Capes Are Not Just for Super Heroes

The headline made reading the story irresistible: 

“Martin Greenfield, Tailor to Sinatra, Obama, Trump and Shaq, Dies at 95”(https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/20/fashion/martin-greenfield-dead.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare)

I was hooked not by the reference to Obama, Shaq or Trump, but by Sinatra, for it was his name that linked Martin Greenfield to my wife, Gilda. 

Among the many skills Gilda has mastered in her professional career spanning nearly 6 decades—as a waitress, office manager, newborn intensive care nurse, ICU-CCU step down unit nurse, nursery school aide, pre-and postpartum counselor, research coordinator for infectious diseases, and nurse practitioner specializing in pre- and post-spine surgery assessments—is an East Greenwich Village summer job she held while in college. 

Gilda was a seamstress in an avant-garde establishment catering to the notable and eccentric trade. Indeed, she sewed a cape for none other than Ol’ Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra. 

The cape was black. With a red lining. 

Gilda had been working as a clerical assistant at Hartz Mountain headquarters near Astor Place in Manhattan. Not able to afford a ready-to-wear wardrobe, she sewed her own outfits. One was a green dress that required button holes her home sewing machine was not equipped to make. 

She brought the nearly finished dress to a nearby East Village store, Capes for Men. Admiring the workmanship, the owner asked who made the dress. I did, said Gilda. Impressed by her skill, she offered Gilda a job on the spot. 

Capes for Men also specialized in knit dresses for women, though one of the customers Gilda observed trying on a dress was most definitely a man, she surprisingly discovered as the patron emerged from a dressing room wearing only tight red boxer underwear leaving little to the imagination of what it was hiding. Keep in mind that this revelation transpired in the mid-1960s when Gilda was in her late teens and a person’s public anatomy was not so gender fluid. 

Gilda never had the opportunity to meet Sinatra to ask him if he liked the cape. She never really was a big fan of his, anyway. Six decades later she hasn’t lost her touch around a sewing machine, though not to make apparel from scratch anymore. For the record, I sew on my own buttons when needed.  

Also, for the record, there are some fashionistas who believe a cape is reemerging as a staple of a man’s wardrobe (https://www.townandcountrymag.com/style/fashion-trends/a43144450/mens-capes-trend/). 

Post Election, Do We Stay or Go?

As it does at many a gathering of upper middle class couples, the conversation eventually led to where it was a good place to escape to. 

Only this dialogue was not to plan an escape from winter, or a quick trip to the beach or ski slope, or a fashion fling to a spa or retail hot spot. 

No, this Friday evening shabbat dinner of matzoh ball soup, chicken marsala, smashed potatoes and root vegetables featured conversation among liberal, educated, well informed and connected Jews with a special interest as to where in the world could we find permanent safe refuge from an America unhinged by rising antisemitism and the very real possibility that Donald Trump could win the November election. 

Israel used to be the first response. Bibi has dashed that option. Equally guilty of closing that door were those who want to replace Netanyahu but whose egos have kept them from uniting behind one candidate. Israel teeters on the brink of undemocratic reform and a future even more oppressive for Palestinians under its control. 

Canada was a popular alternative. English is spoken. Heck, Toronto streets have been passed off as those of New York City in films and television shows. Toronto has a vibrant Jewish community. It’s colder, but not too cold. But there’s an undercurrent of conservatism gaining traction in Canada. A newly proposed bill could land you in prison for life for speech crimes. Jews are anything but demure when it comes to expressing their opinions. If passed, that new law would blow a very cold welcome greeting. 

Want some place warmer? Costa Rica might do. Sure there are gang and drug problems but they are small compared to other countries south of our border. 

For some, England had an attraction, though it too has been hit by rising antisemitism. France was definitely out. 

No one mentioned Australia or New Zealand. 

Reality set in. There is no safe haven. Come November, there is only an America PT—Post Trump or President Trump. 

If he wins in 2024, would he leave in 2029? Would he pull a Putin and stay in the White House for life? The tragedy, not just for Jews but for all of America, indeed for all of post World War II democratic liberal traditions here and abroad, is that half of our country is ignorant to Trump’s cancer, or so enthralled by it that they do not care.  

How the Times Have Changed Over 75 Years

I woke up today, March 6, a 75-year-old. As I lay in bed recalling all the good, and some bad, things that have happened to me over the years, I contemplated how different the world of today is compared to when I emerged from the womb. So many of the things we take for granted today were not present, or were in their infancy, when I was born.

Broadcast television, for example. Evening national news telecasts had not begun; there was no cable; most cities had three national networks—ABC, CBS, NBC—and, if they were large enough, a few independent stations; many communities had but one national network whose signal could be picked up by rooftop or set-top rabbit-ear antennae. 

