Nehemiah Persoff

            On Wednesday morning I worked out the chords for the fourth verse of “A tous les enfants” (To All the Children) by Boris Vian.

            I translated most of the 1964 Serge Gainsbourg song “Al Cassel’s Air”. Tomorrow I’ll finish that and start memorizing the song. 

            I got an email from Alex Wood telling me he’s about to order the new parts for my Martin acoustic guitar. He wanted me to confirm that I still want the work done and asked me to choose between three tuners: Gotoh tuners which require new holes so Alex would have to fill up the old ones; two kinds of Grover tuners: vintage milk bottle or modern. I went with the Grover milk bottle tuners.

            He said he might have them Friday or Monday. 

            I weighed 87.15 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I’ve been in the morning since May 8. 

            In the early afternoon I did my laundry. On my way back to put my clothes in the dryer I ran into David near our building. It’s his birthday tomorrow and so we’re getting together for lunch. 

            I got some mail from the Federal Dental plan saying I hadn’t renewed my coverage yet. I thought I did that two weeks ago but maybe I missed a step on the online form. 

            I weighed 86.6 kilos at 15:37. I had saltines with five-year-old cheddar and a glass of low sugar iced tea for a late lunch. 

            I took a siesta at 16:06 and got up at 17:35. I cleaned my teeth and headed to Family Dentistry on Queen. The dentist is Dr. Singh. It’s an interesting coincidence that the dentist at Dentistry on Queen West that did my filling last week is Dr. Singer. Anyway, unlike Singer, Singh agreed that my upper left tooth has to come out. He couldn’t do it tonight but I got an appointment for the extraction tomorrow at 16:15. That made me feel good, knowing I can finally get that done. 

            I weighed 86.5 kilos at 19:15.

            I was caught up on my journal at 20:30. 

            I made pizza on a slice of multigrain sandwich bread with marinara sauce, Genoa salami, and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching season 1, episode 8 of The Bill Cosby Show.

            Chet Kincaid has successfully tutored Danny Byron in preparation for a history test, which he passed. Danny tells him he plans to try out for the football team, for which Chet is the co-coach. During try-outs Chet gets a visit from two muscular men in suits who tell him someone wants to talk to him. He is taken to a limo to meet Danny’s father who tells him he wants Danny to make the team and he would be disappointed if he doesn’t. He adds that he doesn’t like being disappointed. The impression one gets from this is that Danny’s father is a mobster and that there is a threatening tone to his request. Chet gives Danny special attention, trying him out in every team position. He even tries to personally coach Danny to improve his skills but he proves himself to not be an athlete. Finally Chet gives up and scratches Danny from the try-outs. Danny’s father’s men come to get Chet in his home and compel him to ride with them to the Byron mansion. Danny’s father says he was disappointed at first but then saw Danny was relieved that he didn’t make the team. Chet stays for dinner and Byron offers him to work for him but Chet turns him down. 

            Byron senior was played by Nehemiah Persoff, who emigrated to the US from Palestine in 1929 at the age of ten. He won a scholarship to the Dramatic Workshop in New York. He made his official New York debut in The Emperor’s New Clothes in 1940. After WWII he became an intern of Stella Adler at the Actor’s Studio. He made his film debut in The Naked City in 1948. His TV debut was in Actors Studio in 1949. He played Little Bonaparte in Some Like It Hot. He co-starred in The Comancheros. He played Barbara Streisand’s father in Yentl. He guest starred in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode The Most Toys. After he retired from acting in 2003 he became a successful painter of watercolours. 

            I saw the landlord in the hall and he confronted me about putting fruit waste in the garbage. He said I should take it out onto the street myself because it is attracting mice. I told him he is supposed to take out the garbage every week and since he doesn’t the bin is always overflowing. He says he can’t control how much garbage tenants throw out and claims that the city only picks up the garbage every two weeks. I looked it up and saw that organic waste is picked up weekly and on top of that any building with more than six units (ours has at least seven) must have a green bin for organic waste. When I confronted him with that information he said it’s too much trouble to have a green bin and he doesn’t care about the law. If we had a green bin it might solve the animal problem. I think I’m going to call 311 to get the city to remind Raja of his responsibilities.