Ariane Reinhart, photographed on her mother's bench in Riverside Park. ©Tony Gale
Ariane Reinhart
She is a performer who was asked how she deals with rejection at auditions, she replied, “every audition is a performance and I love to perform”. Also she is like a good bottle of red wine, each year she improves.
Nominated and described by Charles Reinhart
Matt DeMatt, in the Meat Packing District. ©Tony Gale
Matt DeMatt
Ted Steeg, photographed in his home in NYC. ©Tony Gale
Ted Steeg
Sun-tanned,blue-eyed, Hollywood handsome, Ted is the guy all the other guys wanted to be. Oh yes, the ladies just might adore this hero of Dan Wakefield’s 1997 biographical novel Going All The Way, later portrayed by Ben Affleck in the movie, a movie in which Ted played another role.
Lithe, athletic, Teddy was cheered as “swivel hips” in his days as a half-back for the 1951 , 7-0-1 Wabash College Football Team and was later invited to the L.A. Rams training camp.
Playing another role, Ted directed what some have called “the most watched film in history”, the award winning instructional film shown to most people who are about to serve on a jury in NY State.
And, of course, he is remembered in Woodstock, a place equally worthy of its own mystique, where he has had a home for years and where he pitched for the champion Deanie’s Whippets in the town’s softball league.
Once- it must have been a summer weekday in the late 70’s- the Whips had a six o’clock game and Ted had business in The City that wouldn’t be concluded in time to take the mound 100 miles away. His application to the town fathers for a permit to land a helicopter on the softball field was regrettably denied. But we could all imagine Teddy in cut-offs stepping off that huey in a cloud of dust and firing a first pitch strike to get things going.
Nominated by Brandon Remler, described by Peter Remler
Liza Binkley, photographed in Union Square. ©Tony Gale
Liza Binkley
Elodie Belmar, in front of Serge Gainsbourg's home. © Tony Gale
Elodie Belmar
Lewis Carroll is a fucking genius.
Just ask Elodie Belmar. For the past two years she’s been Alice in an original production of Alice au Pays des Merveilles (Alice in Wonderland) with the French theater company “La Petite Fabrique.” Of the experience Elodie says the best part was learning to be present every second of every performance and striving to create something new each time – instead of doing the same thing over and over, ‘like a sad robot.”
In addition to being a working actor, she recently completed her professional certification in shiatsu massage. Both theatre and her work as a massage therapist help her stay connected to the present moment and the people around her. “Shiatsu and theatre [are] very linked for me. Listening, concentration, connection with the other…always beginning a show or a massage without knowing what’s going to happen, and [discovering] little by little – It’s a bit scary, but always [results] in…good surprises!”
That’s basically Elodie’s philosophy on life – start every moment with the knowledge that anything is possible.
That’s why she travels. She’s been all over the world. Mexico, Morrocco, India, Hungary, Cabo Verde (to name a few). “There’s no better feeling than [being] lost somewhere and taking the time to discover a place, the air, the time – and the people.”
Of course, she’s a master at finding beauty in the everyday, whether it’s in Paris or…Dublin…or New York. A look, a smile, a good movie, anything. That’s why she’s equally happy cooking at home as she is traveling, acting and skydiving – which she’s tried, and she says she’d like to do once a month if possible.
No, Elodie Belmar is definitely not a sad robot.
Nominated and described by Nicole Cordier
Jerome Butler, © Tony Gale
Jerome Butler
Trained as an actor at Juilliard, Jerome has a diverse artistic background that includes acting in theater and tv, teaching at MIT and working with inmates in the California prison system as part of a artistic rehabilitation program. Currently a film/tv dialect coach and accent reduction specialist by day, songwriter and juggler by night, Jerome’s creativity energy and unbounded enthusiasm is inspiring.
Nominated and described by Jennifer Bergamini
Andrea Reese, photographed in Manhattan. © Tony Gale
Andrea Reese
Andrea Reese is an amazing and multi-faceted individual. A former opera singer, she is now known for her one-woman play, “Cirque Jacqueline“, in which she impersonates Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis . She is also the assistant to motivational guru Barbara Sher, NY Times best-selling author of “I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was.” Andrea is a cult-hero in New York City who has helped hundreds of people achieve their dreams through support groups she runs, called Success Teams.”
Nominated and described by Sari Goodfriend.
Godfrey Pflager, in Manhattan. © Tony Gale
Godfrey Pflager
Everything about my uncle is interesting – even his name – Godfrey Pflager. By the way, the “P” is silent.
Uncle Godfrey, Aunt Suzy and my cousins Dee dee and Charlie were the first people I knew who lived in Manhattan, which always seemed like a magical place to me – a shy suburban kid from outside Philadelphia. As kids, my mom would take me and my two brothers to visit the Pflagers every Thanksgiving. We would stay for a few days, and the Pflagers always knew how to have fun. We would do things like stand outside their apartment and watch the Macy’s parade on Central Park West and play Atari – the sorts of things we never got to do at home. I loved going to see them.
Godfrey and my cousins took me to see first movie I remember seeing – “Star Wars” at the Zeigfeld – and on my first subway ride – a brave thing to do in the 70s. Uncle Godfrey also used to write letters to us kids. Now it’s an email whenever he finds something he thinks I might like, but I do miss the stationary that said “from the desk of God.”
Although Godfrey might look physically imposing, he giggles a lot and has a warm, friendly personality, which makes in especially strange that he was an editor for boxing films. He tells great stories about Mike Tyson and Don King … among many other boxing legends. I’m not sure he ever knew a lot about boxing – other than how to make it look good in film. He seems too gentle to have worked in such a violent industry.
He is also an artist. I remember him hooking rugs by hand while the rest of us ate appetizers in his living room at family dinners. Because we had a large suburban house, we had room to store his tapestries in our attic. But we were lucky enough to have a few in my mom’s bedroom. I loved the geometric patterns and crazy color combinations – turquoise with yellow and orange. They reminded me of Godfrey and his habit of wearing colorful, crazy ties at Thanksgiving.
These days my uncle Godfrey is retired, and his creative outlet has changed. He’s now acting. Among his many gigs was playing one of the UN ambassadors in the movie “The Interpreter.” Besides movies, he also worked in television and student film. He’s probably one of the only people who has spent the last 40 years living on the Upper West side who has ridden the “G” train for a student film shoot.
There are lots of other interesting things about Godfrey … and here are only a few more. My Auny Suzy calls him “Goddy.” He edited cartoons from Eastern (Communist) countries for a while. He’s traveled around the world, and even lived in Rome. He’s probably already seen that movie you are thinking about seeing this weekend. And everybody who knows him loves him.
Nominated and described by Rebecca McAlpin.