Memory Man

In the mid-80's I lived in NYC. Upper East Side. Really upper. There was a fellow who I thought of as our ‘Memory Man”. He could retain any bit of information no matter how small. You could be watching some old film (his specialty) with him and he’ll say, “See that guy holding the torch in the back there? His first movie was “Tom’s Tough Ride” in 1927 with Betty Murch and Don Chaney in which he played a tree stump. His wife worked with the Disney studios as Walt’s’ two-bit whore.” Also truly amazing is his collection of reference material. Total information center. One night my friend Tim and his girlfriend at that time, a woman who just loved to argue; about anything, were over Michael’s apartment. Amanda, the girlfriend, was relating how in order to graduate sixth grade in Pennsylvania she had to take and pass a hunting test. Unbelievable, right? They had to know how to hunt in order to move into seventh grade. ( Now, I've since traveled some in PA and found, for some areas, this to be a reasonable practice.) Tim found all of this very hard to believe. After listening to the couple bicker for a few minutes, Michael nodded sagely and said, “Wait a minute.” He turned to his supply of ephemera, without moving from his chair I might add, and pulled out a pamphlet that had to do with passing your sixth grade Pennsylvania hunting test. At the sight of which, Amanda totally oblivious to the magnitude of the coincidence, turned to Tim and said, “See.”