Tracking Down Iron Mike

                                     Sam McDowell with Iron Mike on the Ocean City Boardwalk 

Tracking Down Iron Mike

He stood there in the back of the Old Smuggler’s Shop on the Ocean City Boardwalk at 13^th Street for years that stretched into decades,

Everybody who was there at the time, from he sixties through the seventies, knew Iron Mike, and it seemed like you couldn’t walk past the boardwalk shop without stopping in to see him. He was the star attraction in a shop full of sea shells, antiques, historic replicas, whaler’s harpoons, a giant whale bones, and nautical gifts.

Iron Mike was an early metal deep sea diving suit that seemed to have found its niche in the back of Sam McDowell’s shop. The shop’s motif was a good reflection of its owner, who was born in Somers Point, was an Ocean City lifeguard, taught art at Princeton in the winters, and ran his boardwalk shop in the summer.

Vacationing on the West Indians island of Becquia in the winters, McDowell filled some of his shop with exotic art, crafts he brought back from the islands, including scrimshaw, which McDowell, the artist, started carving himself.

At a private party in Princeton, he met then Senator John F. Kennedy, an avid scrimshaw collector who admired McDowell’s work, and advised him to develop that talent more fully.

                       President Kennedy's scrimshaw prominently displayed on his Oval Office desk 

So under the advisement of a future president, McDowell left Princeton and Ocean City, moved fulltime to Bequia and spent most of his time carving scrimshaw, which he found even more lucrative and enjoyable than teaching or hawking his Smuggler’s wares on the boardwalk. He also bought a summer home in Carmel, California, where he often took his Ocean City lifeboat-like rowboat into the waves.

But what became of Iron Mike?

That’s what Steve Garza wanted to know. Steve read about McDowell’s art donations to the Ocean City and Somers Point Historical Societies [See: Ocean City Days: Sam McDowell - The Old Smuggler & Iron MIke ] , and wrote, “Hi Bill, I really enjoyed reading the following blog post about Sam McDowell

I remember his shop well from when I was growing up. Do you know what happened to Iron Mike? Many Thanks, Steve. Sent from my iPad.”

Since I didn’t know I told Steve that Sam was in Carmel, California and he might be able to answer his question, which sent him on his quest to find Iron Mike, and send back the following report.

Sam McDowell with Whale Bones at Smuggler Shop on Ocean City Boardwalk (Circa 1970s) 

IN SEARCH OF IRON MIKE– By Steve Garza (steve@stevegarza.com)

Many of us who visited Ocean City from the 50s through the 70s remember the Smuggler’s Shop – that fascinating combination of store and nautical museum at 13ths Street on the Boardwalk.

Although I was very young when I visited the Smuggler’s Shop, I have vivid memories of the place and its two shopkeepers, Sam McDowell, the shop’s owner, and Iron Mike, the imposing armored diving suit that greeted visitors.

During a recent visit to Ocean City I felt inspired to find out what became of both.

As for Sam McDowell, an internet search led me to an article on Bill Kelly’s blog about Sam. As readers may already know, Sam is a well-known artist who resides in California. I decided to contact Sam to find out more about his artwork and ask him what happened to Iron Mike. I wrote him a letter, using an address I had looked up, not even sure I was writing to the right Sam McDowell, but a week later I got a very gracious letter back from Sam, who was indeed “the Smuggler.”

Now in his 80s, Sam wrote that he now lives between his home in Carmel, California and his long time second home in Bequia, an island in the West Indies, though he seldom gets down there anymore.

Bequia is where he acquired some of the memorable items for his shop, such as the giant whale skull and native arts and crafts.

Sam said he is enjoying life with is wife, kids and grand kids, though he seems far from retired and makes a living as a full time artist, doing both painting and scrimshaw. He is recognized as one of the best scrimshaw artists working today, and also collects historic scrimshaw pieces. Sam focuses much of his time making fine art, hand-crafted scrimshaw pocket knives, which are sold by fine art galleries across the country.

Sam was also kind enough to include scans of two postcards he formerly sold at the shop, one of Iron Mike and one of the huge whale skull.

On the topic of Iron Mike, Sam said that he had sold the iron diving suit to a nautical museum in City Island, in the Bronx, New York, but later heard that it ended up in Florida, but he did not know where.

Those who remember Sam and the fascinating items in his shop may want to check out some of the galleries that sell his scrimshaw pocket knives. They’re collectible works of art that could also hold some personal meaning to those of us who remember the Smuggler’s Shop days.

IRON MIKE FOUND

It took a lot of internet searching to find any current information on Iron Mike. Finally I found some pictures on Flickr tagged as Iron Mike that were taken by some tourist of a large yellow painted diving suit in a museum in Islamorada, Florida. When I looked closely at the pictures, there was no doubt it was Iron Mike, who had received a yellow paint job on his upper body at some point in his travels.

While it appears that Iron Mike is a popular tourist attraction, the museum doesn’t mention him on their web site.

I called the museum to see if they had any more information about Iron Mike and his history and virtually met Amber Weller, of the Florida Keys History of Diving Museum, the present home of Iron Mike, and she filled me in with many of the following details.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF IRON MIKE

Iron Mike was built in the early 1930s by the Empire Marine Salvage and Engineering Corporation of New York City, which was headed by Thomas P. Connelly. A patent filed in 1934 lists Mr. Connelly as the inventor. The company had an address at 17 Battery Place in New York, a few blocks south of the present day World Trade Center site. But the salvage operations appear to have been based across the Hudson River in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Iron Mike’s primary ‘occupant’ was a well known commercial diver, Roy R. Hansen, of Perth Amboy, NJ. 

According to the patent, Iron Mike was designed with a number of innovative features, most of which were significant improvements over standard diving equipment of the times, including:

Iron Mike was fully pressurized and self-contained, with an oxygen tank that provided approximately four hours of air time, which was included within the suit, so no air hoses were necessary, and a bottle of caustic soda would absorb the CO2 emitted by the diver.

A telephone line was attached so the diver could keep in contact with the boat on the surface, and the mechanical “hands” of a grappling jaw permitted him to grasp objects.

