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New York City born David Johansen sang in Rock & Roll dance bands as a teenager, joining Charles Ludlum's Ridiculous Theater and starting the New York Dolls.

The highly influential Dolls made two iconic Rock & Roll records before disbanding in the mid seventies. At this time he created the David Johansen Group which recorded six highly acclaimed albums and toured hits such as "Funky but Chic" for the next ten years. Simultaneously he began performing Jump Blues, Calypso, and "Pre-Hayes code Rock & Roll" under the name Buster Poindexter The success of these shows led to Buster Poindexter's touring four swinging internationally acclaimed CD's.

During this time, in addition to his musical career, Johansen started appearing in various movies , including Let It Ride (1989) and Scrooged (1988), as well as making various television appearances, including a season on Saturday Night Live (1975).

Frank Albanese was born on 16 May 1931 in West Brighton, Staten Island, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Goodfellas (1990), The Sopranos (1999) and Dead Presidents (1995). He died on 5 October 2015 in Staten Island, New York, USA.

Raymond Serra was born on 13 August 1936 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991) and Manhattan (1979). He was married to Gayle Kaizer. He died on 20 June 2003 in Staten Island, New York City, New York, USA.

Ralph Clanton was born on 11 September 1914 in Fresno, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Cyrano de Bergerac (1950), Trading Places (1983) and Johnny Tremain (1957). He died on 29 December 2002 in Staten Island, New York, USA.

Frank Ferrara was born on 13 September 1946. He was an actor, known for The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), I Am Legend (2007) and The Warriors (1979). He died on 15 January 2017 in Staten Island, New York, USA.

Frances Ensemplare was born on 3 September 1934 in New York, USA. She was an actress, known for The Sopranos (1999), Sue (1997) and The Immaculate Misconception (2006). She was married to Gaetano Ensemplare. She died on 9 December 2017 in Staten Island, New York City, New York, USA.

Pat Zurica was born on 21 August 1931 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Patton (1970), The Savage Is Loose (1974) and The Last Run (1971). He died on 29 March 1985 in Staten Island, New York, USA.

Richard C. Castellano was born on 5 May 1954 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Analyze This (1999), Four Deadly Reasons (2002) and Lullaby (2021). He died on 15 April 2015 in Staten Island, New York, USA.

James Gubitosi was born on 26 October 1930 in Nutley, New Jersey, USA. He was an actor, known for The Big Premiere (1940), 1-2-3-Go! (1941) and Ye Olde Minstrels (1941). He was married to Irene Kublin. He died on 30 January 1995 in Staten Island, New York, USA.

Elaine Boies was an actress, known for Legacy of Blood (1978) and House of Seven Belles (1979). She died in 2002 in Staten Island, New York, USA.

James Reno was an actor, known for Summer of Sam (1999), Bullets Over Broadway (1994) and Married to the Mob (1988). He died on 31 May 1999 in Staten Island, New York, USA.

Kasha Haroldi was born on 31 March 1907 in Dallas, Texas, USA. She was an actress, known for California Straight Ahead (1925), The Still Alarm (1926) and Sackcloth and Scarlet (1925). She was married to Charles Lowe and Hal Le Sueur. She died on 26 June 1992 in Staten Island, New York, USA.

Ford Sorvino was born on 30 April 1902 in Vomero, Città Metropolitana di Napoli, Campania, Italy. He was an actor, known for Sweet Nothing (1995) and Amongst Friends (1993). He died on 26 August 1995 in Staten Island, New York, USA.

James McCausland was born in New York City where he worked in various news organisations and publications, specialising in finance. He worked at United Press International, the monthly Finance Magazine as senior editor and was in charge of all internal and external communications at the American Stock Exchange. He has been involved in the starting up of several publications including Good Weekend and the Sunday Age.

He arrived in Australia from New York in 1971, and was a financial journalist and sub-editor for the Murdoch paper The Australian in the 1970s and night editor and business manager for The Age in the 1980s, before going into public relations.

