Page 11 - Litteratteur Redefining World December issue

Litterateur redefining world December 2020

Moments of Stardom

“And that which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within
the bounds of that first moment which scattered the stars into
space.”― Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

High School
Yearbook photo
1958

When I was in high school a male teacher took an interest in me.He
taught gym and English literature and was responsible for school plays.
He knew of my interest in musicals and once hinted that he was planning
to cast me in the lead in Carousel, but the production never materialized.

Though my high school never put on its production of Carousel, Port
Chester did afford me two moments of stardom. The first of these
involved my father. I have some talent for drawing. Since my father
worked for Western Union, he had the addresses of various famous
people. At his suggestion, I drew pictures of President Eisenhower and
sports announcer Bill Stern. My father then sent the pictures to the
people I had drawn, hoping that they would greet me as a young Picasso.

I received a letter from Eisenhower's press secretary and another from
Stern himself. This was written up in the local paper, The Daily Item, as
"Local Boy Receives Letter From President." There was a photograph of
me with my easel; it was featured the next day in my high school home
room. I thought it strange that the reporter who wrote the story
interviewed only my father, not me. The story rhapsodized, "Who would
be next in a boy's heart to the president -who but a figure from the world
of sports?" Who indeed.

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