Atlantic City Weekly

Share this Story:

I have had the good fortune of experiencing two major milestones in my lifetime. First was the 50th anniversary of my broadcasting career in Pinky’s Corner, in 2007, and the second came last Saturday when my wife, Janet, and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary.

Wow! To me, and I imagine to Janet, this was an unbelievable feat. It seems like only yesterday that we had our wedding and started our lives together in a one-bedroom apartment on Tennessee Avenue in Atlantic City. During the ensuing 50 years we had three children: Jeff, Cherri and Greg. Four years ago we suffered the most tragic event any parent can have — the loss of a child.

Cherri was a teacher at the Richmond Avenue School. Each year we honor her memory by raising funds for scholarships in her name to graduates of Atlantic City High School. From funds raised at the Cherri Kravitz Scholarship Foundation’s party last July, we will be giving four $5,000 scholarships to worthy students. The fund-raising event for this year will be held on July 25, at Maynard’s in Margate.

By now, most of you know I am a family-oriented individual. The most important people in the world to me are the members of my family. When the time came to think of how to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary, it was decided that we would share it with our family. My wife and I decided that the wedding anniversary would be a weeklong celebration at my son’s home in Los Angeles, with my two sons, Jeff and Greg, their charming wives, Julianne and Jamie, and my four grandchildren Katrina, Zachary, Olivia and Rebekah.

I was surprised at Philadelphia International Airport when our niece, Jill Leeds, who lives in Northfield, walked up and said, “Good morning!” I was shocked and thought of the wonderful gesture of her coming to see us off and was flabbergasted to learn that she, her husband Jim and their children, Jim and Julie, decided to join us for the anniversary celebration. We were further surprised when on Monday evening Brian Flanagan, our nephew now working in Las Vegas, and his wife Tina came to spend four days with us during the week. In all we had 16 family members for this momentous occasion.

Throughout the week we did the tourist things in Los Angeles. With Jeff as our guide, we went up and down the streets looking at celebrity homes, drove to the Malibu beach where we waded in the Pacific, strolled along Santa Monica’s Promenade and had the best corned beef sandwich ever at Langer’s famous deli. Sunday is the only day you can take children to the Magic Castle and only a magician member can book a reservation. Jeff imposed on one of his friends and we were able to enjoy a delicious meal and the magic that was produced by three excellent magicians. We spent the next day touring Hollywood and went to the world-famous Grauman’s Chinese Theater to see Clash of the Titans. By the way, in the middle of the movie the screen started to shake for a minute and we thought nothing about it until we came out of the theater and learned that Los Angeles had been shaken by the earthquake in Mexico.

After the film, we walked on the cement blocks in front of the Chinese Theater, and looked at those footprints, handprints and signatures of some of the movie industry’s most famous personalities.

The next day we visited Universal Studios and although it was crowded, the lines for their attractions move quickly. We spent Wednesday at Disneyland and it reminded me of the picture you often see in our newspapers and magazines showing the 300,000 people who, on Easter Sunday, walked on the Atlantic City Boardwalk in the 1930s. In all of my past visits to Disneyland, I have never seen so many people. We waited in line for two hours to go on the Indiana Jones ride of four minutes. People were 25 deep standing in line to buy a pretzel or a hot dog. The marvelous display of fireworks were accompanied not only by music, but by a storyline involving every area of Disneyland. It was truly an amazing show.

Our week ended with a surprise party that my family put together, which included several of the former Atlantic City residents we know who now work in California. Among those in attendance was Mike Grozier, who opened the House of Blues and Foundation Room in the Showboat Casino Hotel. Mike is now an executive VP of Live Nation, responsible for entertainment in theaters and clubs around the country. Chris Polk, a former noted local photographer who is now one of Hollywood’s successful photographers was also there. The families’ chefs joined together to provide an outstanding repast. Janet made her spinach pie; Jeff and Greg showed their talent by providing us with a scrumptious barbecue of fillet and pork loin and Julianne made her famous brownies. Not a scrap was left of any food item on the buffet table.

Julianne put together pictures of the family and a message from each member relating their experiences with a couple that was married 50 years ago and are responsible for the Kravitz clan being in existence.

It was quite a week and one we will never forget.

Every night when I go to bed, I thank the good Lord for allowing me to be here the number of days I’ve been privileged to be in this great world of ours. Hopefully, we will be around to enjoy more wonderful celebrations and be able to continue to do the things that I love and enjoy so much, such as writing this column, broadcasting daily on the radio and my television show. I would also like to express my appreciation to all of you who have helped me to continue to do what I do.

Pinky’s Corner airs Monday through Friday from 4 to 6pm on News Talk WOND-AM 1400. His TV show, WMGM Presents Pinky, airs Saturday at 7:30pm on TV40. Pinky’s e-mail address is: pinky@acweekly.com.