Pam La Testa was born on 2 April 1944 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Don't Mess with My Sister! (1987), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) and Blood Sisters (1987). She died on 9 October 2019 in Staten Island, New York, USA.

Galt MacDermot was born on 18 December 1928 in Montréal, Québec, Canada. He was a composer, known for Hair (1979), Zodiac (2007) and Forrest Gump (1994). He was married to Marlene Bruynzeel. He died on 17 December 2018 in Staten Island, New York City, New York, USA.

Ethyl Eichelberger was born on 17 July 1945 in Pekin, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for The Equalizer (1985), Great Performances (1971) and Leg Work (1987). He died on 12 August 1990 in Staten Island, New York City, New York, USA.

Henry Scarpelli was born on 30 July 1930 in Richmond Hill, Staten Island, New York, USA. He was a producer and director, known for The Last Victim (1976) and The Super Weapon (1976). He was married to Claire Lagana. He died on 4 April 2010 in Grasmere, Staten Island, New York City, New York, USA.

Richard Caselnova was born on 13 March 1937 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Scarface (1983), Hand Gun (1994) and Law & Order (1990). He was married to Sandra Ann Southworth. He died on 6 June 2009 in Staten Island, New York City, New York, USA.

Ed Cerullo was born in 1937 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He is known for Daffy Duck's Quackbusters (1988), Rugrats Adventure Game (1998) and The Soldier's Tale (1984). He was married to Grace Russo. He died on 27 June 2014 in Staten Island, New York City, New York, USA.

Jerry Robinson was an American comic book artist from Trenton, New Jersey. He was one of the earliest creative staff of the "Batman" stories by DC Comics. Robinson is primarily remembered for co-creating two popular characters: Robin/Dick Grayson and the Joker. The first was the most prominent sidekick hero in comics, and the second was one of the most prominent super-villains. Robinson was inducted into the Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2004.

In 1922, Robinson was born in Trenton, New Jersey. Trenton briefly served as the capital of the United States in 1784. Robinson was born to a Jewish family. His father was entrepreneur Benjamin Robinson. Benjamin was from European Russia (the European regions of the Russian Empire). He had emigrated to the United States in 1895, primarily to avoid conscription into the Imperial Russian Army. Mae Robinson (Robinson's mother) was a bookkeeper from Lower Manhattan.

As a teenager, Robinson aspired to become a journalist. He studied journalism at Columbia University, but dropped out before earning a degree. In 1939, Robinson was hired by Bob Kane to serve as an assistant for his small artist studio. Kane had already created the Batman character, and needed help to produce more stories. His new job required Robinson to move to The Bronx, as he had to live in proximity to Kane's own residence.

Robinson started out as both a letterer and a background inker for the "Batman" stories. He was then entrusted with inking secondary figures in the stories. By 1940, Robinson became the Batman series' primary inker, while George Roussos served as the inker for the background art. To supplement their income, Robinson and Roussos also worked as inkers and background artists for the superhero comic series "Target and the Targeteers", published by Novelty Press.

In late 1940 or early 1941, Robinson became a company staffer for National Comics (a predecessor for DC Comics). National was the publisher for Batman, and reportedly wanted the exclusive services of the people who were working in the popular "Batman" series.

In 1940, Bob Kane and Bill Finger contemplated adding a sidekick figure to the Batman series. Robinson suggested code-naming the character "Robin", naming him after Robin Hood. Robinson had reportedly read several books about Robin Hood as a boy. The trio of co-creators worked on Robin's origin story. Robin/Dick Grayson was depicted as an orphaned circus performer who becomes the legal ward of Batman/Bruce Wayne. The boy sidekick soon became a popular character, and served as the main inspiration for the creation of several other sidekick characters during the Golden Age of Comic Books (c. 1938-1956).

Also in 1940, Kane, Finger, and Robinson created a new super-villain, the Joker. The character's appearance was modeled on the visual appearance of actor Conrad Veidt in the film, "The Man Who Laughs" (1928). In the film, Veidt was portraying Gwynplaine, a Victor Hugo character whose mouth has been mutilated into a perpetual grin. Like him, the Joker had a permanent mirthless smile. Robinson reportedly came up with the initial idea for creating the new villain, but Bob Kane claimed in interviews that it was Kane and Finger who had the idea to model the character on Veidt.

