Hustling Hitler: The Jewish Vaudevillian Who Fooled the Führer by Walter Shapiro
Hustling Hitler: The Jewish Vaudevillian Who Fooled the Führer
by Walter Shapiro
From acclaimed journalist Walter Shapiro, the true life story of how his great-uncle-a Jewish vaudeville impresario and exuberant con man-managed to cheat Hitler’s agents in the run-up to WWII.
All his life, journalist Walter Shapiro assumed that the outlandish stories about his great-uncle Freeman were exaggerated family lore; some cockamamie Jewish revenge fantasies dreamt up to entertain the kids and venerate their larger-than-life relative. Only when he started researching Freeman Bernstein’s life did he realize that his family was actually holding back-the man had enough stories, vocations, and IOUs to fill a dozen lifetimes. Freeman was many people: a vaudeville manager, boxing promoter, stock swindler, card shark and self-proclaimed “Jade King of China.” But his greatest title, perhaps the only man who can claim such infamy, was as The Man Who Hustled Hitler.
A cross between The Night They Raided Minsky’s and Guys and Dolls, Freeman Bernstein’s life was itself an old New York sideshow extravaganza, one that Shapiro expertly stages in Hustling Hitler. From a ragtag childhood in Troy, New York, Shapiro follows his great-uncle’s ever-crooked trajectory through show business, from his early schemes on the burlesque circuit to marrying his star performer, May Ward, and producing silent films-released only in Philadelphia. Of course, all of Freeman’s cons and schemes were simply a prelude to February 18, 1937, the day he was arrested by the LAPD outside of Mae West’s apartment in Hollywood.
The charge? Grand larceny-for cheating Adolf Hitler and the Nazi government. In the capstone of his slippery career, Freeman had promised to ship thirty-five tons of embargoed Canadian nickel to the Führer; when the cargo arrived, the Germans found only huge, useless quantities of scrap metal and tin. It was a blow to their economy and war preparations-and Hitler did not take the bait-and-switch lightly.
Told with cinematic verve and hilarious perspective, Hustling Hitler is Shapiro’s incredible investigation into the man behind the myth. By reconstructing his great-uncle’s remarkable career, Shapiro has transformed Freeman Bernstein from a barely there footnote in history to the larger-than-life, eternal hustler who forever changed it.
I very often have difficulty reading stories that are non-fiction and I thought this would be different because the subject had my interest.
But like other non-fiction books I've read I got bored and couldn't even break 50 pages. If you're not starting to fulfill the title of the book by then it's too long and needs a major edit.
My issue is that I am told events by the author and not shown events. It's just factual or rumored antidotes told in a very textbook way. The best way for me to be invested is if it reads like a fictional story, even though it is not. I want to read a first person account from Freeman himself.
Second, I get that the author was trying to set up a background of Freeman's life and how he became the man he was but I just wanted it to be about him hustling Hitler. I was not interested in the little details of his many cons and vaudeville days. Just concentrate on that one detail of his life, conning Hitler.
I like history and could watch historical programs on TV all night, but when it comes to reading them, I can never push myself to get very far and finish. If they aired a documentary show about Freeman Bernstein on the History Channel I'd watch.
1 out 5 fake jewels.
*I received an digital ARC from Penguin's First to Read*
by Walter Shapiro
From acclaimed journalist Walter Shapiro, the true life story of how his great-uncle-a Jewish vaudeville impresario and exuberant con man-managed to cheat Hitler’s agents in the run-up to WWII.
All his life, journalist Walter Shapiro assumed that the outlandish stories about his great-uncle Freeman were exaggerated family lore; some cockamamie Jewish revenge fantasies dreamt up to entertain the kids and venerate their larger-than-life relative. Only when he started researching Freeman Bernstein’s life did he realize that his family was actually holding back-the man had enough stories, vocations, and IOUs to fill a dozen lifetimes. Freeman was many people: a vaudeville manager, boxing promoter, stock swindler, card shark and self-proclaimed “Jade King of China.” But his greatest title, perhaps the only man who can claim such infamy, was as The Man Who Hustled Hitler.
A cross between The Night They Raided Minsky’s and Guys and Dolls, Freeman Bernstein’s life was itself an old New York sideshow extravaganza, one that Shapiro expertly stages in Hustling Hitler. From a ragtag childhood in Troy, New York, Shapiro follows his great-uncle’s ever-crooked trajectory through show business, from his early schemes on the burlesque circuit to marrying his star performer, May Ward, and producing silent films-released only in Philadelphia. Of course, all of Freeman’s cons and schemes were simply a prelude to February 18, 1937, the day he was arrested by the LAPD outside of Mae West’s apartment in Hollywood.
The charge? Grand larceny-for cheating Adolf Hitler and the Nazi government. In the capstone of his slippery career, Freeman had promised to ship thirty-five tons of embargoed Canadian nickel to the Führer; when the cargo arrived, the Germans found only huge, useless quantities of scrap metal and tin. It was a blow to their economy and war preparations-and Hitler did not take the bait-and-switch lightly.
Told with cinematic verve and hilarious perspective, Hustling Hitler is Shapiro’s incredible investigation into the man behind the myth. By reconstructing his great-uncle’s remarkable career, Shapiro has transformed Freeman Bernstein from a barely there footnote in history to the larger-than-life, eternal hustler who forever changed it.
I very often have difficulty reading stories that are non-fiction and I thought this would be different because the subject had my interest.
But like other non-fiction books I've read I got bored and couldn't even break 50 pages. If you're not starting to fulfill the title of the book by then it's too long and needs a major edit.
My issue is that I am told events by the author and not shown events. It's just factual or rumored antidotes told in a very textbook way. The best way for me to be invested is if it reads like a fictional story, even though it is not. I want to read a first person account from Freeman himself.
Second, I get that the author was trying to set up a background of Freeman's life and how he became the man he was but I just wanted it to be about him hustling Hitler. I was not interested in the little details of his many cons and vaudeville days. Just concentrate on that one detail of his life, conning Hitler.
I like history and could watch historical programs on TV all night, but when it comes to reading them, I can never push myself to get very far and finish. If they aired a documentary show about Freeman Bernstein on the History Channel I'd watch.
1 out 5 fake jewels.
*I received an digital ARC from Penguin's First to Read*