The suit consists of a top and bottom pieces, secured together with a threaded ring, which could easily be opened. The buoyancy of the suit made it naturally return to an upright position, a feature the diver could take advantage of to lean over to closely inspect an object, as the suit would upright itself.

Iron Mike undertook three dives that received notable press coverage, and made him something of a celebrity. There were likely other dives, but without the company’s records, they can’t be documented. If Iron Mike could speak, he probably would have many fascinating stories to tell.

HMS Hussar, October, 1934. The Hussar was a British ship carrying pay for their soldiers during the American Revolution. In 1780 the Hussar hit a rock and sank in the Hells Gate, a treacherous waterway off New York City. Mr. Connelly’s company was one of at least three parties that attempted to locate the ship in the mid-1930s. For this mission, Iron Mike was outfitted with a huge light above his head and one on each arm, and dragged through the water behind a tugboat called the Terminal. Despite the relatively shallow depth of about 120 feet, Hansen called the job one of the nastiest of his career due to the strength of the currents.

The search continued along the shores of the Bronx for about a month during which Hansen identified six shipwrecks, none of which was the Hussar. The search was then called off because Simon Lake, the inventor of the modern submarine, and Pleasantville, NJ native, claimed to have exclusive rights, granted by the Treasury Department, to recover the Hussar. Lake was ultimately unsuccessful in this effort.

It is now believed that the amount of blasting, dredging and filling in the Hells Gate, beginning in 1876, probably buried the remains of the Hussar under landfill in the Port Morris section of the Bronx.

A humorous side note – a Time Magazine article about the dive said the crew had nicknamed the suit “Eleanor.” Thankfully, someone later reconsidered this decision and Iron Mike took hold.

Merida, August 1936. The Merida was a passenger steamer carrying gold and silver bullion from Mexico in 1911 that collided with another ship and sank off the Virginia coast in about 270 feet of water. The cargo had an estimated value of $26 million in 1936 dollars, or about $425 million today. Mr. Connelly and company dove the wreck with Iron Mike in August 1936, and according to some reports, they did salvage some of the cargo, but no details were provided. However, the book Treasure Legends of Virginia states that the company’s expedition failed, after having spent $250,000 (about $4 million today). 

A New York Times article about the expedition reveals some interesting insights about the mission and Iron Mike. Roy Hansen, by this point very experienced using Iron Mike, was supremely confident in the suit and the changes of success on this mission. He even claimed he could stay down for 16 hours at a time. Hansen also said he believed the suit could dive to 2,000 feet.

The article named his two assistants – James Cullom and William Hogarty, both from Jersey City. Most interestingly, the article refers to the presences of two diving suits matching Iron Mike’s description. Amber discovered in her research that there was an earlier suit, very similar to Iron Mike, believed to have been designed by Benjamin Leavitt of Camden, New Jersey, and this suit may have also been used for the Merida mission. Nevertheless, most documentation indicates that Thomas Connelly only built one Iron Mike suit.

Quarry Dive in Pen Argyl, Pa. September 1936. Shortly after the Merida dive, Iron Mike was used to recover the body of a 13 year old boy who drowned in a flooded quarry in Pennsylvania. In completing this somber task, Roy Hansen claimed he dove to 510 feet, a record at the time, but this could not be officially confirmed for the record books.

Post 1930s.

It is not clear what became of Thomas Connelly and his company, or when Iron Mike was retired from commercial diving. Iron Mike was reportedly stored at the Philadelphia Naval Ship Yard at some point in the 1940s, and after that was part of a live diving demonstration in Atlantic City, probably at Steel Pier.

From there he was acquired by Sam McDowell and spent his years in Ocean City. Around the time Sam closed the Smuggler’s Shop, around 1980, he sold Iron Mike to the Northwind Undersea Institute in City Island, Bronx, NY, a museum co-founded by folk singer Ritchie Havens. 

From there Iron Mike was acquired by Drs. Joe and Sally Bauer, the founders of the Florida Keys History of Diving Museum in Islamorada, Florida, and the museum has been his home ever since.

Sometime before he got to the museum, his upper body was painted yellow for an unknown reason. The museum is interested in restoring him to his original finish, but does not have the resources to do so at this time.

Today, Iron Mike is one of the most popular attractions at the Islamorada museum.

Special thanks to Sam McDowell, for sharing his recollections, and Amber Weller of the Florida Keys History of Diving Museum for sharing her research and patiently answering my questions. Amber’s research skills and attention to detail have uncovered a lot of fascinating information about Iron Mike.

LINKS:

Florida Keys History of Diving Museum

http://www.divingmuseum.org/

Steve Notes:

I do have one small update, which is that the diving museum also (finally) wrote about Iron Mike on their own blog just a few days ago.  
http://www.historyofdivingmuseum.blogspot.com/.    

Iron Mike Patent:

http://www.google.com/patents?id=Ord9AAAAEBAJ&zoom=4&dq=diving%20suit%201934&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q=diving%20suit%201934&f=false

Sam McDowell Knives:

http://artknives.com/Sam_McDowell_Knives/sam_mcdowell_knives.html

http://www.oregoncoastgalleries.com/home/ocg/smartlist_125/mcdowell_scrimshaw_knives_hand_engraved.html

http://www.hartfordyork.com/category/mcdowell-knives

http://vallejogallery.com/item.php?id=2350&

http://www.arizonacustomknives.com/Sam-McDowell.aspx

Brownie's Backyard Bargaintown NJ

Mack & Mancos to Manco & Mancos

The Arab revolution had spread, the leader of Korea had died and the economy tanked, but the big story story of the year broke on Twitter, carried over the Ocean City Patch, was primed for a big feature in the Inky, was scooped by the Press and picked up by the TV news - the venerable Mack & Manco Pizza of Ocean City, New Jersey boardwalk fame was changing their name - to Manco & Manco.

It could be the story of the year, and everyone wanted to know why? Why mess with something that's Sooo good, and Sooo successful and Sooo well known?

Not even the Inky could answer that one, other than the fact the break up of the two major boardwalk families was amiable, and they just decided to go their own ways.

