Over 60

'Look! There's Hymie!'

By Stanley Greenberg

As General George Patton's 3rd Army sped across France and Germany in WWII, strange writing appeared all over buildings and pieces of equipment. It simply said, "Kilroy was here."

Hymie found his way into this photograph, like so many others.

No one ever produced the author but Kilroy was omnipresent. It became a morale builder for the American troops fighting in the European theater.

In my own family we have the Greenberg counterpart of Kilroy. His name is Hymie. Hymie (real name - Herman) now resides in Tamarac, FL with his lovely wife Dottie. He is about 10 to 12 years older than I, but he is still a jokester and an all-around good-natured comic. He recently told me that he is the holy terror of his condominum's board meetings.

I was about 10 years old at his wedding. It was celebrated at the Imperial Gardens Catering Hall on Westchester Avenue in the Bronx (now defunct). All I remember is that a subway train passed by during the wedding ceremony but the rabbi did not miss a beat.

When Hymie attends a Bar or Bat-Mitzvah or a wedding he has a serious agenda. He follows the photographer around the catering hall so that he will appear in almost every picture in the forthcoming photo album. As the pictures are arranged, table by table, Hymie stalks the scene. When the gentlemen stand up to stand behind their wives, Hymie intermingles with them, and becomes part of the scene, almost like Alfred Hitchcock in his movie mysteries.

When the album is completed and the family views the very expensive, gilt-bound book the shriek goes up, "Look! There's Hymie!" Somehow he manages to fit perfectly into every photo. He is never out of focus.

My kids (all now over 30) occasionally like to browse through their wedding and confirmation albums. When they do, the happy cry again emanates, "Look! There's Hymie!"

Andy Warhol assigned 15 minutes of fame for each person on this planet. Hymie, however, is immortal. His visage will never disappear. He is ongoing. The ubiquitous Hymie and Kilroy have placed their marks on this over-serious world. In the midst of decorum and strait-laced thinking we should all sing out loudly, "Look! There's Hymie!"