Whitey's Kid

About the Book

Whitey’s Kid is one of four novels I began writing ten years ago, towards the close of my career as a public relations and advertising professional. This urge to create and oversee the growth of more than one “product” at a time manifested itself much earlier when, as a Harvard undergrad, I assumed responsibility for staffing the athletic teams of Dudley Hall, for intramural competition with the other Harvard houses. The stipend I received for this work from the Harvard Athletic Association, helped pay the $ 440 annual tuition fee. But my real reward was the necessity to “fill in” when my recruiting efforts didn’t quite complete the makeup of a particular Dudley team, whether football, basketball, swimming, baseball or crew. It was not unusual to stroke the Dudley crew, swim a competitive backstroke and play twenty minutes of basketball, in one afternoon. Writing has been my fallback vocation since the age of twelve when I scribbled original Western sagas on butcher parchment. My first paychecks for writing came from the Hearst newspaper, Boston Record-American, where I succeeded Richard Tregaskis (Guadalcanal Diary) when Richard left his job to enlist in the Army. The pugilistic career of Johnny Bullitt, son of the then ambassador to Great Britain, and the internment of faculty members because they were said to be a threat to our national security were among my headline stories. Wartime service in Alabama, the Philippines and Okinawa gave me opportunities to look at the conflict through a journalist’s perspective, and to see some of the great soldiers of our time in action. I had the honor of serving as escort officer for General Jonathan M. Wainwright when the hero of Bataan was freed from horrendous captivity to witness the final surrender of the Japanese in Baguio, northern Luzon, September 3, 1945. On the same occasion, I was detailed by my boss, Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Deglin, in peace time the press chief for Madison Square Garden, to receive the sword of surrender from General Tomoyuki Yamashita (Tiger of Malaya). Yamashita was later executed for war crimes.

My business career included client relationships with Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill Jr., the late Speaker of The House Of Representatives, Alvan T. Fuller, governor of Massachusetts who rejected clemency for Sacco and Vanzetti, former New Hampshire Governor Hugh Gregg, and the CEO’s of several dozen major corporations. My work for the Massachusetts Department Of Agriculture was especially satisfying, with development of such programs as the Earl of MacIntosh Award, first presented to Red Auerbach of the Boston Celtics, and the Thoreau Landscape Award, named for Henry Thoreau. Today my computer is engaged in producing articles for national magazines on diverse topics: Whiplash Accidents, The Private War Of Captain Winstead, Keeper Of the Warehouse Of Bullets, (the untold story of an American hero) and I Was Saved From Drowning By a Dead Man. (Dennis McGraw’s unbelievable story).  This even as I go to serious stages of work on Novel Number Two: Vishnikov. The story of a Russian family that begins in 1863 in a village in the Caucasus and ends in our White House in 2004.

Whitey’s Kid: The Story, for Web Page.

The year 1936 was especially significant to New Englanders. First, war clouds were on the move. Next, depression-weary businessmen were discovering the escapist pleasures of gambling. And third, this was the 300th anniversary year for Harvard College, gray eminence of American universities.

Herbie, Larry and Regina Roberts are the children of Melton (Whitey) Roberts and Myrtle Roberts Whitey is a cruel, unloving father. . Having beaten his boys down, how does he prepare them for manhood? He hires a retired professional boxer to teach them self-defense; he enrolls them at a public speaking school where they are supposed to overcome a frightened childhood by

About the Author

Hal Glickman: journalist, public relations and advertising professional, freelance writer, novelist. Harvard-educated. Writing career began when Richard Tregaskis (Guadalcanal Diary) enlisted in the Army. Glickman inherited the vacated reporting job at the Boston Record-American. Says Glickman: “I have been, Mr. Horticulture, Mr. Agriculture, Mr. Shopping Center, specialist in 100 different industries. I say goodbye to those days in favor of a return to my natural vocation, begun scribbling on butcher parchment when I was twelve.”