The Holland Avenue Boys: A Success Story (NR, 1998)

The "Holland Avenue Boys" are 14 men who grew up on or near Holland Avenue in the Bronx in the late 1940's and early 1950's. This documentary begins with memories of growing up, endless games of stickball and piling on top of each other. Though they went in many different directions professionally and geographically, they maintained close ties. The 12 surviving boys and family members all speak candidly about their lives. One speaks frankly about grappling with depression, another talks about his divorce and his pride in maintaining a loving relationship with the mother of his children. One talks about how he feels about not having had children. Another explains that he dreamed of being an engineer until a school guidance counselor told him that he would never get a job because he was Jewish. One became a distinguished physicist, one a doctor, one a manufacturer. One ran a museum of jazz. One flew missions in Viet Nam and then lived in Morocco helping to set up air defense systems. Through it all, they made many friends and they loved their families, but the connection between the members of the original group remained important to each of them.

THE HOLLAND AVENUE BOYS: A SUCCESS STORY was made by one of the boys with financial support from some of the others. The "success story" is their enduring friendship and loyalty. With busy working-class parents, some immigrant, they spent most of their time together growing up and raised each other as much as their families did. Indeed, they were a warm and loving family for each other, and they remain that way with annual reunions and with an unbreakable connection of trust and loyalty.

The "success story" gives the "boys" so much pleasure and support that one of the wives says, "My only regret is that I am not one of the Holland Avenue Boys." Their trust and affection for the member of the group who made the movie shows as they tell the camera about their successes and failures at home and at work.