A grown mortal man

A grown mortal man…a native of   the Big Apple, was weeping,moved on hearing Mario Cuomo growing up in Queens behind agrocery store, had embraced the American Dream, and left hisbirthright  on our Nation,  articulating hi ennobling ideals and visions for all humans to make his ascension to those heights,their very own.
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“A shining city on the hill,” was his allusion to the city of San Francisco, where in 1984 the Democratic Convention to elect aPresident was being held. Then into his role of three timeGovernor of the Empire Ste, he elevated his prose to E.B. white’s poetry (The New Yorker, ‘Toast of the town’) and theprose caught o our planet’s gyrations in space….
The audience  were hearing an Italian son of immigrants, bred behind a grocery store, in enrapturing the listeners, with hisinspired grasp of what it is to ascent those altitudes of the Mount Everest of climbing to the crest of achievement and recognitionin  all those civilized aspects of the Empire State.
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Hit on the back of his skull by a pitched ball while playing for a minor league baseball tem,..a farm team of the Pittsburgh Pirate (Branch Rickey’s Gas House gang),  he changed course, returning to his base in Queens, enrolling at Saint. Johns School of Law.
Passing the bar, wife Matilda, herself a daughter of immigrants but who attended Midwood High School in Brooklyn, he began his practice in downtown Brooklyn..the heart and soul of Montague and court Streets.
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His reputation got the attention of Mayor John Lindsay, whoappointed Mario to head up the cyber space deliberations of an area in Queens, named Corona. Its efficacy for Public Housing.
“A shining city on the Hill,” reverberates through the drudgery long hours rethinking the master plan for the metamorphosis ofCorona into  a pattern for realizing the dreams of an adrifthumanity into Lindsay ad Mario Cuomo’s vision of public housing.
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A grown mortal man on hearing the mesmerizing dialect of Mario Cuomo “a shining city on the Hill” began  sobbing and was moved….
3 decades of life’s yesterdays since the 1984 convention.  “Dutch” Reagan was the President and Democrat Walter Mondale trying to snarl the non dissembling  role from Dutch .. 
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But it was  not meant to be.. “Dutch” winning another four years, Governor Cuomo returning to Albany steadfast in his role, mesmerizing the “Glove” in  its revolutions , within ourgalaxy.

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In the meantime, the Mario Cuomo legacy and soul had taken the family to Sutton Place off the East River, wife Matilda to mentoring, one son into broadcasting, the older brother to the Governor’s mansion in Albany, his father releasing his soul , passing away several hours after attending his son’s inauguration in Albany.
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A grown mortal man was weeping, moved on hearing “ the shining city on the Hill”

The Big Apple , the City that never sleeps… January 2, 2015

all the fans are muttering is there a Luther Burbank in the “ house” ?

