Nina Pelton
He says "PELTON are you chewing gum!? are you!?" thank you Laura for the reminder of what followed. "that's rude, crude & unattractive" "hold it your hand, or on the tip of your nose until the end of class."
Roberta Soloff Solomon
I had to do a "project" for health. I decided to run around and take all the teachers' blood pressures. I was inspired because our beloved chorus leader turned so beet red when he lovingly yelled at us. I took his pressure on a calm day and it was 200/100. He went to a doctor and got on blood pressure medicine. I'm glad he lived many many years more.
I quote his message to me in my senior yearbook,
"Dear Nurse, Thanks for your expertise. Best wishes at the clinic."
Gigi Sachs Eisenberg
Jeff Salamon
One more happy Trauty story: It was the after-party for one of the musicals, held at the Mesh house (Cyndi, do you remember which musical it might have been?), and the good times were full on from the word go -- great music, pumped-up crowd, and I was already tipsy, or pretending to be tipsy, and maybe doing such a good job of pretending that I convinced myself that I really was tipsy -- and Trauty was taking *forever* to show up. 'Where's Trauty? Where's Trauty?' we all wondered. And if memory serves (and I may have unconsciously restaged this in my mind's eye to make it even more magical than it was), someone put Side One of Michael Jackson's "Off the Wall" on the stereo, and suddenly there was a roar from the crowd, not for the song, but for Trauty, who walked through the front door and could be seen from both the upper and lower floors of the Mesh's split-level house. I thought, "Oh my God, he must hate this music! Why are we playing this now?"
But I had, of course, completely underestimated Trauty's appetite for a good time. He paused for a moment, took the pulse of the crowd and the scene, cocked an eyebrow, threw his hands on the air, and danced his way down the steps, shaking his hips in perfect time to the music and letting out a celebratory roar.
The party no doubt went on for a couple more hours, but, really, it could have ended right then and there, and that would have been fine.
Anybody but me remember anything like my version of that evening?
Cynthia Mesh
Mr. Trautwein took a number of us to see Sweeney Todd - I think it was on a trip to the costume place to seek dresses for Trial by Jury - our 9th grade production, and I think it was just the girls: Judith Ehrman, Stephanie Schechter and I as bridesmaids and Laura as the plaintiff (bride). That production was one of the greatest shows I ever saw and I'm sure seeing it with George is a big reason why. His generosity and interest in us were really giant.
Marc Klein
One day in North Carolina, the choir was walking around Mr. Trautwein’s old neighborhood. He would tell us to stop at particular houses so that we could sing for his old friends. At one house, it was clear that no one was home and that, in all likelihood, no one even lived there. He looked at me and said, “I don’t think she’s even alive anymore.” No matter. “Let’s sing anyway,” he said, “just in case.”
Jeffrey Schechter
"I don't care if you loooathe me. But by God you'll work for me."
Scott Bierko
Although GT did his own lush arrangement of the song, you can get a good feel for what probably inspired his version here: "The Lullabye of Broadway" Count Basie with Rosemary Clooney on vocals.
Jeff Salamon
I'll dwell for a moment on Trauty's mischievous side, which the photo of him at the left hints at. Back in senior year, when the consort choir was preparing to head to England, Trauty had a preparation session for us, in which he explained a number of logistical things, including explaining the concept of a "duty" on the goods we might buy and bring back. Craig Bierko and I, for inexplicable reasons, found the word "duty" unbelievably funny, and spent considerable energy trying to repress our adolescent giggle fit. Finally, around the 10th time Trauty said "duty," we completely burst out laughing, prompting him to engage in one of his over-the-top tirades and throw us out of the room for being so immature.
Years later, Joe Levy told me he was convinced that Trauty figured out early on what was going on and said "duty" more often, and with more emphasis, than he would have otherwise, just because he got a kick out of watching us squirm.
He was a great man, and a wonderful teacher, but let's not forget his impishness and joyfulness, which often stepped over bounds that most of us would have been too timid to cross.
