Fred Ferretti (1932–2022)
Author of The Great American Marble Book.
About the Author
Works by Fred Ferretti
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Ferretti, Armand John
- Birthdate
- 1932-03-03
- Date of death
- 2022-03-07
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Manhattan, New York, USA
- Places of residence
- Manhattan, New York, USA
Queens, New York, USA
Japan - Education
- Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School, Brooklyn
Columbia University (Bx | English literature) - Occupations
- journalist
food writer - Relationships
- Lo, Eileen Yin-Fei (widow)
- Organizations
- New York Herald Tribune
US Army
New York Times
Members
Reviews
Statistics
- Works
- 6
- Members
- 63
- Popularity
- #268,028
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 1
- ISBNs
- 5
The Great American Marble Book was published the year I was born and it shows a fascinating snapshot of early 1970s culture as seen through the game. On the back cover the author exclaims: "This book is for all former marbles players... for present marbles players... and for future marbles players. Let their tribe increase." My grandmother would have loved this book as a former player; I feel like the "present" player being the same age as the book; I plan to hold onto the book at least long enough to teach the games to my children or the "future" players.
Ferretti used children and teen players from Yonkers in his book. The last page of the book has a group portrait with their names. From the looks of things, the photographs for the book were shot in one day's worth of playing in a sand lot.
Besides the black and white photographs of different marbles games and techniques, the book has a lengthy and fascinating section on different marble types in the chapter called "A Lexicon of Mibology." I've read this chapter about a dozen times and it's by far my favorite. It brings back so many memories of my grandmother reliving her best marbles games.… (more)