“The men despised him...”

88-year-old Joseph Miller tells his niece, Diane Himmelbaum, about a relative from Brooklyn.

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Recorded in New York, NY

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Facilitated by Shaleece Haas.

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Interview transcript

Miller: There was a relative from Brooklyn – Breslar, B-R-E-S-L-A-R -- and Breslar was in the book business and he would boast about some of the great names that you’ve heard of for whom he would get rare books, special items. And all the Jewish mothers would turn to their husbands and say, “Why aren’t you a learned man like Breslar who knows so much about books, he meets all these great people” and the men despised him because he was always being compared to him. And one happy day The Evening Journal came out with a big picture of Breslar who had been arrested for selling pornography books. Oh was the family happy. Couple of months later, the family gathering, Breslar shows up and my uncle Louie who was not bashful says, “Bresler, how's the dirty book business?” That was a great day.