****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
"Honest Sid" is is a heart warming story chronicling the life of Sid Probstein. Sid was handsome, quick witted, and athletic. He pitched semipro baseball and got an offer to go with the Giants to spring training and a tryout in Texas. His baseball career ended abruptly when he threw an exhibition game when playing for Dallas in the Texas League. He served in the Army in France in World War I (one of the few periods in his life when he received a regular pay check). Discharged from the Army after the war, he lived by his wits as a bookie, ticket scalper, horse player, gambler, and all around hustler and con man. His "office" was the streets of Manhattan. In spite of ups and downs, he did well in the Roaring '20s, but suffered disasterously during the horrendous economic times of the Great Depression. Nontheless he relentlessly pursued the "good life" of achieving the "American dream", hoping to score big or "hit the jackpot" on his gambling ventures. He achieved fleeting sucesses, but inevitably lost it all and more when fortune turned against him. The book tells the story of Sid's adventures and misadventures, together with his wife Sally and their "kid" (the author of the book). Sid was scrupulously honest with his compatriots who lived outside of the legal system (and who gave him the moniker "Honest Sid"), understanding that his continued physical well-being was dependent on prompt payment of any losses he incurred. Non-payment was not an option. If he didn't have the money, he had to borrow it from loan sharks. When this left no money for his family they had to adapt. When they couldn't pay the rent, they moved out in the middle of the night. When they couldn't buy food, they went hungry or got minimal sustenance from free items placed on the tables at the Automat. Still when Sid had a winning street, he was generous to a fault. He bought Sally flowers and clothes, and they frequented fine restaurants just as they had before the depression. But it didn't last - they were on an irreversable downward spiral. Sally was beautiful - mixing love with reality. She took the roller coaster ups and downs of life as Sid's wife with love, grace, wisdom, fortitude, anger, and realism - making sometimes impossible situations at least tolerable. In the end, Sally went blind, and Sid died of a heart attack under a heavy burden of debt that he could not pay. Yet he did achieve one element of the "American dream" - he left his "kid" and his wife with a better standard of living than he and Sally had.I have loaned this book to six people, and can summarize their remarks as follows; A beautiful love story about a very talented, if flawed (addicted to gambling) human being. The reader cannot help but to have understanding and compassion for those dealing with the problems of surviving in the harsh economic conditions existing during the Great Depression in New York when there was no "Safety Net" of social services. A truly moving story. Really worth reading to understand a trying time of American history.
