Charlie Carillo's Blog
January 19, 2022
June 9, 2017
An Un-Happy Ending for Happy Maione
A gangster named Harold "Happy" Maione makes a brief appearance in "Return To Shepherd Avenue," and in real life he was a frequent visitor to my grandparents' house.
Not to their home, exactly - Happy was "keeping company" with a pretty young girl who lived upstairs from my grandparents.
And whenever he passed my grandmother on his way up the stairs, he stopped to greet her with a tip of his hat.
"A sharp dresser," my grandmother recalled. "A real gentleman."
Well, not always. Happy was a hit man employed by the legendary Murder, Incorporated.
He always carried a lucky gold piece, which he lost one day. My father, then just a kid, found it in the hallway and returned it to Happy.
But the luck had apparently worn off the gold piece. Happy died in the electric chair in 1942.
Not to their home, exactly - Happy was "keeping company" with a pretty young girl who lived upstairs from my grandparents.
And whenever he passed my grandmother on his way up the stairs, he stopped to greet her with a tip of his hat.
"A sharp dresser," my grandmother recalled. "A real gentleman."
Well, not always. Happy was a hit man employed by the legendary Murder, Incorporated.
He always carried a lucky gold piece, which he lost one day. My father, then just a kid, found it in the hallway and returned it to Happy.
But the luck had apparently worn off the gold piece. Happy died in the electric chair in 1942.
June 7, 2017
RETURN TO SHEPHERD AVENUE, AND THE ETERNAL QUESTION: CAN YOU GO HOME AGAIN?
You’ve written millions of words since “Shepherd Avenue” was published, but there’s something really special about that first novel.
You still remember that magical phone call from your agent, all those years ago: “Go celebrate! ‘Shepherd Avenue’ has been sold!”
Oh, man. You can hardly believe it. You’re going to be published! You say it to yourself over and over, right until the day you actually hold a copy of that novel in your hands, hot off the press.
The book gets good reviews. It’s the story of a sensitive ten-year-old boy who spends a turbulent summer at his grandparents house in a rough Brooklyn neighborhood after his mother’s death in 1961.
The house that inspired the story is the one your real-life grandparents lived in, on Shepherd Avenue in Brooklyn. You spent a lot of good times there when you were a boy, and one morning all these years later, a strange thing happens:
You wake up and can’t stop wondering if that old house is still standing.
You do more than just wonder. Like an aging homing pigeon, some primal instinct has you in its grip, taking you on that long subway ride back to Shepherd Avenue.
Your legs tremble as you reach the red brick house. It’s a different neighborhood, now. The windows have bars over them and the driveway is gated, but otherwise the house looks just as it did when you were a kid.
Everybody you knew from the old days is long gone, but the memories come flooding back, and that’s when the craziest “What if” of your literary life strikes like a bolt of lightning:
What if the troubled little boy from ‘Shepherd Avenue’ is now a troubled man in search of peace he’s never been able to find? What if he thinks he can find that peace by moving back into Grandma’s old house?
And as long as we’re being totally crazy: What if he knocks on the door of the Shepherd Avenue house and offers to buy it from the startled present-day owner, just like that?
There’s your story. That troubled man buys the house and moves into it. Nothing but strangers on the block, now, but he doesn’t care. He’s on a mission to make sense of his life with this trip to the past.
Meanwhile, the present will prove to be just as exciting as the past, with a beautiful and passionate young woman living just across the street….she’s every bit as lonely as he is….
Oh yeah. Now you’re cooking! You get back on the subway. You can’t wait to get home and start typing.
That’s how “Return To Shepherd Avenue” was born, fifty years after the original story.
The legendary Thomas Wolfe famously said You Can’t Go Home Again, but you know better than that. You can indeed Return to Shepherd Avenue.
Just don’t be surprised by what you’ll find, because many things can happen in fifty years. Amazing, heartbreaking, wonderful things.
You still remember that magical phone call from your agent, all those years ago: “Go celebrate! ‘Shepherd Avenue’ has been sold!”
Oh, man. You can hardly believe it. You’re going to be published! You say it to yourself over and over, right until the day you actually hold a copy of that novel in your hands, hot off the press.
