Donald Metzger

I stand as the world’s only ‘real-life’ link between The Sopranos and Goodfellas. My after-school and Saturday job during high school was working at the real Maury’s Wig Shop portrayed in Goodfellas where I was the Maury’s Wig Shop equivalent of young Henry working at the pizza shop and the shoe shine boy  there ……. at the time of the infamous Billy Bats “Now Go Home and Get Your F**kin Shine Box” scene at Henry’s bar, The Suite – right next door. Shining Henry’s (and often Jimmy’s, Tommy’s, and the rest of the crew’s ) shoes, getting lunch, serving drinks, feeding the parking meters, and cleaning hairpieces (YUK!) was the daily routine.  Maury’s Wig Shop’s real name was For Men Only and did regular men’s haircuts in addition to the selling and servicing of hairpieces. Maury’s second in command, John, known to the customers as Danté, took the business over around the time Marty (Maury) was killed. He was a true Liberace look-alike, though he never worked as one. He kept the shop up for the next 27 years or so and in all that time was the only place I ever got my haircut. My computer skills came into play in the latter of those years as I developed a system to run the salon: point of sale, tracking customer hairpieces, etc. I appropriately named the application “Maury’s Wig Shop”.

 I’ve been a member of the personal computer industry since its inception in 1979 and went into private consulting in 1985 as a software designer and developer. For 3 years following 9/11, I was part of the World Trade Center Disaster Recovery team at the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office.  Co-designed and created the WTC Disaster Management system that generated the numbers everyone used to see going across the bottom of their TV screens every night.  Many there only knew me as “Tony”, “Mr. Soprano”, “Ay Tone”, or just “T”.  And some of the morgue workers went so far to tell me to let them know if I ever need to make a body disappear.

Graduated from the same high school that gave the world Archie Bunker (Carroll O’Connor), Jerry Springer, The Ramones, and Simon & Garfunkel.  My great-uncle, Syd Cassyd, founded the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the Emmy Awards.