A Rich and Rewarding Life

Here are some class photos of my long career as a proud teacher.

Jon Hamm, in Parade magazine: “I got into acting because my teachers kept nudging me into it,” says Hamm, who taught school himself for a few years after graduating from the University of Missouri with an English degree. “The power a teacher has to influence someone is so great. I can’t think of a profession I have more respect for.”
from: Parade magazine

I was a teacher in NYC for almost 35 years. I have close to 35 class pictures to help reflect on my long career. I had read in the UFT paper, "The New York Teacher," about the long career of Regina Sayres, who is now 100 years old. She was a teacher at PS 41M in 1968 during the time of that long teachers' strike. I was a teacher at PS 41M during that time when Ms. Sayres was there, and at a place when she was perhaps ending her career... mine was just beginning.
I looked through all the class photos in my collection, and I selected many for inclusion in this blog. They represent the four schools in which I taught... and the memories come flooding back. (please click on each photo to enlarge)







The year was 1973, and I was teaching grade 6 in a public school in the theater district of Manhattan. I entered my class in an essay contest sponsored by Bella Abzug and one of my students won. She went to Washington, DC to read her essay. I found this photo: Charity goes to Washington. And I also found the (now very wrinkled and faded) letter I received informing us that she won. That was over 35 years ago. It seems like so long ago. I guess it was.

This was my fourth grade class at PS 33 in 1986. The next year, when they were in the fifth grade, these students were chosen by Eugene M. Lang for his "I Have a Dream" college scholarship program. Over twenty years later... I am wondering: "Where are they now?"


And most bittersweet:


The year was 1974. I was teaching at a small school on West 45th Street. I had a wonderful 6th grade class. The students were bright, creative, and they had a real sense of humor. The school was on the same block as the Actor's Studio, the Manhattan Plaza had just been completed, and on nice days I could walk home. I loved going to work.
One day, a student named Christopher came to school a little bit late. I asked him the reason for his tardiness, and he told me that the night before he had attended an opening of a movie in which his father had a role. I asked him the name of the film, and he replied, "Godfather 2." "Oh," I said. I asked, "What part did your father have in the movie?" He replied, "Frankie Five Angels." I did know that Christopher's father was the playwright who had written "Hatful of Rain." But, I did not know that he was in the film, "Godfather II." So! Christopher's father was "Frankie Pentangeli;" interesting... Godfather II, was released and it opened at a Loew's theater on Broadway. It received phenomenal reviews and I couldn't wait to see it.
Soon thereafter were parent-teacher conferences. I am lucky Christopher was an excellent student. I do not think I would have had a comfort level sitting across from that father and giving a bad report. Mr. Gazzo had written a note to me during that school year asking permission for his son to be excused early on an October day and I saved the note. It was not just a signed note, it was an autograph.
A few months later, the Gazzo family moved to Los Angeles. Christopher kept in touch with all of us through letters he sent to the school addressed to me. In one letter, Christopher asked me if I was still singing because I was awful. I was a teacher who sang while she taught? He said he was going to a school 20 times better but he would rather be going to our school because he missed all of us.
I think about all of the students I had in so many classes over the years. Eddie, who died of a drug overdose. David, who fell off the roof of his building one hot summer day when he was up there with his brothers playing ball. Debbie, who was crossing 9th Avenue and was hit by a car. Brenda, whose mother we saved.
Larry David was asked why he still works. He clearly does not need to work. He said his mother had told him many years ago that we all need to always wake up in the morning and have a place to go. I had a place to go.

Didn't Mr. E's secretary leave out the 's' in comprehension in #4? He should have proofread that letter!

Going Radio Silent

in gorgeous Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia:

Kenroku-en

Yetta... from Yesteryear

So yeah, I was a teacher for 35 years in NYC and I wrote several books as my real name: Marjorie Levine. Road Trips and Becoming Until (on Amazon) did well.

For decades, I tried to "make it" in comedy. But, I was never good enough, or remarkable enough, or lucky enough.

