WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT 

 Issue Date:   February 12, 2018

 
It is with deep sadness that we report the death, at age 90, March 18, 2017, of one of the most significant rock 'n' roll pioneers of the 1950s and of all time, and a hero to our generation, Chuck Berry.

We invite you to focus on his remarkable contribution to our generational culture by revisiting our Chuck Berry Kennedy Center Honors page first created in 2000 (when this site was still fresh and new) upon the occasion of his receipt of the coveted honor. That page now features a link to a video of the event.

Loss of "The greatest"

Click here to view Billy Crystal's brilliant eulogy for Ali.

TWO OF OUR CLASSMATES WIN PRESTIGIOUS AWARDS, AND A THIRD THIRD SPEAKS AT AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN BULGARIA

April 16, 2015: Sabin Danziger was honored by his alma mater, Dartmouth College in the Grand Ballroom of the Plaza Hotel where he was inducted into its Stephen F. Mandel ’52 Society as its sole 2015 honoree. Sabin was chosen for his “dedication, generosity and visionary leadership to Dartmouth College and his other philanthropic and mentoring endeavors.”  The presenter stated that Sabin “exemplified the BEST in volunteering leadership.” Sabin was surrounded by his family and about 500 alumni and members of their families from around the country. His name will be on a permanent plaque in Dartmouth College’s library. Sabin is an executive in the New York City office of Gilbert Tweed International, a global, executive search firm where he specializes in financial personnel (i.e., Wall Street types).

April 19 2015: Our own "Lotus Blossom' in "Teahouse of the August Moon,"the former Sue Schleshinger (now, Suzanne Lasky-Gerard), was honored by the Jewish Museum of Florida and presented with one of its 2015 Breaking the Glass Ceiling Awards for her career achievements in television production and a lifetime of service to the local, national and international Jewish communities. Suzanne said her greatest source of pride is her Emmy award-winning documentary, "The March of the Living," which  also received several other national awards.

The annual Breaking the Glass Ceiling Award for Jewish women in Florida who have broken the proverbial glass ceiling in professional fields that are normally dominated by men was established by the Museum 1995. Nominees are also judged based upon activities in the Jewish and civic communities and serving as role models for other women. Historically, outstanding honorees have been from such a wide variety of fields as medicine, banking, accounting, academia, politics, law, aviation, journalism, sports and entertainment.

April 27, 2015: Dan Nussbaum was a featured panel member speaking at the "East-West Defence & Security Co-operation Conference" (EWDSC) in Sofia, Bugaria. The EWDSC is an annual 3-day, high-level, international conference for the defense, security and aerospace sectors of business and government.  It brings together key decision-makers and influencers from industry, government, academia, and international organizations all over the world. Dan represented our country as an expert primarily on the subject of cost estimating in support of the US Department of Defense.

Dan is a PhD in Mathematics (Michigan State University) and Professor of Operations Research at the Naval Postgraduate School, in Monterey, California, where he chairs its Energy Academic Group, and provides leadership to the Secretary of the Navy's Executive Energy Education program. Among other things, he also teaches courses in Cost Estimating and Analysis, provides Cost Estimating and Business Case Analyses for the US Department of Navy, Department of Air Force, Department of Army, and the Secretary of Defense. He recently completed co-authoring a soon-to-be published textbook  with a colleague entitled Cost Estimation: Methods and Tools. Previously, Dan was Director, of the US Naval Center for Cost Analysis, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Navy, in Washington, DC. In that role, among other duties, he was the chief advisor to the Secretary on all aspects of cost and schedule estimating and control and single Navy point of contact for guiding, directing and strengthening cost estimating and analysis throughout the Department of Navy.  (Sorry, folks, I condensed this as much as I could.)

Congratulations to our Sailors!
 

DORIS WALKER, SUCCUMBS TO BRAIN CANCER AFTER LONG POST-SURGERY STRUGGLE

May 3, 2015: After reporting earlier that one of our classmates, Doris Walker (now Bailey), was recovering from a brain tumor after surgery in February last year, we learned that she lost her long battle early this morning and passed on. We know from her brother-in-law, Charlie Thuren (OHS, '57), that Doris has been enjoying  cards, letters, etc., from her OHS classmates after her surgery was announced on this page. Doris was hoping to be able to attend our reunion in September. May she rest in peace.

