WPCNR GOOD NEWS. June 11, 2006: Mr. and Mrs. Who’s Who of White Plains saluted Sonny Katz, the City Marshall for 35 years, on Mr. Katz’s 85th birthday Sunday at Fenimore’s, the swank restaurant at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Through their generous contributions, over 150 guests endowed two Sonny Katz Performing Arts Scholarships of $1,000 annually to be awarded beginning next year to two students planning to major in the performing arts from White Plains High School and Port Chester High School, Sonny’s alma mater — the first ever scholarships for Performing Arts Students at WPHS and PCHS.
“After all that, I’m the only one who doesn’t get an introduction,” the dapper Sonny Katz, City Marshall, still on the job after 35 years, addresses throng of well-wishers at his 85th birthday party at the Crowne Plaza Sunday. Photo, WPCNR News.
Mr. Katz, thanking the persons who came out to honor him said, the scholarships which will be awarded by Westco Productions, Westchester’s premier independent theatre production company, of which Mr. Katz is the Founding Director and are being established to help two students in the performing arts every year in the future, so they would not have to forgo a life’s dream.
A guest list of over 150 persons of court dignitaries, city luminaries, politicians, and citizens and Mr. Katz’s childen, grandchildren, nieces and nephews turned out to celebrate the man who in one of the city’s toughest jobs, has done so much good for thousands of people from all walks of life through his kindness, his advice, and his ever sharp sense of humor.
Mr. Katz exemplifies the ideal public servant, who does his job not from a position of power, but from a position of empathy, humanity and common sense. One of the touching stories told by one of a parade of well-wishers who reminisced for the multitude, was how Mr. Katz in executing an eviction on her, turned around the life of a young woman by his compassion, his advice, and his wisdom. (Mr. Katz executes over 300 evictions a year in White Plains and through his ability to network, cajole, persuade and make sense, and mediate ends up evicting just 2% — thanks to the way he goes beyond his job to help people.) That’s his day job.
The festivities presented by Westco Productions was a complete sellout at the swank Fenimore’s Restaurant at the Crowne Plaza Hotel where wall-to-wall brunch was served, and as befitting a gathering where Sonny Katz is present, laughter, wisdom, and the best side of humanity bubbled like the champagne.
There was humor. Lots of It.
Mayor Alfred Del Vecchio, (Mayor of White Plains from 1976 to 1993, under whom Mr. Katz served for 18 of his 35 years, said Mr. Katz actually solved most of the city’s problems when the Mayor asked Mr. Katz what he thought about things over bagels three days a week. Mayor Del Vecchio showed he has a career waiting in standup comedy, telling a joke set in the future where Mr. Katz is with a friend in a 140 story mall in White Plains with valet helicopter parking and Mr. Katz and his friend’s wives have wandered off. Mr. Katz asks his friend “What does your wife look like?” The friend says, “she’s blonde, about 42-24-36.” The friend says, “What does your wife look like?” Mr. Katz says, “Let’s search for yours.” Mr. Katz is a far left, seated, as Susan Katz, his daughter, founder of Westco Productions listens to the Mayor. Photo, WPCNR News.
There were celebrities. Plenty of them.
Each took turns alternately roasting Mr. Katz, and toasting him for the way he does his job, the brightness he brings into their lives. Paul Bergins, Corporation Counsel during the Del Vecchio administration, praised Mr. Katz as doing his job with innate sense and “empathy.”
Assemblyman Adam Bradley related a story of when he was a young man about 19, growing up in White Plains, he had to pay a series of parking tickets at police headquarters and after having done so, had received another parking ticket (parking tickets are apparently a tradition in White Plains), while parked to pay the ticket. Bradley’s resulting being detained at the police station eventually wound up being mediated by Mr. Katz who was able to resolve the dispute between Mr. Bradley and the police to the satisfaction of both parties. Could this twist of fate have set Mr. Bradley straight on his road to the New York State Legislature? Photo, WPCNR News
Judge Les Adler, speaking for Mr. Katz’s friend, Dolf Rockfeld, who could not be present, recounted Mr. Katz’s early days at the Hebrew Institute in White Plains, and subsequent love of horseracing, basketball, boxing, as “investments.” Judge Adler described Mr. Katz as “a mensch,” a person “of character and dignity, resolute who always does the right thing, a man you can always count on to look out for you.”
Susan Katz, Sonny Katz, Steven Sledzik, President of the Westco Productions Board of Directors with Assemblyman Adam Bradley. Mr. Sledzik presented Mr. Katz with an award for establishing the Scholarhips, and Mr. Bradley presented Governor George Pataki’s proclamation recognizing Mr. Katz’s contributions to the city. Photo, WPCNR News.
