The first time I walked into The Village Cobbler at 617 Willis Avenue and asked owner Anthony Mucci if I could interview him for this column he responded “Who me? You don’t want to interview me, I’m boring!”
I wondered if actor Daniel Day-Lewis, who is a cobbler in his spare time, would have said that. I don’t think so.
I had just listened to President Obama’s State of the Union speech with his plea to help the embattled middle class in America. So what is more middle class than a cobbler in Williston Park?
So why not interview this person who is the very subject and the concern of our president.
Who is this man who is focus and the concern of the State of the Union address?
Here is a man earning an honest living by doing an honest day’s work. He is getting by? He is suffering? Is he happy with the ways things are going?
Anthony Mucci is an Italian-American born in Brooklyn in 1948. He has one sibling and lost two others.
His dad like so many others including mine moved his family east out of New York City into the promised land of the Nassau County suburbs.
After finishing high school at Floral Park Memorial he went to seek his fortune as a chef in upstate New York. He finally wound up working with a world renowned French chef in Baltimore and shortly thereafter his life took a turn he had not expected.
He fell ill with a life-threatening disease, was hospitalized for six weeks and nearly died. He came home to Long Island where he recuperated for some months and when his friend offered him a job with the local village cobbler he said why not.
That was 29 years ago and he has been here ever since.
He and his wife Pat bought the store from Joe Lombardo and he has been working his trade for three decades.
When I interviewed Anthony and Pat I got the feel for what it’s like to work with your hands all day long. My dad was a plumbing supply manufacturer so I was familiar with the sounds and smells of hard labor.
Anthony works from 5:30 a.m. to 9.p.m. six days a week, a true American work load. He repairs shoes, luggage, hand bags and even seat cushions as well as doing stretching and dying.
The wonderful benefit of being a fine craftsman is that it prevents corporate takeover.
I asked him if he was at all threatened by some big franchise coming around and putting him out of business by underselling. He told me that “this type of work can’t be franchised since it’s too personal and requires too much detail work.” Yet he fears that this kind of business is not long for this world.
“Cobbling is a disappearing art form,” he said. “It’s not a huge money maker. You can make a living but you won’t get rich at it. And nowadays kids don’t like to get their hands dirty.”
He told me that 65 percent of his customers were women. He doesn’t like sneakers because “they give no support.”
I asked him for some shoe tips and he said “People need to shine their shoes every day. It doesn’t take long, it makes them look better and they will last longer if you do.”
Then he told me the best thing to do for healthy feet is to take a walk on the beach with bare feet every now and then. “It sloughs off dead skin and strengthens your arches. “
I then wondered why the most famous actor in the world Daniel Day-Lewis enjoys fixing shoes so much.
He said “it’s very gratifying. You see remarkable changes when you do good work. It’s a very practical and necessary thing and I can see why he likes it so much. “
I can see that being a shoe cobbler is an art and like all the arts it’s a solitary life. He told me “my life is very boring. I work and then I go home to sleep. Then I get up and come back to work. That’s about it.”
Yet his life is like all our lives here in middle-class America. Work long hours and go home to sleep. Get up and do it again.
Anthony Mucci is your quintessential American. He is an artisan with pride in his work. He is a good man and a good husband. He is free but very hard working, probably too hard working.
He is why I write this column. Just to give him a voice.
I hope President Obama can hear about this cobbler and see his life.
Maybe I will send this column to the White House and see if I get a response. Maybe he will send Mr. Mucci a thank you note for being part of the uncomplaining backbone of American life and for being a good family man.
I bet he voted for our president. And in the meantime as we await the president’s letter why don’t you get those shoes of yours resoled and go buy some shoe polish too.
Tom Ferraro, Ph.D. is a psychologist who has lived and worked in Williston Park for the last 25 years. He can be reached for comment at drtferraro@aol.com
