SID MARK
In 62 years, Mark’s only absence was a two-week hiatus for heart
surgery, and he dismisses talk of retirement. “I promised Frank I’d
do it as long as I could,” explained Mark, a longtime confidant of
both Ol’ Blue Eyes and the late Frank Sinatra Jr. “It’s been a good
ride. How blessed am I? It could have been any other performer
… but it was Frank.”
Lucky indeed, because it’s hard to imagine a show with similar
longevity built around Oscar Peterson, Sarah Vaughan or any of
the other bygone legends Mark worked with as a young jazz en-
thusiast. Indeed, Mark’s radio career was built on notable persistence.

He’d hoped to join Armed Forces Radio by enlisting for the Korean
War after high school, but spent two years in the infantry instead.

A two-year broadcasting course got him no closer to a radio dial.

Finally, Mark got a break when his sister’s out-of-town jazz teacher
asked Mark where to find a good Jewish meal nearby.

The younger man took the teacher home to sample Mrs.

Fliegelman’s cooking, and “when he took the second bowl of veg-
etable soup with short ribs in it, I knew I was fine forever,” Mark
chuckled. He started hanging around the teacher’s radio station,
which led to hosting a live broadcast of the Saturday jazz show at
the Red Hill Inn in Pennsaucken, N.J.

“My first band was Stan Getz — he was a Philadelphian as well,”
said Mark. For the next few years, the novice handled such lumi-
naries as Count Basie and Duke Ellington. One singer, though,
eluded the Red Hill Inn: Frank Sinatra, whom Mark discovered
14 DECEMBER 20, 2018
THE GOOD LIFE
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