To really understand you have to go back to the beginning. Before it was even called pizza. Back to Trenton, where Anthony Macrone, the Godfather of the family, began selling Trenton Tomato Pies at his restaurant near the Trenton State Fairgrounds in the early 1950s.

Even though they may look the same to the observer, a Trenton Tomato Pie is different than a pizza in that it is made with a thin and crispy dough crust with the cheeze layered first and the tomato sauce added on top, and after baking at high temperature for ten to twelve minutes, is best eaten fresh and hot.

The first Trenton Tomato Pie has been traced back to 1910 when they were first served at Joe's in the Italian neighborhood of Chambersburg, and made popular by Papas and DeLorenzos and other places run by Italians from the Naples area of Italy.

Although a staple in Trenton, the Tomato Pie didn't make its debute at the Jersey Shore until the early 1950s when a store opened in Seaside, and a new market for the product opened up.

Then one day in 1952 Mr. Anthony Macrone and his son Dominick aka "Duke," took a drive down Route 9, visited Wildwood and decided that the boardwalk at that seasonal resort might be a good place to open a restaurant featuring their Tomato Pies. It rained the first Memorial Day weekend the first Mack's opened and they only sold eight pies.

Although they did include some other items on the menu, a local judge who was a steady customer recommended they cut back on everything but the Tomato Pie, and it really took off. Although others tried to duplicate their product and business, and dozens of other pizza parlors have opened on the boardwalk, Mack's had loyal customers who kept coming back and they expanded, eventually having four shops on the Wildwood boardwalk.

Mr. Anthony Macrone's cousin, Vincent Manco, was interested in getting into the business, so in 1956 they opened the first Mack & Mancos on the Ocean City boardwalk at 8th Street, leasing the storefront from Mr. Charles Schilling, whose wife Helen (nee Shriver), of Shriver's candy fame, also owned the boardwalk movie theaters and two blocks of retail stores they leased out to other businesses.

Before long they also opened a second Mack & Manco Pizza shop between 9th and 10th Streets.

When Mr. Manco passed away, Mr. Mack brought his son Vincent Mack to Ocean City from Wildwood, and kept the business going along with Mr. Manco's son Frank and his wife Kay. Mr. Manco's wife Mary was also a part of the business.

That's when I worked for them, from 1968-1980, every summer through high school and college and a few years thereafter, learning good business sense from Mr. Mack, a very smart and honorable man.

While Duke and the rest of the family ran the stores in Wildwood, Mr. Mack and his son Vince and Kay and Frank Manco ran the two Ocean City stores for many years that stretched into decades. Eventually Mr. Mack got old and when he passed away, they kept everything running the same, except Duke would come in every once in awhile to check on things.

Duke had bigger ambitions though, and as the numbers of Atlantic City casinos increased, he decided to open a business on the Atlantic City boardwalk, but it wasn't just a pizza shop, it was also a bar and restaurant - Duke Mack's. It became one of the most popular places in Atlantic City for many years.

Eventually Vince Mack left Ocean City and moved to Atlantic City where he worked making pizza for awhile and then retired, enjoying life as a man about the boardwalk before he too passed away.

Duke Mack & his wife and Frank & Kay Manco. (Photo: Ralph Grassi)

Duke Mack & Vincent Mack back when a slice of pizza was 20 cents. (photo: Ralph Grassi)

Duke Mack - took Mack's Pizza in Wildwood to Atlantic City (Photo: Ralph Grassi)

By the time the third and fourth generation of Macks were working the Wildwood boardwalk shops, Ocean City's business expanded to a third boardwalk location at 12th street, and a few years later they opened a take-out business at a Somers Point shopping center.

With all of the Macks out of the Ocean City business, a new generation of Mancos took over the day to day operations of all of the stores, while a new generation of Macks took over the Wildwood boardwalk shops. So it just made sense to severe their business ties, especially their moniker.

In addition, the expanding Mack family of Wildwood branched out and under their original Macarone name, opened a seasonal shop in Stone Harbor. Another Wildwood Mack, Joey, opened Mack's Boardwalk Pizza ship in South Philly.

Back in Seaside, where the first Trenton Tomato Pie store was opened at the shore, the Maruca family that owned that shop decided to franchise out their name and business, and now have a half dozen franchises going in South Jersey, mainly away from the shore.

So the bottom line, the attrition of original partners, the take-over of the business by a new generation and desire to define their ownership and territory led to change in the name of Ocean City's Mack & Manco to Manco & Manco.

Here's the articles including Ocean City Packet and Inky.

Divvying Up the Pie: Mack Splits from Manco
The famous Ocean City pizzeria becomes Manco & Manco.
By Cindy Nevitt
Email the author
December 17, 2011

After 55 years, Ocean City's most iconic pizzeria has a new recipe: no Mack and more Manco. Posters with the new Manco & Manco name started appearing in the year-round Mack & Manco store at 920 Boardwalk in late October, and phone calls to the store have been answered, "Manco and Manco." An electronic sign on the facade of the Somers Point store now reads "Manco & Manco Pizza Too."

Chuck Bangle, Mack & Manco co-owner and son-in-law of owners Frank and Kay Manco, has declined to comment to Ocean City Patch on the name change since the new name started to appear. On Friday, he said he would first share information on the change only for a Sunday feature in a "major newspaper," which he declined to name. (Update on Sunday, Dec. 18: Inquirer reports on name change.)

"Mack and Manco's is now Manco & Manco Pizza!" has been posted on the pizzeria's website with various launch dates given for MancosPizza.com.

While ownership declined to speak about the name change, others talked freely about the switch.

The planned name change—and unconfirmed dissolution of the Mack and Manco partnership—has been a badly kept secret since summer with customers and neighboring merchants openly discussing the news.

There are few things in Ocean City as legendary as Mack & Manco. Although the Boardwalk is home to 18 pizzerias, the lines are always longest in front of Mack & Manco's three stores. Mack & Manco assembles its pies differently than most, spreading a layer of shredded cheese atop the thin crust before topping with a swirl of tomato sauce.

Name recognition is key in business. For someone starting out, a name that provides instant recognition is extremely valuable. For someone in business more than half a century, changing names—in most situations—would be unthinkable.

