by Andy Piascik<\/p>\n
In 1933, Antonio Mastromonaco established the Bronx Casket Company on Webster Avenue in the Norwood section of the Bronx. Mastromonaco was born in Campobasso in Italy and emigrated to the United States around 1913. He had been a laborer in Italy and was employed for a while after arriving in the Bronx in the construction of the New York City subway system. His grandson Pete remembers hearing that Mastromonaco also had carpentry skills, skills he put to good use in the business he founded.<\/p>\n
The Bronx Casket Company facility in the Bronx consisted of a shop where caskets were made, a showroom where they were displayed for prospective customers, and offices. The skilled casket makers were the heart of the business and they produced high-quality merchandise. Five of Mastromonaco\u2019s sons worked for the company in various capacities. One Bronx local who was also an \u00e9migr\u00e9 from Italy and worked for the company for eight years was Salvatore Mineo, the father of movie star Sal Mineo. (1)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Looking to expand the business in the years after the Second World War, Mastromonaco purchased a house at 1635 Fairfield Avenue in Bridgeport where the company opened a showroom and sales office. He assigned Peter, the youngest of his sons, to run it. Up to that point, Peter and his new bride Dorothy Coffey Mastromonaco had spent their entire lives in New York City. Peter had been working for the family business with hopes of someday going to art school. Dorothy, meanwhile, had been part of a jitterbug dance duo with her brother Ed and had performed as a young girl throughout New York City. (2)<\/p>\n
To Bridgeport<\/strong><\/p>\n Peter and Dorothy were very young when they moved to Bridgeport in 1948. Dorothy would give birth to their first child, Mike, the following year just before her 18th<\/sup> birthday. Peter never did go to art school but he did paint throughout his life while running the Bridgeport outpost of the family business. \u201cMy father had a studio in the basement of the house on Fairfield Avenue where he painted,\u201d recalled Claire, the couple\u2019s fourth child and sole daughter. \u201cHe mostly painted with oils. I can still vividly remember the smell.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOne of my father\u2019s brothers, my Uncle Benny and his wife Ann, lived on the third floor of the house at first,\u201d Claire went on. \u201cMy mother hated that because of the lack of privacy and all.\u201d Benny and Ann eventually moved out and Peter and Dorothy made the three-story house their family\u2019s home. The couple lived on the two upper floors where they raised Claire and sons Michael, Leonard, Peter and Edward. The spacious first floor, meanwhile, was dedicated to the family business.<\/p>\n \u201cCaskets were displayed in the main showroom and two auxiliary showrooms on the main floor,\u201d recalled Pete, who, along with his three brothers, worked for the family business for many years \u201cAdditional caskets were stored in the warehouse behind the showroom.\u00a0 Funeral directors would bring families of the deceased to the showroom to select a casket which would then be delivered to the funeral home.\u201d<\/p>\n Settling Into the West Side<\/strong><\/p>\n Bridgeport was a bustling center of industry in 1948 and the neighborhood the Mastromonacos moved to was one of the city\u2019s many factory hubs. Located behind the family home and across State Street over to Railroad Avenue were Bryant Electric, Casco, Hubbell, United Pattern and several other shops. Just around the corner on Mountain Grove Street was Bead Chain, and Claire still remembers the constant sound of the factory\u2019s machinery which she can very capably imitate.<\/p>\n Still, there were adjustments, particularly for a couple settling in a new place at such a young age. \u201cI remember my mom telling us that she was a bit surprised there was no subway in Bridgeport,\u201d said Pete. \u201cShe was also surprised that the drug store a few doors away, Hancock Pharmacy, did not know how to make an egg cream.\u201d<\/p>\n Claire remembers her parents frequenting many neighborhood businesses that, like theirs, were local and family owned. \u201cState Street really was a great street,\u201d she said. \u201cMy father had his suits made at Greenberg’s Tailors and my parents bought jewelry at Blackham’s Jewelers.\u00a0I remember walking with my mother to Cederbaum’s for yarn for her knitting.\u00a0 And, of course, my father was a regular at State Paint and Hardware for building supplies for work.