Enjoy selections from fourteen tales spanning the years 1950 to 1970 that invite us into the private lives of the colorful denizens of communities like Coney Island, Long Beach, the Jersey shore, and the California beach towns. Set in the shadow of the Cold War, the boardwalk characters, many of them misfits and wannabes, share their joys and sorrows in a world where kewpie dolls and prizes are often the only consolations for lost dreams. Included in the cast are Beverly the Queen of the Skeeball arcade, Jollie Trixie the fat lady, Arnold the King of Playworld, Miss Lynda the famous ballerina, and Joey the orphan.
Guest speaker Roslyn Bernstein spent several summers as the switchboard operator at the Hotel Lincoln in Long Beach. It was a family hotel where most of the guests were Jews. Arthur Miller’s parents, Isidore and Augusta, who had once been very wealthy but lost their fortune in the 1929 crash, spent summers there, as did doctors, dentists, accountants and several wealthy garment manufacturers. Born in Brooklyn, Roslyn Bernstein moved to Long Beach in 1948. She was raised in the West End of town, a short distance from the city’s boardwalk, which runs for two miles along the ocean side of this barrier island. A poet and journalist, she has been a professor of journalism and creative writing at Baruch College CUNY since 1974.
New York City, NY; NYC