Kirk Douglas and Mario Cuomo Kirk Douglas Day, June 1, 1985 Picture:Daily Gazette
Kirk Douglas and his Amsterdam
Michael Chiara, chairman of the Amsterdam Industrial Development Agency, sees economic potential in celebrating the link between Amsterdam and native son Kirk Douglas, one of the most popular actors of the 20th century. Chiara proposes a Kirk Douglas Museum for Amsterdam, much as Jamestown, New York, celebrates Lucille Ball.
Some in Amsterdam are not enthusiastic about Douglas, faulting his 1988 autobiography, “The Ragman’s Son,” for his account of a sexual liaison with a local teacher and the actor’s views on anti-Semitism in the Rug City.
But Chiara is not deterred. A movie fan, Chiara unsuccessfully tried to convince city officials years ago to name the downtown mall after the famous actor.
Kirk Douglas is 90 and has returned to his Jewish roots, celebrating a second Bar Mitzvah. He almost died in a helicopter crash in 1991. He had a stroke in 1996 that impaired his ability to speak. While his son Michael has succeeded in motion pictures, son Eric died of an overdose of drugs in 2004.
Born in 1916 as Issur Danielovitch, Douglas spent his early years at the last house on the left on Amsterdam’s Eagle Street—the building is still occupied. He was known locally as Isadore or Izzy Demsky. His father, Herschel or Harry Demsky, was a local ragman. His mother, Bryna, eventually separated from her strong-willed husband after bearing seven children, Kirk and six sisters.
My grandfather Harry Cudmore, also an Eagle Street resident, was quoted in family stories as saying people sometimes had to leave the popular Shaughnessy’s Tavern at East Main at Eagle because, “Somebody said something about the Jews and Harry Demsky is cleaning out the place.”
Kirk Douglas told a recent interviewer that there was pressure on him to become a rabbi. He was a standout in speech at Amsterdam High School and was mentored by English teacher Louise Livingston. Another lifelong friend was Sonya Seigal and Douglas installed a plaque in her memory at the Amsterdam Free Library. A high school cheerleader, Douglas worked in men’s clothes at Lurie’s Department Store after high school.
An Italian-American friend, Peter Riccio, convinced Douglas to try college and both went off to St. Lawrence University where Douglas starred on the wrestling team. He also started acting and worked summers as a counselor at YMCA Camp Agaming in the Adirondacks while performing in plays at the nearby Tamarack Playhouse. It was at Tamarack that he changed his name, keeping the “D” sound of Danielovitch and Demsky for his stage name.
Douglas went to New York to study acting, served in the U.S. Navy and found work in Hollywood.
His 1949 breakthrough movie was “Champion,” where he played a conflicted boxer. The movie was the opening attraction of Amsterdam’s new Tryon Theatre that year.
Numerous roles followed and in 1959 Douglas produced and starred in “Spartacus,” breaking the blacklist of left-leaning Hollywood figures by hiring Dalton Trumbo to write the screenplay. Douglas named his production company Bryna Productions to honor his mother.
In 1985, Douglas returned to Amsterdam for a hero’s welcome on Kirk Douglas Day and a park in his honor was dedicated on Guy Park Avenue Extension by then Governor Mario Cuomo.
Douglas had a reunion with Wilfred “Wolfie” Churchitt, an Amsterdam man who had saved Douglas from drowning when both were children.
In Amsterdam in 1985, Douglas spoke of Eagle Street and his immigrant roots, saying the street was like a United Nations with its Crocettis, Naples, Allens, Cudmores and Demskis.
He said, “My mother, God rest her soul, used to sit on that porch sometimes and say to me, ‘Ah, America, such a wonderful land.’”
"The Erie Canal rubbed Aladdin's lamp. America awoke, catching for the first time the wondrous vision of its own dimensions and power." - Francis Kimball, American architect
Episode 121, July 22, 2016- Jack Kelly discusses topics as diverse as the origin of the Mormon religion and how Americans learned how to make cement in his book “Heaven’s Ditch: God, Gold, and Murder on the Erie Canal”
Amsterdam and its railroads
In 1898, a more substantial passenger train depot was built on the south side of the railroad tracks for $60,000. Vehicle access was provided by a ramp...
August 26, 2022-Episode 437-Bob Cudmore’s Focus on History columns from Daily Gazette and Amsterdam Recorder in 2022 provide information for this chit chat podcast with Dave Greene. Hear stories about Amsterdam’s connections with Ukraine, World War II, Amsterdam’s link with Jeff Buckley’s version of the “secret chord” and the Polish cowboy.
Mohawk Valley Weather, Tuesday, August 23, 2022
Some scattered showers developing across the region, but quite
scattered and light. Breaks in the clouds outside of the
showers. Daytime mixing after sunrise will dry up some the
showers this morning but isolated to scattered showers are
possible. Coverage of showers increase late this morning and
into this afternoon with some daytime warming and instability
along with the wind shift at the boundary layer and upper
impulse tracking through the region.
A chance of showers before noon, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between noon and 1pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 80. Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Tonight
Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly before 9pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 62. Calm wind becoming west 5 to 7 mph in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Wednesday
Mostly sunny, with a high near 84. West wind 8 to 11 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph.
Mohawk Valley News Headlines, Tuesday, August 23, 2022
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