The polio vaccine had not yet been developed. Nor had the anti-vaxx movement been formed. The triple dose MMR vaccine to ward off measles, mumps and the rubella virus was approved in 1978, the year Gilda’s and my son was born. 

Jet plane travel would not come till 1951; my first plane ride in January 1958 was on an Eastern Airlines propeller plane to Miami. I was ushered into the cockpit by a stewardess and given wings by the captain. 

The Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants had not yet moved to California. They would do so in 1958. There were just eight teams in the American League, eight in the National. No New York Mets. No Tampa Bat Rays, Houston Astros, Seattle Mariners, San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Angels, Toronto Blue Jays, Minnesota Twins, Miami Marlins, Oakland Athletics, Denver Rockies, Arizona Diamondbacks, Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals, Washington Nationals, Milwaukee Brewers. 

Computers were enormous back then. Full rooms were dedicated to mainframes. Desktop computers would show up in the 1970s. Personal computers did not exist until 1974. 

Music was restricted to in-home consoles and car radios. Transistor radios tuned in in 1954. Boom boxes in 1966. The Sony Walkman in 1979. The Apple iPod in 2001.  

Telephones had rotary analog dialing systems. Most families had but one phone, if any. Handheld mobile phones became widely available in the mid 1980s.  The iPhone debuted in 2007. 

Space was still an unexplored frontier. Uri Gagarin became the first human in outer space in 1961. The first human lunar landing was in 1969. Aliens still have not been discovered. 

Pickleball started in 1965. The first Super Bowl, played in 1967, was called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game. The ultimate game was dubbed the Super Bowl in 1969. 

Schools used chalk and blackboards, not today’s markers and white dry-erase boards. 

There were no MRI machines. Physicians had to make do with X-rays. 

Almost everything families bought was made in America. Goods made in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan were considered inferior. The only truly national chains back then were Sears Roebuck, Montgomery Ward, JC Penney, Woolworth. There were no ubiquitous discount stores. Walmart and Target, and Kmart, began in 1962. There were no Best Buys, Crate and Barrels, T.J. Maxx, Costco. Retailing was very much localized. Department stores were landmarks of downtowns, with few if any locations outside the central city. There were no suburban shopping centers, no enclosed malls. Amazon was just the longest river in the western hemisphere, not today’s behemoth of international non-store retailing. 

Full voting rights were not universally enforced throughout the nation, a condition sadly still with us. 

Playboy had yet to appear on newsstands or be delivered through the mail. The sexual revolution did not truly take off until the pill was sanctioned by the Federal Drug Administration in 1960. 

Howard Johnson restaurants dotted the nation’s roadways which, until President Eisenhower started building the interstate highway system in the 1950s, passed right through the central business district of major and minor communities. Woolworth luncheon counters were a dominant foodservice enterprise. McDonald’s was just a single unit in San Bernadino, Calif., run by Richard and Maurice McDonald until Ray Kroc joined them in 1954 and bought them out in 1961. 

The changes in America, in the world, go on and on. Anyone born today and living to their 75th year in 2099 will have witnessed mind-boggling changes during their lifetime, as I have. Let’s hope they are all for the better.

20 Questions for Biden and Trump

Like it or not it appears increasingly likely our top choices for president of the United States will be phlegmatic old men, both bent on burnishing their respective image as the only person who can save our republic. 

With that in mind, here are 20 questions each candidate—Joe Biden and Donald Trump—should be required to answer, without equivocation or bluster, either during a televised debate or during a vetting by the combined editorial boards of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, the answers to be published by both newspapers:

What is America’s greatest international challenge?

What is America’s greatest domestic challenge?

What is America’s global role, if any?

Are there any treaties or global organizations you would pull back from or any you would like to enter or foster?

Which foreign leaders, past and present, do you admire and why?

Which of our presidents do you admire and why?

What if any censorship should public libraries have on the books and periodicals they house?

What role should the federal government have over the distribution of water among the states?

Should we change any policy in regard to federal lands, parks, monuments?

Should there be any limitations on development along coastlines threatened by flooding?

What do you believe are the root causes for illegal migration to America and how would you correct those issues?

What obligations, if any does the United States have toward Taiwan?

Are there any federal departments you would eliminate or sharply curtail their functions, institutions such as the FDA, CDC, OSHA, FBI, FTC, IRS?

Are there any new departments or services you would initiate?

Do you support the principle of separation of church and state?

What concerns do you have about the environment in America and the world and, if any, what are the best ways to mitigate them?

