In 1925 my great uncle Sal was 14 years old he was already thrown out of the school of Saint Anthony’s he was either mouthing off to teachers and telling them what The answer was or doing nude sculptures of his father having sex with the live-in maid captain Tony was also thrown out of that school and believe it or not when I attended there I was thrown out the church knew all about the family because of Sal dressing up as the devil and claiming the Surrounding scaffolding around the church steeple that they were working on long story short they try to do a private exorcism on him this is true Sal ended up working for the church that’s where he learned how to play the organ piano, by ear he learn all the Italian operas and any song he wanted to memorize that’s what he became a professional performer at the age of 16 reading minds and playing the piano by 17 he was booked in Chicago New York and New Jersey He did have a little vacation in Rahway state prison the juvenile divisio
Since Sal had a studio in the theater district in Manhattan he did a lot of stills for Broadway plays uncle Tom’s cabin tobacco Road a lot of behind the scenes they even used a lot of his masks For background scenes Sal also took a lot of photos why all the actors and actresses were getting ready like this one I don’t know what it was but I’d like the image
Back in 1951 the Korean War was starting to unfold sal was always involved with the seafarers Junior he already traveled around the world ones with them he was the photographer for their magazine and newspaper he took the job so he could travel around the world what actually happens is the OSS that was CIA back then hired Sal to be an undercover Photographer Photographing all the ships in transit in the international waterway also photographing ports from around the world Sal ended up spending a lot of time with the natives in the Belgian Congo he actually got in trouble for these images I have the negatives
Time for a little bragging in 1989 I opened up Terracina West Studios and Mentertainment studios let’s just say I was rolling publishing hundreds of dancers in three different magazines What came with that was a lot of the girls want their portfolios done professionally that was me the professional photographer I rolled for over three years when all the smoke cleared I acquired over 1700 releases Published 1200 exotic dancers ended a couple hundred portfolios nude and seminude If you stay on this category you’ll see some spectacular nudes and a lot of my publish stuff Sals also let’s not forget about all the wild pictures captain Tony took in Key West it’s all right here on this category close to 700 images with some great stories All taken by the family 96 years of imagery that’s right I don’t think anybody could touch our numbers as a family of photographers
One of those typical Terracina family portraits Tony Junior on the right it was his 21st birthday we were celebrating it at Captain Tony’s at the time my dad was 71 years old on the left and wild crazy Captain Tony was 91 and me I am the oldest grandson at 51 This photo is 15 years old of course my grandfather has passed away but the rest of us or still rocking and rolling
That’s my grandfather Captain Tony third guy from the right at the Key West kennel club that’s a nice way of saying the race track a lot of mob guys would buy horses my grandfather invested in really fast running in greyhound dogs like them or three right here That’s how my grandfather really bought the original Hemingway bar and back in the mid-70s he pretty much spent every night at the track and if he wasn’t there he was having high stake card games Above his bar this is why I got to work for him for seven years he lived a life as a Playboy while he was married four times and 13 kids I miss that old.pirate
After not seeing each other for 37 years we just cited we should move in together and get married 2017 Key West honeymoon
Back in 1949 great uncle Sal was the photographer for the bazaar traveling carnival the world of mirth Besides doing other photos and making all their masks while he was hypnotizing people and reading minds he played the piano for the Burlesque show sal was definitely gay they had a thing going on with the head dancer Zorita He did lots of great nude photos of her if you wanna read some hysterical stories the ones in the book about the Burlesque shows in this carnival you can watch them strip for one dollar in the tent and then there was those special little rooms and back of the tent They cost about five dollars back then from what I heard it was worth it
I am always bragging about the thousands of parties I photographed in New York City an Key West and as far as New Jersey another thousand wild parties at all those strip clubs but one of the best parties at the Empire Hotel in New York the gray goose Parties I was hired as the photographer and I was allowed to bring five friends I don’t even like vodka but those gray goose cocktails sensational made by the best bartender is a New York City
The day Thompson model agency excepted My bid for doing 25 portfolios of their models it took me a little over a week of nonstop shooting Not only did I get $400 for each shoe a lot of the models told their friends I milked that project on and off for four years