Talk:Charles Flato

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[edit] Hunchback dwarf?

Pitchka: Is that for real about being a hunchback dwarf & walking with a cane? If true, we may have to soften it up to make it more politically correct. Thanks. Nobs01 00:37, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Yes, it's true. The drummer Chick Webb was also a hunchbacked dwarf minus the cane. How else is one to say it? Isn't it a valid point of interest to know that he was handicapped. There is nothing wrong with being hunchbacked or a dwarf in and of itself. I don't know the whole medical explanation of why some dwarves have bent spines but it seems that some do have hunchbacks caused by a bent spine. Nowadays they probably operate. Dwain 01:38, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)

Well, I was thinking of something more heroic, perhaps, "like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Flato overcame a physical impairment from birth commonly known as "hunchback syndrome" by using a cane to support his dwarflike frame", or something like that. Just a proposal. thx. Nobs01 01:51, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Personally, I don't think there's a need for that. By writing it up like that it gives the impression that there is something wrong with the fact that he was a hunchbacked dwarf and used a cane which there isn't. That short description is sticking to the simple facts. Dwain 02:04, Jun 15, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Charles Flato was not a hunchback dwarf

Charles Flato was my father's older brother. I was surprised to hear that he was a spy for the soviets. He and my father were not at all close as adults. I'm not sure my dad even knew this. The part about him being a hunchbacked dwarf is inaccurate. Actually Charles contracted polio as a child and was quite deformed and hunchbacked as a result; he was not a dwarf. He did in fact walk with a cane.

My mother, sisters and I once visited him briefly with my father and grandmother at his home on the Cape. He was a very strange man, and did not particularly like children. During the visit (I was a teenager) I had little or no conversation with him at his choice.

I believe he and his wife were divorced sometime in the 1950's. My mother mentioned Charles was a Communist, but I was shocked to hear that he was actually a spy. My father and he certainly had nothing in common other than being birthed by the same parents, as my father was an extremely honest and moral man who served in the US Navy during WWII.

Thank you for clearing up the detail about his not being a dwarf, I will remove that reference. Thanks also for your personal details. No one should try to insinuate that your father had anything to do with his brother's apparent spying. Feel free to edit the article yourself. Dwain 03:51, 18 January 2006 (UTC)