Jimmy Breslin
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| James Breslin | |
|---|---|
 Breslin at the 2008 Brooklyn Book Festival |
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| Born | October 17, 1930 Jamaica, New York |
| Occupation | Journalist, Novelist |
Jimmy Breslin (born October 17, 1929) is an American columnist and author. He has written numerous novels, and columns of his have appeared regularly in various newspapers in his hometown of New York City. He was a regular columnist for the newspaper Newsday until his retirement on November 2, 2004, and still has occasional pieces there.
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[edit] Biography
Born in Jamaica, New York, Breslin was a columnist for the New York Herald Tribune.[1] When the Sunday supplement was reworked into New York magazine by editor Clay Felker in 1962, Breslin appeared in the new edition, which became "the hottest Sunday read in town."[1]
Among his notable columns, perhaps the best known was published the day after John F. Kennedy's funeral, focusing on the man who had dug the president's grave.[2] The column is indicative of Breslin's style, which often highlights how major events or the actions of those considered "newsworthy" affect the "common man."
He ran an unsuccessful campaign as an independent for the position of president of the New York City Council in 1969. He allied himself with Norman Mailer, who was running for the position of mayor at the same time, on a platform which proposed the secession of New York City from the rest of New York state. Both were soundly defeated.
Breslin's public profile in the '60s as a regular guy led to a brief stint as a TV pitchman for Piels Beer, most memorably in a bar room commercial where he intoned in his deep "Piels- it's a good drinkin' beer!".
His career as an investigative journalist led him to cultivate ties with various Mafia and criminal elements in the city, not always with positive results. In 1970, he was viciously attacked and beaten at The Suite, a restaurant then owned by Lucchese crime family associate Henry Hill. The attack was carried out by mobster Jimmy Burke, who objected to an article Breslin had written involving another member of the Lucchese family, Paul Vario. Though Breslin suffered an epistaxis and a major concussion, he survived the ordeal without any permanent injury. In 1977, at the height of the Son of Sam scare in New York City, the killer, who was later identified as David Berkowitz, addressed letters to Breslin. Excerpts from these were published and were later used in the Spike Lee film Summer of Sam, a film in which Breslin, portraying himself, bookends.
Breslin has received numerous accolades throughout his career. In 1985, he received a George Polk Award for Metropolitan Reporting, while in 1986, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. After fellow Newsday columnist Ji-Yeon Mary Yuh described one of Breslin's articles as sexist, Breslin appeared on the Howard Stern Show and called her a "slant-eyed cunt" and a "yellow cur", stating that "the fucking bitch doesn't know her place". Breslin was widely criticized for his racist and sexist outburst. He apologized and was suspended for two weeks without pay.[3][4][5]
He has been married twice. His first marriage, to Rosemary Dattolico, ended with her death in 1981. They had six children together: sons Kevin, James, Patrick and Christopher, and daughters Rosemary and Kelly. His daughter Rosemary died June 14, 2004 from a rare blood disease and his daughter Kelly, 44, died on April 21. 2009, four days after a cardiac arrhythmia in a New York City restaurant.[6] Since 1982, he has been married to former New York City Council member Ronnie Eldridge.
[edit] Works include
- 1962 Sunny Jim: The life of America's most beloved horseman, James Fitzsimmons ASIN B0007DY5XS
- 1963 Can't Anybody Here Play This Game?
- 1969 World of Jimmy Breslin ISBN 0-345-21651-2
- 1969 Running Against the Machine: A Grass Roots Race for the New York Mayoralty
- 1970 The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight ISBN 0-316-11174-0
- 1973 World without End, Amen ISBN 0-670-79020-6
- 1976 How the Good Guys Finally Won ISBN 0-345-25001-X
- 1977 Breslin to .44 Calibur Killer: Give up! It's the only way out.
- 1978 .44 ISBN 0-670-32432-9
- 1983 Forsaking All Others ISBN 0-449-20250-X
- 1986 Table Money ISBN 0-89919-312-9
- 1988 He Got Hungry and Forgot His Manners ISBN 0-89919-311-0
- 1988 The World According to Jimmy Breslin ISBN 978-0899193106
- 1991 Damon Runyon: A Life ISBN 0-89919-984-4
- 1997 I Want to Thank My Brain for Remembering Me : A Memoir ISBN 0-316-11879-6
- 2002 American Lives: The Stories of the Men and Women Lost on September 11 ISBN 0-940159-77-5
- 2002 I Don't Want to Go to Jail : A Novel ISBN 0-316-12032-4
- 2002 The Short Sweet Dream of Eduardo Gutierrez ISBN 0-609-60827-4
- 2004 The Church That Forgot Christ ISBN 0-7432-6647-1
- 2005 America's Mayor: The Hidden History of Rudy Giuliani's New York -preface to Robert Pollner's book. ISBN 1-932360-58-1
- 2007 America's Mayor, America's President? The Strange Career of Rudy Giuliani - Preface to Robert Pollner's next book ISBN 1-933368-72-1
- 2008 The Good Rat: A True Story ISBN 9780060856663
[edit] References
- ^ a b Mclellan, Dennis (July 2, 2008). "Clay Felker, 82; editor of New York magazine led New Journalism charge". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jul/02/local/me-felker2. Retrieved on 2008-11-23.
- ^ Digging John F. Kennedy's Grave Was An Honor: November 1963
- ^ Tony Kornheiser. The Real Jimmy Breslin. The Washington Post; May 9, 1990.
- ^ Dorothy Ing Russell. Jimmy Breslin, Coward and Bully. The Washington Post. May 13, 1990
- ^ Alex S. Jones. Breslin Is Given 2-Week Suspension. The New York Times. May 9, 1990.
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/nyregion/23breslin.html
