Meet Sidney Frumkin: The Matador of Park Slope
Ursula | Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 7:00AM 
Dear HBO,
Hi! Hope you’re well.
I have a great idea for a new show and I know you’re going to love it. How do I know? Because it’s a period piece centered in glamorous but gritty locations with a hyper masculine sport at its core. Not only that, but it’s a true story with lots of opportunities for boobs and blood. You know how people always say “It’s not boobs and blood, it’s HBO?" That’s how I know you’ll like it!
First, we’re going to need someone to play 19 year-old Sidney Frumkin. He should be ethnic, but handsome. You know, HBO-unique-looking-but-handsome-ethnic-handsome. It’s 1903, and he lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn (right off 16th St near 7th Avenue -- if accuracy’s your thing) with his harsh but loving mother and police office father (I’m thinking Michael Stuhlbarg!). He’s a dropout, a do nothing, a roustabout (in the parlance of the time, I’m sure) and his dad can’t take his sloth any more. One day they have a big fight and Sidney runs away from home. Far away. Not Queens far, MEXICO far! But what does he do when he gets to Mexico, right?? Does he start a Yiddish school? Nope. Does he open a tortilla factory? Nope. I’ll tell you what he does -- he apprentices himself to a world famous bull fighter and becomes one of the greatest matadors the world has ever seen!
Role opening credits of Episode One, new hit show, blah blah blah. The good news is that he wrote an autobiography, so the writers can use that for material. Also, there’s a Brooklyn-based blog that reported on this recently, so you might want to consult that, too. The real Sidney Frumkin is long dead. He was gored a bunch of times and then returned to the states to die alone, forgotten in a nursing home in the Village. This was back in 1959. Oh, and you know what would be super artistic? Maybe you could even tell the story as a series of flashbacks from the point of view of Sidney Franklin, nee Frumkin, from Park Slope, Brooklyn a long long time ago.
I call it: Matador About You.
My agent awaits your call.
Love, Ursula
-->
Reader Comments