From coast to coast, all the fans are muttering is there a Luther Burbank in the “ house”  ? The house being  “Allen’s Alley”….Senator Claghorn,  Mrs. Nussbaum, Toby Belch, Titus Moody, and  Ajax Cassidy, rounding out Fred Allen’s  commentary for his Sunday night radio barnstorm vis a vi NBC Burbank, Universal City, Rockefeller Center, All the ships at sea.
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Fred Allen: Senator Claghorn you are the tip of the iceberg. Tell our listening audience about the perils of making it as the politico winds change  with the cyber space electronic sensors…and metrics.
Riding the topical whirlwinds, Senator. You’ve been in Politics almost forever. You’re the Alben Barkley for Seniority. What’s the secret of your longevity, Senator Claghorn? Can you tell our listeners what makes you tick?                                                           III
“I’ll be perfectly frank, Fred. I was born into FDR’s New Deal.The WPA. Baking mickies off the sidewalk curbs. Hustlingbottle sodas at a niuckle a pickle. Wholesale  with Bugsy and Meyer Lansky two cents a bottle. But screaming my lungs out, wheeling the iced baby carriage, past the two story basementgarage red brick homes being constructed in East Flatbush. Est92nd Street from Avenue B to Remsen.
Fred Allen….Excuse me, Senator. What made you give up on apromising future? Las Vegas strip? Gambling? Playing Faro at the old Golden Nugget ..Wine women and song to drop a cliché.”
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Divine providence? Throwing the dice is what you wish for, Fred. But it seemed to me  I was only in the third grade. But one day when school was dismissed at P.S. 233, my curiosity led me to stroll to the Waldorf movie on Church Avenue. Wandered into the lobby. “They made me a criminal”
The actors into their posters were John Garfield (Julie Garfinkle)and Ann Sheridan, Claude Rains and the Dead End Kids.
Fred Allen:    Your star was ascending, Senator .
“I go my own way, Fred. Being a dreamer,  I figured if the “They made me a criminal” was a reflection of the society, then selling cokes, pepsis, cream, sarsaparilla, root beer, orange,lemon …Mr. Allen. That there was only one life to live: buying wholesale and selling  retail? ?                                                                        
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You got your finger on the pulse, Fred. That there’s more to life than what you see or hear
Fred Allen: They didn’t tell you that in P.S. 233?  Gossip andB.S. to make you feel good, Senator? That’s what makes our minor planet go round , waiting for your break.
Everything in synch.“ Playing hide and seek, tether ball, punch ball, stick ball, tag football (association)l, jump rope Dutch style. Ringaleveo, Filipino yo yo “round the world”…  But when we woke up, there were bodies in the tall grass. Sun flowers to the sky, disguising the remains, but if you looked  beyond you’d see deceased gang members. Dead gangsters fallen in the  warsof Brownsville, Williamsburg, Coney Island.
“Hubsey, you’re not made for these sins.. Tilden High School’s, skinny dipping In their summer pool.
Fred Allen:  Butt Senator how could skinny dipping at Tilden High be a turning point?
“Fred, I identified with a musical policeman named Harry Diamond… He played tennis at Herby Tittler’se clay courts onUtica   off Kings Highway….Senator Jake Javitz, Lefty Goldstein who became a dentist. Joel restringing racquets andplaying steady with Lefty…he became the captain of the team at Tilden, later L.I.U.. Long before he was snatched at Safeway, pocketing a Philadelphia cream cheese, earning him “the cream cheese bandit” sobriquet.
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Fred Allen: Senator Claghorn is that the same Tilde High where Al Sharpton honed his debating sound&fury. Sid Gordon tolling left field at the Polo Grounds…Billy Terry, Mel Ott’s Giants….
And “Habla el Espanol” maestro. Caught the big bruddercheating on the  final and flunked him. But his mother’syoungest sister..Aunt Selma, a teacher at Richmond Hill High in Social Studies, talked him out of it.  
“Give the big brudder a D, Sam, so he can graduate. “Yussell”never learned his lesson… “cheaters never prosper:, Fred...  
What’s the maestro’s name, Fred? He flunked the tennis captain A famous comic genius  high school teach?”?    
Fred Allen You’re thinking of Sam Levinson, the Tilden big time personality..  Graduate of Franklin Lane. His portrait hangsin the library.  Recital hall at Brooklyn College. . Ed Sullivan had him on 17 18 times.
The break from the corrupt yesterdays, (smacking his lips)  wasPolitics at Ucla , Fred. Machiavelli ‘s The Prince” Dr. Ttus gave me an A plus…. (Nixon’s Halderman and Erlichman were sitting up front, gobbling it all up, to their regret.
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Fred Allen: Mrs Nussbaum, what’s the good word? In your café society? Central Park West? The automat?”
Mrs. Nussbaum: Fred, I am in the mood for good old fashioned smooching.
Fred Allen: Smooching? Why Mrs. Nussbaum I thought you were into the 21st century. ‘Lady Chatterley’s Love” is old fashioned. Out of synch with social networks, the Internet.“Hansel and Gretel” is passé. Hackers and the presence of cyberspace. Remember “The Interview” The studio backed down, not releasing  to  theater chains….thousands of Independents.
No, Mister Allen. I have never confessed to you about love at first sight. ….On Coney Island boardwalk. A tall dapper dandypitchman, hawking kosher franks with sauerkraut, mustard on a roll, as he taunted us kiddos. He was on stilts, the waves lapping up a coinciding storm as in rhythm with his strapped pitch. Hedanced scooted   his placard, stilting into Jimmy Durante’s  cubicle, he shared with piano playing Eddie Jackson.
Fred Allen: What we they selling, Mrs. Nussbaum? Frenchpianos? Made in A Brooklyn?                                                                                                            
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They were selling  kegs of beer for fifty cents like there was no tomorrow. Schnozola belted a couple of bars, while his partner in beer kegs, banged the 88 keys. The man on stilts laughing up a storm, clapping in time, he shoes tapping in rhythm.
Fred Allen: And who was the man on stilts, Mrs. Nussbaum? What became of him?
‘His name was Archie Leach Next I knew he was on the opera marquee… Puccini’s “Madame Butterfly”’
Married to a Geisha girl, mister Allan .
Archie Leach. Into the discarded stilts.          
Fred Allan: Mrs. Nussbaum that was no song and dance man on those stilts.  He changed those stilts for a jalopy and drove to Hollywood. He metamorphosed as alias C.G.”
Mrs. Nussbaum: Not Clark Gable, mister Allen? He was my hero. I idolized him.”
Fred Allen: Cary Grant’s “I do”, marrying Barbara Hutton, the richest woman in the world. Heiress to the Waldorf  5&10 cent store fortune. It lasted only two years but it was longer thatbusting his chops on stilts, promoting those sizzling  franks  with sauerkraut…..it’s all in the sauerkraut, Mrs. Nussbaum.”.
Believe me the Coney Island boardwalk sets the tone. Themustard!
Christmas Day December 25, 2014  The City that never sleeps.          