Robinson's other contributions to the "Batman" supporting cast was redesigning Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth into a slender figure, and offering ideas for the design of the villain Two-Face/Harvey Dent. He is not credited with creating either of the two characters, but he had a hand in their development.

In 1943, Bob Kane stopped drawing new comic book stories for Batman, as he wanted to focus on the "Batman" newspaper comic strip. Robinson took over the artist duties for the Batman comic book stories, primarily sharing this role with Dick Sprang. They both served as ghost artists, with Kane continuing to be credited as the series' artist.

In 1944, Robinson created his own artist studio. His business partner was fellow comics artist Mort Meskin (1916-1995), who had worked extensively for Fiction House, MLJ Comics (later renamed to Archie Comics), and National Comics. The main customer of their small studio was Spark Publications (1944-1946), a Massachusetts-based company owned by pulp fiction writer Ken Crossen ( 1910 - 1981). Spark went bankrupt in 1946, due to a decline in its sales. Consequently, Robinson and Meskin shut down their own studio.

During the next several years, Robinson worked as a freelance artist, and as an illustrator for textbooks. In the 1950s, Robinson worked as a cover artist for "Playbill" (1884-), a monthly magazine whose main audience is theatergoers. He also started producing political cartoons for newspapers. In the 1960s, he started working primarily as a newspaper cartoonist. He was the only credited creator for the syndicated comic strip "True Classroom Flubs and Fluffs" (1965-1967), which humorously depicted real-life error perpetrated by American students.

In 1967, Robinson was elected as the new president of the National Cartoonists Society (1946-). It is an organization for professional cartoonists in the United States, though it works primarily as a way for cartoonists to socialize with each other, rather than a labor union. His term ended in 1969. From 1973 to 1975, Robinson served as the president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.

In 1974, Robinson published the non-fiction book "The Comics". It was a comprehensive guide the history of newspaper comic strips. In the mid-1970s, Robinson championed creator rights for comic book creators. He was one of the leaders of a campaign that demanded full recognition and compensation of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster as the creators of Superman. In 1975, DC Comics agreed to grant lifetime stipends and a credit in all broadcast and published Superman work to Siegel and Shuster.

In 1978, Robinson established "CartoonArts International", a New York City-based cartooning newspaper syndication service which distributes political and humor cartoons, caricatures, and graphics internationally. By the 2010s, the syndication service represented about 550 artists from 75 different countries.

In 1999, Robinson co-created the manga series "Astra", working with artists Shojin Tanaka and Ken-ichi Oishi. Originally published in Japanese, the series was translated and published in English by an imprint of Central Park Media (1990-2009). It was Robinson's first comic-book related work in decades.

In May 2007, Robinson was hired as a creative consultant for DC Comics. The extent of his duties to the company was left undefined in its press release. In December 2011, Robinson died in his sleep in Staten Island. He was 89-years-old. He was survived by his wife Gro Bagn and two of their children. His legacy endures as his comic book creations remain popular.

Anthony Marrero was born on 18 February 1949 in Las Marias, Puerto Rico. He died on 6 May 1993 in Staten Island, New York, USA.

Mick Rock was born on 21 November 1948 in Hammersmith, London, England, UK. He was a director, known for The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), David Bowie: The Jean Genie (1972) and David Bowie: John, I'm Only Dancing (1972). He was married to Pati and Sheila Rock. He died on 18 November 2021 in Staten Island, New York City, New York, USA.

Kong Lung was born on 8 February 1934 in Hong Kong. He was an actor and director, known for Black Mask (1996), Secret War (2003) and The Story of a Discharged Prisoner (1967). He died on 2 September 2014 in Staten Island, New York, USA.

W. Chrystie Miller was born on 10 August 1843 in Dayton, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for Ramona (1910), Faithful (1910) and The Last Deal (1910). He was married to Jennie Towell. He died on 23 September 1922 in Staten Island, New York, USA.