BPL’s Center for Brooklyn History brings Pete Hamill back to life

April 12, 2022 John B. Manbeck, Special to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Decades ago: Pete Hamill with Professor John Manbeck, then Borough Historian under Borough President Howard Golden.

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Pete Hamill, who died in 2020, became a star in absentia on a Zoom session on March 31 for the Center for Brooklyn History, formerly the Brooklyn Historical Society. His life was featured in the Out of the Box series celebrating the Pete Hamill Archives collection of books, collected notes and ephemera. Moderated by Marcia Ely, the program featured Pete’s brother and fellow columnist, Denis, and his editor, William Phillips, formerly of Little, Brown and Company.

During the hour session, they explored Hamill’s writing process through his handwritten notes, correspondence and storyboards of his novels and post-newspaper career. Archivist Sarah Quick discussed an overview of the collection.

In the discussion, the participants covered Hamill’s themes of blue collar-working class people and his love of common folks in Brooklyn. His fiction translated real life into believable stories. Denis cited his brother’s music memories and his devotion to libraries, particularly the Brooklyn Public Library, and his eternal generosity.

Pete had delivered The Brooklyn Daily Eagle as a teenager and continued to write for The Daily News, The New York Post, as well as for many popular magazines. He also wrote novels and non-fiction books. The panelists pointed out that he “transformed journalism into fiction.” His storied life included associations with other newspapermen and women as well as the diversity of celebrities and common folk. “He was never happier than his life in newspapers,” his brother stated.

The CBH program can be streamed on You Tube.

In his foreword to my book. The Brooklyn Film, he singled out an anecdote about the Minerva Theater. Then he segued to an incident that tied movies to The Brooklyn Public Library. His mom, who worked a cashier at the RKO Prospect, okayed free Saturday admission to movies for Pete’s friends as long as the kids produced a library card. As Pete wrote in A Drinking Life, “the bad guys never went to the library.”