The Musician... see you among the stars

I can remember that hot summer day sitting on the little step that leads to the entrance of the 86th Street train station in Gravesend, Brooklyn, New York. Gravesend is a small area located between two very well known Brooklyn sections, Bensonhurst, and Sheepshead Bay.

My friend Brother Bill and I were drinking Coca-Cola, and facing the background view of the gigantic Ferris Wheel called the Wonder Wheel, and the 250 foot tall Parachute Jump in Coney Island. In the foreground was Barney’s Candy store where we bought the Coca-Cola. It was very hot, maybe around 90 degrees on that unknown day in July of 1952. I can remember how quiet and peaceful it was. Brother Bill and I were thinking of jumping on the train and going that one long last stop on the BMT Line train to the Coney Island beach, Bay 14. That is where we would go if only we had two quarters for the train fare. We were thoughten? (That is our Brooklyn slang word for thinking.)

Brother Bill said let us try jumping the fence. He stood up and I followed him as he walked across 86th Street to the jungle type lot that I have not yet dared to enter. We walked a few feet along the barbed wire fence that led down to the outdoor subway station. Brother Bill was kicking down the dense ten-foot tall weeds. I followed, but felt like I was in the Amazon jungle. Brother Bill was 10 years old and I was only seven. He was not my brother. That is was what everyone called him, when I meet him. Everyone had a nickname but me.... Everyone including my family called me Junior. I liked Brother Bill. I felt safe with him. When you are small and seven years old, everyone in the neighborhood tries to pick on you. Not if your friend is Brother Bill! Brother Bill is tough, and everyone is afraid of him. Brother Bill likes me and so I followed. As he made this path along the barbed wire fence, Brother Bill showed me a secret.... He made an open hole in the fence that he had cut days earlier. He peaked through the opening and there were no cops or anyone else on the station platform. We then both slipped through.

There we were, standing on the subway platform in the subway platform area of the station. 86th Street passes above us. As we were waiting for the subway train to arrive, we could see off in the distance about three subway stations away. Brother Bill suddenly jumped off the platform and on to the tracks. I got scared. ‘I yelled, “Brother Bill... What are you doing?” Brother Bill told me not to be afraid. He then picked up a rock from the gravel covering the tar of the tracks, stood on the wood above the third rail, and began writing his name in big letters on the tunnel wall. Shortly thereafter, I noticed the train front lights in the distance and yelled to Brother Bill, “The trains coming.” He looked down the rails with a smile and replied that he had plenty of time. I watched the train getting closer and closer. I watched Brother Bill’s reluctant attitude as he continued to complete his name. The train was now at the Avenue U stop, which is just one station before the subway platform Brother Bill was still scribbling away, and as the train was about one thousand yards away, he quickly jumped back on the platform. I thought that was very cool how he waited for the last moment. We then started running to the front of the platform where we could enter into the front car when it stopped.

I told Brother Bill that this was the first time I rode the train. The engineer was looking at us as the train pulled in. The doors opened and we went in to the front window of the car. With all his strength, Brother Bill unlocked the brackets of the front window and opened the window so we could have a great view of the one stop long ride to Coney Island. The train pulled out and Brother Bill and I had our heads slightly out of the front car window. As the wind was blowing our hair back, and squinting our eyes, we were watching the tracks move below, as the train went through the train yard on the way to Coney Island. Coney Island was the last stop. Just before Coney Island, is a major train yard? I was enjoying this moment very much, and words alone could not express the feeling. As the train came close to Coney Island, there was a little bridge going over this.... What seemed like an inlet from the ocean? Brother Bill said, “This is Perfume Bay.” I said, ‘Perfume Bay?’ ‘Yeah,’ Brother Bill said, ‘just smell it, it’s polluted and that’s what everyone calls it.’ So as we passed over Perfume Bay, the part that makes Coney Island an Island. We were approaching the last stop in Brooklyn, Coney Island. As we were pulling in to the station very slowly, the one thing I noticed down below in the street was this gigantic crowd by this place called Nathan’s Famous.