County Legislator Tom Abinanti read a proclamation proclaiming June 11 Sonny Katz Day in Westchester County, and said how Mr. Katz had helped him grasp how things worked in the courts when he was a beginning lawyer in White Plains. “He taught me so much,” Abinanti said. Towards the end of the genial and entertaining series of roasters, Assemblyman Adam Bradley read a proclamation from Governor George Pataki in recognition of Mr. Katz’s service. Lois Bronz and Assemblywoman Amy Pauling also dropped by to congratulate Mr. Katz.
Judge Joann Friia of White Plains City Court and members of “The City Court Player” provided the live entertainment for the festivities singing the following parody of Glenn Miller’s In the Mood that delighted the well-wishers. Photo, WPCNR News.
We have come together cause we love you that’s why
No one can compare to you. You’re our kind of guy
Finding humor in the bleakest state of affairs
People say that sonny has a heart and he cares
Just look around the room, the faces you’ll see
Are people loving you unconditionally.
(Chorus)
Sonny Katz …an army sergeant
Did you know ….he had his own band
And he owned a little restaurant
The things you’ve accomplished and you’re still going.
SONNY KATZ … An office holder
SONNY KATZ…. A maitre’d D and
SONNY KATZ… The city marshall.
A husband, a father, you’re so worth knowing.
You never see m to lose that little glimmer of youth
The young boy that’s inside you lives and that is the truth
Now they’re saying something and we mean it sincere
You keep getting better looking every year
85 and always landing straight on your feet
Hey hey baba reba, to the boogie beat
SONNY KATZ…a great grandfather
SONNY KATZ…one you can truly count on
SONNY KATZ…a truly great mensch
You know that our love for you keeps on growing
The things you’ve accomplished, you’re so worth knowing
You’re just like the rabbit, you keep on going.
SONNY KATZ YOU ROCK!
The affair was punctuated by laughter and reminisces of family members, city officials, court personalities, and we heard stories of the rapier like wit of Mr. Katz, the donuts in his office, the sign on his desk (Lack of planning on your part, does not constitute an emergency on my part), and the way Mr. Katz always brightens the days of persons who come in contact with him.
Sample: Mr. Katz once went to execute an eviction. The party being evicted said, “I’m hungry. I have no money. And I grew up in a poor neighborhood.”
Mr. Katz on the other side of the door, master psychologist, replied, “I was hungry. I used to have no money, and I lived in a bad neighborhood.”
The party replied, “I’m from Port Chester. Where are you from?”
Mr. Katz who lived in Port Chester, said he was from Port Chester, too.
The party said, “What street?”
Mr. Katz told him. The party said, “THAT is a bad neighborhood.”
Mr. Katz’s ability to connect with persons in the dangerous, unpredictable world of the City Marshall, came through again and again Sunday afternoon.
In his remarks, Mr. Katz began with the best laugh of the day. His words: “All that, and I’m the only one not to get an introduction. (cascades of laughter, then the kicker). “I’m unhappy about that.” (Rim-Shot missing.)
It was vintage Sonny Katz, the master of the deadpan line. Another example told by the keeper of the City Court Calendar, “Sonny once told me he had not spoken to Connie (his wife) in three days. I asked what’s wrong. Sonny said, “I was listening.”
Connie Katz, (Mrs. Sonny Katz), suprised her husband, revealing that when she asked Mr. Katz to the Port Chester High prom, her girlfriends said, “Are you crazy?” Photo, WPCNR News.
Katz thanked all who had attended, whose contributions had established the two performing arts scholarships, saying that the scholarships came from his one big disappointment in life. He recalled that in 1939 he wanted to play the part of Sheridan Whiteside in The Man Who Came to Dinner in the school play at Port Chester. He could not audition because he had to work. This has haunted him for years. He said the scholarships which will require auditions, are being established so that young persons of talent in the performing arts would not have to forgo their dreams as he did. Katz’s advice: “A smile is what it’s all about. Keep smiling in White Plains, you keep happiness with you.
Judging for the 120 “friends” who came out to give it up for Mr. Katz, he played a much greater role for thousands of people the last 35 years, than any stage role he could ever have played.
He was a veteran, serving in the Pacific in World War II, proprietor of Sonny’s Luncheonette on Main Street, philosopher and over-the-counter therapist to untold thousands. He married his high school sweetheart before World War II. He joined the City of White Plains as Shelter Officer in 1967, responsible for 127 shelters throughout the city. In 1971, he was appointed to the office of City Marshall by Mayor Richard S. Hendey and the then Common Council of Carl J. Delfino, Lester E. Johnson, Hugh D. Leslie, Monroe A Felfer, Michael J. Keating and Harold E. Masback. Jr. Mr. Katz is still City Marshall.
He does the best Sonny Katz ever.
An emotional Mr. Katz center blowing out the candles on his 85th birthday cake with his grandchildren. Photo, WPCNR News.
