Joey Pants

I have been a fan of Joe Pantoliano for a long time. The first time I recall seeing him was when he played Maggio in the TV version of From Here to Eternity. Joe played the role beautifully, certainly as well as the other kid from Hoboken.

Over the weekend, I watched Second Best on cable TV. I loved this film! I am 65 and about 15 years older than the five friends in the movie. Having grown up in Berwyn, Illinois, next to Cicero, I felt I had known these guys all of my life. I wish I still had friends from my boyhood like this.

Cities and towns in New Jersey remind me so much of where I grew up. I've met a few people from New Jersey since I moved to Los Angeles in 1990. When we've talked about our hometowns, it's like we're talking about the same place.

One thing that always comes up, and I got a kick seeing it mentioned in Second Best, is how small are boyhood homes seem to us today. As kids, they seemed so big to us. But when we returned to them in later years, they seemed surprisingly small.

I plan to watch Second Best again in the coming days. After I do, I think I'll have lunch at Matty Matteo's A Little Taste of Hoboken in nearby Westwood. You never know who you might run into there!

George Spink
Email Me
Los Angeles