Welcome to an extra special Columbus Day episode and month of October special.
Columbus was very famous for the three ships Anina Pinta Santa Maria coming over to discover America, which was a great thing.
And he was well known all these years for that and celebrated on October 13th of every year.
Also, I would like to talk about October 28th, 1776.
That was the Battle of White Plains.
They had three battles in White Plains.
They had Miller Hill, Battle Hill, and Merritt Hill.
Now, Merritt Hill is in East White Plains, West Terrace, the Civil Lake area of White Plains.
And I used to go in the 1960s to see the reenactment of the Battle of the White Plains, which was very good.
And my cousin Janet used to take a lot of color pictures of the red coats and the blue coats.
And it was very interesting.
But after a while, they didn't do it anymore.
They probably did it up until the 70s, and then they stopped it for some reason.
And now it's grown out, the shrubbery's up and everything on Merritt Hill.
But you could see it.
It's fenced off.
But from the road on Lake Street, you could see it, Merritt Hill.
It's going up towards the West County Airport.
It's going on the left side, you'll see it going up on Lake Street, just a little past the center of West Taras and Silver Lake.
And also, I'd like to talk about my mother.
My mother's name is Rose Annie.
And my name, of course, Carrie Annie after my mother, after my father.
But my mother lives in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
About a year ago, she broke her hip.
She's 89 years old now.
She was 88 then when she broke her hip.
And when she broke her hip, they replaced the hip and then they had to remove it because of infection.
They had to remove the hip.
And unfortunately and very sadly, she is unable to walk now for almost a year.
She has a woman that's younger, my age, a little older than me, one year older than me.
Her name is Beverly.
She takes care of all of mom's personal business.
And she recently sold mom's car because mom might never be able to walk again at 89 and she's moving on in age.
She might not ever be able to walk again.
And of course, she won't be able to drive.
But the house, the townhouse that mom has in Myrtle Beach is still there and might not be sold for a while or might not even be sold.
I really don't know.
But it was me and my sister, Louise.
Louise passed away five years ago of cancer.
And I am the sole inheritor if anything happens to mom.
And I get everything.
And recently, my uncle passed away.
My uncle Rudy, my father's brother, he was two years older than my father.
As of September 15th this year, he would have been 93, but he never made it.
About three and a half months ago, he passed away four months ago.
And mom tells me she thinks I'm in his will.
So I have to go up to see a woman, Barbara Borowski, who took care of Uncle Rudy's or Uncle Rudy's personal business and see if I'm in the will.
And I'll do that as soon as I can.
Now, she inherited the house from her father, so I think I know where she lives, and I have to go up there.
That also was in Silver Lake West Harris.
How long have I been talking about that?
Well, can I ask?
What would you do with that?
Let's say you got...
$100,000.
What would you do with $100,000?
I would go into Myrtle Beach and buy a condominium.
Okay, nice.
Yeah.
Like some oceanside property?
No, no, no, no, no, no.
Oh, no.
No.
It's nice down there, right?
I mean, it's beautiful down there.
You ever been there?
Myrtle Beach, of course.
Yeah, right.
All right, so how long are they talking about?
12 minutes?
That's been about seven minutes.
Seven minutes?
Yep.
But this is good stuff.
I mean, you know.
What about your upbringing?
Like, where did you go?
Yes, I was born in White Plains Hospital on September 25th, 1951.
And that's the year color TV came out.
Wow, nice.
But they had to take color TV off the market for three years because they couldn't get a good black and white signal.
They brought it back in 1954, and back then it was pretty much perfected.
I seen the first color TV in 1959.
My uncle had it.
He bought one, a Dumont or an RCA.
I think it was an RCA, though.
And I watched for the first time color, and I seen in color the price is right.
And I think it might have been Bob Barker back then, too, but I'm not really sure.
I can't remember long back then, you know, that far back.
It looks something like this, right?
What?
Let's see.
These TVs here, you see that?
I'd say.
Let's see.
No, it was around two.
This one right here.
It's around two.
Oh, there we go.
Take a round two.
Around two.
Oh, yeah, take a seat.
You know what?
I'll put the TV there so you can see this thing.
Right there.
Okay, great.
Yeah, but take a seat because the microphone over there, otherwise we can't hear you.
Okay.
So what else?
So you got that Color Tube TV.
Yeah.
In 1961.
And that year, 1961, when they had Color TV started, baseball that year was, believe it or not, in Color.
What's your team?
Oh, I don't know.
Oh, you're not a fan of baseball?
No.
I wasn't born.
How about now, though?
Color TV might have come out before I was born or after I was born or around when I was born.
Sure.
But I was born, like I said, in White Plains Hospital.