What is your assessment of race relations in America, and if needed, how would you improve it?

Do you support the Affordable Care Act? If not, how specifically would you guarantee health care?

Explain in detail your position on reproductive rights, the role of government, judges, doctors in determining a woman’s options during pregnancy? 

Should the Constitution be amended to require mandatory retirement at 75 of all elected federal politicians, appointed federal judges and federal/military positions requiring Senate confirmation?

Solicitations Abound in My Bundled Mail

When did Gilda and I become Holy Rollers? Must have been during the last three weeks, based on the accumulated mail I picked up Friday after our three week stay in Tucson.

Among the letters, magazines and travel brochures were six solicitations from organizations and people we never before had correspondence with. 

The first one I saw shocked me from my complacency. A red panel on the exterior envelope carried the following question: “Have you and I fought hard enough to defend God’s role in America?” 

It came with a return address of “In God We Trust, 1701 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W., Suite 200, Washington, D.C. 20006.” For those not familiar with our nation’s capital, that’s just a few blocks west of the White House. 

I couldn’t resist peering inside the envelope. A letter from Michael Chartrand, founder of In God We Trust, complained that “donations … are way down from last year. As a result, I have incurred a significant amount of debt.”

He was downright sensible in his ask—just “$25, $35, $50, or even $100 would be a big help.” 

Two pages later came the anguished plea: “Without your support, In God We Trust won’t be able to get out of debt, and I won’t be able to carry on this important work,” which, I should explain, Chartrand said he has been “working very hard to stop the atheists and God-haters campaign to remove religion from American life.” 

Getting back to that office address, turns out Suite 200 at 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue is a virtual office location run by DaVinci Virtual, landlord to many seeking Washington cache for their exploits. 

Michael Chartrand was unknown to Gilda and me. Not so Mike Huckabee and Mike Pence. (As an aside, what’s with all these Mike/Michaels? Does the Bible-thumping network believe that name is saintly when it comes to pulling in dollars from the devout and gullible?)

Huckabee addressed Gilda as “my fellow American of faith.” He’s seeking money and affirmation that she stands with Israel and is full-throated in support of Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. 

Mike Pence had no comment on Israel. He focused on abortion, specifically his condemnation of “chemical abortions,” the use of two mail-order pills that can terminate a pregnancy. It is an issue before the Supreme Court this year. He asked for money to fund his organization.

Kathy Branzell, president of National Day of Prayer Task Force, wants Gilda to “commit to spend 5 minutes in prayer each day throughout the rest of 2024” so that God will begin “to change and heal the hearts of our leaders.” And, oh, by the way, after pledging to pray, “please send along a one-time gift of $100.”

This National Day of Prayer crusade is really pushing the envelope. Not one, but two letters came from Pat Boone. Yes, the Pat Boone of bobby-soxer 1950s music fame. Still flashing his bright white smile, Pat wanted Gilda to know May 2 is the day “tens of millions of believers” will gather again. With Gilda’s financial support, of course. 

Now, Gilda and I contribute thousands of dollars each year to worthwhile causes that support a woman’s right to choose, feed the hungry and homeless, expand cultural institutions, to name a few. Did any of those organizations sell their mailing lists to her new-found pen pals? 

You can unsubscribe from an email list, but how do you stop old fashioned solicitations by mail? 

Do you think prayer is the answer? 

Ask Me If I Care Biden Misspoke

Ask me if I care that during a tempestuous news conference Thursday Joe Biden had a mental lapse when he wrongly identified the president of Egypt as the head of Mexico. Has it given me pause in my support of his reelection?

Go ahead, ask me! 

Not really. Anyone, no matter their age or intellect, may make a mistake in the heat of an argument, in the glare of TV cameras. Recall that President Gerald Ford is thought by some to have lost his 1976 election bid when he mistakenly said during a televised debate that Poland, then part of the Soviet bloc, was a free country. 

I’m willing to give Biden a pass given his understandable outrage at the unprofessional characterization made by special counsel Robert Hur that Biden was a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

Hur was chosen to investigate whether Biden had broken any laws by keeping secret government documents long after he left office as vice president in 2017. He was picked to do the investigation by Biden’s attorney general, but he was appointed a federal attorney by Donald Trump. Hur might have failed to find grounds to charge Biden with any crime, but he wielded a partisan skewer for Trump by repeatedly harping on Biden’s alleged physical and mental vulnerabilities, clearly political, not legal, or even medically qualified, assessments. 

Biden might have conflated Egypt with Mexico because both countries have had border closing issues, Mexico with our migrant crisis and Egypt with the ongoing war in Gaza. 