MEMORY OF OUR PRINCIPAL HONORED BACK HOME

learned late in 2014 that over a year earlier, in October 2013, the memory of our late principal, Charles Mosback, was honored by the Oceanside School District when, during halftime ceremonies at a varsity football game, the Oceanside High School athletic field was rededicated as the Charles R. Mosback Memorial Field. This took place 40 years after the field was originally named for him following his passing in 1973. Mosback’s daughter, our classmate, Ruth Ann Mosback, was present and participated in the rededication. Read what Ruth Ann wrote about her dad and more here.

REMEMBERING A COMIC GENIUS  ̶  A TRIBUTE TO SID CAESAR

February 12, 2014: Just about from the time most of got our first TV set (that's we called them then, remember?), Sid Caesar, a peerless pioneer and no less than a comic genius, filled our homes and our lives weekly with laughter for almost 10 years  ̶  and it was all live! Caesar died at age 91. His innovative sketch comedy of Your Show of Shows is widely credited as the progenitor of Saturday Night Live.

The internet now abounds with tributes and accolades for this fallen giant of early television such that there is not much we could add here. In one article, Richard Corliss, an entertainment reporter for TIME,capsulizes what Corliss calls "A great comedian's choicest work  ̶  60 years old and still brilliantly fresh" and provides access to YouTube videos of seven of Caesar's sketches "chosen by someone who as a kid found them ingeniously funny and who, 60 years later, can’t stop laughing." For us, I have chosen to highlight one of them by providing a direct link to a sketch that aired (live, of course) on Caesar's Hour (the successor to Your Show of Shows) on April 25, 1955. At that time, according to Corliss, "TV types didn't know how to treat rock 'n roll, except with contempt." So Caesar and two of his crew (Carl Reiner and Howie Morris) created a classic  ̶  The 3 Haircuts (click here)  ̶  a brilliant parody of our music.

BYE, BYE, PHIL
    

January 7, 2014: AN OPEN LETTER TO DON EVERLY: Ironically, the sad loss last Friday of your dear brother, Phil, has brought back happy memories for me of the two of you and your unique and wonderful blend of brotherly harmonies ─ the sweet side of rock 'n' roll.

I remember learning to dance with my cousin in 1957 to "Bye, Bye, Love." I remember one of my closest friends insisting in 1960 that "Till I Kissed Ya" was about his new girlfriend. I remember later that year when "Cathy's Clown" topped the charts on our prom night and was still there on graduation day. I remember how the lyric of one of your most popular early hits so closely matched my story of getting home at 6:30 a.m. from my first date with my 15-year old future wife ─ little Susie! I remember a year after your 1983 celebrated reunion concert in Royal Albert Hall watching you performing together on tour in a theater-in-the-round in Pennsylvania ─ as if your 10-year break-up had never happened. I remember the feeling of joy and wonderment at how your songbook of familiar melodies seemed endless. Every time I thought you were done, there was more. Lastly, I remember thinking how warm and genuine you two were when you invited fans to shake your hands stage-side at the end of your show in Las Vegas. (I shook yours, Don.) My heartfelt thanks for these memories.

The sweet sound of Everly Brothers music will never be forgotten ─ and it will never be duplicated. May he rest in peace. So sad.

ANOTHER TRAGIC LOSS FOR OUR CLASS ─ STEVE FIRSTENBERG

An unfortunately anonymous, early respondent to our class survey reported the passing of Steve Firstenberg. We checked it out online and found that he passed on January 30, 2013.

Steve earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Yeshiva University, and in all his personal and professional relationships, he demonstrated a lifelong dedication to both learning and teaching. For more than 20years, he led the international sales division of Kichler Lighting in Cleveland.  A former Eagle Scout, he was a world traveler, golfer and devoted husband and father. Steve was loved dearly by his friends, co-workers and business associates and will be remembered for his infectious smile, his thirst for adventure and his commitment to bettering the lives of those around him.

I had a long and pleasant telephone conversation with Steve last October when he was just out of a hospital. He was cheerful and enthusiastic; I thought he was going to be OK, but we never spoke again.

Coach Jan told Aaron Axelson of the Oceanside Herald, “He was an outstanding player. He was probably the best on Long Island. He was a hell of a  soccer player, too. I think he could have played anything.” 