"Because we're talking about Mack and Manco, I don't think it's going to affect their business, not one iota," said Doug Wing, owner of Ready's Coffee Shop on Eighth Street. "I don't think it'll hurt them, a name change as little as that. The new name is very close to the old name."

Five years ago, Wing became the fourth owner of Ready's in its 48-year history. A name change for his restaurant, he said, would be a mistake. "If I changed the name here," he said, illustrating his point by turning his thumb in a downward direction, "it would be death."

Mack & Manco's storied history began in 1956, when founders Anthony Mack and Vincent Manco came to Ocean City from Trenton and opened the original Mack & Manco at 920 Boardwalk. A few years later, they added the store at 758 Boardwalk. Mack's sons Dominic, Vince and Joseph expanded their business to the Wildwood and Atlantic City boardwalks, while Manco's son Frank remained in Ocean City. Frank, with his wife Kay, opened the third store at 12th and the Boardwalk in the 1980s.

PRESS OF ATLANTIC CITY
Saturday, December 17, 2011
By ROB SPAHR Staff Writer |
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/breaking/mack-manco-pizza-changing-its-name/article_caa032be-28ca-11e1-9039-001871e3ce6c.html

OCEAN CITY — The façade outside of Mack & Manco Pizza on the Boardwalk was unchanged Saturday. But from the shop’s website and the way its staff answered the phone, the well-known pizzeria is apparently about to undergo a major change.

“Manco & Manco, pick up or delivery?” the voice answered.

And the neon sign above the pizzeria’s Somers Point location confirmed that “Mack” had been replaced with another “Manco.”

“There’s no Mack? What happened to Mack? We want to know where Mack went!” said a shocked Dottie Drake, 60, of Seaville, before taking her young granddaughters into the store at 920 Boardwalk. “That’s their favorite pizza place.”

But when reached by phone Saturday, Chuck Bangle — Mack & Manco co-owner and son-in-law of owners Frank and Kay Manco — said that he would not comment until after 10 a.m. on Monday morning.

In 1956, Frank Manco's late father, Vincent Manco, and the late Anthony Mack came from Trenton to open the first Mack & Manco Pizza store on the Boardwalk in Ocean City.

The pair opened a second Ocean City location a few years later, and a third location was opened on the Boardwalk in the late 1980's. The Mack family also operated other pizzerias, including Mack's Pizza in Wildwood, over the years.

And the shop’s website offered little additional explanation, because it had been replaced with a white screen and green text reading “Coming Soon” and a link to an under-construction website for Manco & Manco Pizza.

“Mack and Manco’s is now Manco & Manco Pizza!” the one-page website read before continuing lower on the page. “Mack and Manco’s menu may have changed over the years, but one thing has never changed at Manco & Manco’s — their dedication to providing their customers with the freshest, hottest, crispiest and tastiest pizza possible. An Ocean City tradition you can always count on.”

Meanwhile Manco & Manco Pizza started new Facebook and Twitter accounts on Nov. 7.

“I’m shocked,” Linwood resident Angie Waters, 37, said while walking on the Boardwalk with her three children. “I’ve been coming here my whole life, but this is the first I’m hearing about it.”

“I like the old name better,” said Jackson Waters, 8. “But as long as the pizza still tastes the same, I’m OK with it.”

Ocean City Linda Musial takes her grandsons to the pizzeria about once a week and said she did not expect that tradition to change.

“They can change their name to whatever they want,” she said. “But I think people are still going to call it “Mack and Manco.’“

NBC TV - 40
Jersey Shore Pizza Institution Drops the 'Mack'
Known as Mack & Manco Pizza since 1956, the pizza shop now has a new name
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/the-scene/food-drink/Jersey-Shore-Pizza-Institution-Drops-the-Mack-135859243.html

Salt water taffy, beach tags, boardwalk fries and Mack & Manco Pizza. They’re all items synonymous with summers at the Jersey Shore, but one is about to change.

The famous pizza joint, opened by Trenton’s Vincent Manco and Anthony Mack on the Boardwalk in Ocean City back in 1956, is losing one of its namesakes. According to the shop’swebsite (which is now 80 percent complete) and based on the way they now answer the phone, it’s about to be known as “Manco & Manco Pizza.”

The name change will reportedly take effect at all of their locations beginning Jan. 1.
“Mack and Manco’s is now Manco & Manco Pizza!” reads the website. “Mack and Manco’s menu may have changed over the years, but one thing has never changed at Manco & Manco’s -- their dedication to providing their customers with the freshest, hottest, crispiest and tastiest pizza possible. An Ocean City tradition you can always count on.”

They started new social media accounts back on Nov. 7, though neither the Facebook nor Twitterfeeds have been active since then.

The Mack family, which owns pizza joints in Wildwood ended their 55-year partnership with the Manco family in June.

"It's just two separate entities that decided among themselves that one would take back their name and we would all go our separate ways. There's nothing else to say about it," co-owner Chuck Bangle told the Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday.

"There's no animosity, it was a mutual and amicable decision," Bangle told NBC Philadelphia.

One of the owners of Mack's didn't go on camera but would say that it was just time for the families to go their separate ways.

And anyone worried that the pizza could lose its famous taste shouldn't fret.
"The product will be the same and I guarantee you everything will be the consistently the same as it's always been for the last 55 years," Manco & Manco manager Tony Polcini said.

INKY:
Ocean City pizza icon slices up its name

http://articles.philly.com/2011-12-18/news/30531374_1_pizza-parlor-boardwalk-pizza-heaven

OCEAN CITY, N.J. - They've been taking three simple ingredients - tomato sauce, cheese, and dough - and crafting them into edible memories for so long here that the name Mack & Manco is as iconic on this beach resort's boardwalk as its Ferris wheel and salt water taffy.

So inherent in local culture is this throwback pizza parlor - actually there are now three boardwalk locations and one across the bridge on the mainland in Somers Point - that followers of the crispy tomato pies will tell you they seek a "Mack & Manco's" rather than a simple slice of pizza when headed for the boardwalk.

