Smith Brothers ~ Lauded Thespians

I forgot to tell you, I went to high school with the Smith Brothers. Yes, the world famous Smith Brothers attended LaSalle Academy on East 2nd Street. Struggling to stay ahead of the Luden family in the cough drop business, the Smith parents shaved costs by taking the boys out of an exclusive Geneva private school and placing them in the East Village institution in 1969. Unable to socialize smoothly with their family trademark beards, the Smith boys found comfort in the small LaSalle theatre company. They left their mark in noted productions of Uncle Vanya and Duddie Come Home.

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Biked the Westside last week ~ the blossoms were out in Riverside Park. I looped Central Park but cheated, using the 102th Street transverse to get to the westside. I rarely do the hill from hell at the north end of the park. I have no problem going up the hill, but I don't like the long coast down. I lost my recklessness a few summers ago, when I took a piece of meat out of my forehead when I fell off the bike going down that monster and waited three hours in Lenox Hill for twenty stitches.
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I met Ronny Hanerfeld and his family in the emergency room waiting area; then, Nicky Bowen from 87th Street came in with his family. Each had a kid that needed medical assistance. We had a Yorkville reunion. It was 96 degrees out. I had a bandage covering the wound, no shirt on, too bloody, the nurse threw it away. My running shorts crept up my butt. With me just shy of nude, we reminisced.

Old Timers Tavern

Dad didn't let me touch his Yashica 44 camera. So, it was a complete surprise when he let me step outside the Old Timer's Tavern on York Avenue to take this picture. The bartender, Jack Saunders, was busting his chops after he heard Dad tell me to put the camera down a fifth or sixth time. "The kid wants to be Jimmy Olsen, give him a break, Bob." Dad gave Jack the look, but Jack kept at him. "He wants to immortalize you in this place."

After telling me how to hold the camera, how to focus, where to stand, what button to push and how fast to push it, Dad, reluctantly, let me go outside.

I stood on a milk box to level me off with the guys.

In the photo: on the left is Phil Hanerfield; Dad, to Phil's right with butt and beer; then four guys whose names I don't remember.