We exited the train station and walked across the street to Nathan’s where all these people were eating these 5 cents hot dogs. Brother Bill had ten cents on him so we bought two dogs, and boy they were great. I could not see much because I was eating in the mist of a thousand people. Brother Bill and I then proceeded toward the boardwalk as we passed the House of Wax.... Then the roaring roller coaster called the Tornado, and past a place called Schrott’s Baths. We continued up the boardwalk ramp and on to the boardwalk and as I looked around the only thing that caught my eye was the Parachute Jump towering about 250 feet into the air. I became frozen in my tracks as I watch these people sitting in this seat connected to a closed parachute that was climbing to the top of the 250-foot tower. Then the parachute hit the top and opened. In an instant flash, the parachute began descending quickly toward the ground, and the people began to scream. Brother Bill grabbed me and we entered the beach.... Bay 14. We walked to the ocean through the walls of sun loving people. Brother Bill took his clothes off and went into the water in his underwear and I watched and did the same. I only entered the water a few feet, but Brother Bill went in and swam out there far. The water was cold so I did not stay in long. I sat on the beach waiting for Brother Bill but I could not keep my eyes off the Parachute Jump. Repeatedly I watched people ride. I thought that I would never go on that thing.

Living a short distance (one train stop) from Coney Island is a welcome blessing. Brother Bill took me for a stroll down Bowery Street where all the rides, roller coasters, shooting galleries, and spook houses are. Coney Island is wall-to-wall people. I could live here! Brother Bill showed me a spook house called the Magic Carpet. People would enter this dark spook house that was very freighting on the inside as Brother Bill explained. When the people came out of the spook house, they had to sit in this three person wide chair. They sat in the chair for a short moment while everyone on the outside watched. Then the chair suddenly gave way beneath them and the people fell upon this fast moving carpet beneath them. The people screamed loudly as the carpet carried them to the entrance of the spook house. “Someday I would like to try that”, I told Brother Bill.

We stood there for about fifteen minutes watching these people screaming every time the chair fell under them and on to the carpet.

Then Brother Bill took me close by to see the Thunderbolt roller coaster. I knew that I would never go on that. It had a very scary first drop. Brother Bill told me that this roller coaster is faster than the Cyclone.

Then we continued walking along the Bowery to another roller coaster, The Tornado. I stood there frozen watching this roller coaster make the embankment turns. This too made me frightened. I listened as the people in the cars are screaming. Again I knew that I would never go on this ride either.

Directly opposite the Tornado was the House of Wax. At the entrance to the House of Wax were figures engaged in brutal slayings. Wax type blood everywhere. It was disgusting and terrifying, as it appeared very real. The look of it made me nauseous and sick. I couldn’t look at it very long.

Brother Bill told me to follow him to checkout the Cyclone. I followed in amazement. I watched as I walked behind Brother Bill people trying to win a prize shooting at ducks with this high-powered BB gun. We passed the entrance to the Wonder Wheel and over to the Cyclone. This roller coaster had the deepest drop of them all. I would never go on this ride ever. I would never spend 25 cents to go on the Cyclone. I watch the people getting off the cars as it finished, and they were very terrified. I don’t know how they got the guts to get on this ride. A patron asked Brother Bill and me if we wanted to go on with him. I refused, but Brother Bill accepted. Brother Bill tried to convince me to go on, because it was free. I told him that I would not…. I’ll just watch. I went along the side street to catch a better look. As the cars headed up the ramp to the first drop Brother Bill and the guy waved at me. I returned the wave. I watched with much excitement to see the expressions on their faces, as they were about to enter the drop. Man ‘O Man this is something else. I heard the screams of the people and thought to my self that this was not a way of having fun. I would rather play miniature golf…. That is my fun! I watch them go up and round and over and under. As the ride was beginning to end, I ran to the entrance to watch them come to a stop. Brother Bill was pumped-up as he exited the ride. He was breathing heavily as if he ran a mile. “That was something else, I told Brother Bill. You should have seen the expression on your face. You were very happy with smiles as you went up to the top, but as soon as you started to descend, you looked completely frightened. “I wasn’t frightened,” Brother Bill replied. However, I knew that it had shaken him up. It was getting late so we returned home.

I arrived home around 6 PM after another great day with Brother Bill, and my family was sitting in the dining room having dinner. My father, Charles senior, is a Barber and worked in Rockaway. My mother, Rosalie, is a garment worker and worked in a sowing factory in Brooklyn. I have three sisters and one brother; Jeannette, age 11; Marie, age 13; Rosetta, age 16; and Thomas age 18; were attending Junior and senior High School. I sat at the dinner table and devoured the veal cutlets with a great oil and vinegar and red wine. That's right! Red wine is always on the dinner table every evening and anyone can drink it. It is a requirement of my family. My brother, having finished his dinner grabbed the 8mm Kodak movie camera and began walking around the table taking movies of the family having dinner. After dinner I ran outside on 7th Street and attended a stick ball game that was just starting. It was an intense game with a lot of cheating and arguing going on. As usual, a neighbor named, Eddy, who lived a couple of houses next to mine, came out of his house angry. With his cigar always hanging out of his mouth, Eddy started yelling, “Why don’t you goddam kids go down the end of the block and get out of here?” As usual, we told him to get lost. Every time Eddy talked it was goddam this or goddam that. We ignored either him or best yet mimicked him. “Why don’t you goddam kids get out of here,” we would say back to him.

