A Late In Life Burst of Creativity – Part VI

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By Seth H. Bramson

First, a very necessary mea culpa: in our last column we noted that the biography of our former Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice, Gerald Kogan, was written and published with all profits above the cost of production being donated to his daughter’s ovarian cancer research fund at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. The problem was that I regretfully erred in naming the daughter who had so sadly passed away. Karen Kogan is very much alive; the Justice’s daughter who died was the late Debbie Kogan Lyda. Our apologies for stating the name incorrectly.

Now, we move on to the business at hand, and that is the most recent two books. The first of those is the biography of another great man, Bernard (Barney) Mayrsohn.

Barney left Cornell to enlist in the Army Air Corps immediately after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was eventually called and began his training, including a stint on Miami Beach. Unfortunately, however, shortly after D-Day, he, along with thousands and thousands of other young men were advised that they were not needed in the Air Corps and were being transferred to the infantry.

With only a minimum of training he and the newly formed 106th Division—the Golden Lion—were shipped to England and then to the Maginot line to face the Germans in November of 1944. “The boys” were told not to worry. “The only Germans facing you will be old men and young boys. They have nobody else.” As Johnny Carson would have said to Ed McMahon, “you are wrong, Bastogne-breath!” Indeed, the 106th was right in the center of the Battle of the Bulge.

Barney was, along with the remnants of the 106th, devoid of food, fuel or ammunition, taken prisoner by the Germans. The story is extensive and incredible and you can “read all about it” in Barney’s biography, “From Brooklyn to the Battle of the Bulge and on to Building an International Business.” The book is 240 pages and among everything else in it you will also learn that Barney was and is a true World War II hero, winner of the Bronze Star for bravery, two Purple Hearts (wounded twice in combat at the Battle of the Bulge), and the Combat Infantry Medal, a true medal for valor given only to those infantry men (and later women) who actually served and fought in combat. “And what was next?” you ask!

The answer is FLORIDA EAST COAST RAILWAY in Arcadia’s “Images of Modern America” series, the first and only complete history of that incredible railroad in full, glorious, living color, beginning with the portrait of the single greatest name in the history of Florida, Henry Morrison Flagler. Ninety six pages of color, that book is this author’s fifth history of the FEC and since publication earlier this year has already sold over a thousand copies. (Not bad for a regional southern railroad!) “Interesting,” you opine, but “what’s coming down the pike?” And the answer is at least five more which are currently in process at different stages of production.

Probably at the top of the list is BEACH IS DYNAMITE! THE HISTORY OF MIAMI BEACH HIGH SCHOOL AND THE MIAMI BEACH SCHOOLS. Truthfully, what could be more boring than a book about a school, as we learned with the publication, some years ago, of a book about the first high school in Miami, which was then followed by several on particular private schools. But—and I promise you—this book will be different. “And why is that?” you ask. And the answer is simple. There are very few places in America today in which the history of the high school is so entwined with its city, and Miami Beach, of course, is one of them, along with Beverly Hills and Atlantic City and perhaps, to a lesser extent, Forest Hills High School in Queens, New York.

This book will tell the story of Beach High from the beginning as well as that of the feeder schools, along with the private and parochial schools, and to bring the public in, the last four chapters will be titled “Where We Stayed,” “Where We Played,” “Where We Shopped” and “Where We Ate,” each of those going back to “the beginning,” and continuing on from the 1920s through to the present. We think that, other than the few jealous dreideldrecks and the several putzenyonkles, almost everybody who grew up on, lived on, went to school or worked on Miami Beach will want to own and enjoy this book.

“So, Seth, what else is coming? Some great stuff, at the least, those five books including TRAINING THE TROOPS IN SUN AND SAND: GREATER MIAMI DURING WORLD WAR TWO (It was this title that a local non-genius threatened to sue me over because, she claimed, she had copyrighted her title, mine having two words in it that were the same as two of hers and she advised me that I was going to hear from her attorney. Of course, you cannot copyright a title (you copyright your work so that a guy named Posner can’t plagiarize it, but you can’t copyright a title for obvious reasons) a fact which I advised her of definitively twice, and, interestingly enough, never heard from her attorney! Of course, given the fact that Myrna’s son, my beloved stepson, my dear daughter, my older grandson and a great man by the name of Gerald Kogan are all members of the Florida Bar, invoking a threat of sic-ing an attorney on me does not intimidate me) and three more, but because we are “running long” here I will ask for your kind patience, keep you in suspense and tell you what else is upcoming in our next installment here on Mr. Berkwitt’s “Ringside Report,” at which time we will begin our series on local history, which I think you all have been looking forward to.

Be—and stay—well, and I know we are all waiting with baited breath for the first hints of fall weather, hopefully no later than late this month!

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