If you look at this sign you will see Sals name was put there in neon if you ever saw the movie Goodfellas all those mob guys hung out at a club like this. This is the-exact club 10 years before Goodfellas, this wasn’t the 60s it was the 50s Sal did his piano playing mind reading and hypnotizing routine there he had a little apartment upstairs where he would do private readings of course he had a little photo mask studio up there, if you came into the club Sal would know right away if you were in the closet his mission that night was the pull you out of the closet and bring you upstairs to his little studio fun room to do a private reading he told me some pretty crazy stories one of the best stories he told me is when he convinced the owner of that nightclub to put his name in neon even though he was still traveling all over the world and doing what he wants people love to hear him sing and play the piano I really miss my great uncle Sal

In 1989 I landed the job of jobs I became the staff photographer of mentertainment magazine there was actually three issues one from New York and Jersey and then a quarterly that went to every strip club in America the ones for New Jersey and New York came out once a month a lot of great photos ads and stories, my job was to go to as many gogo clubs as I can take pictures of all the girls try to sell some ads, And then during the day do a bunch of nude portfolios that I booked myself from Meeting so many dancers I would offer them free photos of them live on stage just to come down to the Studio I would usually talk to me into a portfolio I was a hell of a salesman I was actually getting paid for girls to takeoff their clothes in front of me three years after all the smoke cleared I published over 1200 dancers and acquired 1700 releases also did close to 200 portfolios of exotic dancers these four pictures here we’re just from one roll of film at a club i shot in New Jersey called lookers it’s been there close to 40 years family-owned Greek diner with the strip club attached one of our main advertisers at the time the funny thing is beside taking all those photos I carried a micro recorder around with me because I was meeting so many dancers my brain couldn’t absorb all that information, sometime I pop in a tape just to listen to what was going on in my head 30 years ago funny stuff

Great uncle Sal photographed a lot on Canal Street in Chinatown he has some secret hangouts there he told me he would go there to smoke some opium every once in a while I cropped this image out of one of his large format negatives I like it I myself also spent seven years photographing on Canal Street

Some pretty cool stuff 1949 Sal was pretty much running the company, The world of mirth a bizarre traveling carnival Sal was the organ player, mind reader, and hypnotist, he also made all the masks for them and did all the photos he had some amazing perks with that job he got to sleep with the midget clowns and the burlesque girls sometimes all together we’ll talk about those mask parties at another time I’ll leave it at that, he told me some pretty crazy stories there’s also a section on this website called world of mirth check it out

My dad and Woody Strobe from Spartacus In 1979 they filmed my grandfathers movie Woody Stroube was my grandfather’s first mate in the movie with Stuart Whitman, Robert Vaughn, Michael Gasso from The Godfather William Saint Jacobs, Monte Rock, Karen K And a whole bunch of other stars I was even in it as a Navy seal technically I was the most seen dead man in the movie You could rent it assignment kill Castro boy did that movie bomb but as usual the captain got paid a lot

I always speak about that famous nightclub that Sal performed at doing his mind reading and piano playing and then on his break he would take pictures of all the famous people that hang out there This is Mark Spitz he won five gold medals in the Olympics for swimming he used to hang out with Donald Trump at that club Early 70s

My great uncle Sal had four sons just kidding these are the actual midgets that were in the Wizard of Oz in 1939 ten years later in 1949 Sal got them in at the World of Mirth the bazaar traveling Carnival that Sal worked for Sal also did all their portfolios some pretty funny stuff it will be in our book

I spent so many years on the streets of New York City, I would always know when A photo shoot was going down, the umbrellas set up a big dressing room truck and some security people, this was a photo shoot for Victoria secrets ready to go down I waited patiently but not right on top of them as soon as the dressing room door open that they came flying out I got my one shot

In 1969 great uncle Sal had his mask photography studio above his brothers bar Captain Tony’s saloon in Key West he made a bunch of pirate masks over 50 years ago and put six of them in the bar of course he put special ingredients in the papier-mâché mix since the bar was a morgue in the 1800s he got a hold of some old bones that my grandfather found when they were digging up the pool room there’s still an actual skeleton hanging behind the bar, Sal didn’t use just bone shavings he had pyramid scrapings from Egypt, Haitian voodoo dust, and secret potions from around the world all this stuff went to the papier-mâché mix, I know all about them I have 65 of his mask dating as far back as the late 30s this one you’re looking at, I took this picture in 1977 the funny thing out of all the mask that were there this one is still there it’s in the pool room check it out

My 60th birthday four years ago Four shots of Petrone half a line lotta ice the leaf colored bud in my hand a very rare growth of weed it’s been totally dried and there is purpleish resin buds in the middle I was handing is all over to my friend I don’t do stuff like that