The next week, my father took me to an Army show in Coney Island. There would be all kinds of Army equipment on display. Tanks; cannons; rifles; army trucks, and all kinds of equipment having to do with the U.S. Army. It was kind of interesting to see the real thing after playing along time at home with the army toys and little plastic solders.

I remembered all this talk about flying saucers, UFO’s. It was mentioned everywhere in the newspapers and on TV. Life and Look magazine did many layouts and stories on the subject. There were sightings everywhere. I can remember the live coverage on TV about the large group of UFO’s that were flying over the White House. It was most incredible. They had made many movies and newsreels about them. One of the movies I will never forget. It was called, The Day the Earth Stood Still. I believe that I had a dream about meeting a little alien being with large eyes. I never knew if it was a dream or the real thing. It stumped me throughout my life. My interest in UFO’s had grown immensely. I became fascinated with the subject, and I wished that I would eventually see one someday or meet with the occupants. From 1947 to 1955 there were UFO’s all over the place.

A strange thing happened to me while I attended Public School 95 in Gravesend, Brooklyn. My classroom on the forth floor had very large windows and looking out of those window we could see the inlet to the ocean where all the great large passenger steam ships would enter New York City. Our teacher made it a point to have us all watch for them when we spotted one passing through. They were spectacular to see, because the looked larger than life. One day, I looked out the window from my desk, and I saw a strange light high above the inlet where the ships traveled. The light began to shine a beacon and as I watched the beacon, the beacon of light began to shine toward me and I quickly jumped below my desk to avoid being hit by the beacon and as I quickly looked up again the light and beacon faded and disappeared. The teacher was caught by surprise at my sudden movements and asked me what happened and I told her that a light beacon began to shine on my so I ducked. She smiled and had no idea what I was talking about. I remember that view all of my life so vividly until one day in 2007, I came across a Google Utube video which surprisingly was exactly what I saw:

One day, my father brought home a present for me. A pump gun that shot out these 3-inch plastic balls. I became so excited, that the next day my friends and I played war. Some of my friends stood on one side of the street and I and another friend stood on the other side of the street. They had dart guns that shoot darts with rubber tips, and I had the larger ball, pump gun. I positioned myself in Eddy’s small front yard and began shooting my new pump gun balls across the street. I shot all six balls and then I ran across the street to retrieve them. That was the last thing I remembered. A car hit me hard. I went flying in the air about 20 feet and landed on the pavement. Everyone thought that I was dead.

Many people were a witness to the event. They heard a car screeching and then they saw my body go flying, about 10 feet in the air and fall 20 feet away onto the pavement. Everyone thought I was dead. My family was in a panic of horror as all the people were trying desperately trying to revive me. An ambulance responded a short time later, and I would recover after six long months in Coney Island hospital, which is the place of my birth.

My family never thought about suing the driver. In those days, people were very respectful to one another. My family knew that I ran out between two parked cars without looking, and the driver never had a chance to stop in time. As an example how people were respectful to one another, my mother once told me how she bought our house. We had a small house on West 7th Street that had two floors and a basement. On the first floor, we had a living room, dining room, and kitchen. On the second floor, we had three small bedrooms and a bathroom. The basement was open room plus a separate room for the oil burner. One day the oil burner man was fixing the oil burner and my mother received a telephone call from the woman who owned the house. This woman was very wealthy and rented the house to my family for $25.00 a month. The woman owner wanted to sell the house to my mother for $1,000. It seems that this wealthy woman felt concerned for my family of five children, and she wanted to sell us the house. The woman became extremely concerned that my family had nowhere to go. My family could not afford $1,000 so the woman offered the house for $700.00. My mother had only $50.00 in the bank so the woman offered her the house for $500.00. The oil burner man, who had been listening to the telephone conversation while he was working, offered to lend my mother the $500.00. The oil burner man told my mother that the family could pay it back a little at a time when she had some extra money. People are always helping one another.

The day I arrived home from the hospital, the man who drove the car that hit me, came to my house with a present. I opened the present and inside was a small set of Lionel Trains. Apparently, my mother told him how I loved trains and so he bought me the set. When I opened the present, I became incredibly happy. This present ignited my fascination with model trains. It was a Hudson steam engine with a few boxcars and a caboose.

