Sol Weinstein: July 29, 1928– November 25, 2012
The Plimmerton community bade farewell to one of the village’s true characters last week.
Writer, composer, joker, jazz fanatic and flatterer of women, Sol Weinstein died last week aged 84 after a quick decline in health. He had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer two weeks earlier.
Following a Jewish funeral in Wellington on Tuesday, Sol was laid to rest at Makara.
On Friday, more than 70 friends and family packed the Plimmerton Pavilion for a memorial service. Among the mourners were his daughter Judee and granddaughter Eleanor, who had travelled from California to be with Sol during his final days.
Anecdotes were shared and great affection shown for a man who brought showbiz swagger with him to Plimmerton in 2002.
A familiar face at the village shops and cafes, Sol could always be trusted to pull out a gag, an oddball observation or a flirtatious proposition.
When eulogising his father, David Weinstein asked who among the women at the service had received a marriage proposal from Sol. At least 20 raised a hand, to raucous laughter.
Sol was born and raised in Trenton, New Jersey. In the 1950s he wrote for his local newspaper, The Trentonian, before turning his sharp wit to sketches and songs for variety show comedians.
He married Eleanor Eisner in 1955, and they had two children, David and Judee.
In 1962, Sol wrote the ballad The Curtain Falls. Bobby Darin took a shine to and it became part of his repertoire. Bob Hope also recorded it.
The family moved to Levittown, Pennsylvania, where, among other writing projects, he conceived his Israel Bond spy capers, starting with Loxfinger in 1965. The four books sold more than 400,000 copies and gained Sol national exposure.
The 1970s took the family to Los Angeles, where Sol wrote for several popular network television shows such as The Love Boat, The Jeffersons and Three’s Company. He continued to work into the late 1980s, writing for his friend Dom DeLuise.
In 2002, a widower and retired, Sol moved to Plimmerton to be closer to his son’s family. David said his father would be publicly remembered for the Israel Bond books and The Curtain Falls, which received a second life in the 2004 Bobby Darin bio-pic Beyond the Sea.
‘‘But what he would want to be remembered for was his big heart, his love for family and friends, and his love of Judaism.’’
A myriad of Sol moments were shared by his Plimmerton friends. There were his unusual dining requests at favourite haunt Cafe Vella – egg whites with milk anyone? – and the time he cocked his finger and took aim at a well-to-do lady’s fluffy hat: ‘‘Watch out lady, you got a raccoon on your head!’’
There was Sol’s uncanny knowledge of jazz, a fanaticism sparked in the 1950s, when he tuned into the New York bebop scene.
Play Sol a jazz track and he would give you title and artist, the session players and recording location, too.
Plimmerton jazz pianist Kevin Clark and vocalist Fran Barton performed three of Sol’s songs, including The Curtain Falls and the recently completed Here Come the Hobbits.
Kevin recalled his first meeting with Sol, in 2002, while playing at the Kirkcaldie & Stains department store.
‘‘ Sol was sitting on a bed listening, and then he put his feet up and made himself really comfortable. He started clicking his fingers and the bed was going up and down. We were turning to each other, ‘Who is this guy?’.
‘‘He was so excited; he hadn’t heard any jazz since coming to New Zealand.’’
Kapi- Mana News had the privilege and pleasure of interviewing Sol in 2006 and in January this year when the Israel Bond novels returned to print for the first time in 40 years.
In typical Sol style, he would stop by our office over the years, bearing small gifts and big handshakes. His wit, enthusiasm, kindness and tendency to bounce between topics like a ping- pong ball ensured treasured conversations.
As one young speaker aptly put it, Sol was ‘‘the grandfather figure I think we wish we all had’’.