But when social media prospered and live broadcast sites became popular, I decided to try to do shows on the internet so I fired up my computer cam. I became "Yetta Telebenda" and "Cookie Lipschitz" and I was off and running!

A viewer with the nickname "TripCode" became my videographer and he faithfully recorded my shows and uploaded the videos to YouTube. But, I still remained mostly invisible except for a small group of loyal "fans" who I gathered along the way and they became my devoted "cult following." But, fame still eluded me and no casting agents ever called. However, I persisted and through the years found new and creative ways to reinvent myself and keep my content fresh.

I enjoyed developing my new life and making my shows as beautiful as a live memoir in an old silent movie. I fit the pieces of my unique puzzle into a new journey which took me straight to the streets of Broadway. And with pathos, I performed on The Great White Way and said jokes like nobody was listening and mimed like nobody was watching.

And the most bittersweet and sad part... nobody there was. I was all alone on that old and famous avenue and somehow it did not even matter. In my mind's eye, I was famous. For one night, I was a celebrity and as the strangers passed without even giving me a second glance, I hardly even noticed. 

And when my "performance" was over, as I walked home in the crisp night air there was one thought that remained with me. I knew that there could be fulfillment in small scale poignant ways because in that personal magical moment in time, I was shining in my own imagination like a sentimental Broadway star who would sparkle and twinkle on... forever.

watch here:

Yetta from Yesteryear

WHOSE WOODS THESE ARE, I THINK I KNOW

Central Park, NYC... from 59th Street to 110th Street, almost 2 miles long:

NYC: A GHOST TOWN

The Silent Movie

The Scientific Approach

MY STAND-UP COMEDY SALAD DAYS, REVISITED

Howard Feller, revisited

from 2009:
I have known Howard Feller for over twenty years. What can I say about Howard? Plenty. He is one of the dearest and sweetest people I know. I met him for lunch on this Tuesday, and he spoke in a very direct and open manner about his comedy career.

He calls himself a "movie and comedy freak" who enjoyed listening to Lenny Bruce, Bob Newhart, and Robert Klein. He liked "old comedy." In about 1982, Howard took a comedy class with Mark Jacobs that was given on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and soon after he started doing clubs with open mic nights. He says he "looked weird" and on stage he played off that. Silver, the owner of the Improv, passed Howard in an audition during those early 80s. He did stand-up three or four times a week and he kept getting better. He began to get many opportunities and consistent work. He played in diners and places where he began to make money. At that time, comedy was "hot" and he got road work and Jersey gigs in late night spots.

He worked at the Boston Comedy Club and met Barry Katz. He worked in the Comedy Cellar and at Stand-up NY and these spots led to a "Caroline's Comedy Hour" on A & E and as he built credentials he got better spots and this led to an "MTV Half Hour" comedy show. And when the MTV "Jon Stewart Show" was looking for a "weird geeky guy" as a sidekick for Jon, Howard got the job. Jon sat at a bicycle bar and Howard sat in a tractor chair and the show became an off-beat talk show with a small but very devoted fan following. That original "Jon Stewart Show" ran for one year on MTV and it ran for another year in syndication throughout the country. It was a "work in progress," as Howard describes it.

Howard has appeared in several films. Penny Marshall gave Howard a line in "Awakenings" because Howard says he "looked crazy." Howard recently appeared on "30 Rock" as the super in Tina Fey's building and in a "Law and Order" episode he played a homeless guy who brings a dead guy into a check cashing place as part of some scam... which was based on a real NYC incident. Howard will be on Howard (Stern) TV in an episode of "Show in the Hall." And he is also in the upcoming Nia Vardalos film, "I Hate Valentine's Day." In that film, he plays a homeless guy who lives outside her building. He says he is always called to play "the homeless guy" and he has no idea why.

Howard recently filmed an NBC pilot called "off Duty" in which he plays a junkie. I am wondering if he plays a homeless junkie. And he is up for several other parts... in which he plays a homeless guy.

Howard invited me to visit him in his brand new apartment with "a great view of the Manhattan skyline." He told me it was a basement apartment. I am still wondering about that.