The Writer's Life: The Writer's Life 10/28

What a night! An alum of Lafayette High School's class of '67, I was invited to the 50th reunion of the class of '68. Since it was at Gargiulo's in Coney Island, a seven-minute drive from where I was parked in Sheepshead Bay, I was happy to attend, although I had no idea how many people I would know other than my football teammates. I was quickly greeted by Frank G, who recognized me from Facebook. He was one of my first street sales, back when I was peddling only my first novel, Close to the Edge. Soon, to my amazement, Ralphie Rac strolled in with his lovely wife Joanie. He is not only a fellow LHS alum but a Commodity Exchange one as well. If we had ever discussed our common neighborhood bond, I do not recall. That's him in the photo above lecturing the Urso brothers, Charlie '68 and Tommy '67. Soon I was approached by Gail P.. I recognized her immediately. When I worked as an aide at John Dewey in the late '70's, she often subbed there. Later in the evening I summoned the resolve to ask if she was still in touch with Peggy, whom I was literally crazy about. Peggy once sent me a short story she wrote. Years later I reworked it, dubbed it Chaos in Alphabet City, and included it in Billionths of a Lifetime collection - without telling her. Gail was kind enough to offer to deliver a copy. She later did a great solo dance, lip-synching to a Liza Minnelli song played by the DJ... Several of my teammates who were seniors on the '66 team showed. Ralphie, our captain, is about to retire after 31 years in the discount store business. Branch is still piling up dough in his insurance property title biz, enough for an apartment on Riverside Drive and a house in the Hamptons. Ira and Carmine are retired. Michelle still looks incredible. And from '68 it was great seeing Lombo, Joe P., Stevie F. and Bobby G, who flew in from California. He was nice enough to buy copies of Adjustments and Rising Star, the latter for his buddy Lombo, with whom he's staying this week. I have a great memory of him in a sandlot church league that wasn't great at the time it occurred. He was a lefty pitcher for Our Lady of Grace. I batted cleanup for St. Mary's - LOL. With runners on, I hit a wicked one hopper that he made a blind stab at and snared. I was so pissed - then. Had the ball gone through the middle, I would probably have forgotten the event. I now laugh every time I think of it - the look on Bobby's face. Despite all that great stuff, the highlight of the night for me was meeting Shirley F.. I did not remember her at all. Even in gazing at her picture in the 1967 Legend this morning I was unable to recall having ever crossed paths with her. There were more than 5000 students at LHS in those days, the height of the baby boom. She was lost among the multitude of other pretty girls. For some reason (envy, jealousy, hangups, who knows?) I never attended any of the shows put on by students, something I deeply regret. She was a big part of them. She went on to become an original member of Dean Martin's Golddiggers. According to the official web site, her time with the group culminated with a trip to Viet Nam (she's my new hero) and the Around the World with Bob Hope tour. She subsequently worked with Gene Kelly in Las Vegas, where she met her husband. While raising their two children, she starred in the Cincinnati Music Theatre production of Irene, performed her dream role of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl with the St. James Players of Cincinnati, and appeared in industrial shows and charity benefits. She's been married 48 years. I had the privilege of meeting her lucky husband. Of course I asked her about the aforementioned celebrities, whom she dubbed "Dolls." I was not surprised. I was unable to resist the temptation to ask if she'd ever met Old Blue Eyes. She said: "Sinatra is Sinatra." Here's a pic of her from back in the day: