Nostalgia: Stars of Yesteryear

Now, in the twilight of my writing career, but still ambitious, I decided that writing a third book following "Blind Journey: A Journalist's Memoirs" and its sequel, "Insomnia: Two Wives, Childhood Memories and Crazy Dreams" would simply be too much work. Wow! That word, work, suddenly reminded me of the time I was among a theater-full of struggling members of the Writers Guild attending a movie preview. The scene was an exchange between two old friends who hadn't seen each other for some time. "It's so good to see you, Jane," one said. "Where are you working these days, or are you still writing?"The dark theater exploded in bursts of laughter.So what's this got to do with "Nostalgia: Stars of Yesteryear?"After ten years of covering sports at the Times, I transferred to the Calendar section as a copy editor and freelanced writing features about former superstars in the twilight of their careers. Robert Hilburn, the Times' former rock music critic and author of his riveting book about the life of "Johnny Cash,'' soon realized the "old-timers'' deserved space in the section along with rock stars. Hilburn dubbed me the "Nostalgia Editor."My filing cabinet is filled with features about superstars of yesteryear published long before this era of tattoos, weird hairdos and the universal acceptance of the adjectives cool and awesome. Among the first folders I opened was an in-depth article about Dick Contino, a somewhat forgotten accordionist whose thriving career went into hibernation when he deserted the army after being drafted. Necessarily trimmed, but virtually unedited, Contino's story plus those of Cassius Clay/Muhimmad Ali, Sammy Davis Jr., Rosemary Clooney, the Andrews Sisters and scores of others make up untouched chapters in "Nostalgia."They span decades. Turn the page to stroll down memory lane. It may spark many of your memories.