“Dads are most ordinary men turned by love into heroes, adventurers, storytellers and singers of songs”. Pam Brown
My father grew up very poor, the ninth child born to Russian immigrant Jewish parents in Philadelphia. His own father took his life when my dad was only three, thus Leonard only finished 6th grade. He sold newspapers on the street to help make ends meet, but was street smart and a born salesman from the start.
A singer of songs, he formed a trio called The Three Swanks in his twenties and their famous song was “The Love Bug Will Bite You if You Don’t Watch Out”. I am sure you all remember it well! My favorite was “Pennies From Heaven” which he called my theme song, (later to be replaced by “Penny Lane” by the Beatles). He would embarrass my sister and I constantly by singing and dancing in public, a trait which I seem to have inherited.
Leonard Greenberg was handsome and charming, a real storyteller and joke teller, but nutty and crazy at times. One example comes to mind. Every Sunday we would go to the China Jade restaurant for dinner. Dad would eat dinner, belch loudly, and say “that was pure slop. Remind me not to come back here!”. The next Sunday we would be back.
His jokes were corny: be true to your teeth or they’ll be false to you; my friend has turnsta. What is turnsta you might ask? Everything he eats turnsta shit. He was warm and loving and always could be seen holding my mom’s hand or squeezing my sister and me.
Leonard became an insurance salesman and felt looking dapper was part of the job. He was into the latest fashion and purchased expensive suits even when we did not have the money. After the movie Gidget came out, dad cut off his dungarees (that’s what we called them then) to resemble “The Great Kahuna” surfer in the movie and wore them all summer long. He was definitely a character.
Being poor as a child had a tremendous effect on my dad’s life. He showed his love with food, tons of food. He was more the Jewish mother than my mom. He had worked in a Jewish deli/appetizing store as a teen and loved catering and feeding people, the more nova and white fish the better. I remember many a family barbecue when my father would say “if everyone takes four more pieces of London broil and two more hot dogs, we will finish it. We had to indulge him and all left the table stuffed.
We were a musical family, listening to albums like Oklahoma, South Pacific and The King and I and sang harmony to songs by Peter, Paul and Mary. Dad was a good dancer and Jill and I inherited his singing and dancing genes.
Unfortunately, we inherited other genes that were not as pleasant. Dad suffered from anxiety and depression throughout his life, as did his sister Peg, who was kept in a closet. My mom told us that she was advised by friends not to marry him because of this. There was (and still is) such a stigma about mental illness. There were many days he would stay home from work “with a bug”, my mom would say. We never understood until we were older the extent of his problems.
Because of these issues, my dad was not an adventurer or a risk taker. He had many phobias, including travel. After my sister Jill moved to London, however, he fought his fears and visited many times. My mom would reminisce about these trips to London and Paris when he felt mentally at his best. He died way too young at the age of sixty eight of a rare form of lymphoma.
Leonard Greenberg lives on in my son Keith. Keith resembles my handsome father, possesses his warm heart, his quirky personality, his gift of gab and has carried on the insurance tradition by opening his own insurance brokerage, KMB Coverage. He’s not a bad singer or dancer, either. Dad would be so proud!
Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers, grandfathers, uncles and would be dads out there! Here’s to you……….XO Penny