Artists

Read it and weep, Big Apple residents. Excerpt from an nypost.com article by Charles Gasparino: “In 2019, according to just-released data from the Internal Revenue Service, the number of New York tax filers with adjusted gross incomes above $1 million dropped to 55,100 from 57,210 in 2018. That 3.7% decrease came even as the number of millionaire filers nationally was growing to 554,340 from 541,410, an increase of 2.4%.” Right now the state is being subsidized by pandemic payments from the FEDS. Let’s hope many of those who moved come back, or things will be even worse in a couple of years.

Amusing headline from NYP: “Lovin’ it: Matthew Perry spotted on a McDonald’s run with gal pal.” Hey, the multi-millionaire is just like the rest of us!

Headline from newsmax.com: “Boris Johnson Makes ‘Surprise’ Visit to Kyiv to Meet Zelenskyy, Brings Aid.” Kudos to the UK chief.

Odd headline from NM that begs a question: “Biden Won’t Remove Iran From Terror List, Deal May Collapse.” If that’s the case, why is he bargaining with the world’s number one sponsor of mayhem in the first place?

RIP Nehemiah Persoff, consummate actor, 102. Born in Jerusalem, his family came to America in 1920. He left a job as a subway electrician to pursue acting. His stage career was interrupted by WWII. He returned to theater post-war, then made his film debut in The Naked City (1948). His greatest success came in TV. There are 207 titles under his name at IMDb in a career that continued until 2003, but that figure doesn’t reflect how prolific he was, as he made multiple appearances on popular prime time fare, six each on Playhouse 90, The Untouchables, Gunsmoke and Naked City; seven on Hawaii Five-O; and at least three on several more shows. He was equally adept at playing a good or bad guy. In a great bit of trivia, he was the cabbie in the “I coulda been a contenduh” scene in one of America’s greatest films, On the Waterfront (1954). Married 70 years until the death of his beloved, he is a father of four. Here’s a quote attributed to him: “If I’m playing a good guy, I’ll try to show that he has some bad in him. If I’m playing a bad guy, I’ll give him some dignity and love.” Awesome, Sir. Thank you.

RIP Jack Higgins, 92, whose thrillers sold more than 150 million copies worldwide. His most popular, The Eagle Has Landed, his 36th book, alone sold 50 million and was successfully adapted to film in 1976. Ten more of his works made it either to the big or small screen. Born Henry Patterson in the UK, his mom moved the family to her hometown, Belfast, after her husband took a hike. He taught liberal studies at the college level. Early in his literary run he wrote under his own name and three other pseudonyms, sometimes banging out three or fours novels per year. He began using his most famous moniker in the late ‘60’s. In all he wrote 85 books. Married twice, he is a father of four. Well done, sir. Thank you.

Not much action at the floating book shop today, but at least it didn’t rain. My thanks to Ann, who bought Prince Albert: The Man Who Saved the Monarchy
by A.N. Wilson for her mother in law, who is obsessed with the royal family; and to the elderly woman who purchased two books in Russian; and to Mr. Conspiracy, aka Steve, who donated two works of non-fiction.

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