A bit of family history

As I mentioned in my introductory post, I'm originally from Cleveland, Ohio which I consider to be the cultural center of the universe.  On of the more important bits of culture from the geek perspective is Cleveland is the birthplace of Superman.

Joe Shuster and Jerry Seigel, Superman's creators, both went to Glenville High School on the city's east side.  My grandfather, Milton Chenchinsky, also went to Glenville with them and was fairly good friends with both.  In fact after after Jerry Seigel's father died his family was so poor that my great-grandfather who was a baker would send my grandfather around to the Seigel household every Friday with a free challah so they would have one for their Shabbat dinner.  According to family history my great-grandfather was not particularly religious man so one gets the idea that the Seigels must have been really hard up during the Depression.

Anyway I wish I could say that Grandpa Milton stayed close to Joe and Jerry but after they sold Superman to DC comics and moved to New York they grew apart.  Nevertheless I take a certain amount of personal pride in my family's connection with a great American icon.