The book gets good reviews. It’s the story of a sensitive ten-year-old boy who spends a turbulent summer at his grandparents house in a rough Brooklyn neighborhood after his mother’s death in 1961.
The house that inspired the story is the one your real-life grandparents lived in, on Shepherd Avenue in Brooklyn. You spent a lot of good times there when you were a boy, and one morning all these years later, a strange thing happens:
You wake up and can’t stop wondering if that old house is still standing.
You do more than just wonder. Like an aging homing pigeon, some primal instinct has you in its grip, taking you on that long subway ride back to Shepherd Avenue.
Your legs tremble as you reach the red brick house. It’s a different neighborhood, now. The windows have bars over them and the driveway is gated, but otherwise the house looks just as it did when you were a kid.
Everybody you knew from the old days is long gone, but the memories come flooding back, and that’s when the craziest “What if” of your literary life strikes like a bolt of lightning:
What if the troubled little boy from ‘Shepherd Avenue’ is now a troubled man in search of peace he’s never been able to find? What if he thinks he can find that peace by moving back into Grandma’s old house?
And as long as we’re being totally crazy: What if he knocks on the door of the Shepherd Avenue house and offers to buy it from the startled present-day owner, just like that?
There’s your story. That troubled man buys the house and moves into it. Nothing but strangers on the block, now, but he doesn’t care. He’s on a mission to make sense of his life with this trip to the past.
Meanwhile, the present will prove to be just as exciting as the past, with a beautiful and passionate young woman living just across the street….she’s every bit as lonely as he is….
Oh yeah. Now you’re cooking! You get back on the subway. You can’t wait to get home and start typing.
That’s how “Return To Shepherd Avenue” was born, fifty years after the original story.
The legendary Thomas Wolfe famously said You Can’t Go Home Again, but you know better than that. You can indeed Return to Shepherd Avenue.
Just don’t be surprised by what you’ll find, because many things can happen in fifty years. Amazing, heartbreaking, wonderful things.
May 29, 2017
Oh Danny Boy, We Came So Close....
The legendary character actor Danny Aiello loved the screenplay for "Shepherd Avenue," and we figured that was the break we'd been praying for.
Danny was eager to play the role of the grandfather. His career was on fire, as he'd just been nominated for an Oscar for his role in Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing."
We met him at a restaurant on New York City's Upper West Side. The place was called Columbus and it was jammed with celebrities.
Danny was the kind of guy who attracted people to his table. Paul Sorvino and Ben Stiller dropped by to say hello. Everybody dropped by to say hello. Danny was hot, hot, HOT.
Producer Andrew Gaty, who wrote the screenplay with me, took me aside. "If Danny wins the Oscar, 'Shepherd Avenue' will get made!" he said with glee.
I was on a high when we left, and then Danny made the night even sweeter by driving me home to the Village.
"I think you'll enjoy this, Charlie," he said, popping a cassette into the tape deck. We rode downtown to the sounds of Danny Aiello singing show tunes.
I never cared for the Oscars much, but you'd better believe I was watching them with keen interest that year, especially when the nominees for Best Supporting Actor were announced.
And the winner was....Denzel Washington, for "Glory."
Well, that's show biz. You can't let it get you down. You've got to remember the good stuff.
Like cruising down Broadway late at night in a luxury car, with a movie star as your own personal chauffeur.
Believe me, that didn't suck.
Danny was eager to play the role of the grandfather. His career was on fire, as he'd just been nominated for an Oscar for his role in Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing."
We met him at a restaurant on New York City's Upper West Side. The place was called Columbus and it was jammed with celebrities.
Danny was the kind of guy who attracted people to his table. Paul Sorvino and Ben Stiller dropped by to say hello. Everybody dropped by to say hello. Danny was hot, hot, HOT.
Producer Andrew Gaty, who wrote the screenplay with me, took me aside. "If Danny wins the Oscar, 'Shepherd Avenue' will get made!" he said with glee.
I was on a high when we left, and then Danny made the night even sweeter by driving me home to the Village.
"I think you'll enjoy this, Charlie," he said, popping a cassette into the tape deck. We rode downtown to the sounds of Danny Aiello singing show tunes.
