Frank Di Silvestro

Benny and Tony Curtis Frank Di Silvestro

In 1951, in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx, Freddy and his friend, 16 to 18, idolized Tony Curtis, who is a young actor in Hollywood groomed for stardom. Curtis comes from a neighborhood not far from where they live. In Harry's Luncheonette, they stand around the jukebox talking about Curtis' good looks and his fame and some of them even try to comb their hair like him, especially Benny Ravello who has hair just like Curtis and dreams of becoming an actor like him. He studies acting at the Drama Workshop where Curtis studied and where Joyce Selznick, the agent, discovered him. But he has difficulties in obtaining an audition with her. Remarkably with the cleverly deceptive help of his sister, a virtuoso violinist, he obtains the audition. However, Selznick rejects him, saying he should get rid of his Bronx accent, but Benny imagines his hooked nose repulsed her, which was not discernible in the picture he sent her. He decides to have rhinoplasty (a nose job).