Craig Bierko "...for inexplicable reasons..."? Mothra was snorting inches away from our face - if one of us laughed Trautwein would breathe fire and burn our faces off. I was trying so hard not to laugh I remember biting YOUR lip at one point.
Jenni Levy
Ellen Silverman and Patti Stern will remember that we had our own manners lesson before our dinner at the Williamsburg Inn when we were on tour in the spring of 1976. George gave us careful instructions about flatware, napkins, and the responsibility of the boys to their "dinner partners". I think we behaved reasonably well, although as I recall the building did not - a ceiling tile fell on somebody's head.
James Doetsch
anyone remember when Trauty took us to see the beachfront land he bought to retire on and the government took it away to make it a wildlife preserve, very dramatic.
[see photo of George in North Carolina - word document]
Holly McNutt
And lest we forget, it was no small feat to conduct our performances in England with one arm in a sling. I can still see it quite vividly. One arm waving furiously about, the other immobilized, he conducted with his whole body and face, especially his eyebrows!
Nikki Weiss
My Aunt Harriet, who was on the School Board back in those days, emailed me and my brother a funny story about Mr. Trautwein. "George came to me when I was on the board of ed and said he had to have a grand piano. He would not take no for an answer so yes he got his grand piano. He was quite a character and influenced all who worked with him."
Jenni Levy
Since both my father and George have passed away (and are now arguing about Berlioz somewhere), I think I can tell this story without violating anyone's confidentiality....at some point in the 1980s, when I was in med school, Dad saw George in the office and arranged a treadmill stress test. In those days, they attached the electrodes to the chest and secured them with a rubber band encircling the ribcage. The technicians got everything set up, and asked George to take a deep breath. He did. "Oh, you can take a deeper breath than that!", said the unwitting technician. Dad said "I wouldn't...." but it was too late. George put his diaphragm to good use, expanded his rib cage, broke the rubber band and sent electrodes scattering all over the room.
Dad said it was one of the highlights of his career. "Stress tests are usually boring, but not with George".
Doug Jaffe
My mother just reminded me of an all time classic trauty-ism which I do not think has been mentioned by any of 'you Bloomingdale babies'.
Ken Schneidman
Vittorio, vittorio, vittorio, vittorio, mio core.
Leslie Evans Bradley
Used "crude, rude and unattractive" on my son today for the first time. Felt great and perfectly appropriate.
Patti Jones
Hilary, I'll never forget when we did the kick line and I fell on my butt right in the middle of the show. I think I was standing right next to you. I was so shocked, I wasn't sure what to do. I decided to "ad lib" and try to make it look like it was supposed to have happened that way. I was so nervous about what Mr. Trautwein was going to do to me at intermission. I think he was just as shocked as I was that he wasn't sure if he should laugh or yell. I think I got the snarl, but I could see him smirking as he walked away!
Hillary Ross Patti - I *did* forget that - and even now with your fantastic description, I can't remember (sorry!). Perhaps that's because I've had my fair share of falling on my butt in dance performances since then. How could George be angry - you made it look like it was all supposed to happen - you went on! :)
Jeff Salamon
Of course, the downside of Trauty's selfless encouragement of the more marginally talented among us is that those of us who were particularly impressionable, or particularly desperate to believe in ourselves, took his compliments at face value. And so, for many years, I secretly regarded myself as someone who, had he chosen a different path, might have enjoyed a successful career in the musical theater.
I was, finally, inevitably, brutally, and decisively disabused of this motion last summer, when I was singing along to the radio while driving my three-year-old daughter to swim class. "Daddy," she said to me as I took a deep breath between verses, "I think your singing is not good."
Obviously, she will never become a teacher.
Craig Bierko Jeff, you were, are and always will be a cyclone of hilarious self-deprecation. If an
Craig Bierko
Sorry, this page gets over loaded and it's like typing on a white water rafting expedition, one false move and you've inadvertently posted some fragment of humiliation that Cyndi's going to put on some website forever - my point being - Jeff, with all due respect the kid is clearly beautiful, whip smart and already adept at torturing her father - which delights me no end - but, frankly, she's no judge of talent.
