about

Meet Thomas Charles Smith

Thomas ("Tommy") Smith was born tenth in a family of 14 children. Raised in Coney Island, they had the beach, boardwalk, streets, parks and the famous amusement area as their playground. Growing up, he never knew he was poor. The whole neighborhood was, but Tommy was rich with the love of his family, friends, friend family and the friends of his siblings. 

Prior to his teen years, Tommy and the younger kids had a bedtime of 7pm on weeknights but a whole 1/2 hour later on weekends! They always wondered if their curfew was enacted to protect them, or to protect the neighborhood from them. Being a smart child, Tommy got around the curfew by sleeping over at his friends’ or family members’ homes as much as possible. He would stay awake and watch television all night, which is how he fell in love with movies and Hollywood. 

A career in the arts was not something that occurred to poor children in a family of 16 packed into a three-bedroom apartment, however. So Tommy's main aspiration was to get a job, maybe finish high school, and become self-sufficient. He mostly just wanted to ease his mother's burden after his father had fled. 

In his teens, Tommy and a friend would hang out in the schoolyard and write skits and parodies, urging their friends to help them perform. Unfortunately, due to truancy and a slight run-in with The Law, Tommy was forced to relocate to his older brother's house in a different borough of the city. Enrolled in a new school and working a part-time job, Tommy knew he had to straighten up his act. He had no time to carry on the ridiculous notion that he could be an actor. 

Married at nineteen, and shortly after, fatherhood. A career, a second child, an associate's degree. Life goes on. Tommy got divorced at 34 years old. Seven years later, he met and dated Annie. Alas, after a couple spins around the dance floor, they split up. Then, after a long career and more of that life stuff, Tommy retired and ran into Annie again. Life had happened to her, too: a marriage, a child, divorce. Yet they knew as they reunited that their dance wasn't over. At 59 years old, Tommy finally starred in his very own Hollywood Romance as he tied the knot with his sweet Annie, "the one that (almost) got away."