October 23-29, 2003

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Franz Lidz

by Gary M. Kramer

books

Got a family member who's a pack rat? It's a safe bet that they are probably not as compulsive as Homer and Langley Collyer, who lived with their massive amounts of junk in an NYC brownstone. When the police excavated the brothers' mansion in a search for Langley (who went missing after Homer's death) they removed 180 tons of debris.

The Collyers kept 10 pianos, a disassembled car (or two) and a dozen gas chandeliers, among many, many, many other things in their four-story home at 128th and Fifth, where they lived -- and rarely left -- from 1909 to 1947.In his new book, Ghosty Men (Bloomsbury), Franz Lidz recounts the shocking, funny, heartbreaking tale of these remarkable hoarders. He also intersperses chapters with episodes of his Uncle Arthur, the obsessive shoelace-gathering relative who was featured in Lidz's memoir, Unstrung Heroes. The idea of writing about the Collyers collected in Lidz's head for years. After two decades of research, and accumulating thousands of newspaper clippings -- in piles that would make the Collyers proud -- he produced this fine volume.

Not surprisingly, Lidz first learned about the Hermits of Harlem from his own family. My father told me cautionary bedtime stories about them, thinking that it would get me to clean up my room, he recalled in a recent interview. My mother always said Uncle Arthur was the lost Collyer brother. I believed her.

Franz Lidz reads Tue., Oct. 28, 6 p.m., free, Borders Books & Music, 1 S. Broad St., 215-568-7400.

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