September 25th just recently passed.
I just turned 68 years old.
Oh, happy birthday.
That's right.
Yeah, 68.
Yeah.
15 minutes now?
It's about nine minutes now.
So I just want to ask you, though.
So after that, did you go to White Plains High School?
Yes, I did.
Gotcha.
So I went to Underhill Elementary School in Silver Lake.
Then I went to in Silver Lake to Samuel Preston Junior High School and to the ninth grade.
And fortunately and very luckily, I was on the honor roll all year in the eighth grade.
I was a BB plus student all year and I did very well.
Unfortunately, I got sick and came down with depression in the ninth grade and I didn't do well, just really passed.
And I didn't do well in the 10th grade, so I had to leave school because of the very severe depression that I came down with.
In fact, some years later, 1972, August 16th, 1972, I had to be hospitalized.
Well, I didn't have to be, but I was hospitalized because of depression and spent a year or four months in the hospital in White Plains, New York Hospital on Bloomingdale Road, White Plains.
I worked at that time, like I said, for the post office, which I retired, disability retirement from the post office I get now.
And I was in the post office from 1970 until my disability retirement, November 75, 1975.
And yeah, I did very well in the post office.
I was a letter sorter by hand.
They did at that time, back then, 1971, come out with LSMs, leather sorting machines, but I never really got to use them.
I was all by hand.
And it was all priority mail incoming Westchester County that I used to sort the mail to.
Yeah, I enjoyed that.
I enjoyed my work, but unfortunately, because of my severe depression and my hospitalization, I had to leave.
And the superintendent of mails suggested that I go on disability retirement, and that's what I did.
So I'm getting disability retirement money now for over 45 years.
Wow.
Do you think that working at the post office made you depressed, or was that something completely different?
Do you think there was a cause for it or was it kind of a medical?
No, no, no, no, no.
Just one of those things that happened.
Yeah.
Gotcha.
And after the post office, some years later, I became a plumber's helper.
And I worked for Sal Galasso, his plumbing business, about 1984 to like 1988, 89.
And believe it or not, Sal Galaso lived in Silver Lake.
And believe it or not, this is something that's very interesting.
His uncle, his mother's brother was Lucky Luciano, the mobster.
Oh, I've heard of Lucky Luciano, yeah.
Yeah, that was her.
Sal Galasso's uncle was, and he said the Lucky Luciano is called Lucky because he never really got caught.
But suddenly in Rome Airport, I think he had a heart attack, eventually had a heart attack and passed away, died.
And I don't know how old he was, I don't remember, but I know there are books on him.
And I did have a book one time, and I gave it to Sal Galasso's sister, and she said, Eh, we really don't appreciate this.
But anyway, I guess because he was a mobster.
But she says, I know all about the book, she says.
She says, some of it's true, some of it, you know, isn't.
Yeah.
No.
A little boosted up to me.
And now it's my living on my mother's side is my Uncle Johnny and my mother.
They're the two left.
Uncle Johnny lives in Armonk on Faraway Road off of the main drag there.
You ever see the family members?
You ever see the family members?
When's the last time you got to see them?
Well, I haven't seen Uncle Johnny in some years.
But, well, he's, unfortunately, my Aunt Marianne, Uncle Johnny's wife, is suffering from Alzheimer's, and he has a rough time, you know, taking care of her.
But he's managing, and she, well, she'll never get really better.
But she's hanging in there, you know.
Yeah.
How do you feel nowadays, though?
Because you went through that depression thing, but nowadays you feel like a little better?
Oh, I take medication.
Okay, gotcha.
I take medication for depression.
Depression.
And it makes you feel better, and you're fine with that?
Yes.
What do you like to eat?
What are some of the things that you like to eat?
Yeah.
I like lasagna.
Lasagna is really good.
I like meatballs.
Yeah, they're good.
And my suggestion is go to Augie's for meatballs.
They give you six nice-sized meatballs for $9 in change, which isn't bad.
And you can get a wedge, a meatball wedge, during lunch.
But other than that, during the day, they just give it in a bowl of meatballs.
When you were a kid, what did you used to do for fun?
Did you have any friends that you would go play?
Well, we had the park.
Yeah.
Did you play sports?
No, no, no, no.
We had the park, and we used to go to the movies at the park on Wednesday nights.
What's your favorite movie?
Well, I really have no favorite movie.
I'm not a moviegoer, really.
Oh, I see.
Gotcha.
And then on Thursday nights, they used to have the dances.
They used to have the dances.
And sometimes they bring in a band, you know.
But back then, it was like violins and so on.
It was different music back then.
But anyway, that was very interesting.
