Rand Unwrapped (12 page)

When I think of my Uncle Marty today, he was a cross between Michelangelo and Doc Brown from the movie
Back to the Future
(1985). He was a complicated man who was constant state of motion creating new things. He was a master at taking “A” and combining it with “B” to make something entirely new “C.” I guess from my spot underneath the pool table that quality rubbed off on me. Those years I spent as a child at my Aunt Virginia and Uncle Marty's house were happy ones and I am glad that I was there.

When this book was first published in December of 2011, I hadn't seen or spoken to anyone in my extended family in over twenty-five years. My mother was the only connection to this part of the family and when she passed away in 2010, the last thread of communication that was left was severed. I was aware that my aunt Virginia had passed away many years ago and that the house that she lived in with my uncle in Cambria Heights was sold. At first, I wasn't even sure if my Uncle Marty was still living. At the time of this book's first publishing in 2011, he would be at least ninety-five. However, after a bit of searching, I was able to locate him living in a retirement home in Long Island. I sent him a galley proof of this book and highlighted the chapter on heroes and
the parts in it that were about him. I attached a small yellow
post-it
note that read something like: “Uncle Marty, hope you're doing well. I've written this book and some parts in it are about you. It's been a very long time. Please let me know if I got it all right.” I signed the note “Neal.” Now you're probably wondering why I would sign a note “Neal” when my name is Frank? Well, that's what he always called me. He called me “Neal” and I really don't remember why.

About ten days after I mailed him the galley proof, the phone rang and I saw that it was a an incoming call with a Long Island area code. When I picked it up I heard his voice and it took me right back to when I was a child. “Neal!” It was the same voice as I remembered it; alive and full of possibility. We talked for a while and he told me he read the book and thought I got it all right. Also, that Uncle Anthony was alive and well and living in Florida. I thought to myself, “I wonder if he is still a Yankee fan?” Uncle Marty had not changed a bit. He was still painting and writing. He seemed so full of life and I was happy about that. We talked on the phone a few times after that. He insisted on calling me because he told me he a special deal with the phone company. I was always glad to hear from him and in many ways we were trying to make up for lost time. Then, after several weeks, the calls stopped. At first I thought nothing of it, then I finally called his number and found out that he was in the hospital after suffering from a heart attack. I did speak to him one last time from the hospital. He told me he was anxious to go back home because he had so many things he wanted to do. He never made it though. Within a day of that conversation he passed away. So far away so long, then together and then in what seemed a moment, gone again. It all makes me very sad. But, I do feel very fortunate that I was able to talk with him after all those years if even for a brief period of time.

One wonderful thing that has come out this sadness is that I have reconnected with my cousin Juliana and her husband Jay who live in Florida. As I said, it has been decades and she is a wonderful combination of both my aunt and uncle. She has the kindness and patience of my Aunt Virginia and the creativity of my Uncle Marty. An awesome combination for sure. And it is in her, that I still can see them. She sent me dozens of old photographs of my time in Cambria Heights which have taken me back to this happy time and made me remember. I am truly grateful to her for that. Also, it's great to have her back in my life.

My parents were also a source for my creativity and value system. But they influenced me in an entirely different way. They taught me to stand up and fight for what I believed in, to work hard and to be fair and honest in my dealings. This is something that I have kept with me in every thing I do. I thank them for that every day of my life. We all find our heroes in the most unusual places and for me it was not any different.

Before I leave this chapter, I want to mention several heroes that I got to know while watching television most early afternoons and evenings. Many of you have told me that you often ran home from school in order to catch the next episode of Robotech. For me, it was much the same way. If I didn't go out to play after school, there was a golden time in the late afternoon just before dinner. I remember stretching out in front of my Sylvania black and white television set watching the likes of
Superman, Three Stooges and Zorro
. After dinner, there was another golden period that lasted from the end of dinner to about 7:30 PM when I had to go to bed. Now I didn't get to watch television all the time. Sometimes, I had to do homework for the next day at school. As I remember, my mom
and dad really never checked if I had homework or not. I was self disciplined which meant if I had homework, then I did it. When it was done (if there was time) I watched television. No one ever checked to see if what I did was correct or not. I was pretty much on my own. In the late afternoons, my favorite show was
The Adventures of Superman
.

Now I realize now, that Superman was not a new super hero. He existed in the imaginations of children since the 1940's in comic books and radio serials. However the Superman that I knew was the one portrayed by the actor George Reeves in the half hour television series
The Adventures of Superman
. Each episode always opened with the following narration accompanied by a visual montage sequence:

Each line of the narration was underscored with a picture. When they said “speeding bullet” there was a gun shooting and when they got to the locomotive line you would see a locomotive careening down the track. It was all very visual. I always took to heart that last line that featured Superman standing tall and ready for action with an American flag waving behind him
“fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American way!”
While I knew I wasn't the “man of steel,” I believed that one had to be good and stand up against anyone or anything that was bad. At some point in my childhood years, I even had an authentic Superman suit. It was blue and red with a large “S” on the chest. I remember jumping up and down on my bed to simulate flying. My older brother did the same thing and on one really high jump he fell and hit his head on the bed board. But, I was careful when I flew and made sure I always landed on two feet. Superman was strong, wasn't afraid to take on anyone, but used his power wisely for good. It was a very cool show. I especially liked it when he took a pistol from a bad guy and bent it in his bare hands. I still wish I could do that today. I also still wish I could fly although I don't jump up and down on my bed anymore. Superman went on about 5:00 PM in the afternoon and after the super hero dispatched whatever villainous plot there was, the credits would roll and the world was safe for another day. The next show that followed took the idea of a hero in a totally different direction.

