Harry Golden On Firing Line

from May 23, 1966

Harry is previously mentioned here
Harry Lewis Golden (May 6, 1902–October 2, 1981) was an American Jewish writer and newspaper publisher. He was born Herschel Goldhirsch in the shtetl Mikulintsy, Ukraine, then part of Austria-Hungary. His mother was Romanian and his father Austrian.
In 1904 his father, Leib Goldhirsch, emigrated to Winnipeg, Manitoba, only to move the family to New York City the next year. Harry became a stockbroker but lost his job in the 1929 crash. Convicted of mail fraud, Golden served five years in a Federal prison at Atlanta, Georgia. In 1941, he moved to Charlotte, where, as a reporter for the Charlotte Labor Journal and The Charlotte Observer, he wrote about and spoke out against racial segregation and the Jim Crow laws of the time.
From 1942 to 1968, Golden published The Carolina Israelite as a forum, not just for his political views (including his satirical "The Vertical Negro Plan", which involved removing the chairs from any to-be-integrated building, since Southern Whites didn't mind standing with Blacks, only sitting with them), but also observations and reminisces of his boyhood in New York's Lower East Side. He traveled broadly: in 1960 to speak to Jews in West Germany and again to cover the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann in Israel for Life. In 1974, he received a presidential pardon from Richard Nixon. Calvin Trillin devised the Harry Golden Rule, which states that, according to Trillin, "in present-day America it's very difficult, when commenting on events of the day, to invent something so bizarre that it might not actually come to pass while your piece is still on the presses."
His books include three collections of essays from the Israelite and a biography of his friend, poet Carl Sandburg. One of those collections, Only in America, was the basis for a play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. He also maintained a correspondence with Billy Graham.

Harry attended PS 20 on Rivington and Eldridge.
In 1916, he was living here
Leib Goldhirsch (his father)
Address: 216 E. Houston St.

Only In America

from a nytimes review of 11/20/1959

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1959: Persoff To Appear In Play About Harry Golden

Synchronicity!
A "Who's Who" in a play about a "Who's Almost Who"
Golden went to the same PS 20 as did my father, the Sosinsky elders as well as the Bueller elders. Harry Golden was discussed previously on three different posts on June 21st:
Here's part one

Here's part two

Here's part 3

Harry Golden: Part 3, Little Hungary

Back to Harry Golden. His building is no longer there-just about the entire west side of Eldridge, between Delancey and Rivington is gone. There are some old tenements left on the west side, where University Settlement is located. In his book Harry mentions that he worked as a newsboy and that one of his best days for sales was the day that Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was assassinated. This occured in 1914 and it was the event that led to World War I. Harry was selling papers in front of the Little Hungary. What was Little Hungary? It was a very famous catering hall and social club at 257 Houston Street. Currently it houses a day care center. A picture of it is above. In a close up view you would notice some elaborate ornamental work on its facade. An internet search didn't turn up any old photos of the building, but I did find some archival menus as part of the NYPL collection.

Harry Golden: Part 2

from 2005 from pseudo-intellectualism

I finally got a chance to scan part of Harry's book. Here's the section where he mentioned the Little Hungary restaurant on Houston Street. His reference is within the context, "Where were you when.........some important event happened" For him it was the assassinatiion of Archduke Ferdinand and the subsequent start of World War I. For my parents, I guess it was Pearl Harbor. For my generation I think it was "Where were you when you heard that Kennedy was shot?" I remember being dismissed early from Stuyvesant in my senior year. It was the Friday before the big Stuyvesant vs. Clinton football game and there had been a rally in the auditorium. For the current generation it has to be 9/11. BTW the last slide has an excerpt from a different book entitled, "Matinee Tomorrow" that recalls a 1910 New Year's Eve party at Little Hungary. Sounds like it was a pretty fancy place.

Who's Almost Who In Knickerbocker Village History: Harry Golden

From 2005 from pseudo-intellectualism

Here's a guy worthy of respect. Harry Golden was born in 1902 in Mikulintsy (Ukraine). His last name was actually Goldhirsch His father, Leib Goldhirsch, left Mikulintsy in 1904 for Winnipeg, Canada. The family came to New York City in 1905. Harry was a stockbroker and in 1929 his brokerage house went bankrupt. He came to Charlotte ( N.C. ) In 1941 and began to write about and speak out against segregation. From 1942 to 1958, Golden published a newspaper containing his views. It was called the Carolina Israelite. He was widely acclaimed as a writer and humorist and won numerous awards, but his opinions evoked constant criticism from people who disagreed with his belief in racial equality. One of his books, "Only in America," became a best seller in 1958. Harry attended the old PS20 on Eldridge and Rivington and an autographed book of his is part of the library's collection. I was reading that book today and learned some fascinating things, e.g. each block had their own gangs e.g. The Rivington Streeters, the Eldridge Streeters, etc. Jewish boys so feared wandering into Irish neighborhoods that it effected their swimming ability. At the turn of the century The Irish ruled the neighborhoods adjoining the East and Hudson River. The book mentioned that Harry lived on Eldridge Street, between Delancey and Rivington. Above is the census of 1910 with the Goldhirsh family at 171 Eldridge Street. Harry was Hyman. I'll check soon to see if that building is still there.