That evening, my father came home from work and also bought me a present. It was something that I had never seen before, a remote control car. It was so wonderful. It had this big doughnut type shape antenna on top, and I took it outside in the dark to see if it worked, and it did. The next day, I played with it the entire day. Brother Bill passed by my house to say hello, and he became very impressed with the remote control car. The next day, I invited my friends to come by and play with the remote control car. When my friends arrived, I was searching for the car, but could not find it. I asked my mother where the car is, and my mother said that she gave it away to a handicapped child that could not walk. I was in shock. I only played with it one day. My mother’s story was good, but still it was my possession and I felt that it should have been my choice. It was not my mother’s to give away. I was totally in shock. I said, “What do you mean you gave it away. It’s is not yours to give away.” I had argued with my mother and sisters all day long about this matter, but it seemed that they did not care, and defended my mother's actions. I would have probably been very open to giving things or possessions away. However, just the thought that someone, especially my family, could give something of mine away without telling or confiding in me is a No-No. This action would actually change my feelings toward certain members of my family, and I won't ever trust them for the rest of my life.

My father feeling sorry and embarrassed came home one night with a 4x8 piece of plywood. He told me to come with him to the basement. As I followed, he told me that he was going to set aside a place in the basement where I could setup a train set. He assured me that no one would bother me. He gave me money to buy tracks and supplies and told me to ask someone in the family to take me to get the supplies. I bothered my mother for a week, and although she was against the idea of a train setup in the basement, she finally gave in. The following Saturday, my mother and I took the BMT train and went to Manhattan, a fifty-minute ride. It was the first time I ever was in Manhattan.

I can still remember that day when we got off the train at 23rd street. We had to take the BMT “N” train from my house to 14th Street in Manhattan. Then we had to take the local train one stop to 23rd street. We walk up the subway steps toward the street, and I can remember the tall buildings as we exited the subway. There was this small park called Gramercy Park area with many trees and benches, and holding my mother’s hand, we walked across this park to this gigantic office building. We entered this office building located on 26th street and took the elevator up to the second floor to the Lionel Train showroom. What a world it was. When the elevator door opened, I saw this tremendous beautiful neon sign staring me in the face that read, “Lionel Trains.” My eyes lit up! We walked in and there in the middle of this gigantic room was the most incredible train set-up I had ever seen. It was heaven. There must have been about twenty-five trains going on at one time. The gigantic set had a waterfall with a train going under it. The set also contained mountains with train tunnels everywhere. The control room situated above it had eight transformers going at one time. They had passenger model trains ...they had freight model trains ...they had work trains ...I was watching it for about two hours walking around and around this set that was about 150 feet long. Then my mother took me into another gigantic room where all the Lionel Train sets were on display. Finally, after about an hour, my mother said that we had to leave. As we walked passed the main room, we arrived at this exit counter. The woman at the counter gave me a new Lionel Train catalog. We exited the building and walked across the park to 23rd street again. This time we walked to the left by Madison Avenue.

Next to this subway station, located at 23rd Street and Madison Avenue, was a little store called, “Madison Hardware Co.” In the window of the store was a little sign that read, “Lionel Trains.” We entered. They had every train supply you ever needed and more. They had train gadgets that were not in any catalogs. They also specialized in hard to find trains. As I was looking around the store, I looked up and there it was, “The Texas Special.” It caught my eye. I do not know why.... For some special reason, it was the most beautiful looking engine I had ever seen. It looked exactly like the common Santa Fe, but it was red with silver and had this white star on the front. It was a combined car set with two engines and a middle car. I stared at it for about twenty minutes as my mother was talking to the man about the tracks and accessories. Finally I snapped out of it and began picking out my tracks, switches, houses, etc. Happy and amazed we left the store and hopped back on the subway to return home. Once home, I began to build my train set.

I had memorized the way to the Lionel Train Showroom. That following Monday, I did not go to school. I hopped on the train and went to the showroom by myself.... Something a seven-year-old would not do. I spent the whole day to examine this tremendous set of trains. I would do this about two days a week. I became obsessed. I would also go to Madison Hardware and drool over the Texas Special. The information I gathered by speaking with the workers at the Lionel showroom and Madison Hardware would prove invaluable in building my set at home.

The next year on my birthday, October 1, I would beg my parent’s weeks before hand, to buy me the Texas Special, which cost $50.00. I would save some money and pressure my parents to kick in the rest. Finally, my parents gave in and the Texas Special was mine. Fifty dollars was a lot of money when you consider a train ride or a movie was a quarter. Anyway, my train set was up and running and the “Texas Special,” is my pride and joy.