Biography
Deutsch was drafted during World War I; he served two years and eight months in the service but was never sent overseas (probably because he was deaf in one ear). He became a minor celebrity around New Jersey for his unorthodox methods of running his bar: there were no barstools, only one bathroom, women were forbidden to enter until the late 1970s, and anyone caught not drinking was subject to be beaten by Red and ejected by force. However according to Jim Davidson, as stated in an interview with Howard Stern, this was only partially true.
Red, at 6 feet 2 inches (1.88 m) and over 200 pounds (91 kg), was still an imposing physical presence even in his 80s and was famous for his unusual voice, described by one person as "a deep, guttural bark." He was also known for his charitable giving. Newspaper columnist Jimmy Breslin wrote about Red in a 1974 column, adding to Red’s already legendary status.
Deutsch sold the Tube Bar in 1980, and retired to Pompano Beach, Florida, where he died three years later at the age of 87.
Read more about this topic: Louis "Red" Deutsch
Famous quotes containing the word biography:
“Had Dr. Johnson written his own life, in conformity with the opinion which he has given, that every man’s life may be best written by himself; had he employed in the preservation of his own history, that clearness of narration and elegance of language in which he has embalmed so many eminent persons, the world would probably have had the most perfect example of biography that was ever exhibited.”
—James Boswell (1740–95)
“In how few words, for instance, the Greeks would have told the story of Abelard and Heloise, making but a sentence of our classical dictionary.... We moderns, on the other hand, collect only the raw materials of biography and history, “memoirs to serve for a history,” which is but materials to serve for a mythology.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A great biography should, like the close of a great drama, leave behind it a feeling of serenity. We collect into a small bunch the flowers, the few flowers, which brought sweetness into a life, and present it as an offering to an accomplished destiny. It is the dying refrain of a completed song, the final verse of a finished poem.”
—André Maurois (1885–1967)