| MAIN EVENT
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Abe Hirschfeld’s New Vision
Takes Flight in Cyberspace
By TIM BOXER
ABRAHAM HIRSCHFELD, at
a sprightly 82, is ready to make history again. He made his mark
many times over with his commercial innovations buttressed by unique
business acumen. He told me of his new initiative during a visit to his
temporary home in the Catskills.
His current abode happens to be
the Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, N.Y.
As I approached the mammoth
building, surrounded by a gleaming silver chain-link fence topped with
coiled barbed wire, I took a picture of the imposing structure with my
small digital camera.
I didn’t think anyone would
notice.
There was an observation tower,
so I must have been in the cross hairs of binoculars trained on every
approaching car. Immediately a uniformed corrections officer drove up
demanding to know if I had authorization to photograph.
I said no, and put the camera in
the trunk. Thank goodness, that was that.
Getting inside
AFTER processing in the
reception bunker, a burly guard escorted me across a small plaza into the
main fortress. We took an
elevator up one flight. I turned toward an open corridor, and the guard
bellowed, “You don’t want to go there. You won’t get out.”
I quickly backtracked.
“You don’t look good in
green,” he added sympathetically.
I turned and faced a two-way
mirrored wall. A steel door began to slide slowly and noisily. Ahead was
the visiting room.
A guard sat at a desk against the
wall, facing some 20 small wooden tables arranged in rows. Next to him was
a table holding several holy books, including the New Testament and the
Koran in Arabic and English editions. On the other side stood a bank of
vending machines, a microwave and a trashcan.
High spirits
I waited ten minutes, till
the noon head count was completed. A door on the far left opened.
Hirschfeld came in, dressed in an open white shirt, green slacks and white
sneakers. He looked lean (having shed maybe 50 pounds), with reddish blond
thinning hair, and scruffy white beard. Distinguished looking, really.
His spirits are high, his face is
cheerful, and he exudes a positive air. After all, he is quite convinced
of his innocence of the charge that brought him to this place – plotting
to slay his longtime partner, Stanley Stahl, who subsequently died on his
own, due to a stroke.
For that alleged plot, which
Hirschfeld said was cooked up by such enemies as dishonest prosecutors,
malevolent employees and unscrupulous judges, he is serving 1 to 3 years
in this upstate prison.
He isn’t worried. His
disposition is exuberant. He doesn’t allow anything to bring him down.
That is why he has always been on top.
Notable achievements
DURING our two-hour
meeting, Hirschfeld summarized the historical accomplishments by some of
America’s geniuses and innovators, climaxing with his personal vision
for a grand future. Each one put an end to a depression or recession in
his lifetime.
4Henry
Ford licked a national depression by creating an assembly line of Model-T
Fords. He also cited Walt Disney for expanding the world of entertainment
and Sony’s Morita for the proliferation of electronics.
4Harry
Truman established the FHA, which brought affordable housing to the
average American.
4Hirschfeld
invented the magnetic door for refrigerators.
4Hirschfeld
created open air parking garages, a novel concept, which gave rise to
shopping centers and extended the highway pattern across the country.
“Before that,” he says, “we had 1 car for 3 or 4 families. Today we
have 3 or 4 cars for each family.”
4Hirschfeld
says by building the Vertical Club in Manhattan, he sparked the health
fitness craze.
4Bill
Gates, another mental giant, came up with software that fueled the
Internet, changing the face of the world, not to mention the U.S.
4In
the ‘90s, during another economic glitch, Wall Street was gutted with
buildings that were becoming white elephants. Hirschfeld showed how to
renew the street by turning these empty behemoths into profitable condos
for an emerging neighborhood.
4Another
downturn in American life came in the late ‘60s when every TV was a
Japanese product. “We were in bad shape. Japan dominated our economy.
Along came Lee Iacocca with a new design for a car and a simple, practical
idea to give cash back on the purchase of every auto.”
Ready for his close-up…again
After spending two hours
with Hirschfeld, I left convinced that if only the establishment would
listen, instead of mocking, they would learn some new ways to mend the old
problems afflicting this country.
Listen to him: “Lowering taxes
is beneficial. Lowering the prime rate is fine. But what good is it to the
unemployed person who has no money?”
This summer Hirschfeld plans to
make news again. Once he saved the New York Post from oblivion by buying
the paper when no one else wanted it. He held on to it for little more
than two weeks when the establishment wrested the prize from his hands.
Today he is poised once again to
surprise the public. He relishes the thought of working in journalism
afresh. This time as founder of a unique magazine – on the Internet.
To be called iUSATimes.com, the
webzine will be a daily news publication. Launch is planned for late
summer. Stay tuned.
When I left I was again escorted
across the neatly kept landscaping, surrounded by the razor-ribbon
security fence, to the processing building, which served as the exit
point.
“How is Hirschfeld?” the
uniformed guard walking me asked. “How’s he feeling today?”
Hirschfeld has the ear of his
fellow inmates, and the respect of his custodians.
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