\u201d<\/p>\n Caskets and All the Trimmings<\/strong><\/p>\n The family\u2019s company offered a wide array of products. \u201cIn addition to the wood caskets, made from mahogany, oak, poplar and other hardwoods manufactured by BCC\u2019s factory in the Bronx, the showroom displayed metal caskets, such as solid copper, bronze and steel, manufactured by other companies,\u201d said Pete. \u201cThe showroom also displayed burial garments for sale and metal name plates that were affixed to the exterior of the caskets.\u201d<\/p>\n Peter had learned many aspects of the casket-making trade from when he was a teenager in the Bronx and Pete remembered his father\u2019s skills with great pride. \u201cMy father was a master craftsmen and artist.\u00a0 Using hand tools, he would engrave the deceased\u2019s name on the name plate.\u201d<\/p>\n Finding Customers in a New Locale<\/strong><\/p>\n It was also Peter\u2019s task, especially upon first arriving in Bridgeport, to drum up business, something he did quite successfully. \u201cMy father was on very friendly terms with a large number of funeral directors in Bridgeport and throughout Connecticut,\u201d said Pete. \u201cEach morning, he would scan the obituaries section of the Bridgeport Telegram<\/em> and contact the funeral directors with whom he had a steady business relationship to see if they planned on visiting the showroom.\u201d<\/p>\n Peter\u2019s contacts extended well beyond the Bridgeport area, with accounts in New Haven (Shore Funeral Home), Stamford (Lacerenza Funeral Home), Torrington (LaPorta Funeral Home) and Rocky Hill (Rose Hill Funeral Home), among many others. Though Dorothy did not work for the company in any official capacity, she did help her husband out when necessary. Claire recalled that there was a company phone line in the family kitchen on the second floor and that she and her mother would answer calls. The company also employed several men to load, unload and deliver caskets, especially in the years before Mike, Len and Pete came of working age.<\/p>\n Working for the Family Business<\/strong><\/p>\n The company owned two flatbed trucks that were used to deliver caskets. When Peter\u2019s sons began working for the company, they also made deliveries. On local runs, the two youngest siblings made their contribution. \u201cEddie and I helped out by riding along and making sure we stopped at Carvel,\u201d recalled Claire. \u201cAnd we ate our ice cream on the way back!!\u201d<\/p>\n Pete also worked for a time at Hancock Pharmacy a half block away at the corner of Fairfield and Hancock Avenues while working for the family business. \u201cSometimes I would deliver a case of soda to Polke Funeral Home, which was across the street from the pharmacy, in the morning and then deliver a casket there during my lunch break. Got a dollar tip each time.\u201d<\/p>\n Pete had nothing but good memories of his boss at the drug store. \u201cSidney Gitlin owned and operated Hancock Pharmacy. He was a great boss and a kind and generous man.\u201d<\/p>\n Mike, Peter and Dorothy\u2019s oldest son, remembered being asked to sometimes do a somewhat unpleasant task. \u201cWe also were often asked to \u2018help\u2019 one of the undertakers, which usually meant helping them move bodies around. My father would say, \u2018Michael, Mr. Lauro needs a hand.\u2019 I’d look at my father and he would simply say, \u2018Just go over there!\u2019 I didn’t mind moving the ones who were already embalmed, as they were easy to move, being stiff. But the ones who just died were still soft and pliable…hard to grasp!!\u201d<\/p>\n Church, School and Community<\/strong><\/p>\n Dorothy and Peter were very involved in their children\u2019s lives, especially through activities at St. Peter Church and school. In addition, Dorothy began a long career in cosmetics retail once her oldest children were old enough to look after the younger ones. She worked for many years at the thriving Gimbel\u2019s department store in downtown Bridgeport beginning in 1968.<\/p>\n They made a contribution to the community beyond their family, careers and parish activities including at least one occasion where the company came to the aid of Lucille Lortel and the White Barn Theater in Westport that she ran. According to an item in the Bridgeport Sunday Post<\/em> on August 20, 1967, the Bronx Casket Company provided Lortel and the production company a casket needed for a performance of a play called Vacation in Miami<\/em>. (3)<\/p>\n The company showroom made for a good play area for the Mastromonaco children and the caskets served as good props to hide behind in games of hide-and-go-seek. There were no Dracula-like games that involved any of them getting into a casket, however. \u201cWe did not mess around with the caskets in any way,\u201d Pete said. \u201cAnd we sure did not ever get inside one.\u00a0 Way too creepy!