Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-09-28

Russian emlBre IIom retEU-
grad. His mother was Sophie
Stern, an emigre from Poland
The two had fed to England
several years before during the
fierce anti-Jewish pogroms.
They were married in London
Both parents were children
Of bakers. Bennett Chalk, how
ever. was a baritone singer and
actor who. at the time Of Roy's
birth. supported his family by
travelling with entertainment
troupes. That career was TO
give way to the pursuit Of
business. but Mr.. Chalk never
surrendered his love OF music
and defamation. Not sur
prisingly. te transmitted them
to his son as well.
He brought his young family
to New York when Roy was 3
and his sister Blanche 4. In
time all the Chalks and Stems
grayitated to New York. in
Guiding Mr.. Chalk's four BROTH
ers and Mrs. Chalk's four broth
ers and six sisters. The Stern
men all became bakers and
today operate the Roster bakery
chain.
Bennett Chalk took a fat
in New York's hurly-burly low
err East Side. Failing to find
work on the stage, he tried his
hand at tailoring, a skill he
had learned in the old country.
His son remembers only one
thing from that period - the
horse carriages that passed
through the streets before the
small boys marvelling eyes.
In a few years, the elder
Chalk had prospered enough
to move his family far uptown
to a solid middle-class neigh
borhood in Harlem. He took
an apartment in the Isabella,
l215 West 1l1th street, on the
right side of the tracks" from
Seventh avenue.
The building was one Of a
block-full of six-story apart
ment buildings. 1t was a con-
crete-and-bri structure with
ornate concrete scrollwork over
the windows and spiked iron
palings in front of the area
way. There was no yard and
the children played on the side
walks and in the streets.
Young Roy played with many
boys there who were to become
| famous. Among them were
George Gershwin. Lou Gehrig,
Ben Novak, who later built the
luxurious Fontainebleau in Mi
ami Beach, and Alfred Schle-
singer, who became a moving
picture magnate.
Bennett Chalk had opened
a shop at 2817 on fashionable,
tree-Ined upper Broadway. He
designed and made riding hab-
its for wealthy residents Of
Riverside drive. On the front
window was a little coat OF
arms executed in gold. He had
designed that. too, with Brit
ish looking lions pant
against a shield.
Worked After School
4 Young Roy, after schoo
hours, often delivered packages
to clients. He was greatly i'm.
,lpressed with the 81 tips hi
!. frequently got.
The school was P. S. 165, {
handsome fiVe-story building
In Norman chateau style JUS
off Broadway and running from
108th to 109th street.
Young Oscar Chalk, as mos
of his schoolmates called hin
because that's the way his name
appeared on the school rolls
was a fair student. He wa:
, obviously intelligent. but some
times inattentive or restless.
One year he was left behinC
, lin his grade. His family wa
dismayed, but the boy did no
seem to be discouraged. HI
, announced that the next yea
he would get the highest mark
, In the school. He did just tina
, and skipped grade to rejoil
, his former classmates.
? IT did it just to prove
: could do it," he recalled later
In school his favorite occu
patton was writing. He love,
: to compose essays.
S At home he was a membe
a of a close-knit, loving family