So when the name "Mack" is officially dropped Jan. 1 from a moniker that has been around since 1956 and the place is called simply Manco & Manco, jaws are likely to drop.

The reasons for the impending change, after all these years, are shrouded in mystery, like the secret recipes for the pies.

"It's just two separate entities that decided among themselves that one would take back their name and we would all go our separate ways. There's nothing else to say about it," said Chuck Bangle, who says he co-owns the institution with his wife, Mary, and her parents, Frank and Kay Manco.

He declined to say whether the split was amicable, but took his lawyer's help in writing a brief news release announcing the change.

"We know that when people really start to notice the change, they are going to be worried," Bangle said. "But they shouldn't be, because nothing else is changing and our customers have no need to be concerned."

He insists that the restaurants will be retained by the same ownership and management and that all the recipes and procedures that have gone into turning a brief list of ingredients into a boardwalk food staple aren't going to change.

"We have customers who tell us that the moment they get to town, without even unpacking their bags, the first thing they do is come here for a slice," Bangle said. "And they've been doing it for generations. We would never mess with that recipe. It's like a bond we have with our customers."

After running a successful pizza operation in Trenton, Frank Manco's father, Vincent Manco, came to the resort 55 years ago to open his first boardwalk pizza parlor with his cousin Anthony Mackrone.

Mackrone, who eventually shortened his name and came to be known as "Tony Mack," had already been operating Mack's Pizza on the Wildwood boardwalk for several years when Mack & Manco formed.

It was a partnership made in pizza heaven, at least for a while.

Almost instantly crowds of vacationers were lining up to watch the "pie man" flip the dough into the air and buy hot, delicious slices for 15 cents.

Then, for reasons that seem to be lost in the mists of antiquity, the Macks and the Mancos went their separate ways, and the Manco family continued to operate the popular Ocean City locations using the Mack & Manco name.

The Macks expanded their operations to two spots in Wildwood, continuing to simply call theirs Mack's Pizza.

Ralph Grassi, 47, of Wildwood Crest, a local historian and longtime friend of the Mack family, said the name change was an "official separation of both parties."

"The Mack family basically wanted the Mack name to remain theirs and no longer be associated with the Manco name," said Grassi, a former Mack's Pizza employee who now works for the Borough of Wildwood Crest and said he was asked to speak on behalf of the Mack family.

Grassi would not comment on the details of any legal or financial settlement, but indicated that Mack's Pizza would remove any reference to Mack & Manco on its pizza boxes and employee uniforms in the agreement. He did say it was an "amicable and mutually agreed-upon decision."

Joanne Moloney, whose family now operates Mackrone Original Mack's Pizza in Stone Harbor, said that her family's enterprise was not involved in the Mack-vs.-Manco situation and that she had no comment on the matter.

Fearing that too much of the wrong type of publicity about the change could hurt his pizza parlor's storied reputation, Bangle, a no-nonsense kind of guy who handles his company's day-to-day operations, admits he has been trying to keep the name change sotto voce.

But by Jan. 1, nothing in the Ocean City and Somers Point locations of the business can bear the name "Mack," including signage, paper cups, pizza boxes, employee uniforms, advertising, or anything else associated with the enterprise.

Employees have already started answering the phone "Manco & Manco," and most of the exterior signs on the locations have been changed.

Among the things that won't change are the employees, the "true secret ingredient," Bangle says.

"These people are the heart and soul of what we do," said Bangle, who manages about 150 employees during the summer and about 30 during the winter. Many of the year-round workers are longtimers who've been with the company more than 20 years.

Tony Polcini, 41, who has worked for the Mancos for nearly 25 years and is now a manager, says he never thought of getting another job, because Bangle and the Mancos are "like family to me."

Nowadays, slices cost $2.25 (whole pies are $17), but a lot of things are still done the old-fashioned way.

They don't use pizza cutters to form those mud-flap-sized slices, only clam knives, which help the servers get a more accurate cut, said Tom Rossi, 31, of Seaville, who has worked at Manco's at its Ninth Street location for 17 years.

Rossi said the parlor had always had a strict hierarchy:

The pie man, seen from the boardwalk, takes center stage behind the counter to flip and twirl the dough into perfect, thin, 18-inch rounds.

The "sinker," usually a veteran crew member, sauces and cheeses the pie.

The "stretcher" has the all-important job of working the oven - a position taken very seriously at Manco's, where customers often look for a "bubble crust," the thinnest spots in the dough that have blossomed into crispy yet gooey crunching perfection.

And when customers place their orders, it is customary for the wait staff not to write any of it down.

"My mother-in-law, who's 72, will sometimes stand in the middle of the place when it's packed in the summer and shake her head and say, 'It's just pizza and soda. . . . They come back again and again just for pizza and soda,' " Bangle said. "A lot of people, including her, have tried to figure out why that is, what's the mystique of it all."

The decidedly low-tech scene at each Manco's boardwalk location - white walls, laminate-covered countertops, green vinyl-covered counter stools, simple wood tables and chairs - has been the site of plenty of engagements, weddings, and wakes over the years.

"I think the appeal of the place is that it never changes," said Toniann Christou, 55, of Newtown, Bucks County, who owns a summer home in Ocean City and has been a customer for 21 years.

"The pizza is always delicious, always the same," said Christou, on a trip for some boardwalk Christmas shopping. "You eat it all summer and dream about it all winter."

The Story of Pizza – Bill Kelly Ocean City SandPaper, 1994

In Trenton in 1956 pizza, as we know it, was known as "tomato pie", but when Anthony Mack and Vincent Manco came to Ocean City from Trenton that year they just called it pizza. Mack and Manco's opened their first pizza parlor at 918 Boardwalk in the summer of 1956. A few years later they opened another store at 7th Street and the Boardwalk.

Mr. Mack had three sons-Dominic, Vince and Joseph -and they expanded their business to the Wildwood and Atlantic City boardwalks. Vincent Manco's son Frank and his wife Kay continued to operate the original Ocean City locations, and opened a third store at 12th Street in the late '80's. Although it seems there is a pizza parlor on every corner in Ocean City today with new ones opening every season, Mack & Manco's is never afraid of the competition and attributes the endurance of Mack & Manco's to their consistency. "It's our consistency that makes the clock turn," says Kay Manco, "and our survival stems from our loyal customers who come back year after year." With Kay and Frank's daughter Mary, a third generation is continuing the business in the same tradition.

