It’s been decades since I graduated from that celebrated New York City institution known as the School of Performing Arts, the one featured in the popular movie “Fame.”
Other alumni include actors Robert De Niro, Jennifer Aniston, Adrien Brody, Al Pacino and Liza Minnelli.
And my friend Steve Boockvor.
He starred in over 20 Broadway productions, received a Tony nomination, and was immortalized by famed Broadway caricaturist, Al Hirshfeld.
I too had ambitions to become a star of stage and screen like my friend, but I lacked one attribute.
Talent.
So, while Steve found fame and fortune in the performing arts, I went on to get a marketing degree from The Baruch School of Business and shifted from performer to Realtor.
And occasional satirist.
Envying my friend’s success and lamenting my exodus from the performing arts, I found some consolation in developing Photoshop skills and inserting myself into major roles in many of the most famous Broadway hits and award-winning films.
I’d send the photos to Steve and others boasting of my celebrity status. All it took was my skills at swapping fact for fantasy.
Some folks believed I actually starred in some of those roles I artfully appropriated, but I chose not to educate them.
Eventually, I landed a job in real estate sales and was fortunate to find a broker willing to hire someone with no experience.
His name is Joe Amorelli and he not only trained me but got me through some very lean times with his incredible generosity.
One day, a lady walked into our office asking our firm to represent her and her husband in the sale of their home. It was located in the New York City community known as Jackson Heights.
Observing how much I loved that home, Joe asked a strange question: “Why don’t you buy it?”
That appeared to be one of the most absurd queries ever posed as I was 21 years old, had no savings, and uncertain income.
“I’ll help you,” Joe said.
So with his extraordinary guidance, backing and unparalleled kindness, I, my parents, and my two brothers moved into that beautiful home, one that felt more like a palace than simply a residence.
It was the start of a wonderful friendship that included Joe’s beautiful bride, Aggie, who would often welcome us into her home to present some of the most fabulous Italian cuisine the planet had to offer.
It was based on that association with Joe that I was eventually able to help both my brothers find and secure homes of their own.
Eventually, tiring of the severe New York climate, Joe moved his family to sunny San Diego while I took over the real estate office.
It’s when I met my bride and her amazing daughter, the adorable 3-year-old who one day, well before the big wedding, presented me with the treasured reward of calling me daddy.
I recall the day we visited Joe and his family in San Diego. He had purchased a beautiful home on several acres in the middle of an avocado grove in North County.
Joe drove us around the property in his tractor while we stopped to pick oranges, apricots, peaches and avocados, after which we were treated to one of Aggie’s legendary feasts.
It was quite a contrast to the harried life we had led in New York City.
That visit was the major motivation that brought us to the decision to sell our home and the business, pack up our possessions, our cat, and our daughter, and move about a mile away from our friends.
Today, a half-century later, we’re fortunate to be living in sunny San Diego, blessed with three children, eight grandchildren and four great-grandkids, all of whom we joyfully share the many pictures we continually capture of our happy and healthy family.
None of them are Photoshopped.
Erdos is a freelance humor columnist. Contact him at IrvErdos@aol.com.
