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Out of Left Field |
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 The jailhouse booking mug shots for one of the Seven: Ralph Ginzburg |
Would you believe they
all started as copyboys?
of TheColumnists.com
This is an updated newspaper story. Originally it was most of a column I wrote for Newsday on Jan. 14, 1972. It was about seven copy boys who worked in the late 1940s and early 1950s on the New York Daily Compass which, before it folded in 1952, was a feeble voice for radical-liberals in the early Joe McCarthy days.
The seven men who worked
together in their early 20s went assorted ways. Out of the group
came two Supreme Court cases; some novels; books of poetry; show
business and magazine entrepreneurship; hit songs; a doctor;
and a sports columnist.
I recap the Copyboy Seven here, updating where they are today
in italics.
1. The first,
an NYU man--one of the best-liked in the group--went on from
copy boy to a desk job at the Morning Telegraph and then to editorship
of the Harvey Publications comic book publishing company. He
wrote popular songs, including Johnny Mathis’ hit “Warm”
and worked on a Broadway play. He published two novels, one of
them “Streets of Gold.”
Sid Jacobson continues to write novels. He lived
in Great Neck, was divorced, met his second wife on the Long
Island Railroad and now lives in Los Angeles where he is a consultant
to the comic book company.
2. The second,
also an NYU graduate, became a college professor. He traveled
to many parts of the world and worked on different campuses.
He was married three times. His first wife threw him over for
a teaching assistant on a college campus who he hired to shape
up his wife intellectually. His second wife pursued him to the
Near East to land him. He wrote a few books of poetry. He was
best remembered as the fellow who would throw a party at his
apartment in Sheepshead Bay and then charge all invited guests
on their way out.
Stanley Cooperman, the most intellectual of the Seven,
was teaching at British Columbia U. at last report. He died some
20 years ago.
3. The third, another NYU man, drifted aimlessly for
awhile. He drove a taxi in Los Angeles, and now is celebrated
for having picked up a fare a few blocks from Union Station without
knowing how to get to it. He also learned later that the beautiful
blonde he had had in his cab with whom he talked about movie
industry labor relations was a rising star named Marilyn Monroe.
He eventually flowered in show business as an entrepreneur of
midnight folk song concerts in Greenwich Village.
Art D’lugoff owned and operated the renowned Village Gate nightclub for a few decades, which featured Woody Allen and Alan Arkin, among others.. He hosted events there and promoted shows in Chicago and Greenwich Village. Always an irrepressible optimist, he helped launch a jazz museum in Manhattan. He summered on Fire Island with his wife, a feisty Israeli photographer. They have four children.
4. The fourth, also NYU, the brother of the above, joined him in show business, helping launch their folk song concerts by standing outside Carnegie Hall, hawking flyers advertising their productions. “Come hear the bawdy Israeli folk songs,” they would shout. He teamed with a friend to write the hit song, “Cindy, Oh Cindy,” which earned him thousands of dollars and paid his way through medical school. While a doctor, he has been a silent partner and adviser in his brother’s enterprises.
Burt D’lugoff settled in Baltimore where he has
run a drug clinic, taught at John’s Hopkins and Baltimore
U. medical schools. He has long been active in medical circles.
He married later than the others, to a nurse. They have two children.
5. The fifth man, everybody knew, would become the most
famous and notorious of the Seven. A City College graduate, he
was regarded, not without affection, as a Sammy Glick so unabashed
that he could teach Glick a few tricks. He went on to publish
a lucrative, handsomely-packaged erotic magazine, “Eros,”
that is tame by today’s standards. He lost a celebrated
censorship case that was ruled on by the Supreme Court. The others
backed his civil libertarian defense, though there was some facetious
talk of forming a committee to help send the irrepressible one
to jail for just one day. He served a short sentence .
Ralph Ginzburg was a world class writer of promotion ads. He published a muckraking magazine that was a factor in Barry Goldwater’s presidential campain and also hustled a consumer magazine with full-page ads in the Times. His time in jail, however a blot on civil rights in this country, did not suppress his boundless enthusiasm. He is a prize-winning photographer for the New York Post.
6. The sixth, another City College man, was often in
the shadow of the fifth who helped him land the copy boy job,
extracting a fee for the favor. He was the lively movie critic
when the Compass folded. He went on to write a successful series
of juvenile biographies about athletes. One of them, Hall of
Fame pitcher Warren Spahn, sued for invasion of privacy. Spahn
lost the case in the Supreme Court.
Milton Shapiro, married too early, was divorced,
moved to England where for a time he lived the life of one of
the swinging bachelors of London town while turning out articles
and books on outdoor and medical subjects. He is remarried and
an editor and consultant with medical magazines.
7. The seventh, a Brooklyn College man, moved into the Compass sports department. When the paper folded, he freelanced for two years, then joined the remarkably successful Long Island paper, Newsday. He worked there for almost 40 years as a sports reporter, columnist and editor, and feature columnist.
Stan Isaacs is 10 years removed from retirement
from Newsday, a freelance writer with a regular spot on the website:
www.thecolumnists.com. He is married with three daughters
and four grandchildren, two of whom he expects will be contending
for the U.S. Open men’s singles and doubles championships
in 2013.
©2003 by Stan Isaacs.
The Stan Isaacs caricature is ©2001 by Jim Hummel.
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