There’s many reasons I like these type of photos when Sal got done performing either his mind reading act or playing the piano he would go behind the bar and take pictures of customers nowadays everybody has a iPhone to take pictures so we all know how to pose Back then I don’t think too many people knew how to pose back then I don’t think too many people know how to pose it was very rare to get your photo taken in a nightclub especially From behind the bar That’s why these are real frozen moments I probably have 1000 of them

Captain Tony’s saloon 42 years ago the band that night Pacific Orchestra best band by far in Key West at the time we had them six nights a week during season, above Captain Tony’s left window A lot of high stake card games I was a sandwich boy a couple times before I got promoted to the front door the window on the far right upstairs Sals mask photography studio was above the pool room kind of, there was four pool tables, giant sharks hanging from the ceiling There were secret peep holes everywhere in that bar Sal had one on the floor he could see what’s going on downstairs, he would be on the lookout for some cute guys maybe to take their photo Upstairs in his studio and on the left side of the bar that was our patio bobs burger factory was their best burgers in Key West Jimmy Buffett Would eat them all the time that’s when he wrote the song cheeseburger in paradise no matter what anybody says, and when all those crazy things were going on I had my position at the front door 22 years old right out of Elizabeth New Jersey New Jersey A crazy Italian kid I controlled the door when you control the door you control the bar it was great my grandfather was either at the dog track, hanging with some broads or playing cards upstairs I had a blast he wasn’t there that much that’s why I had a job on and off for seven years I got some stories

I told many stories that were told to me from my great uncle Sal, The year 1949 Great uncle Sal worked for the bazaar traveling carnival the world of mirth it traveled down from Canada to Virginia and back Sal was the mindreader, hypnotist, mask maker, piano player, and photographer He even did their magazine for them This image you’re looking at right here was the burlesque show the girls danced outside on stage they wore very revealing outfits, they would Lore in the male customers it cost a dime to get in but when you got in there the girls were topless kind of like a strip club but 70 years ago and here’s the catch in that giant tent they had a little rooms in the back and that’s where the girls really got you, The headliner Zorita had a thing for Sal Great uncle Sal was gay but he liked his action Male or female That’s when the little masks that he made came in handy, There was some ti ght quarters when traveling from state to state the other Burlesque girls the midgets Sal told me some crazy stories Check out the world of mirth category check out the world of mirth category in this website pretty coolon this website pretty cool

Did you ever see the movie eyes wide shut with Tom Cruise and his wife Nicole Kidman at a time the movie was kind of out there to most people, The-mask you’re looking at in the middle of this photo That I just took in my mask room was created by Sal 1951 during the Korean War when he worked for the OSS that was CIA back then Sal was a undercover photographer photographing ships in transit and ports around the world, Ports like Cambodia, India, Cuba,And a whole bunch of other places when Sal went off to these faraway lands he would always bring a couple masks with him that he could wear Just in case he got Invited to invited to an orgy, and didn’t want people looking at his face in the middle of being seduced Or vice a versa he always carried three masks he knew all the special places to go to the Cambodian opium dens were his favorite he has a bunch of published photos from there and the stories, he told me wow, I’ll be digging those images up and posting them on the site soon

I have been photographing and publishing beautiful women for over four decades It was a hell of a run four years ago I hooked up with the love of my life Miss Lisa Jo Burke Yes Georgia peach's do exist we lived together way back in the day 40 years ago in Key West We met on Facebook and haven’t seen each other in 37 years I was in the middle of doing my new Coney Island website topnewyork.com check it out it’s pretty cool I moved there and put together a little studio to start my new project within one week of talking to Lisa I decided to close down everything shipped all my stuff to Florida and marry the love of my life I always go with the gut instinct I think that’s part of my success Probably for the next 10 years I’ll be editing through over 90 years of my families photography of course my own great uncle Sal even Captain Tony took lots of photographs I have all the original negatives of everybody’s

My great uncle Sal was taking portraits as far back as 1928 till his death in 1995 I inherited his lifetime of photographs negatives masks and paintings there’s over 8000 large format negatives that were not printed up maybe they were printed up back in the day and Sal gave them to the person, He did that alot, to me it’s just a negative some thing that Sal was interested in and took the shot every once in a while I will grab a stack of negatives pick one out and prin it up, kind of a proof photo like this one here, don’t know where don’t know when I’m sure it’s some type of theater in Manhattan looks like early 40s I could investigated by looking at the sign on the wall I’m just too busy but I like the image

If you go to any of my websites you will see some very interesting outdoor portraits for two reasons the people I picked out and the lighting, I designed a lot of window displays wherever I worked Times Square, 34th St, Chinatown I would always put extra lights in the windows showing the merchandise But I would always tilt some small lights facing out so When so when someone looks in the window it would light up their face like this gentleman right here looking at a fancy camera in my window

John Lennon is One of my favorite artists I got him and Jim Morrison were incredible poets I never got to meet John Lennon but I got to meet his wife Yoko Ono I heard so many bad stories about her through the tabloids but I have to admit after meeting her she really was a sweetheart couldn’t sing at all but definitely was a sweetheart

This is some super cool stuff right here it’s one of Sal’s Composite sheets throughout Sals life he probably did over 1000 portfolios of actor and actresses wannabes hundreds of them made it on Broadway or in movies just on this simple composite sheet there’s lots of them there’s Gene Hackman,James Earl Jones, George Maharis from Route 66, Frances Sternhagen she’s been in so many Broadway plays many of these people you might recognize but not know their names this composite sheet is over 60 years old I have over a dozen of them with all the original negatives