The Elements of Story ~ Then & Now

Here are two pictures of the same corner of 84th Street & York Avenue looking east towards East End Avenue and the river. The top picture is from 1942, the lady in the picture is my grandmother, Anne Pryor. Across the street is Gene's Tavern. Gene's had a two lane bowling alley in the basement and in 1942 my Uncle Tom was the Pin Boy. That year, he turned the job over to his 13 year old brother, my father. Gene's later became Melnicoff's Clothing store where Mom bought white shirts about this time of year for Rory and me for the coming school year at St. Stephen's. The only time I liked going into Melnicoff's was when Mom decided it was time for a new pair of sneakers, which as far as I was concerned didn't happen often enough. Dad made her take it out of the house money, Mom wasn't tight, she was broke.

Hanging over the 84th Street streetbed is the Service Flag that was hung there to support the troops in August 1942 after a parade around Yorkville by hundreds of neighbors up and down the streets and the avenues.

I took the second picture last week. Still a bit strange it's a 7-Eleven.


I want to thank Frank Flaherty, my guest this past Tuesday night on the Yorkville radio show on Centanni Broadcasting. Frank, a Deputy Editor at The New York Times, and author of the splendid writing reference book "The Elements of Story," shared stories on how careful and thoughtful editing and deeper exploration into your subject can take storytelling to a richer level and improve all your writing. The Harper Collins soft cover version of the book comes out in two weeks and we'll be widely available in bookstores and online.

Next Tuesday my radio show guest is Alison Pryor.

Here are the Frank Flaherty show and Centanni links:

Yorkville: Stoops to Nuts 8/24/2010 with host Tommy Pryor & guest: Frank Flaherty

http://www.centannibroadcasting.com/