Alright now I'll hit se
Jodi Edmundson
[Referring to a post of a video of Lo How a Rose 'Er Blooming] This is one of the songs we did in the stairwells of GHS... and when we stopped singing the music went on and on and on... truly amazing sound... George was SO blown away (not a term we would have used in the 60s but it is the only one that really expresses his reaction) by the sound we got from those stairwells...
Laura Davis We used to sing in the stairwells too Jodi. The same thing happened with us. The sound was amazing. It explains why he loved us singing in the stairwells! Thank you for sharing your memories.
Jodi Edmundson
So glad he kept on doing that... was afraid people would think I was some kind of a nut case... hmmm... wait... I AM some kind of a nut case, and Uncle George helped make me one... as someone else said, he was an eccentric person who wasn't afraid to be eccentric... fortunately he taught me just how eccentric I am, and not to be afraid of my own eccentricities... funny, don't think I realized that last fact until today...
He says "PELTON are you chewing gum!? are you!?" thank you Laura for the reminder of what followed. "that's rude, crude & unattractive" "hold it your hand, or on the tip of your nose until the end of class."
Hillary Ross hahaha - same thing w/gals brushing there hair in class - that RUDE CRUDE and UNATTRACTIVE! I remember he used to call Joyce Furman "Joan Joyce" and always ask how my mom Helene (pronounced Helaine) was, but he's say "How's Mean Old Heleeeeeeeeene?"
Roberta Soloff Solomon
I had to do a "project" for health. I decided to run around and take all the teachers' blood pressures. I was inspired because our beloved chorus leader turned so beet red when he lovingly yelled at us. I took his pressure on a calm day and it was 200/100. He went to a doctor and got on blood pressure medicine. I'm glad he lived many many years more.
I quote his message to me in my senior yearbook,
"Dear Nurse, Thanks for your expertise. Best wishes at the clinic."
Gigi Sachs Eisenberg
I remember him just playing a chord and yelling "SING!"...and you did.
Scott Bierko George always encouraged me to sing and play the guitar. Lori Lewis (Savoca) and I sang together a few times, but we always had to get his okay on song choices. After singing "Lonely People" we approached him with the idea of singing a new hit by Paul Anka. Luckily, George didn't approve of us singing "Having My Baby" for the Ridge Street kids. Boy, were we dumb before he came into our lives.
Jeff Salamon
One more happy Trauty story: It was the after-party for one of the musicals, held at the Mesh house (Cyndi, do you remember which musical it might have been?), and the good times were full on from the word go -- great music, pumped-up crowd, and I was already tipsy, or pretending to be tipsy, and maybe doing such a good job of pretending that I convinced myself that I really was tipsy -- and Trauty was taking *forever* to show up. 'Where's Trauty? Where's Trauty?' we all wondered. And if memory serves (and I may have unconsciously restaged this in my mind's eye to make it even more magical than it was), someone put Side One of Michael Jackson's "Off the Wall" on the stereo, and suddenly there was a roar from the crowd, not for the song, but for Trauty, who walked through the front door and could be seen from both the upper and lower floors of the Mesh's split-level house. I thought, "Oh my God, he must hate this music! Why are we playing this now?"
But I had, of course, completely underestimated Trauty's appetite for a good time. He paused for a moment, took the pulse of the crowd and the scene, cocked an eyebrow, threw his hands on the air, and danced his way down the steps, shaking his hips in perfect time to the music and letting out a celebratory roar.
The party no doubt went on for a couple more hours, but, really, it could have ended right then and there, and that would have been fine.
Anybody but me remember anything like my version of that evening?
Cynthia Mesh
Mr. Trautwein took a number of us to see Sweeney Todd - I think it was on a trip to the costume place to seek dresses for Trial by Jury - our 9th grade production, and I think it was just the girls: Judith Ehrman, Stephanie Schechter and I as bridesmaids and Laura as the plaintiff (bride). That production was one of the greatest shows I ever saw and I'm sure seeing it with George is a big reason why. His generosity and interest in us were really giant.