Allen Alle

Allen Alley’s on radio, Fred Allen interviewing Cesar Romero’sgrandson Filiberto about the Castro Cuban revolutionmetamorphosing into “the promised land”, Mister Allen moves into a empathetic rapport “America and Cube resolve their differences? Havana and Florida cape, separated by  60 miles of shark invested seas.. but who in their right mind would want to defect Paradise now, Filiberto?”....
Life is beautiful   my be a cliché but Frank Capra and  General Jimmy Stewart on the tube  “It’s a wonderful life”, Ward Bond as the copper at the b ridge…no Bach’s Partitas but the General’s self destructiveness … climbing the bridge… his wish fulfillment- hari kri- for the bank’s foreclosures on his friends, neighbors, employees . Remember Donna Reed overreacting,taking the creditors by storm…Mucho gracias de nada.”
Mister Allen moves the radio make closer to Senor Romero.“Knowing that you’re a former knothole kid, Senor. Yourgrandpa the Cisco Kid “Weekend in Havana”, costarringCarmen Miranda.”The Brazilian Bombshell” Tell our audience in your honest words, do you think the “The invisible man” Lone Ranger hi ho Silver” liberates of our almost 6 decades,(1959) will  energize “Habla el Espanol” Yankee first basemanLou Gehrig. “I’m the luckiest man on the face of the Earth”?
”Viva Roberto Clemente” May his dream  live forever, mommy.”
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“Mister  Allen this is  larger than  Jackie Robinson breaking the color line with the Dodgers. Sandy Koufax  with the House of David, on the Parade Grounds at Prospect Park, graduate of Lafayette High escuela in Bensonhurst. I’m only a fifty five cent nickel and dime bandit. A knot hole kid, sitting in the  ChavezRavine  bleachers..
Emerging Habla El Espanol dream. Grandp’s role as the Joker in “the Batman”
“How does the metamorphosis make an impact, SenorRomero?””
“ Muco grande dos passo.. No more status seekers.. But competitive like Pancho Gonales, Segura in tennis. No longer does a player think about defecting to Florida. Athletes can liveout their dream. Playing in mucho grazies stadiums.. Beforegrino fans….1959 Milton’ss ‘ Paradise Lost’ playing out Fidel’s revolutionary memories.””
“You sound  bigger than Benito Juarez.(Paul Muni) PanchoVilla. Senor Romero..larger than Shangrila.”                                                                                                    I
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“Katy Jurado, Delores del rfio.  Ali Khan’s senora.. Rita Hayworth. (“Gilda”). Habla el Espanol Senoritas. They transcend the silver screen, Senor Allan.. Bajas, California Acapulco. Tijuana, Guadalajara,  Juarez, Senor . No longer do we have talk out of both sides of our mouth. Driving a cab, arole of a gardener, kissing up to our ed  kimosabis, living inMiami…con mucho dinero.
“A knot hole kid before Allen’s Alley can you give our listeningaudience  “ It’s a wonderful life” opinion of what the liberation of Cuban defectors means to the big leagues in Hall of Fame millionaire row.”
“Ard” from the Dominican Republic, the “Panchos” from theEst LA. barrio… Boyle Heights,(Brooklyn Avenue) HollenbeckJr. High, Roosevelt High. The escuelas of Lincoln, Wilson andGarfield can don their jocks and stripes, hit those funkyfungos…  oil their mitts, clean out their spikes, washing machine sud and bleach their uniforms, caps. Jackie Robinson’snumero 42   El Serno Jr, East L.A. City Colleg,(Public Speaking)
“Adios barrio…Ponce de Leon’s fountain of youth, mommy, poppa.. Spring training is eternal, mommy.. Whittier Boulevard, La Habra, Fullerton Stte College. Mommy Poppa oh how our grandmas, grandpas would embrace the American dream.
The gringos…Leo Carillo, Ton y Quinn.., Margo (Martha Sodo)from Belvedere Gardens Jr S. tevenson

 o.  
Lupe Velez, Gilbert Roland the”amigo”, Art Aragon the bailiff in pegged pants and the key chain, Enrique Bolanos, Delores del Rio, Katrey Jurado…….Fathers Sera Crespi… the San Fernando missions, our heritages Mommy, Poppa. Fidel’s brother is theFountain of Youthn   reincarnated”
“I AM THE LUCKIEST MAN ON THE FACE OF THEEARTH”, Gehrig’s fanfare that day in the Bronx...a toreador for all bullfighters whose birthrights are “Dos semanas in Havana” Brazil’s Carmen Miranda, grand poppy’’s Cesara Romera’sCuban heritage….mommy a concert singer, daughter of Latino Jose Marti, Cuba’s national hero
’The Statute of Liberty welcomes immigrants from the cradle to the grave, where ever’
“ Hasta la vista, baby.”
The City that never sleeps, December 21, 2014
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