Andy Rosenzweig
Kenneth S. Davidson
Daniel Libeskind
Valerie Simpson
Arthur Klein
Dava Sobel
Robert F. X. Sillerman
Maira Kalman
PART THREE | ALL THE NEWS THAT FITS, WE PRINT … THE GIFT IN THE RIVER
Sam Goodman
Chazz Palminteri
Daniel (“Danny”) Hauben
Louise Sedotto
Steve Jordan
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Michael R. Kay
Melvin Glover (Grandmaster Melle Mel)
Jaime (“Jimmy”) Rodriguez Jr.
Luis A. Ubiñas
Bobby Bonilla
Sotero (“BG 183”) Ortiz, Wilfredo (“Bio”) Feliciano, and Hector (“Nicer”) Nazario (members of Tats Cru)
Majora Carter
Carlos J. Serrano
Renee Hernandez
Ruben Diaz Jr.
Jemina R. Bernard
Amar Ramasar
Gabrielle Salvatto
Erik Zeidler
Note
A Map
Biographies
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright
JUST KIDS FROM THE BRONX. Copyright © 2015 by Arlene Alda. All rights reserved. For information, address Henry Holt and Co., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.henryholt.com
Cover design: Rick Pracher
Photo here David Corio/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Map by Laura Hartman Maestro, born in the Bronx
eBooks may be purchased for business or promotional use. For information on bulk purchases, please contact Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department by writing to [email protected].
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Alda, Arlene, 1933–
Just kids from the Bronx: telling it the way it was: an oral history / Arlene Alda.—First edition.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-62779-095-6 (hardback)—ISBN 978-1-62779-096-3 (electronic book) 1. Bronx (New York, N.Y.)—Biography. 2. New York (N.Y.)—Biography. 3. Successful people—New York (State)—New York—Biography. 4. Oral history—New York (State)—New York. 5. Children—New York (State)—New York—Social life and customs. 6. Bronx (New York, N.Y.)—Social life and customs. 7. New York (N.Y.)—Social life and customs. I. Title.
F128.68.B8A49 2015
974.7’275—dc23 2014022247
e-ISBN 9781627790963
First Edition: March 2015
“Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams”
Written by Harry Barris, Billy Moll and Ted Koehler
Used by Permission of Shapiro, Bernstein & Co., Inc.
All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured.