Memory Quilt: A Life Lived
From Tamra: Family Memories
Michael Cannarozzi was my first cousin once removed. He was born around 1933 in White Plains, NY. His dad left when he was very young, and his parents divorced; his mom never remarried. He was an artist, went to FIT, I believe, and pretty much lived between Greenwich Village and White Plains. In 1959, he was visiting his friend Bobby Boucheron in Nantucket for a summer of painting and creating. He was around 26 when he met Gary Brouwer, a Dutch immigrant working in a store, fresh off the boat from Paris.
Gary was from Frescia and grew up in occupied Holland. His hometown was the same as Audrey Hepburn’s. Audrey’s mom, the Duchesse Van Eich, liked Gary and knew that when Gary was stationed with the Dutch navy in Indonesia, he had taken many art classes and had a lot of talent.
Van Eich sent him to Montmartre, where he would be paid as a freelancer to make fashion drawings. Ironically, Michael was doing similar work in Manhattan. La Duchesse introduced Gary to a fellow who had connections in the textile sector in Manhattan. Her friend also owned a clothing and general store on Nantucket, which he ran himself in the summer. That’s where Gary landed, as Holland at the time was offering Dutch citizens a stipend to emigrate due to perceived overpopulation.
Michael and Gary fell in love the summer of 1959 when they met, as luck would have it, they were both returning to NY. So Gary got a Job making hats for Halston. Mike got into magazines and worked his way up through various positions with Condé Nast and other publishers. He did a lot of interior design, staging, and photography.
Ultimately, Michael became one of the top photo editors, working mostly for Better Homes and Gardens as an interior designer, artist, and photo editor. Gary made Jackie Kennedy’s pink pillbox hat (yes, that hat) while with Halston, and Halston took credit for it after it became famous. Gary was pissed. He was pretty much the premier Milner of hats by the time he was 30. I remember that the only person who could replace him if he got sick was an octogenarian woman in Sydney.
Needless to say, Gary and Michael were in great demand for their talents. Gary made all the famous hats for Hollywood between 1965 and 1990. He made Jacky Gleason’s bus driver hat. He made Johnny Carson’s turban. He did all the costuming for Jesus Christ Superstar. He made all the feathered head dresses for the Las Vegas showgirls. The hats and costumes for the Barnum and Bailey Circus. He had a very small staff and complained incessantly that he could never get enough help with any ability. And they were such perfectionists.
So, as you can imagine, they traveled extensively for work, and their community was theater people and the like.
They lived in Manhattan, Gary in SoHo, and Michael in Tribeca. They hung out in Greenwich Village in the ’60s, ’70s, and 80’s. Their friends were avant-garde artists like Andy Warhol, and they knew everyone. Such an incredibly interesting bunch of people, living in the city, in their microcosm, where it was not only safe to be gay but also to be helped in your career.
The quilt? They made quilts with their friends all the time for fun and relaxation. The quilting bee. They got together and painted, wrote, played music, acted, and did whatever moved them at the time. I was extremely lucky to have had them in my life. I. Had a flat in the. village when I was 19 until I went overseas at 25. They were a blast to hang out with.
This is one of the quilts that Mike and Gary kept. I have a few of them. I don’t know who the people who contributed to it were. They had so many friends. I was into the music scene, and. Spent most of my spare time on music.
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