Starr-fish

High school graduation photo of Mr. Ben Starr (first column, second from bottom) 

For 15 years, my dad has been having lunch every other Wednesday with his friends, first at the Friar's Club, and after that closed, at Factor's.  Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, Monte Hall, Arthur Hiller, Gary Owens, Hal Kanter, Rocky Kalish and Groucho's son, (the late) Arthur Marx.  Recently, the attendance numbers have dwindled, but many of the guys still show up to swap stories, speak Yiddish and discuss the current insanity in the world.  Hal Kanter's daughter Donna is making a documentary about these wonderful men and their longtime deli ritual, and she's always on the hunt for hard-to-find photos.  Yesterday, my dad called me up with the following request:  "Honey, Donna needs a photo of me as a teenager.  Do you have one?"  "I don't think I've ever seen a photo of you as a teenager."  "She wants to show me at 15, when I graduated high school."  "I've only seen the photo of you as a little boy, on the front steps in Brooklyn, and the Air Force photos."  "What should I do?"  "Where did you go to high school?"  "Samuel J. Tilden in Flatbush."  "What year?"  "God.  I don't know.  1936?  1937?"  "Give me a minute, I'll call you back."  SJG:  Miracle worker.  "Hi Daddy, I found the website with the yearbooks."  "You're kidding."  "Let's do this together."  "Okay, hang on."  "Did you go by Ben Starr or Benjamin?"  "I have no idea."  "What street did you live on?"  "55th."  "What was your ambition?"  "Accountant, maybe.  Or writer."  It took us several tries, and then, up it came. June 1937. "There you are, Daddy."  "There I am." "Starr, Ben.  He became a swimmer to become a Starr-fish."  "I was on the swim team."  "You wanted to be a bank rep?"  "I don't remember putting that."  "Bank rep, Ben Starr."  "I can't believe you found it."  "I love this picture of you."  "I was a cute guy."  "You still are."