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Ferry tales
By MICHAEL SANDLER
© St. Petersburg Times,
So when the New York cabbie pulled into Hunter's Green Elementary School three years ago, it's no wonder the joint started to liven up. "It's just his humor and his stories," said Susan Gilmore, one of two secretaries at the school. "They are so odd, you don't find that often. You don't see many people telling stories like that." Leff, who will turn 75 this month, has lately been a fixture at the New Tampa school, volunteering nearly every morning for half the day. He took on the task while waiting to pick up his granddaughter, now his exclusive afternoon fare since retiring to Hunter's Green. "I don't like to sit around," said Leff. "If I did not have this, I'd be sitting at home, watching TV." Who needs sitcoms and drama when you've lived a life that's full? Leff tells of picking up slugger Joe Dimaggio, comedian Jerry Lewis and actor Burgess Merideth. Robert DeNiro even jumped in his cab. "I took him to the movies and he had me wait three hours," said Leff. "I didn't mind because he was paying for it." But don't be fooled, Leff was no star-gazing cabbie. Like his name, he preferred the ordinary Joe. However, he does appreciate extraordinary requests. One guy paid a round-trip fare just to ride over the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge after it opened in 1964. Some requests could not be printed in a family newspaper, he said, eliciting giggles from his office gals at Hunter's Green. Seems they've heard a few of those. "He tried to do everything wrong so we might fire him," said Gilmore. "But we won't fire him." Ah, but his best stories come from chauffeuring passengers around Manhattan on private tours. Twenty bucks an hour, you'll see plenty more than on those crammed buses, he'd tell them. And if the sights did not satisfy their thirst for "New Yawk CUL-cha," he brought a few home to his Bronx high-rise apartment for coffee with his wife. "You're your own boss and you have all kinds of people you pick up," he said. "All kinds of strange people." Leff smiled at the thought and, suddenly, there was no mistaking his upbringing. White hair and blue eyes complement a voice thick like Jackie Mason's. When he talks, the hands direct every syllable like Mario Cuomo. You can't quite figure if he's Irish, Italian or Jewish, a good sign of 68 years in New York. From his birth in Harlem to his co-op on Townsend Avenue, he's a real New York Joe. "If you know how to drive, you drive," he said, with palms up. "If you can drive in New York, you can drive anywhere," he said and seemingly pushed those words away with his hands.Fughetabout! For all the traffic he once endured, he found his new vocation trying to avoid the afternoon rush. When he set out to pick up his granddaughter, he would arrive 15 minutes early at Hunter's Green. He'd be first in line ahead of the mothers and fathers who form the caravan out front awaiting dismissal. Bored, Leff wandered into the front office one day and sat down. Slowly, he began killing the time by thrilling the secretaries with his tales of yore. Then Leff started to help out. First just odds and ends, a few minutes here and there. But he has since stretched the time into half-day shifts, 8 a.m. until noon, five days a week. He does just about anything they ask, within reason. He files index cards. He does the bookkeeping. He even learned to make his first pot of coffee and has since had plenty of practice. Of course, telling real New York stories remains his primary task. Not about playing Carnegie Hall. Not about opening nights on Broadway. Not about making big bucks on Wall Street. "Not for me," he said. "I just drove. I drove a cab until I left New York." - Michael Sandler can be reached at (813) 226-3472 or sandler@sptimes.com.
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