Who among us has not misspoken? Surely almost every politician, from Trump to Nikki Haley, has had a speech slippage. My bottom line is that I can accept a minor bit of forgetfulness by a president, but I cannot accept a candidate’s rejection of America’s role as a superpower to protect and even expand democracy at home and abroad. Donald Trump is a grifter, an autocrat-in-waiting, bent on seeking revenge against any and all he perceives have offended him. 

Do I wish Biden was sprier? Walked less stiffly? Not talk so corny? Sure. But compared to Trump he is competent, caring, compassionate, collegial, considerate. And, …

Unlike Trump, Biden will not hand any part of Ukraine to Vladimir Putin. Unlike Trump, Biden will not denigrate NATO. Unlike Trump, Biden will not pardon insurrectionists imprisoned for their actions January 6, 2021. Unlike Trump, Biden has embarked on a modernizing infrastructure program. Unlike Trump, Biden has rejected ultra right extremists. Unlike Trump, Biden seeks to work with allies. Unlike Trump, Biden favors affordable health care for all. Unlike Trump, Biden believes reproductive decisions should be made by a woman in consultation with her family and medical team, not by politicians or judges. Unlike Trump, Biden believes in the positive power of labor unions to build a stronger middle class. 

So, no, given the choice between a blowhard and a real president, I choose Joe Biden. He’s not perfect, but he’s beyond doubt the better choice.  

Moments in Time for Vergara, Biden, King Charles

Sofia Vergara is having a Sophia-Loren-“Two Women” moment. Her tour-de-force portrayal of Miami cocaine drug godmother Griselda Blanco in Netflix’s “Griselda” mini series is sure to amass for her streams of accolades and nominations, if not awards, for her dynamic, intense, captivating, and, to be honest, unexpected, performance. 

Just as “Two Women” propelled Loren beyond buxom women roles, “Griselda” highlights Vergara’s acting chops beyond the sexy, comic housewife caricature she portrayed for 11 seasons on ABC’s “Modern Family” sitcom.

Loren won a best actress Academy Award for “Two Women.” It’s too early to say which awards Vergara might take home (“Griselda” is not a film so an Oscar is not possible), though her bravura acting might open up for her roles she previously would not have been considered for.

Her age might work against her ascendancy to more meaty engagements. Loren was 25 when “Two Women” debuted in 1960. Vargara is 51. Though other actresses her age and older, such as “Nyad’s” Jodie Foster (61) and Annette Bening (65), and “May December’s” Julianne Moore (63) have secured prime roles this past year, they have enjoyed decades as leading ladies. 

“Griselda” is an intense, six-part series, more compact but just as deadly as the multi-year “Gomorrah,” an Italian series centered on the drug trade in Naples. “Gomorrah” was fictitious. “Griselda” is based on a real-life character who transformed the Miami drug experience. 

As long as we’re on the subject of a “moment” that can change perception of an individual, President Biden is having a “Barbary Coast Pirate” moment. 

Just as President Thomas Jefferson in 1804 sent the navy and marines to “the shores of Tripoli” to deal with Muslim pirates interfering with commercial seafare in the Mediterranean, Biden has unleashed our military to thwart southern Yemen Houthi rebels/pirates from attacking shipping in the Red Sea. 

Stifling piracy from nearby Somalia in the early 21st century required international cooperation from America, Russia, China, India and other nations. Biden similarly has enlisted allies, but the Houthis pose a more dangerous foe as they are not so much interested in booty but rather in disrupting, even destroying, shipping as a means of forcing Israel to stop its war in Gaza. The Houthis mostly operate from their territory adjacent to a critical passage way leading into and out of the Red Sea. 

The mobility of modern missile warfare complicates Biden’s moment. It is difficult to imagine permanently stopping the Houthis, just as Israel is finding it nearly impossible to end rockets from the Gaza Strip being launched from areas supposedly secured by its military. 

Having waited so long to ascend the throne, King Charles III is in a moment hardly anyone is ever prepared to face. Cancer has invaded his body. 

Though the palace has declined to specify the type of cancer, it almost certainly is one that emerges suddenly without prior warning, such as pancreatic, bladder or liver cancer. 

No matter what one feels about Charles from his relationship with Diana, a degree of sympathy for his predicament is in order. He has always been an outspoken conservationist and more public than his mother, Queen Elizabeth, on matters of state. To be king for less than two years is disheartening. 

One also has to feel sorry for William, the heir apparent Prince of Wales, who already was contending with an undisclosed medical matter that hospitalized his wife for two weeks. 

It is during times like these that health issues reinforce the shared humanity of the royals, their subjects and their followers around the world.