Williamsport is a nice and quiet town in the north eastern part of the state. It was originally a boom town for the logging industry. In the late 1800’s it was known as the “Lumber Capital of the World.” Now Williamsport is world famous as the location for the yearly Little League World Series. This year Vice President Biden was honored since he grew up in Pennsylvania and was a member of the Little League.

One memory of Williamsport and the Little League World Series was the scandal in 1992 when the Philippine team, after winning the series, was caught using players that did not meet the requirements of the Little League rules. Eventually the honor was removed and given to the team from Long Beach, California who originally held second place.

Another but better memory for me about Williamsport was, in 1989 I moved back to New York from California for a few months. My brother at that time was living in Reading, PA but previously lived in Williamsport. Since Williamsport is a very beautiful and friendly city and since my brother still had many friends there, we would meet at times for a weekend of bonding, drinking and fun. I would take a Friday off from work and leave early in the day to drive there. It was a beautiful drive through the Pocono Mountains with all the green vegetation. Once there I would head to Franco’s Italian Restaurant. This little restaurant and bar was a favorite hangout of my brother. After my first visit, each return trip as I entered Franco’s, I would hear a friendly “Bruce welcome back” from one of Franco’s sons working behind the bar. We would spend many hours there drinking and joking with all my brothers’ old friends.

One of these trips I received a special treat, Harry Anderson, the street magician and actor of the old TV comedy “Night Court” was to do a magic show at a local college auditorium. The show was entertaining and with his natural humor was a real treat. If you were a “Night Court” fan, you might remember, the character would always play Mel Torme recordings. One of my brothers friends photo copied Mel Torme’s face from an old album cover and cut out masks for us all to hold up over our face. When Harry entered the stage, all of us, about 20, were sitting there with the Mel Torme masks. Harry saw this and bent over laughing. Later I met Harry Anderson at one of the local bars. He was genuinely friendly and nice to chat with.

It is nice when something triggers a fond memory of the past.