Cohen Mark - Not bad for Delancey Street: the rise of Billy Rose

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acknowledgments

For some foolish reason I did not think researching the life of Billy Rose would take very great effort or digging. I was wrong, and the search for documents and photographs extended to Jamaica, Italy, Israel, Brazil, and Romania. There are many people to thank.

Relatives of Rose and others who knew him or knew his relations and shared their memories with me include Dorothy Rice Chase, Kathy DeAlmeida, Ethel Ferezy, Dorothy Field, Shirley Gatsik, Ralph Goldman, Stephen Gottlieb, Beverly Greenberg, Francine Helene, Dr. Francine Jacobs, Marcia Jacobs, Steve Jacobs, Evelyn Lishinsky, Gilbert Lloyd, Susan Loesser, Harris Millman, Zachary Rogow, Paul Thieberger, Nancy Turbeville, Jane Morgan Weintraub, Elaine Weitzen, Julie Wernick, Peter Wernick, and Martin Weyl. Patricia Klindienst kindly shared the interviews she had conducted with members of Roses family.

Karl Katz forgave me my unpreparedness during the early days of my research. Vicki Walton was especially generous with her time and the sharing of information that only she possessed. John Wohlstetter was crucial to my research in Israel and continually sent me items of interest and importance that saved me much time and the embarrassment of missing important facts and stories. Fanny Brices grandson, John Brice, provided the invaluable dictated notes for her unpublished biography. Judy Goetz Sanger graciously met with me in New York and shared stories of her friendship with Rose. Meeting her was one of the delights of my research. I am grateful to Charles McKay for introducing me to Ms. Sanger. Near the end of my research I was fortunate to speak with Miriam H. Weingarten.

Without the help of Idy Sherer, daughter of Kurt Schwarz, the Jewish refugee Billy Rose rescued from Europe in 1939, this book might not have come about. It was the generous help of Ms. Sherer, who kept her fathers papersincluding the telegrams he received from Rosethat filled me with the excitement and enthusiasm to tackle this project. I would not have found Ms. Sherer without the help of Janis Bellow Freedman, who provided me with a crucial excerpt from her personal journal regarding the origin of Saul Bellows The Bellarosa Connection. Also critical to finding Sherer was Betty Hillman, the daughter of Herb Hillman, who told Bellow the story that became Bellarosa. Alfred Netter, the son of Kurt Schwarzs employer, provided me with the final piece of the puzzle. In my effort to learn everything possible about how Schwarz and Rose found each other, I tracked down Nina Turner, a Schwarz relation, and was helped by her friends Delia Joyce, Lorelei Goldman, and especially Charlotte Kaplan. However, I never unlocked that mystery.

