Summer People or How Nudists, Boozers and One Headless Turkey Influenced a Boy's Life
by CLIFF KORRADI
How It All Began...
Summer People or How Nudists, Boozers and One Headless Turkey Influenced A Boy’s Life is the first book Cliff Korradi has written. But truth be known, he has been writing since, well, he learned how to write.
As a tyke he pounded out very, very short stories on his mother’s old Underwood typewriter. How short were they? Well, one of them went like this: “Once upon a time there was a rabbit who ate a carrot. The end.” Not exactly Gone with the Wind but it was a start.
These juvenile jottings led to an essay on civil defense preparedness for his senior year English class at Keene High School in Keene, New Hampshire. It apparently impressed his teacher, Ruth Raymond, and she entered it in an essay competition sponsored by the American Legion. Lo and behold, it won first place and he received a medal to prove it.
His career in broadcasting produced more writing but mainly in the form of commercials. And he was darn good at it, too. Not only were his commercials successful in selling products, most of them were entertaining and just fun to listen to. They also brought more awards including the distinguished Hatch Award from the Boston Ad Club, first place from the New Hampshire Ad Club, numerous Addy Awards and other accolades.
In addition to broadcasting, Korradi had a rewarding career in advertising as well as film and video production. In fact, he co-authored a film called, Sam’s Most Electrifying Account that featured puppets made by Paul Fusco, creator of the hit NBC show Alf. This film won a CINE Golden Eagle, an award that has been recognized as a mark of excellence throughout the film and television industry. And it became just one more trophy on an already filled to capacity mantel over the fireplace.
“Someone once asked me if I ever thought of writing a book,” Cliff recalled recently. “And I said, if I did it would contain two hundred one-page chapters because I had become so disciplined in saying everything that needed to be said in 60-seconds, that’s one page of copy.”
As for Summer People…, fortunately its chapters are more than one page long and chronicle the true events of a young boy’s life. “These stories have been a part of me for a thousand years,” said Cliff during an interview. “I’m sure cavemen sat around a fire somewhere and told anyone who would listen how they dodged being eaten by a saber-toothed tiger or avoided becoming toe-jelly when they narrowly escaped being stepped on by a wooly mammoth. With me it was trying to avoid a headless turkey.
“My only regret is that I didn’t do this sooner. My parents wanted me to write down the best stories about summer people but I was always too busy doing other things. Then about two years ago one of the Muses came calling and I realized I had better collect these stories while my few remaining brain cells are still working. Bacchanalia, after all, has a way of taking its toll. So I dug though family photos to help back up the stories, and lend some faces to the events, and the result is this book. I hope you like it.”
