Lemonick, we all went to the Brighton Beach Hotel and sat around the giant swimming pool having cocktails. They served a pretty strong drink there called “The Brighton Punch.” That punch carried quite a punch. Pearl was all dressed up in a black taffeta, Ceil Chapman cocktail dress with lots of crinoline petticoats under the skirt (which was the fashion in those days) and a pair of dainty strapped sandals with high heels. After one Brighton Beach Punch Pearl began teasing Al by telling him she had been coming here for years and had often heard of boys threatening to toss girls into the pool but had never seen it happen. Al picked her up and began swing- ing her as if to throw her in the pool. But then he put her down. After the second drink she dared him again and called him “Chicken.” Big mistake. This time he picked her up and threw her into the pool. Pearl’s beautiful clothes were drenched as well as her hair. She started to laugh hysterically with an occasional sob in between. I got her into the Ladies room and she sat there with a towel around her head not knowing whether to laugh or cry. I yelled at her for what she did because I was afraid she might have hurt her neck. Pearl had been in an auto accident in 1947 that had injured her neck. And earlier than that accident, in 1946, when she was a camp counselor she was injured when the boy who was supposed to catch her during a stage play missed the catch. It may seem overprotective but Pearl and I were very close. I remember when the ambulance came to take me to the hospital when I had Scarlet Fever, Pearl crying, “My sister, my sister.” So even though we could aggravate each other, we were still sisters and that was what mattered most. Al was afraid to be there when Pearl came out
of the ladies room but I told him it would be worse if he wasn’t. Pearl wasn’t down for long. She went back to the hotel and when my mother (who always slept with one eye open for us) asked why she was soaking wet she simply told her it was pouring rain outside and she needed to change her clothes. Then she rejoined the party. Pearl was unsinkable. EXILED Unfortunately for Al my father didn’t think Pearl’s big splash was all that funny. Although he didn’t know who it was that threw Pearl into the pool, whoever it was he exiled him from the house. “He will never be allowed in my house,” he said, “he could push Pearl off City Hall.” So just to be on the safe side poor Al had to wait in the vestibule when he called for Pearl. He was smart enough not to walk too far into the house. One day, after several months of dating, it was Pearl’s birthday. Al asked her what she wanted as a present. Pearl said, “An engagement ring.” No one had more nerve than Pearl. The very next day she went to a jeweler who gave Pearl a whole bag of diamonds on consignment to make her selection. Can you imagine something like that happen- ing today? The one she selected was a gorgeous Marquis stone. Every cent Al had went into buying that ring. HERMAN TAKES CENTER STAGE Herman Shooster and his older brother Harry owned a very popular Drive-In restaurant. The restaurant was started by their father, Frank, who died of a heart attack while at work at the restau- rant in 1950 at the young age of 57. Herman’s father was a true entrepreneur; he began as an immi- grant tailor from Russia, settled in Philadelphia,
After the second drink she dared him again and called him “Chicken.” Big mistake. This time he picked her up and threw her into the pool.
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