I never cared for the Oscars much, but you'd better believe I was watching them with keen interest that year, especially when the nominees for Best Supporting Actor were announced.
And the winner was....Denzel Washington, for "Glory."
Well, that's show biz. You can't let it get you down. You've got to remember the good stuff.
Like cruising down Broadway late at night in a luxury car, with a movie star as your own personal chauffeur.
Believe me, that didn't suck.
May 17, 2017
Dustin The Wind...Until Now!
One of the best things an author can have is a pushy mother who cannot be embarrassed.
When "Shepherd Avenue" was first published in 1986 my Irish-American mother happened to be checking it out in a midtown Manhattan bookstore when she spotted Dustin Hoffman browsing through the stacks.
She grabbed a copy of my book, marched straight to Hoffman, shoved it into his hands and said:
"Mr. Hoffman, this is my son's first novel, and I think it would make an excellent movie for you to star in."
The Oscar-winning actor had no response, save for a stunned expression.
Nothing came of it - Dustin the Wind, I like to say - but
the truth is, Hoffman was way too young to play the grandfather in "Shepherd Avenue" back then.
Now, he'd be just perfect. Hmmmm...
When "Shepherd Avenue" was first published in 1986 my Irish-American mother happened to be checking it out in a midtown Manhattan bookstore when she spotted Dustin Hoffman browsing through the stacks.
She grabbed a copy of my book, marched straight to Hoffman, shoved it into his hands and said:
"Mr. Hoffman, this is my son's first novel, and I think it would make an excellent movie for you to star in."
The Oscar-winning actor had no response, save for a stunned expression.
Nothing came of it - Dustin the Wind, I like to say - but
the truth is, Hoffman was way too young to play the grandfather in "Shepherd Avenue" back then.
Now, he'd be just perfect. Hmmmm...
May 2, 2017
A 'Shepherd Avenue' That Lost Its Way
Ideally, you want your new book displayed in a bookstore's window.
Or at least on a display table just inside the door.
But what you don't want is what happened to me when "Shepherd Avenue" was first published.
I'd been assured that copies had been delivered to this particular bookstore in New York City, and went to check on the display.
They weren't in the window, and they weren't on the indoor display table. Well, that would have been a lot for a first-time novelist to expect, so I wasn't upset.
But when I couldn't find them anywhere in the fiction department, I started to panic.
Nobody seemed to know where my books had gone, until a row-by-row search of the shop solved the mystery.
There they were, in the cookbook section. The cookbook section?
Believe it or not, there was an explanation.
The sheepish manager explained: "I think one of our clerks thought it was a recipe book for Shepherd's Pie."
Oh.
Together we carried my books to the fiction section, where they took up residency beside Truman Capote's books. Pretty good company.
The moral of the story?
Make sure they don't mistake your novel for a cookbook, or you will get burned.
Or at least on a display table just inside the door.
But what you don't want is what happened to me when "Shepherd Avenue" was first published.
I'd been assured that copies had been delivered to this particular bookstore in New York City, and went to check on the display.
They weren't in the window, and they weren't on the indoor display table. Well, that would have been a lot for a first-time novelist to expect, so I wasn't upset.
But when I couldn't find them anywhere in the fiction department, I started to panic.
Nobody seemed to know where my books had gone, until a row-by-row search of the shop solved the mystery.
There they were, in the cookbook section. The cookbook section?
Believe it or not, there was an explanation.
The sheepish manager explained: "I think one of our clerks thought it was a recipe book for Shepherd's Pie."
Oh.
Together we carried my books to the fiction section, where they took up residency beside Truman Capote's books. Pretty good company.
The moral of the story?
Make sure they don't mistake your novel for a cookbook, or you will get burned.
April 26, 2017
Frank Sinatra As The Grandfather?
You always hope your book will make it to the silver screen, and in the case of "Shepherd Avenue" old Blue Eyes himself was in the running to play the Italian-American grandfather, Angie Ambrosio.
Oddly enough, it was a British film company that was willing to bankroll this Brooklyn-based movie if Frank Sinatra signed on for a cool million dollars.
Which might not sound like a lot of money these days, but this was quite a payday back in the late eighties.