At 5:30 PM on channel 11 (WPIX) in New York there was only one show on television that was of any interest to me and that was
The Three Stooges Funhouse
hosted by a veteran actor Joseph Bolton. Joe Bolton appeared as a New York City policeman named
Officer Joe Bolton
whose beat was the entrance of a mythical funhouse. Each afternoon, Bolton would introduce each episode with a little story. A moment later, a very old (circa 1930's) emblem of Columbia Pictures appeared on the screen with the faces of the three stooges below it. The stooges' films were never intended to be a children's program. They were actually short subject films that were produced in the 1930's by the then fledgling Columbia Pictures to be presented in movie theatres. Short subject films were often inserted along with movie trailers, newsreels and cartoon between feature films. During that period, it was the practice to show two films in one sitting. These shorts subjects would be presented
between them. The stooges had been part of a vaudeville act known as
Ted Healy's Stooges
before converting what they did on stage on to film.

The stooges appeared in many guises and time periods. One common theme in many of the films was when the stooges found themselves (through their own sense of what was right) defending someone who was less fortunate than they were. This often was an orphan child, a widowed mother and more than a few times a damsel in distress. I loved the running about, hard hitting, hair pulling and eye gouging sound effects. I was smart enough to know that you couldn't do these things to people in real life. But there was another message here for me. It was that heroes didn't always have to be perfect in every way or good looking. A hero could be just an ordinary person and more importantly could be funny. Heroes then for me could be just “regular people” who for reasons beyond their own comprehension, found themselves doing extraordinary things. Superman came from the planet Krypton and had extraordinary abilities. He was really handsome in his suit and could fly. But Moe, Larry and Curly (Shemp too) were just regular guys who weren't very handsome and couldn't fly (unless they were shot out of a cannon). They could take on almost anything and overcome any obstacle. Watching the Stooges made me believe that I could be a hero too. Also, that it was okay to have a sense of humor. I can still remember the hospital loud speaker in their film “Men in Black” calling out to them:
“Calling Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine”
a moment later they are in a football huddle and then come out on a tricycle and then later driving miniature race cars. Later in the same film, a doctor chides them for not knowing how to administer a “proper” anesthetic. They comply by hitting him twice on the head with a mallet. Each time they do a loud circus bell rings. The bit is finally capped with the last bell and the patient (who is in a coma) rises up, hands them a cigar and says,
“a winner every time! No Blanks!”
It is the absurdity of it all that made me realize that heroes could be funny and do almost anything. I tried to put a lot of that humor into my interpretation of Rand. Especially when he looks at Rook's mother and says, “Get a job!” That's right out of the Three Stooges. But sometimes heroes can be mysterious and very difficult to read. They can appear to be one thing and actually be quite another like the fictional character
Zorro
.

The last television hero I will mention was more a weekend warrior than a get in your face hero. At least that's what the majority of the world he lived in thought of him. He was the foppish Don Diego de la Vega by day and the dazzling dark horseman called
“Zorro”
by night. Again,
Zorro
was a not a new character to audiences. He had been introduced to the American public through both pulp magazines and silent films. However, the
Zorro
that I knew was the one that appeared on network television with Guy Williams playing the title role. I have since learned that Guy William's real name was Armand Joseph Catalano. His family, which has the same last name that I do, emigrated to the United States from almost the same region in Sicily that my father's family came from. I will someday explore whether or not I am actually related to him. It would be very cool to be able to say to everyone that I am related to the actor who played
Zorro
. But that's a project for another day. What I think was singularly important about the character of
Zorro
in the television series was that he did it all alone. Yes, Don Diego (
as Zorro
) did have his trusted servant Bernardo and his valiant steed but he faced most threatening dangers alone.
Zorro
would often take on a whole garrison of soldiers alone and beat them using wit, intelligence, cunning and skill. When it was all over, he would carve out a
“Z”
on someone's chest or on a wall. The mark he left would tell everyone
that he alone had been there. Sort of like a dog pissing on a tree, he was marking his territory. I'm not suggesting that heroes need to mark all of their deeds for the world to know. But, it was a great public relations tool for the masked man and it always kept his foes wondering where he would appear next. Although he was only a single force,
Zorro
seemed to appear almost everywhere and always at just the right time. How did he do it? Well, the easy answer is that he was a fictional character and was written that way. But the existential answer was that he embodied the spirit of the triumph of goodness over evil. He was almost magical as a single force. Watching
Zorro
on my black and white television became a lot more to me than a television show. It made me realize that sometimes heroes have to stand-alone against evil. They can't expect everyone to know what they do and stand behind them. Rand was a team player most of the time but Scott Bernard kept him steady. Scott Bernard would have gone to Reflex Point alone if he had to do it. There was nothing (short of death) that would have stopped him from accomplishing his goal. This is why Rand looked up to him and learned through him how to be a true Robotech warrior.

By the time I had completed several episodes of The New Generation, I had a sense that the Robotech characters were in a way very similar to the characters I had come to know as a child at the Bijou and on television. They were fighting an almost impossible battle against overwhelming odds. But yet they still fought on knowing that they might not succeed. The rag tag band of freedom fighters facing the Invid kept on. What common quality did they possess? Rand at several points in the story, along with Rook, thought about leaving the group and going on their own journey. However, no matter how far any of them ventured either by choice or circumstance, something always pulled them back. They had pride in themselves that made them endure.
Robotech
taught us all this lesson whether we were the voice actor playing the role or at home watching the show on a television screen. Many fans shared with me stories about running home after school to watch the next episode of
Robotech
when it was on television. It wasn't only because the series had cool toys, it was the enduring characters and their sense of a cause driven by their destiny. When I began work on the
Robotech
series, I couldn't help but remember the lessons I had learned from my darkened seat at the Bijou and in front of my black and white television set. Many years had passed but I was still very much at home.