Thursday, April 10, 2008

Kennedy with Max Tobin



Sanda Bragman Cohen, the woman who mailed me the photos of Kennedy at the King's Highway Dubrow's, had this to say about the photos:

"They were taken by a photographer hired by Max Tobin who owned Dubrow's on Kings Highway. He is the man standing behind President Kennedy. His wife was Minnie Dubrow Tobin who was Sylvia Kaplan's sister. Minnie Tobin died in 1957. My mother, Mary Bragman, is the only woman in the picture. She married Max Tobin in 1968 when my father had been dead for four years. My father is the man that can only be partially seen standing behind Max Tobin. The photography studio was named Renard and it was located in Brooklyn. As far as I know the pictures were not copyrighted by anyone. They belonged to Max Tobin, because he paid for them. They were given to me by my mother just before she died. Until then they were in her home. The pictures were taken in October, 1960 when Kennedy was campaigning. Many politicians made a stop at Dubrows because it was the most popular place in that neighborhood (Flatbush), but I do not have any other pictures. The two men sitting next to Kennedy were Brooklyn politicians, and I used to know their names, but I have forgotten. Standing behind my mother, kind of in the shadows, is Carmine DeSapio (he is the man with the sunglasses) who was a powerful politician at the time. I remember that Kennedy wanted a steak and salad for dinner, which was provided for him. It was not the usual Dubrows food. I also remember that my mother was answering the special phones that had been connected for Kennedy and in that picture she is handing him a message from Robert Kennedy. My parents wanted me to have my picture taken with Kennedy, but I was fifteen and had a pimple, so I refused. Needless to stay I lived to regret that decision. However, I did wear a campaign button that said, "If I were 21 I would vote for Kennedy." I would have too!"

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I remember the night that JFK campaigned in front of Dubrow's in 1960. I was there with my brother -- I was 10 at the time, and he was 8.

Kennedy and Mrs. Kennedy arrived late and there was a large crowd when his car finally appeared, a big convertible, and the top was down. I remember him bathed in light -- it was dark already but there must have been floodlights in the car -- and it looked almost magical.

It's a wonderful memory, still vivid 56 years later.

Mara said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mara said...

Thank you, Eve for creating this site. My grandparents Minnie and Max are absolute legends!

Michael Schwartz said...

Thanks Sandra, for the wonderful photo... And thanks Eva - for the site and for posting it.
The guy in the very middle of the photo - next to Max Tobin and looking down and beaming at President Kennedy, it Max Tobin's father Simcha (Samuel) Tabachnick. I knew him (and Max) as a young boy -- always called Simcha-- "everybody" always called him - "Uncle" -- wonderful guy...beaming in the photo as he often did... He was my grandmother Riva's kid brother.