Frank says "yes," and the cameras roll. Weeks went by, and all we could do was wait.
Would he do it? At that time Sinatra was still giving concerts, though he was far from young. He reportedly needed a Teleprompter to help him with the lyrics.
At last, word came from one of Sinatra's representatives: an extremely gracious "No." The rep went on to say that though Mr. Sinatra liked the story and was a big baseball fan, he was not considering film roles at this time.
Had he actually read "Shepherd Avenue?" I guess I'll never know. But he did know that baseball played a part in the story, so he must have read it! Hmm....
Well, it was a long shot. To this day I can't help wondering what a "Shepherd Avenue" film would have been like with Frank Sinatra in it. Guess we would have had to throw in a few songs.
Meanwhile, I can think of a few more Italian-American actors who've aged beautifully enough to fill Angie Ambrosio's shoes.
Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino...could I have a word with you?
Oddly enough, it was a British film company that was willing to bankroll this Brooklyn-based movie if Frank Sinatra signed on for a cool million dollars.
Which might not sound like a lot of money these days, but this was quite a payday back in the late eighties.
Frank says "yes," and the cameras roll. Weeks went by, and all we could do was wait.
Would he do it? At that time Sinatra was still giving concerts, though he was far from young. He reportedly needed a Teleprompter to help him with the lyrics.
At last, word came from one of Sinatra's representatives: an extremely gracious "No." The rep went on to say that though Mr. Sinatra liked the story and was a big baseball fan, he was not considering film roles at this time.
Had he actually read "Shepherd Avenue?" I guess I'll never know. But he did know that baseball played a part in the story, so he must have read it! Hmm....
Well, it was a long shot. To this day I can't help wondering what a "Shepherd Avenue" film would have been like with Frank Sinatra in it. Guess we would have had to throw in a few songs.
Meanwhile, I can think of a few more Italian-American actors who've aged beautifully enough to fill Angie Ambrosio's shoes.
Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino...could I have a word with you?
March 30, 2017
Hooray for Second Chances!
Have you heard that old story about the prizefighter who believes he hung up his gloves too soon, makes a comeback - and gets knocked down in the first round?
Well, this is the story of a literary comeback, and I'm hoping to take it the full fifteen rounds.
My novel "Shepherd Avenue" was published 31 years ago to a string of good reviews. It's the story of a shy, sheltered ten-year-old boy whose tranquil suburban life is shattered when his mother dies. His dad flips out and heads cross-country - but not before dumping the kid off to spend a wild summer with his Italian-American grandparents in a rough Brooklyn neighborhood.
The New York Times said it had "terrific force," and "Shepherd Avenue" got optioned to the movies a few times. I was lucky enough to get hired to write the script, and the money came in handy when my son was born.
Sadly, the movie wasn't made, the book went out of print, and that was that.
Or was it?
I refused to believe it. I wrote a sequel set fifty years later, "Return To Shepherd Avenue." They liked it at Kensington Books - so now "Shepherd Avenue" is getting new life on April 4th, to be followed by "Return To Shepherd Avenue" in June.
As someone once said, it ain't over 'til it's over. Shepherd Avenue
Well, this is the story of a literary comeback, and I'm hoping to take it the full fifteen rounds.
My novel "Shepherd Avenue" was published 31 years ago to a string of good reviews. It's the story of a shy, sheltered ten-year-old boy whose tranquil suburban life is shattered when his mother dies. His dad flips out and heads cross-country - but not before dumping the kid off to spend a wild summer with his Italian-American grandparents in a rough Brooklyn neighborhood.
The New York Times said it had "terrific force," and "Shepherd Avenue" got optioned to the movies a few times. I was lucky enough to get hired to write the script, and the money came in handy when my son was born.
Sadly, the movie wasn't made, the book went out of print, and that was that.
Or was it?
I refused to believe it. I wrote a sequel set fifty years later, "Return To Shepherd Avenue." They liked it at Kensington Books - so now "Shepherd Avenue" is getting new life on April 4th, to be followed by "Return To Shepherd Avenue" in June.
As someone once said, it ain't over 'til it's over. Shepherd Avenue