And when you go into the movies on Wednesday nights, all you do is bring a you had to bring a blanket to sit on the bleacher.
On the ground.
Oh, on the ground, okay.
Yeah.
Because it's a park, yeah.
Yeah, and then bring a bag of potato chips, which we always brought.
And that's about it.
Maybe a drink, and that's about it.
And I have another uncle on my father's side.
Artie is named.
Artie.
Yeah, but I haven't seen him in many years.
And I heard he lives up in Carmel, New York, but I don't know.
And he has two daughters and a younger son.
He's named after my middle name, Stephen.
And Stephen is an attorney in North Carolina, and he's over 45 now.
I don't know exactly.
Well, he was born in December 72, so he's over 45 now.
And so you ever, you've been to Myrtle Beach, right?
Oh, many times to see my mother.
What are some other places?
Have you ever traveled around the country or have you ever left the country?
I've never been to Indiana.
I had an aunt that lived there.
Cool.
Indiana?
South Bend.
South Bend, Indiana?
Which is where Notre Dame College is.
Oh, that's right.
Yes.
Have you ever been to California?
No.
Have you ever been to Florida, yes.
Florida, yeah.
Yes.
Once.
How about anywhere else on the East Coast?
Have you ever been to Vegas?
No.
What other states have you been to?
Well, Atlantic City.
Atlantic City.
You ever gambled down there?
Yeah, but very little gambling.
I used to go to Atlantic City basically for the shows, the shows that they had there.
And I see many people in Atlantic City.
I seen Dion of Dion and the Belmonts.
I've seen Temptations.
I've seen Rich Little do impersonations.
Oh, yeah.
What's your favorite impersonation that he did?
I remember Rich Little.
Oh, he did a lot of them.
He did Richard Nixon.
He did John Carson.
Johnny Carson.
Richard Nixon.
Yeah.
I'm Not a Crook.
Yeah, right.
And he did Jack Nicholson, too, remember?
Oh, I didn't know that.
Yeah, he put the hair back like this.
What are you looking at?
Jonathan Belmont?
Yep.
You did?
You did look at it?
Let's see.
Let's see.
Yeah.
All right, yeah.
There's Dion on the right.
Second from right.
Second from the right.
I think that's him.
I think.
This is like the Jonas brothers in the 1950s, right?
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah, that's Dion right there.
Mexican man, eh?
Good with the man.
Pretty good stuff.
Yeah, pretty good.
what else do you want to know?
About 20 minutes, right?
Yeah, we're about at 20.
Actually, yeah.
20 minutes, 40 seconds.
So we got 10 more minutes.
Why don't we try to go into what are some good memories that you had from back in the day?
Well, I had to hang out with my cousin Kenny, which lived in my grandfather's house in the attic.
And I used to stay over, and we used to get along well.
And we have some arguments and fights.
And I bit his finger one time, and it blew up.
Oh, my God.
And my aunt said, you guys got to get along together now.
How old were you then?
Finger biting and stuff.
I'm going to be about 10, 11.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Who hasn't bit somebody's finger at 10?
Do you believe in ghosts?
No, but I believe in God.
I believe in God too, Gary.
And I'm Roman Catholic.
Do you ever pray to God?
Do you ever pray?
Oh, sure.
Nice.
For years, I've been seeing once in a while a priest up at Marino, New York, which is just north of Austin.
I've done that.
And I got to, in fact, that reminds me I got to call Father Moran very soon and tell him I'd like to see him on a Saturday because my friend works Monday through Friday.
And I have no car now.
That's one thing.
I don't have a car anymore.
My license was suspended.
It's a long mishap what happened, but I hope to get my license back not long from now.
Yeah.
What kind of car do you have?
I had a Honda Civic.
Those are reliable.
Those will last you a lifetime, right?
A 2001, a 2002 CIBIC.
Yeah, what else?
Those are good on gas?
Yes, really good.
The parts are cheap?
Yes.
Well, I don't know about that, but.
Well, yeah, I mean, you know.
Yeah.
But, all right, so you had that.
What other cars did you have in your past, though?
Do you ever have something real nice?
My first car my mother bought me just before I got my license.
She bought me the car.
It was the 1969 Pontiac Le Mans.
1969 Pontiac Le Mans.
Take a look at it.
Le Mans.
Wow, that's looking nice, man.
That's a nice car.
You like that?
It almost looks like a muscle car, almost like a GTO.
I don't like it.
No?
No.
I don't look like it.
It says right here, 1969 Ponty like the Mans.
Yeah.
That looks like a nice car.
It almost looks like a, you know, not too different from a GTO.
You can tell the back of it.
Yeah, there it is.
There it is, yeah.