Laura Gussoff Brown Goodness, I had forgotten that! Thank you for giving me one more wonderful memory and for creating this incredible site. And what about the fact that he did the full Peter Pan musical with us when we were in 8th grade while teaching his entire high school curriculum ?!! His energy was limitless and that alone was inspiring.
Marc Klein
One day in North Carolina, the choir was walking around Mr. Trautwein’s old neighborhood. He would tell us to stop at particular houses so that we could sing for his old friends. At one house, it was clear that no one was home and that, in all likelihood, no one even lived there. He looked at me and said, “I don’t think she’s even alive anymore.” No matter. “Let’s sing anyway,” he said, “just in case.”
Jeffrey Schechter
"I don't care if you loooathe me. But by God you'll work for me."
Marc Jaffe Doesn't that end with "you Bloomingdale babies"?
Scott Bierko
Although GT did his own lush arrangement of the song, you can get a good feel for what probably inspired his version here: "The Lullabye of Broadway" Count Basie with Rosemary Clooney on vocals.
Andrea Ferreira DiMichele Yes we were the first to sing that!! I remember him introducing us to Andy Griffith in NC he was great friends with him!
Jeff Salamon
I'll dwell for a moment on Trauty's mischievous side, which the photo of him at the left hints at. Back in senior year, when the consort choir was preparing to head to England, Trauty had a preparation session for us, in which he explained a number of logistical things, including explaining the concept of a "duty" on the goods we might buy and bring back. Craig Bierko and I, for inexplicable reasons, found the word "duty" unbelievably funny, and spent considerable energy trying to repress our adolescent giggle fit. Finally, around the 10th time Trauty said "duty," we completely burst out laughing, prompting him to engage in one of his over-the-top tirades and throw us out of the room for being so immature.
Years later, Joe Levy told me he was convinced that Trauty figured out early on what was going on and said "duty" more often, and with more emphasis, than he would have otherwise, just because he got a kick out of watching us squirm.
He was a great man, and a wonderful teacher, but let's not forget his impishness and joyfulness, which often stepped over bounds that most of us would have been too timid to cross.
Craig Bierko "...for inexplicable reasons..."? Mothra was snorting inches away from our face - if one of us laughed Trautwein would breathe fire and burn our faces off. I was trying so hard not to laugh I remember biting YOUR lip at one point.
Jenni Levy
Ellen Silverman and Patti Stern will remember that we had our own manners lesson before our dinner at the Williamsburg Inn when we were on tour in the spring of 1976. George gave us careful instructions about flatware, napkins, and the responsibility of the boys to their "dinner partners". I think we behaved reasonably well, although as I recall the building did not - a ceiling tile fell on somebody's head.
James Doetsch
anyone remember when Trauty took us to see the beachfront land he bought to retire on and the government took it away to make it a wildlife preserve, very dramatic.
[see photo of George in North Carolina - word document]
Holly McNutt
And lest we forget, it was no small feat to conduct our performances in England with one arm in a sling. I can still see it quite vividly. One arm waving furiously about, the other immobilized, he conducted with his whole body and face, especially his eyebrows!
Nikki Weiss
My Aunt Harriet, who was on the School Board back in those days, emailed me and my brother a funny story about Mr. Trautwein. "George came to me when I was on the board of ed and said he had to have a grand piano. He would not take no for an answer so yes he got his grand piano. He was quite a character and influenced all who worked with him."
Jenni Levy
Since both my father and George have passed away (and are now arguing about Berlioz somewhere), I think I can tell this story without violating anyone's confidentiality....at some point in the 1980s, when I was in med school, Dad saw George in the office and arranged a treadmill stress test. In those days, they attached the electrodes to the chest and secured them with a rubber band encircling the ribcage. The technicians got everything set up, and asked George to take a deep breath. He did. "Oh, you can take a deeper breath than that!", said the unwitting technician. Dad said "I wouldn't...." but it was too late. George put his diaphragm to good use, expanded his rib cage, broke the rubber band and sent electrodes scattering all over the room.