One of Mack and Manco's traditions is making the pizza fresh in front of the customers, with the pie maker putting on an entertaining show for the customers, twirling the pizza dough in the air to stretch it. "We have been very fortunate to have such good employees," Kay adds.

Mack and Manco's have expanded their menu since 1956 when plain pizza and soda were the only things on the menu. Besides the traditional thin and crispy cheese and tomato sauce pizza, we now provide a variety of new offerings, like Venetian pizza with whole sliced Jersey tomatoes and a number of other toppings such as broccoli and spinach along with the old favorites like pepperoni and sausage. Our menu may have changed over the years, but one thing has never changed at Mack and Manco's-their dedication to providing their customers with the freshest, hottest, crispiest and tastiest pizza possible. An Ocean City tradition you can always count on.

Ralph Grassi, local Wildwood historian wrote the history of Mack’s Pizza on the Wildwood Boadwalk, and wrote:

Please visit Ralph Grassi's site which includes the history of Macks Pizza in Wildwood and has posted a lot of old, neat photos, some of which I have used here. Thanks Ralph.

http://www.funchase.com/Images/Macks/MacksPizzaPg1.htm

The Mack Pie dates back nearly sixty years to a time when Anthony and Lena Macaroni operated a restaurant located near the old fairgrounds on Nottingham Way in Trenton, New Jersey. It was there that the Mack's Tomato Pie was born. Years later the family opened a pizza shop in Seaside Heights on the Jersey shore but it wasn't until 1953 that this famous pie hit the Wildwood Boardwalk.

One day in 1952 Anthony took his son Dominic (better known as Duke) on a road trip. They hopped in the car and headed out on a journey that eventually ended on a little barrier island at the southern tip of New Jersey called The Wildwoods. Anthony and his wife Lena had previously scouted the Wildwood location and fell in love with it, however to Duke it seemed to be at the end of the earth. Fortunately the family did choose the Wildwood Boardwalk for a new store and the following year Anthony and Lena along with their three sons Joseph, Vincent and Duke opened up shop at Wildwood Avenue on Memorial Day weekend - As always ( some say it is a tradition)it rained for three days and only 8 pies were sold, but things turned around quickly. The Wildwood business did so well that within a few years Anthony and his son Vincent opened a pizza shop on the Ocean City Boardwalk (N.J.) along with cousin Vince Manco and created the first Mack and Manco's.

Originally, the Mack's baked their pies in a conventional range, but later used industrial ovens such as Bakers Pride and Blodgett. In 1966 a new innovation in pizza cooking was introduced to the industry called the Roto-Flex Oven. This bakery oven features four rotating decks allowing more than 20 pies to be cooked at the same time and in 1971 Mack's decided to give them a try. This new process of baking pizza took some time to get used to, but with a little tweaking and the proper adjustments they got the ovens working perfectly. ( To sit at the counter and not only watch your pie being made, but to actually watch it rotate and cook through the glass oven doors has always been a real treat.) Eventually they purchased a total of eight ovens for the Seaside, Ocean City and Wildwood stores.

The Mack family has always had a unique style of making pizza and people took notice. Customers and other restaurant owners would watch with great curiosity as the cheese would be applied first (!)followed by the sauce. This was a rather unorthodox way of doing things in the pizza making trade.

Another unique innovation that Mack's created was the "Pump".(Anyone that has sat at Mack's counter knows about the pump.)Their delicious sauce is pumped through a clear hose that comes up through the floor from the basement and to the pizza bench.(What lays beneath in the underground "Pizza Lair"? Just another part of the mystique of Mack's Pizza.)

In the early years Mack's offered an 18 inch pie for $2.14. Before the idea of the pizza box came along Mack's wrapped the "pies to go" in white paper. (And how many remember when a slice was served on a napkin? - I sure do.) You could get a cut for 29 cents and for an extra 15 you could get an icy cold beverage to go with it. (I really like saying "icy cold beverage"...)

At that time Mack's served "Juicy Orange" which quickly became a favorite, but as the years passed another product would become associated with the pie - Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer.(Any diehard Mack's fan will tell you their drink of choice is Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer.) This combination has become a tradition at Mack's and for many years the soda was served directly from the tap of a big Birch Beer barrel out front of the store.

Now, in 2011, Tony Mack’s great grandchildren are following in their parents footsteps as they work their way through college tossing the original Mack’s Famous Pizza! Come and visit Mike, Laura, Nicole, Kevin, Stephen, Sarah and David as they continue their Mack’s Pizza legacy!


RIP -

MACK, VINCENT – of Atlantic City, died Wednesday at Ocean Point Health Center. Born in Trenton, he lived in Trenton-Yardley, PA area most of his life and resided in Atlantic City for the past 20 years. Mr. Mack worked for many years in Product Development for Mack’s Pizza in Seaside and Duke Mack’s in Atlantic City.

Son of the late Anthony and Lena Maruca Mack, he is survived by his brothers, Dominick “Duke” Mack and his companion Pat Byrne of Atlantic City, Joseph and his companion, Sharon Manes of Stone Harbor, several relatives form the Maruca family, nephews and nieces, Ronald Mack, darryl Mack and his wife Mary, Robert, Robyn, JoAnn and Donna Maloney, Maryanne Ziccardi and her husband, Michael; two great nephews, Nicholas Ziccardi and Eonin Mack; a great niece, Brittany Ziccardi; extended family, Frank and Kay Manco, Joseph Auletta and Neil Cirucci and many cousins.

DOMINICK "DUKE" MACK

MACK
DOMINICK "DUKE" passed away at his home surrounded by his family on Friday, September 18th. Duke was a unique individual; one of a kind, a lover of life and fun, but at the same time a serious businessman and a warm and loving person devoted to family and friends. After operating a restaurant in Trenton NJ on Nottingham Way (near the Trenton Fairgrounds), Duke, along with his father Anthony, took a drive to Wildwood NJ and that's where the first Mack's Pizza was born. They were the original founders of Mack's Pizza in Wildwood, NJ, as well as being the "Mack" in Mack and Manco's Pizza in Ocean City, NJ.

