Lenny Kravitz

I have never met Lenny Kravitz.  But I know his music... and I also worked with his father.

Lenny is the son of Sy Kravitz, a white Jewish-American News producer and Roxie Roker, a black actress best known for her role on “The Jeffersons.”  Lenny was coming into his own in the late 1980’s, when I was working as a TV News Anchor and Reporter for News 12 Long Island.

Our Assignment Manager, a TV News veteran named Hardy Mintzer, assigned me to cover a story about a flea market located at Republic Airport, a private aviation airport on Long Island.  Hardy told me to be sure I asked for Sy Kravitz, a friend of his who had been a news producer for NBC in New York. Sy Kravitz, I assumed, was no longer working in News as he was now managing this flea market.

I interviewed Sy about the flea market without knowing his connection to an up-and-coming performer named Lenny Kravitz.  All went well and I found Sy to be warm and gracious.

While I was putting together the flea market story, Hardy told me about Sy Kravitz's history.  He had married a black actress, Roxie Roker, and they had a son who was just making a name for himself in the music business.

Several months later, Sy Kravitz was hired to be on the Assignment Desk where he could work alongside his old buddy, Hardy Mintzer.  We would often talk about his days at the flea market where we first met.  And he was generous in his comments and critique of my work as a Reporter... and later as an Anchor.

When I left News12 Long Island in 1990, both Hardy Mintzer and Sy Kravitz were still toiling at the Assignment Desk.  Over time, the fond memories of them faded into the abyss inside my head, even as Sy’s son became a legendary rock star.

Phyllis Diller

 

Like many fans that grew up watching Phyllis Diller perform her funny schtick on national television over the years, I was saddened to learn of her death last month.  She was a remarkable comedienne with a rock-solid memory that I found astonishing.

You see, I had the pleasure of being in her company twice.

The first time I met Phyllis was in 1969, after her show in Las Vegas.  I was taken to her dressing room by a mutual friend, Marty Heim, who was a well-known musical director.

The dressing room was large and laid out like the living room of a house.  There were about a dozen people there, including Phyllis McGuire of the famed McGuire Sisters.  She had a very handsome male “companion” on her arm and was wearing a skirt that had about two inches of fur running around the bottom edge.

Phyllis McGuire’s skirt looked a bit odd with all that fur.  It reminded me of the old movies I had seen of Sonja Henie, a Norwegian figure skater and film star who had monopolized that look on ice.

Fast Forward to the early 1990’s when Phyllis Diller came to West Palm Beach to play The Kravis Center.  I happened to be Anchoring the Noon News for WPEC on the day that Phyllis showed up to plug her Kravis appearance.  We chatted for about 5 minutes on camera at the end of the newscast.

As I walked Phyllis to the door, I told her that we had met before… more than 20 YEARS BEFORE… in her Las Vegas dressing room.  I also mentioned that Phyllis McGuire was there that night.  Her eyes lit up as she recounted the experience by saying, “That was the night she had that studly gigolo at her side… and she was dressed like Sonja Henie.”

Phyllis Diller was a star for many years and I am sure she had thousands of people visit her in her dressing room.  So to this day, I cannot fathom how she could have remembered that ONE night that was etched in my 25-year-old mind.

Phyllis Diller – R.I.P.

Henry Flagler's Over-Sea Railroad

One of my great pleasures in life is creating historical documentaries for The Education Network of the Palm Beach County School District.  Last year, I was asked by the Flagler Museum on Palm Beach to create a documentary to commemorate the Centennial of Henry Flagler's railroad that connected Miami to Key West.

Anyone who has driven down US One to Key West has, no doubt, seen the remnants of the railroad bridges that were built between the years 1905 and 1912.  During those seven years, the Keys were hit by three hurricanes, which made the monumental task of completing the railroad so much more difficult for the 4,000 workers.

But perhaps the most interesting aspect of the project centered around Mr. Flagler himself.  I learned that he was not the uncaring "stuffed shirt" that I had been taught he was.  Certainly, he was no saint.  But he cared passionately about the State of Florida and about the workers who made his dreams come true.

It is also interesting to note that skeptics of Mr. Flagler's ambitious plan to connect Miami and Key West initially called it "Flagler's Folly."  But after Mr. Flagler succeeded, the project was then dubbed "The Eighth Wonder of the World."

You can watch the documentary by clicking below.