Dad said it was one of the highlights of his career. "Stress tests are usually boring, but not with George".
Doug Jaffe
My mother just reminded me of an all time classic trauty-ism which I do not think has been mentioned by any of 'you Bloomingdale babies'.
Ken Schneidman
Vittorio, vittorio, vittorio, vittorio, mio core.
Leslie Evans Bradley
Used "crude, rude and unattractive" on my son today for the first time. Felt great and perfectly appropriate.
Patti Jones
Hilary, I'll never forget when we did the kick line and I fell on my butt right in the middle of the show. I think I was standing right next to you. I was so shocked, I wasn't sure what to do. I decided to "ad lib" and try to make it look like it was supposed to have happened that way. I was so nervous about what Mr. Trautwein was going to do to me at intermission. I think he was just as shocked as I was that he wasn't sure if he should laugh or yell. I think I got the snarl, but I could see him smirking as he walked away!
Hillary Ross Patti - I *did* forget that - and even now with your fantastic description, I can't remember (sorry!). Perhaps that's because I've had my fair share of falling on my butt in dance performances since then. How could George be angry - you made it look like it was all supposed to happen - you went on! :)
Jeff Salamon
Of course, the downside of Trauty's selfless encouragement of the more marginally talented among us is that those of us who were particularly impressionable, or particularly desperate to believe in ourselves, took his compliments at face value. And so, for many years, I secretly regarded myself as someone who, had he chosen a different path, might have enjoyed a successful career in the musical theater.
I was, finally, inevitably, brutally, and decisively disabused of this motion last summer, when I was singing along to the radio while driving my three-year-old daughter to swim class. "Daddy," she said to me as I took a deep breath between verses, "I think your singing is not good."
Obviously, she will never become a teacher.
Craig Bierko Jeff, you were, are and always will be a cyclone of hilarious self-deprecation. If an
Craig Bierko
Sorry, this page gets over loaded and it's like typing on a white water rafting expedition, one false move and you've inadvertently posted some fragment of humiliation that Cyndi's going to put on some website forever - my point being - Jeff, with all due respect the kid is clearly beautiful, whip smart and already adept at torturing her father - which delights me no end - but, frankly, she's no judge of talent.
Alright now I'll hit se
Jodi Edmundson
[Referring to a post of a video of Lo How a Rose 'Er Blooming] This is one of the songs we did in the stairwells of GHS... and when we stopped singing the music went on and on and on... truly amazing sound... George was SO blown away (not a term we would have used in the 60s but it is the only one that really expresses his reaction) by the sound we got from those stairwells...
Laura Davis We used to sing in the stairwells too Jodi. The same thing happened with us. The sound was amazing. It explains why he loved us singing in the stairwells! Thank you for sharing your memories.
Jodi Edmundson
So glad he kept on doing that... was afraid people would think I was some kind of a nut case... hmmm... wait... I AM some kind of a nut case, and Uncle George helped make me one... as someone else said, he was an eccentric person who wasn't afraid to be eccentric... fortunately he taught me just how eccentric I am, and not to be afraid of my own eccentricities... funny, don't think I realized that last fact until today...
Amy Salko Robertson
Ahhh you just reminded me what an admittedly bad driver he was. Because we didn't live in Rye Brook, my sister and I would spend the many hours between the end of school and rehearsal time, at school. Inevitably we would wander out to get... something to eat for dinner and many times George would join us... sometimes he would drive, but more often than not he would agree to have one of us drive...Can you imagine how much one would have to hate driving to prefer that a new 16 year old driver drive into town than drive himself?! - the practically running over of the Aunt story is hysterical and I can see him laughing himself to tears over that story - he was awesome when he shared his few flaws and got such a giggle out of it. :-D