\u00a0 Not to mention there would be hell to pay if my father caught us!\u201d<\/p>\n Italian Feasts With Extended Family<\/strong><\/p>\n Even as Peter and Dorothy immersed themselves in Bridgeport via the business and their children\u2019s many activities, they remained in close contact with their families after they left the Bronx. \u201cMy grandfather Antonio had moved to Westchester by the time my siblings and I were growing up and he and my Aunt Phyllis were living right next store to each other,\u201d said Pete. \u201cWe regularly got together at one of their houses with my uncles, aunts and cousins for Sunday lunch, which was always an all-day Italian feast.\u00a0My maternal grandmother also visited us regularly from the Bronx.\u201d<\/p>\n Peter and Dorothy\u2019s youngest son Ed also recalled going regularly for stops at the company\u2019s home office and to visit family. \u201cI remember trips to the Bronx with my father in the summer when school was out,\u201d Ed said. \u201cI hung around with my cousin Leonard, my Uncle Dominick\u2019s youngest son.\u201d<\/p>\n The End of the Family Business<\/strong><\/p>\n When Antonio retired from the business, his sons became partners in the company. Antonio passed away in 1964 at the age of 89, with the company going strong. As Peter\u2019s brothers approached retirement, the Bronx Casket Company was sold around 1980 to the New Jersey Casket Company. Peter then went on his own and established the Fairfield Casket Company in the same space on the first floor of the house on Fairfield Avenue.<\/p>\n Peter\u2019s son Ed worked with his father during this time and echoed his brother Pete\u2019s sentiments about their father. \u201cDad showed me a lot of woodworking techniques,\u201d Ed said, \u201cand also how to finish and buff a casket to a mirror-like shine! After the Fairfield Casket Company closed, my father worked as a carpenter and home improvement contractor. He retired sometime in the mid to late 90\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n The company name lived on for some years in an odd sort of way: a New York City based heavy metal goth band that called itself the Bronx Casket Company. (4)<\/p>\n Peter Mastromonaco passed away in 2002. Dorothy worked for many years at Gimbel\u2019s before retiring and passed away in 2014. Both were cremated and interred at Mountain Grove Cemetery so neither, notes Claire, was buried in a casket.<\/p>\n Thanks to Peter and Dorothy Mastromonaco\u2019s children Mike, Len, Pete, Claire and Ed for their assistance.<\/em><\/p>\n NOTES<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. Sal Mineo: A Biography<\/u> by Michael Gregg Michaud (Harmony Books, 2010). According to Michaud, the senior Mineo formed the Universal Casket Company with his brother after he left the Bronx Casket Company.<\/p>\n 2. Dorothy Coffey Mastromonaco was also the niece of Jack Coffey, a star baseball player at Fordham University who played in the major leagues for the Boston Braves, Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers. He became Fordham\u2019s first full-time baseball coach in 1922, held that post until 1958 and also served for 32 years as the school\u2019s athletic director. Fordham\u2019s multi-purpose athletic stadium, Jack Coffey Field, is named after him: https:\/\/www.fordham.edu\/info\/26211\/hall_of_honor\/9520\/john_francis_coffey<\/p>\n 3. \u201cIn and Around Our Town\u201d in the Bridgeport Sunday Post<\/em>, August 20, 1967.<\/p>\n 4. Contacted by e-mail, D.D. Verni, one of the band\u2019s founders, states that he and the other band members were not aware of the Mastromonaco family business and came up with the name independently. It fit the kind of music they played and the image they wanted to project, he said, a flavor of which can be gleaned from an album of theirs titled Sweet Home Transylvania<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Andy Piascik In 1933, Antonio Mastromonaco established the Bronx Casket Company on Webster Avenue in the Norwood section of the Bronx. Mastromonaco was born in Campobasso in Italy and emigrated to the United States around 1913. He had been a laborer in Italy and was employed for a while after arriving in the Bronx […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":13046,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[13,36,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-and-commerce","category-italian-populations-and-culture","category-west-end"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13044"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15422,"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13044\/revisions\/15422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bportlibrary.org\/hc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}