Librarians, archivists, and fellow researchers endured my repeated phone calls and various forms of electronic pestering. I am grateful to Jeanne Abrams, Dr. Jillian Adams, Diana Alberghini, Erin Allsop, James Amemasor, Linnea Anderson, Tom Ankner, J. D. Arden, Ron Arons, James Auclair, Andreas Augustin, Richard Baker, Alice Baron, Giulia Barrera, Barbara Anne Beaucar, Ronald L. Becker, Anne-Marie Belinfante, Tad Bennicoff, Matthew Benz, Cara Setsu Bertram, Dr. Alice L. Birney, Lori Birrell, Sari Bitticks, Janine Biunno, Ray Bonis, Marisa Bourgoin, Richard Boursy, Ann Lind Bowers, Stella Breckenridge, Julia Brindisi, Jared Brown, Joyce Burner, Gale Burrow, Paola Busonero, Caitlin at Radcliffes Schlesinger Library, Liz Campion, Beverly Carver, John Calhoun, Leslie Campbell, Dr. Raul Crstocea, Robin Carroll-Mann, Anne Causey, Haley Chinn, Ilias Chrissochoidis, Susan Chung, Lucas Clawson, Christa Cleeton, Ken Cobb, Rose Lerer Cohen, Heidi Coleman, Ron Coleman, Jillian J. Collins, Tracie Conrad, Meghan R. Constantinou, Bea Crespo, David Crespy, Raffaella Crociani, Delores Culley, Katina Davis, Dana Dorman, Barry Dougherty, Jessika Drmacich-Flach, David Eifler, Garrett Eisler, Betsy Eisner, Tanya Elder, Ralf Engel, Bette M. Epstein, Bob Essman, Leanna Feldman, Emily Ferrigno, Karen J. Fishman, Moira Fitzgerald, William Fliss, Benjamin Formaker-Olivas, Eugenie Fortier, Richard Foster, Ilda Francois, Dennis Frank, David K. Frasier, Nancy Freeman, Elizabeth Frengel, Paul Friedman, Michael Frost, Sandra Garcia-Myers, Curt Gathje, Tina Genoves, Sacha Goldano, Sacha Goldgran, Ken Goldstein, Martin Gostanian, Carol Gould, Miriam Gray, Leo Greenbaum, Thomas Gressler, Grace Cohen Grossman, Atina Grossmann, Susan Halpert, Kasiya Halstead, Wayne G. Hammond, Grace Hansen, Will Hansen, Michelle Harvey, Nurit Harvey, Mahsa Hatam, Alexandra M. Henri, Ainsley Henriques, Peter Hermann, Alison Hinderliter, Micah Hoggat, Ellen Holt-Werle, Julia Huddleston, Mary K. Huelsbeck, Charlotte Infantino, Radu Ioanid, Cindy Jackson, Banmattie Jaideo, Julianna Jenkins, Emily Johnson, John C. Johnson, Christina V. Jones, Tanya Kato, Paul Keroack, Amalyah Keshet, Margaret Kieckhefer, Ginny L. Kilander, Tammy Kiter, Maurice Klapwald, Patricia Klindienst, Boni J. Koelliker, Christina Kstner, Laurence Kotler-Berkowitz, Kristine Krueger, James I. Lader, John Leavitt, Vince E. Lee, Amanda Leinberger, Marlea D. Leljedal, Julian Levinson, Susan Liberator, Thomas Lisanti, Dr. Martin Luchterhandt, Maureen Maryanski, Anna Massot, Christine McEvilly, Jeremy Megraw, Rachel Misrati, Misha Mitsel, Ilaria Della Monica, Leslie A. Morris, Francesca Moskowitz, Heike Mller, Roger Munsick, Simone O. Munson, Brandon Murray, Linda Briscoe Myers, Stephen C. Nelson, Tim Noakes, Joe Nuzzolo, David O. Olson, AnnaLee Pauls, Nicholas Pavlik, Derek J. Penslar, Chana Pollack, Josh Price, Mark Quigley, Penny R. Ramon, Rosalba Varallo Recchia, Jan Glier Reeder, Doug Reside, Prof. Ira Robinson, Lauren Robinson, Arieh Rochman-Halperin, Jenny Romero, Sharon Rork, David Rosado, Elaine Rosenberg, Rochelle Rubinstein, Nicole Ruby, Michele Sarfatti, Megan Malta Scauri, Elizabeth Schachter, Richard Schaffer, Deena M. Schwimmer, Leah Sugarman Siegel, David Sigler, Carrie Tallichet Smith, Tamar Soffer, Jeanne Solensky, Barbara Sontz, Miriam Spectre, Renato Spiegel, Cathy Spitzenberger, Dr. Hubert Steiner, Weatherly Stephan, Bruce Tabb, Kristen Tanaka, Deborah Turkewitz, Richard Tuske, Irvin Ungar, Huma Utka, Prof. Sydney Van Nort, Dr. Klaus Voigt, Kimberly Walen, Alexander L. Wallace, Sandy Wallace, Melinda Wallington, Sylvia Wang, Fred Wasserman, Lita Watson, Richard B. Watson, Joe Weber, Emily Wicks, Jocelyn K. Wilk, Jackie Willoughby, Christine Windheuser, Irma Wulz, Lewis Wyman, and Trina Yeckley.