Retired Brooklyn Heights Dr. Hal Levey pens first novel at 91

‘Under the Pong Pong Tree’ is a Powerful World War II Saga of Loyalty, Love and Liberation

July 27, 2016 By John Alexander Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Photo courtesy of Dr. Hal Levey

Share this:

Longtime Brooklyn Heights resident Hal Levey, 91, is a retired thyroid specialist, who recalls that he spent “many years with my nose to the grindstone,” at Downstate Medical College. When he retired and had time to cultivate new friends, he recalls with delight the late David Levine, perhaps one of the world’s greatest caricaturists and watercolorists. Levey and Levine were part of a regular breakfast group, a “coffee klatch” he recalls where politics and problems of the world were discussed and solved.

Today the coffee klatch is less active, and Levey must ponder alone something very dear to his past: a book about his sabbatical in Singapore. “Under the Pong Pong Tree,” is what he describes as a compelling and meticulously drawn examination of the effects of war atrocities, both immediate and long-term.

Levey used his personal experiences while staying in Singapore to craft a well-drawn novel about the brutality of foreign occupation from a woman’s perspective, set against the tragic uncertainties of a war-torn land after the Japanese invasion of Singapore.

Levey’s own story is quite compelling in itself. He graduated from Harvard and earned his doctorate at UCLA in Zoology. He lived for a time in Malibu with his first wife, and when that marriage ended, he joined the Department of Physiology faculty at SUNY Downstate, and lectured in endocrinology. He lived in a basement apartment in East Flatbush. When he married for the second time, he relocated to Mountain Lakes, New Jersey. When his second wife passed away, he returned to Brooklyn and found an apartment in the Heights.

Levey remembers having a laboratory adjacent to that of Raymond Damadian, the true inventor of the MRI. He recalls writing a letter to the Nobel committee castigating them for ignoring Damadian. Damadian was cheated out of the trademark control protections for his invention, but ultimately sued General Electric and received a substantial settlement. Levey laughs and recalls trying to dissuade Damadian from his work on the MRI, telling him, “Ray, you’re wasting your time. Why are you fooling around with this MRI business. You’re picking up water molecules. Water molecules are everywhere. You can’t diagnose cancer from water molecules in malignant cells. You’re wasting your career.”

In 1966 Levey took a sabbatical year and became a visiting professor at the University of Singapore, under the auspices of the China Medical Board. The CMB was a unit of the Rockefeller Foundation, who had been supporting medical activity in China for many years, and, according to Levey, Singapore was an add-on. He recalls, “They supported me when I went there on sabbatical.” While in Singapore, Levey joined up with the Royal Air Force (RAF) on a nine-day expedition to the South China Sea in search of poisonous mollusks; and to collect a variety of crabs and starfish to display in the National Museum; and certain species of fish for the Van Kleef Aquarium in Singapore.

Levey kept a journal of his time spent in Singapore, complete with copious notes and intricate illustrations, which he used as background for his novel. Reviewers have lavished praise on the book, calling it an utterly compelling historical novel with a fast-paced plot and flawless writing and editing.

Today, Levey feels energized when he steps out onto his beautiful terrace directly across from the Freedom tower with the Brooklyn Bridge to the right. He recalls standing out on the terrace on 9/11 when the plane struck the second tower. He stood there in shock as both buildings came down. He recalls a “huge snowstorm of paper” that blew across the East River. He even framed a burnt piece of paper that came fluttering across the river and landed directly at his feet. It was a Morgan Stanley sell order for 300 million dollars’ worth of Ford Motor Co notes.

Levey’s son Chris lives in Florida and his daughter Karen lives in Hillsborough, New Jersey. Levey will turn 92 on VJ Day, August 14. When told that he looks good for his age, he laughs and says, “It comes from careless living.” He calls himself “an analog man in a digital world,” and enjoys a slower pace of life these days. But he still loves living in Brooklyn, adding, “The Heights is a place where you can participate or not participate. It’s a safe place, physically safe, and, well, it’s just enormously pleasant.”