Bronx to Broadway - 9781557835604

In some fundamental sense, every one of us on reaching an understanding of what is wise or worthy, in whatever field or endeavor, has the obligation to weigh in with a telling of its story: an obligation as much to oneself as to the oncoming generation. This book is a 'telling' in that vein of democratic attunement. Raised in one of New York City's industrial suburbs in the first half of the last century, and poured out of the same crucible that produced what arguably was the city's golden age, Harold Thau shared the classic city childhood of the struggling classes of the period - the prime characteristics of which were 'dense exposure' to life's vicissitudes even before being old enough to spell or do sums, and a magnetic attraction to the edgy propositions and adventures that everyday life in such places provided in profusion. As potentially doom-ridden as such an apprenticeship might seem to us looking back at it from this remove in time, it was also a kind of life that made for precocity and drive, whichever direction the precocious driver decided to move in. Some pursued law, some medicine, some the teaching professions. Through an apprenticeship that included a stint as closing man in his father's East Side deli, and accounting internships as a CCNY student in some of the iffier segments of the city's garment trades, Thau's predilections took him in the direction of show business, where behind the scenes, and in the scenes, he has worked for the better part of a half century, as manager, financial advisor and producer. In Bronx to Broadway he pays homage to that experience, which has carried him from dimly-lit manufacturing lofts working with immigrant entrepreneurs with whom he dreamt the American dream, to business partnerships where he worked alongside some of the greatest performers of our time. In this 'life in show business,' we're given a view of the entertainment industry seldom evoked and largely unseen, told with insight, humor, and its human due.