Axelson wrote, "Heyman made a name for himself as one of Oceanside's greatest athletes, and he is still described that way 50 years later. ...His senior year average of 29.1 points per game remains a school record ... and [he] also holds OHS records for rebounds in a season (396) and free throws in a single game (19)."

Like Coach Jan said, Artie (as we knew him) was an all-around athlete. Besides basketball, he also was on our OHS varsity tennis team and was All-Scholastic on our 1958-'59 Sailors' County Championship soccer team. He had a great sense of humor and lots of friends at OHS.

Scoring the winning point against Baldwin for                 the 1959 County championship                                 Posed with other '58-'59 Sailor All-Scholastic soccer champions, (l. to r.) H. Kitt, Heyman, (the now late) C. Knorr and T. Millot)

After OHS, Art went on to Duke University where he was All-American three times and, in 1963, he was named NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player, and he won the Oscar Robertson Trophy. Heyman was also voted 1963 college basketball Player of the Year by the Associated Press, the ACC and The Sporting News. He became, and still is, one of Duke's most revered players of all time. Duke honored Heyman in 1990 by retiring his jersey number. "Heyman not only was one of the greatest players in ACC basketball history but also one of its greatest characters," said sports columnist for The State (South Carolina's largest newspaper) and contributor to the Charlotte Observer, Ron Morris. "He was the ACC’s first bad boy. ... Beneath his veneer of bombast, I often found a man with a big heart."

Sports Illustrated, October 26, 1963

Just after Duke, he became the only number one NBA draft pick ever from Long Island when he began his pro career with the New York Knicks; then, he briefly joined the Cincinnati Royals followed by the Philadelphia 76ers. In 1967, Heyman moved from the NBA to the then newly formed ABA where he led his team to a league championship in 1968 and finally retired from the game in 1970.  He was among the first four basketball inductees ever into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame following its founding in 1993.

According to Axelson's report in the Oceanside Herald, "Heyman never forgot about his beginnings in Oceanside. He returned often to attend games." "He really had Oceanside in his heart." according to Jeff Risener, the Oceanside School District's current director of physical education, health and athletics. And our friend, author and OHS teacher, Richie Woods, said that Heyman's interest in OHS sports had grown in recent years. According to Richie, "He would give pep talks to the basketball team. You just love to see that a man like him was, at that point in his life, really caring about other people and the school that he came from." District Superintendent, Dr. Herb Brown, said, "He never gave up his relationship or his love of Oceanside. He was a celebrity; he was the real deal."

Information about Art Heyman is all over the internet; one of the best sources is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Heyman.

LOSS OF A HISTORIC HOMETOWN HERO:

We sadly reported on  May 14^th, 2011, that, Murray Handwerker, the man who rescued our beloved Roadside Rest in 1956 and in 1959, turned it into Nathan's Famous for all our pleasure, passed away that day in Florida at age 89. After Oceanside, Murray grew the company into a national franchise and made Nathan's hot dogs a household word by bringing them to malls, airports and supermarkets everywhere for all to enjoy.

The OHS Class of 1960 would like the entire Handwerker family to know how much we appreciate the many, many hours of pleasure over 20 years and incredible memories that Murray gave to the people of our hometown and the surrounding Long Island area by saving our beloved Roadside Rest and turning it into a Nathan's. We will always treasure those memories.

According to a death notice placed in the New York Times by his family, "He will be remembered for bringing love, happiness and fond memories to so many people." His loving wife of 67 years, Dorothy, had passed away almost two years earlier in June 2009. May they rest in peace together. The only online obituary found for Murray that mentioned our cherished Nathan's Roadside Rest in our little town, Oceanside, is in a web-based column (which is also linked to our site) called "The Eulogizer" of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) that highlights the life accomplishments of famous and not-so-famous Jews who have passed away.

Click here for what is likely the only online interview (2004) of Murray available.

DICK CLARK DEAD AT 82!!
 
The man who gave us American Bandstand in 1957 and  presented our favorite rock 'n' roll performers on TV to entertain us in our own living rooms every day after school, who was known for most of his later life as "America's oldest living teenager," died of a massive heart attack on April 18, 2012.

