Swing

by Gerstel, Alan

• ISBN13: 9781456527556
• ISBN10: 145652755X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-04-05
• Publisher: Createspace Independent Pub

Summary

Alan Gerstel'¬"s career has run the gamut from actor to stage manager to filmmaker to television news anchor. But his first love has always been music'¬¦ though he never fully understood why.Alan was adopted soon after birth and suffered the pangs of rejection through his formative years even though he was raised in a warm, loving household. That nagging rejection prompted the unrelenting search for his birth parents when he reached his late 20'¬"s.To compensate for feelings of rejection, many adoptees are known to fantasize that their birth parents were famous people. Alan'¬"s decades-long investigation revealed that his birth father certainly fit the bill. Louis Prima was a huge star'¬¦ and a married man'¬¦ when he had a fling with a pretty, young woman who yearned to be a singer in his band. Alan was the product of their short-lived liaison.SWING takes the reader on an adventure that centered on 52nd Street in New York City during World War II when it was known as '¬SSwing Street.'¬ Alan'¬"s birth mother was a '¬Shostess'¬ at many of the jazz clubs that made 52nd Street also known as '¬SThe Street That Never Sleeps.'¬ Her heartless act after giving birth to Alan crushed one couple'¬"s hopes while setting up impediments that would frustrate Alan'¬"s investigation many years later.SWING is a tale of dogged determination. It is a story of private investigators, of payoffs and bribes, of good people and some very bad people. Louis Prima was a show business headliner and one of the good people. He created a monumental musical legacy that is not fully appreciated today. Alan is proud to call Louis Prima his birth father.