Got that smooth kind of back.
What else?
What else do you want?
Oh, just, if you don't mind sitting back at the desk just so you can get your microphone.
What else?
So, um.
Remember the Fons?
Yeah.
Was that big back then?
By the way, in the Fons happy days, Potsy Weber, Anson Williams, was born on the same day I was.
Really?
September 25th.
It might be there on.
1951?
No.
Over 1950?
No.
He was born September 25th.
Oh, I don't know what year.
Gotcha.
Also on September 25th was Barbara Walters and Christopher Reeves, the Superman.
Yes.
The 25th of September.
The most famous man to ever grace a wheelchair.
Is that what they say?
I think so.
All right.
What else?
Well, you got Stephen Hawking.
Well, I got 25 minutes, all right?
Yeah.
Five minutes, and then I go.
Do you want to hear my Barbara Walters impression?
What about Barbara Walters?
This is my impression of Barbara Walters.
Hello, I'm Barbara Walters.
All right, what else?
What else?
I can do some other impressions.
Just kind of, I mean, because...
You got an impression, please?
Yes.
Dracula, Bell Lagozi.
Ah, yes, classic.
Four more hours to bite.
That's really good.
That didn't even sound like you.
That's awesome.
Sounds like him, right?
Yeah, that's cool.
Well, can I do an impression for you?
Name somebody that you know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Let me see.
Johnny Carson.
Oh, wow.
That is some weird, wild stuff.
That's some weird, wild stuff there.
How about I'll do a Karnak.
You remember Karnak?
No.
Karnak?
Remember?
He would take the envelope and he'd have the big turban on.
He'd be like, oh, let me see here.
Well, how about Johnny Carson?
Oh, let me see.
Let me see.
What's the word?
Free speech.
Okay, oh.
Let's see.
Free speech here.
You remember.
Alright.
I'm not doing a good job.
But I'm going to show you Karnak.
It's Johnny Carson's Karnak.
You're going to remember this.
Let me see.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm doing it.
I do remember.
That's Carson.
And that's Ed McMahon.
Ed McMahon, yep.
Oh, yeah.
Okay.
You got to use the bathroom?
Yeah, I have to.
Alright, hold on, one second.
Where is it?
We got a bathroom right over here.
Yeah.
I'm left.
I got it on four minutes, right?
Yep.
You're welcome.
We're taking a small bathroom break.
This is Karnash.
What are the three qualifications to be a Major League Baseball player?
the Major League Baseball player.
Thank you.
Blood sugar.
Blood sugar.
What should a vampire cut down on when he's on a diet?
LAUGHTER Habits.
All right.
What's that?
My habits.
Your habits?
Okay, we'll talk about the habits.
I really have not too many bad habits.
I quit drinking over 30 years ago.
I used to be a big beer drinker.
What was your poison of choice?
What was your favorite beer?
What was your drink?
Oh, Schaefer Budweiser.
Schaefer.
I don't even make that anymore.
Or Budweiser.
But back then, Schaefer.
But I do have one bad habit, which I can't kind of kick.
I smoke.
I smoke two to three packs of cigarettes a day.
Wow.
Over 50 years.
Holy camoly, that's a lot of cigarettes.
But I'm not...
Do you like cigars?
I smoke them occasionally.
I have very nice cigars.
Actually, I have two of mine.
I'm going to take that $20 and buy some cigarettes.
Can I give you a cigar for my personal collection?
You can.
I would like to give you an Arturo Fuente.
Yeah, you can give me one.
Have you heard of those?
Yes.
Okay.
We're done, right?
Well, just keep talking real quick.
Talk about the habit.
When did you first start smoking and first starting?
I started smoking when I was 15 years old.
Yeah, I started back then and never really kicked a habit.
Ah.
Yeah.
Alright, I gotta go.
I gotta take off.
Alright, well, I'd like to present you real quick.
Sit at the desk, and I'll come over to you.
So just wait, so you have the microphone here.
Yeah, all right.
So this is our turtle Fuente for my personal cigar.
Yes, very nice.
Very nice.
Yes, yes.
And do you need me to clip it for you?
No.
You got it?
I'll do that.
So why don't we sign off?
So if you could just look into that camera and just say a little something, you know, thank you for...
And we'll be seeing you again and talking again with you.
Oh, also.
Thank you.
He wraps up the show like this.
Wait, one more second?
If you could just sit at the seat and say, get fired, get in trouble, be brave, and never stop fighting.
What?
Here, I'm going to write it down for you.
This is how he ends every show.
So, get fired.
Get fired?
Yeah, why would you say that?
It's almost like a line from a movie at this point where it's like, it's just something that I said.