A VERY SAD REMEMBRANCE:
February 3, 2009, was the 50^th anniversary of "the day the music died," rock 'n' roll's first major (and perhaps most famous) tragedy, the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Bog Bopper. Of course, among the three, Buddy Holly, whose popularity lasted only 18 months during his lifetime, was then and remains now, after well over 50 years, the most revered and remembered of the three, and a major influence on all those who followed.

ANOTHER SAD REMEMBRANCE:

February 9^th, 2006, was the 25^th (and 2011, the 30^th) anniversary of the passing of Bill Haley, clearly the most seminal performer in the development of our music, the man who, with his group, the Comets, was most responsible for blending the black r&b urban style with country and western (then called "hillbilly") music, creating the original rock 'n' roll (or what later became known as "rockabilly" as more varied rock 'n' roll styles emerged) and who, 52 years earlier, gave us the national (or international) anthem of our generation. "Rock Around the Clock" has been featured in 45 movies and sold more copies than any other rock 'n' roll record ever ―   over 200 million! The Comets became the first rock 'n' roll band ever to be signed to a major label, the first ever to have a monster hit record, the first ever to have their song in a feature film, and the first to to appear on a major TV show ―   in fact, the first rock 'n' roll band ever ―   period! (Click here to read more about "Rock Around the Clock.")

Sadly, however, anniversaries of the passing of their visionary leader, Bill Haley, this giant of popular culture of our time, go virtually unnoticed by the media.
    

  
To hear "Rock Around the Clock," go to "Prom Night."
    
                                                                 

REUNITED AFTER 47 YEARS:

Inspired and facilitated by this website, a classmate, Tom Castoldi, who provided the piano accompaniment for our 1960 OHS production of Bells Are Ringing, paid a visit to, and therefore was reunited after 47 years with, our music director, Allan Segal, in his home in San Marcos (near San Diego), California, on May 14^th, 2007. Tom (left), who lives in San Marcos, Texas, was attending a conference in Los Angeles and took the time to drive down the crowded freeway to visit Allan.

Just another example of the magic of the internet ―   and of this website.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO OUR HOMETOWN HOT ROD KING?
   
^TM was recently contacted by Andy Southard, Jr., OHS class of  '51 (whose father, Andrew, Sr., was on the Oceanside School Board for 32 years ending with his passing in 1968). Andy, Jr. became widely known in and around our little town in his late teens and early 20s for his incredible work pinstriping intricate designs on hot rods and custom cars. He then went on to central California from where his reputation for pinstriping and his photography spread nationally throughout hot rodding and custom car circles. After being managing editor of Rod & Custom magazine, and contributing photos and articles to that and a number of other hot rodding and custom car magazines, in the 1990s, Andy authored and published five books featuring photos of these magnificent cars and related stories (all of which are now out of print after runs of up to 12 years, and used copies sell online for around  $100).

Click here to view the wonderful photos of Oceanside in the 1950s that Andy, now living in Salinas, California, contributed to 1960sailors.net for all of us to enjoy.
   

 
Our new and improved Rock 'n' Roll Radio pages
With added photos, history and sound clips with
voices of the top three NY DJs of the 1950s,
Alan Freed, Murray "the K," and one and only 
"Ace from Outer Space" — "not the duplicator,
not the imitator, not the impersonator, 
but the ORIGinator" —

           
       JOCKO!! 
 And learn the meaning and origin of  the word, "googamooga."

             
   Peter's Clam Bar, circa 1950  
   

CHECK OUT THE OLD PHOTOS of our town triangle, the Rainbow Diner,
Nathan's Roadside Rest, C&J Bowling, Peter's Clam Bar, Carvel, churches and synagogues,Oil City, Bristol Motors, South Nassau Communities Hospital and more at Our Little Town                    

CLASS OF 1960 "IMMORTALIZED"
AT NATHAN'S OCEANSIDE

          
PHOTOS OF
THE 1960 ST. ANTHONY'S FIRE

(Click on the thumbnail image to the right to view photos) 

Go to our page to find out
about our class theatre party we had,
May 11th, 2001, at the
 
of our senior year spring musical
  

Very rare group photos of all of us as
the OJHS Graduating Class of 1957 

Our Guys Our Girls

NOW ENLARGED 2.5 X the size of the Originals!!

         
READ ALL ABOUT THE 1959 COUNTY                
CHAMPIONSHIP BASKETBALL GAME