Duke's other businesses included a nightclub/restaurant named after him in AC, Duke Mack's, Hamilton Bowling Lanes in Hamilton Township, NJ and Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer.

Duke was a huge NY Yankee supporter and a fan of Joe DiMaggio "the greatest Yankee of them all." Duke had a great sense of humor and was a constant source of strength for his family and friends. Under his tough exterior, he had a heart of gold.

Predeceased by his brother, Vince Mack and his first wife, Charlotte; Duke is survived by his wife Pat, two sons and a daughter-in-law, Ronald Mack and Darryl and Mary Mack; grandchildren, Eoin and Laura; Pat's daughter, Maryanne, who Duke loved and thought of as his own, her husband Michael and grandchildren, Brittany and Nicky Ziccardi. Duke is also survived by his loving brother and sister-in-law, Joseph and Sharon Mack; and his sister Catherine Moloney.

Published in Philadelphia Inquirer & Philadelphia Daily News on September 21, 2009

Macks of Stone Harbor
http://www.mackspizzaofstoneharbor.com/MacksPizza/HISTORY.html

Pizza for the Mack family is a way of life. When Anthony Mackrone, “Tony Mack”, took his Trenton, New Jersey tomato pie to the Wildwood boardwalk in 1953, he took his wife Lena and four children, Duke, Joe, Kitty and Vincent with him. From Nottingham Way to Wildwood Avenue, Tony Mack moved a product from quiet success in Trenton to an overnight sensation on the Jersey Shore. In 1956, he provided an opportunity to his cousin, Frank Manco to join him in Ocean City and Mack-Manco Pizza was born.

Six grandchildren followed Tony into the business. The pictures displayed here depict just how those grandchildren learned to spin pizza at the same time they started to walk, entered the Wildwood Baby Parades in pizza themed floats, poured birch beers from the barrel off the front counter and stood by their "Uncle Joe Mack" as he taught them how to work the peel boards.

No wonder all six of them still love the business and love the product. Most put themselves through college working in Wildwood. For Bob Moloney, Tony’s second oldest grandson, the passion drove him to open another store in Stone Harbor New Jersey in 1987. After graduating from Trenton State College with his Master’s Degree in Education, he moved his career to Cape May Court House and in honor of the man who started it all, Bob named the new store “Mackrone’s Pizza…the original Mack’s Pizza” right in Stone Harbor, New Jersey. Now, in the quaint town of Stone Harbor, directly between his grandfather’s first businesses in Wildwood and Ocean City, Bob continues to toss that pizza to the enjoyment of the lines of customers who wait patiently for the school year to end so Bob can open his doors.

This Mack’s Pizza of Stone Harbor has developed specialty pizzas named after Wildwood Boardwalk landmarks and memories. From the “Tram Car” (a meat lover’s pizza) named for that annoying but ever present tram screaming “watch the tram car please” as the Mack kids tossed and sold that pizza over the front counter….to the “Golden Nugget” (white pizza with fresh tomatoes, mushrooms and extra cheese) named for the roller coaster ride that preceded the metal skyscraping nightmares that now line the boardwalk piers...to the “Wildwood” (a classic pepperoni, mushroom and extra cheese) named for the classic town itself.

The Mack Pie dates back nearly sixty years to a time when Anthony and Lena Macaroni operated a restaurant located near the old fairgrounds on Nottingham Way in Trenton, New Jersey. It was there that the Mack's Tomato Pie was born. Years later the family opened a pizza shop in Seaside Heights on the Jersey shore but it wasn't until 1953 that this famous pie hit the Wildwood Boardwalk.

Mrs. Helen Shriver Schilling & the Trashing of Old Ocean City

Now the estate of Helen Shriver Schilling, after failing to abide by her estate planning regarding her movie theaters, want to build on the beach.

Helen Shriver, originally of Rydal, Pa. was the only child of Sarah and William Shriver, Jr., the son of William Shriver, Sr. who started a candy and ice cream business on the Ocean City, NJ boardwalk at 9th street in the early 1890s. Her father rebuilt their businesses in brick after the great fire of 1929 that destroyed much of the boardwalk and surrounding neighborhood.

She attened Hood College in Maryland and graduated in 1922. She married Charles Frank Schilling, a Philadelphia builder, and they enjoyed the outdoors, hunting and fishing. Although they sold the candy business in 1958 to the Hank and Virginia Glaser Family, it retained her family name.

For decades Mr. and Mrs. Schilling ran her family's Ocean City businesses, which grew to include the Strand, Moorlyn, Village Theaters, five parking lots and boardwalk storefronts that were leased out to various businesses including the Seaside Baths, Dels grill and Mack & Manco Pizza.

After the death of Mr. Schilling in Sept. 1980, she became a trustee of the Tabernacle in 1981 and donated money to Shore Memorial Hospital in Somers Point, where a wing is now named after her family. She also renovated her properties in 1988 to ensure they would continue unhindered into the future.

One thing that didn't last was Shriver's Pier, which stretched out over the 9th Street beach from the boardwalk and provided a pleasant place for people to sit in the shade. After young people and hippies began to conjugate there it was torn down and not rebuilt, as I'm sure Mr. and Mrs. Schilling would have wanted.

I know because I knew Mr. and Mrs. Schilling from when I first started working at Mack & Manco's Pizza in the early 1970s, as they would come in and sit at the counter for lunch nearly every day. One day in the late 1990s, I was driving around and saw Mrs. Schilling outside her house on the point at the Bay in the Gardens. She invited me in for tea and we sat and talked for awhile and she clearly expressed her strong views towards preserving Old Ocean City as best she could.

When she died in December, 1998, her attorney Ronald Taht, Esq. handled her estate. Taht’s former partner Bob Bell handled the estate of her father and grandfather. The toll both that leads out of Ocean City to Longport has a plaque that notes it is officially named the Robert Bell Toll Booth.

