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Myrna Katz Frommer
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Harvey and Myrna Katz Frommer have collaborated on four oral histories, all of which deal with themes close to their hearts. It Happened in the Catskills is a nostalgic and humorous look back at the vacation-land just ninety minutes from Broadway where so many great entertainers got their start. It Happened in Brooklyn tells the story of mid-century Brooklyn where the authors were born and raised, home of the famed Brooklyn Dodgers, Nathan's franks, stopp-ball, stick-ball, and the best high schools in America.
Growing up Jewish in America is an evocation of Jewish American childhood from one end of the nation to the other and from the beginning of this century to close to its end. It Happened on Broadway is the ultimate backstage story told by legendary performers, producers, directors, and choreographers of The Great White Way, nearly sixty years of "mesmerizing" Broadway history, according to columnist Liz Smith.
Myrna and Harvey were life-long New Yorkers until the Summer of 1996 when they moved to Lyme, New Hampshire and became professors in the Masters of the Arts in Liberal Studies Program (MALS) at Dartmouth where they teach (what else?) oral history.
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Here is a book filled with the light and magic of Broadway theater, told from the living memories of the people who created it. What made Carol Channing decide to go into the theater? What great musical did Moss Hart first hear in kindergarten? What positions did Neil Simon, Robert Redford, and Manny Azenberg play on Barefoot in the Park's softball team? These and hundreds more stories make It Happened on Broadway a fascinating, informative, and very intimate picture of the life of the theater.
To Read a Bit About the Book
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It Happened in Brooklyn tells the story of mid-century Brooklyn where the authors were born and raised, home of the famed Brooklyn Dodgers, Nathan's franks, stopp-ball, stick-ball, and the best high schools in America.
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It's just a narrow island, only twenty-two square miles. But it's so much bigger than that. Now, in this album of period photos and first-person reminiscences, you can experience the mosaic of midcentury Manhattan from Altman's to Zabar's--East Side, West Side, and all around the town.
Ranging from the early post-World War II years when the city came into its own to the mid-1970s when the city nearly went bust--and featuring interviews with such New York luminaries as Jimmy Breslin, Bill Gallo, Monte Irvin, Robert Merrill, Herman Badillo, Elaine Kaufman, Jerry Della Femina, and Pauline Trigere, plus the everyday people who form the hustle and bustle of the city's daily life--this book will bring you back to a glorious era when the great ocean liners still docked in the Hudson River ports; when Checker cabs hurtled across a two-way Fifth Avenue; when eleven daily newspapers covered the city beat; when young women hurried to their Katharine Gibbs classes in hats and white gloves; when the Third Avenue el cast long shadows on the street. It will take you to SoHo before it had a name, and the Brill Building when it was home to Tin Pan Alley songwriters. It will re-create the experience of childhood in Harlem and the Lower East Side, visit the Garden, the Garment District, and Greenwich Village, and bring to mind the throbbing music of 52nd Street jazz joints and the Fillmore East, the taste of a Ratner's onion roll and a chocolate egg cream, the aroma wafting from Little Italy's trattorias, and the rumble of the subway from beneath the sidewalk grates. For anyone who grew up in or near "The City"--or fell in love with New York as an adult--this unique history, filled with vintage photos, is a compelling read...and a powerful testament to the indescribable mystique of magical, memorable Manhattan.
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From the authors of It Happened in Brookly...A loving tribute to the Manhattan mystique-filled with vintage photos.
A mosaic of mid-century Manhattan and an exuberant oral history that begins in the post-World War II years when the city came into its own, and ends in the mid-1970s when it nearly went bust. For anyone who grew up in or near "the city"-or fell in love with New York as an adult-this unique history is filled with vintage photos and personal interviews with such New York luminaries as Jimmy Breslin, Bill Gallo, Monte Irvin, Robert Merrill, Elaine Kaufman, Jerry Della Femmina, and Saul Zabar. It Happened in Manhattan is an often humorous, sometimes poignant, occasionally bitter-but always loving-testament to the magic of Manhattan.
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