Tony Castro's America

Thank You, Readers!

Ashton Kutcher was among more than 400 who attended Tony's 'Mickey Mantle: America's Prodigal Son' book signing at Lucy's El Adobe Cafe in Hollywood.

People often ask me which is my favorite out of all the books I’ve written, and I always reply that books are like children – you love them all equally but differently.

I stand by that answer, but sometimes the characters in a book will resonate so much with you that you want to continue spending time with them. That happened to me with Gehrig & The Babe, my newest book. I completed the manuscript last summer, but Babe Ruth stays with me even as I move on as a writer.

Fortunately, the promotion of Gehrig & The Babe is still ahead, giving me ample opportunity to keep Ruth in my immediate thoughts. He was an original, and sometimes I feel as though the book is more of a biography of Babe Ruth -- a biography of an American original in which Lou Gehrig played an important part.

Of course, you, readers, are my partners in this adventure. For that, I’m so truly grateful and hope you continue to join me as the journey continues!

For a chance to win a copy of Gehrig & The Babe, just keep checking the book's Amazon site. We will soon post a giveaway for the book.

 

'She's Big for 12'

At long last, someone has figured out her secret!

Saving Anne Frank

For two years, Anne Frank’s family hid in Amsterdam before being caught. Anne's diary was a testament to the horrors of the Nazi regime. She died of typhus at age 15 at Bergen-Belsen camp in Germany.

AS A THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD schoolboy I grew up wanting to save Anne Frank.

Allow me to clarify that.

As a young man, the son of a World War II army veteran, I grew up wanting to save Anne Frank.

I’m still not clear, I fear.

As the son of a World War II decorated veteran who told me stories of the horror he saw at Nazi concentration camps, I grew up wishing there was some way I could go back in time and save the six million Jews killed in the Hitler holocaust. And when I read The Diary of A Young Girl.  I wasn’t sure if I’d fallen in love with young Anne and wished I could save this damsel in distress or whether I simply wanted to save mankind.

Liudmila Konovalova's Black Swan

 

Liudmila Konovalova of the Vienna Ballet dancing fragments of the Black Swan variation from Swan Lake, partnered by Matthew Golding of The Royal Ballet, with whom performed at the Ave Maya Gala celebrating the great Maya Plisetskaya in London. For more, read http://www.LiudmilaBallerina.com.

A Winter in Paris

“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”
― Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

Mick's True Love: Holly Brooke

Young lovers Holly Brooke and Mickey Mantle out on the town in Manhattan in 1951, his rookie season chronicled in DiMag & Mick. (Mickey Mantle Museum)

"Above Grand Central Station, there used to be this incredibly fabulously opulent apartment that looked like a palace that the original architect built as part of the original design, and in 1951 I knew someone — I knew a lot of people even then — who arranged for me, for us, to stay there one night that summer. And so Mickey and I spent one of the greatest nights of our lives there. It was a romantic, magical evening. We made love all night. We were both young and in love, and he wanted to marry me and spend the rest of our lives together.”

                                                          — Holly Brooke in DiMag & Mick

MICKEY MANTLE FANS, memorize the name Holly Brooke.

In his book DiMag & Mick, author Tony Castro reveals that the Yankees’ switch-hitting icon proposed to New York actress Holly Brooke during his 1951 rookie season and that they carried on a torrid love affair for years even after he married his high school sweetheart just to please his dying father.

Holly’s existence had been known since the 1950s and for decades, sportswriters and authors tried unsuccessfully to interview Brooke – but were never even able to track her down.

DiMag & Mick

 

Evening in Paris!

A little walk near our apartment. Arche de Triomphe in the distance. Just don't get anything close to this in LA. At Place de la Concorde.

Visiting With Napoleon at Versailles

Although Napoleon is prominently featured at the Palace of Versailles, he did not reside in the château. But the apartments were arranged and decorated for the use of the empress Marie-Louise. Versailles also features The Coronation of Napoleon in Notre Dame, famous painting by  Jacques-Louis David.

At Monet's Water Lily Pond

Spending the day at Claude Monet’s home and garden at Giverny. Many of the painter’s most famous works depict the water lily pond and surrounding gardens found on the property. Monet first spotted the small village that he came to call home while passing by on a train. Not long after, he relocated his family from Paris, and the rest is art history.