When Mrs. Schilling died Taht was quoted as saying, “To me, it’s the end of an era. The Schillings and Shrivers were old Ocean city and we’ve lost so much of that. They were very fine people who loved this city very much.”

As anyone who knew Mrs. Schilling understood, the one thing she wanted was to keep her properties and businesses intact, especially the movie theaters, which she insisted, under no circumstances, were they to be sold to the Frank Family who owned a movie theater chain that stretched from Northfield to Cape May, as they had unfairly competed with the Shriver/Schilling theaters in Ocean City and had wanted to buy them for many years.

The Franks, who had one of the first drive in movie theaters, were also credited with creating the multi-plex theaters that included more than one screen in each theater so many movies could be shown at the same time.

Despite the distinct and pronounced desire of Mrs. Helen Shriver Schilling, her attorney Ron Taht, Esq. created a shell company that officially purchased the theaters, that were then sold to the Franks, circumventing her estate plans.

At one time the Strand Theater on the Boardwalk at 9th Street had a seating of 2,000, which was full to capacity for such hit movies as Jaws, and included a giant silk curtain of Neptune, the God of the sea.

One of the first things the Franks did once they had assumed ownership of the theaters, was to take that curtain down and trash it in the back parking lot of the theater. They literally ripped it up and threw it in the trash. I know this because I was there and witnessed a member of the Frank family doing it.

The next thing they did was to divide the 2,000 seat theater in a number of smaller theaters, which they also did to the Moorlyn and Village Theaters.

It took a while, but eventually the Franks decided they couldn't make enough money from running the movie theaters they had wrongfully and probably illegally purchased via Ron Taht, and wanted to convert them into apartments. They did this to the Moorlyn Theater, across the boardwalk from the Music Pier, where they destroyed a second story stage where W.C. Fields and other Vaudeville acts had once performed that should have been restored and maintained as a theater.

They also own the Cape May theater that they also want to destroy and convert into condos and apartments.

And now the estate of Helen Shriver Schilling wants to build homes on the beachfront property that she once owned and wanted preserved.

Well none of her other plans for her estate have been honored, her theaters sold to those she specifically requested then never be sold to, and then subsequently trashed, so why should any of her wishes be upheld by the city or the courts?

Old Ocean City, the one best remembered, is gone, and those who own it now are motivated by greed and not a sense of community or history, and as soon as they get what they want, they won't live in the New Ocean City, but they'll take the money and run.

The Neptune Curtain at the Old Strand Theater in Ocean City was trashed, as was the theater itself

From the Top at the Ocean City Music Pier

PBS Radio's From the Top, hosted by Christopher O'Riley, will feature local musicians this week on a program that was recorded earlier this year with the Ocean City Pops orchestra at the Ocean City Music Pier. The nationally syndicated show that promotes young people playing classical music, can be heard on WRTI Temple University's station (Ocean City on WRTQ 91.3)

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wrti/arts.artsmain?action=viewArticle&sid=17&id=1875169&pid=208.

This program, which is broadcast on Saturday afternoon and again on Friday at 7 pm, can also be heard over the internet at their web site,http://www.fromthetop.org/radio/thisweek, and is archived so it can be heard later at any time.

The show includes the Ocean City Pops, under the direction of William Scheible, and solo performances by sixteen year old violinist Amy Semes, from Broomall, Pa., and trumpeter Jacob Hernandez, 18, from Philadelphia, as well as Scheible, who also plays trumpet.

Christopher O'Reily gives Ocean City a good plugs and Amy's 102 year old great uncle, who lives in Ocean City, recalls patronizing the Ocean City Music Pier as a child, and is a big fan of classical music and opera. They talked with him and got him to admit the secret of his longevity - a Scotch a day, and listening to opera.

Amy has two sisters who also play the violin, which was selected as the instrument of choice by her parents because it was easy to carry around. She tells the story about how once, when she got hurt, her sister had to substitute for her at a performance that she too had to play, so her sister tied her hair back for once performance and let it down for another, and people didn't know the difference.

Fernandez, a protege of S, acknowledges that his friends come to his performances, but don't particularly care for the classical music, some of which is a century old.

If you go to the web site, besides listening to the show, there's also a short videotape of the Polaris Quartet, from Dayton, Ohio, rehearsing before they go on, giving a vibrant and spontaneous performance on the boardwalk outside the music pier.

As noted on the From the Top web site:

Show 239 | Ocean City, New Jersey
Recorded: Wednesday, August 31, 2011

This week, From the Top is at the Music Pier in Ocean City, New Jersey, joined by the Ocean City Pops under the direction of William Scheible. You'll hear a 16-year-old violinist play Wieniawski with the orchestra and an 18-year-old pianist play Bach. Also, the junior division winners of this year's Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition join Christopher O'Riley to perform Dvořák and a teenage trumpeter teams up with Pops conductor William Scheible to play the music of Vivaldi.

Performers and repertoire:
Violinist Amy Semes,16, from Broomall, PA performs I.Allegro Moderato from Violin Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op 14 by Henryk Wieniawski

Trumpeter Jacob Hernandez, 18, from Philadelphia, PA and Ocean City Pops conductor and trumpeter William Scheible perform I. Allegro from Concerto for 2 Trumpets in C by Antonio Vivaldi

Polaris Quartet (violinist Jenny Lee, violin, 17 from Bloomington, IN; violinist Billy Fang, violin, 18 from Dayton, OH; violist Demi Fang, 15, from Dayton, OH; and cellist Josh Halpern, 17, from Dayton, OH) performs I. Allegro, ma non tanto from Piano Quintet in A major, Op.81 by Antonín Dvořák

Pianist Kevin Sun, 18, from Carmichael, CA Performs I.Overture from Overture in the French Style, BWV 831 by Johann Sebastian Bach

Cellist Austin Huntington, 17, from South Bend, IN Performs I. Andante – Allegro vivace from Sonata No. 4 in C major, Op. 102 by Ludwig Van Beethoven

Brian O'Keeney

Brian's Facebook Photo.

He won't allow friends or writing on his wall.

Outside St. Francis Cabrini Church , Ocean City