Meet the author
David Kruh is a former New Yorker who was born just a few years before Scollay Square was torn down in the early 1960s. Using his college education to its fullest, (an American History degree from the University of Maryland) David, much to his father's chagrin, became a disc jockey. After several years at stations in towns too small to mention, he came to Boston to work as a radio engineer (at WRKO) while studying for his Masters in Engineering at Boston University. He then got a job as a Senior Engineer (later, a Product Manager) at Octocom Systems, a classic high-tech start-up company that was, in 1991, named one of Inc Magazine's fastest growing private companies. David subsequently worked as a copywriter, radio producer and, for a few years in the mid-1990s, as a spokesman and web master for the Big Dig. He has also dabbled in acting and stand-up comedy, but prefers to eat, and so currently works full time as a Marketing Communications Manager for Analog Devices, a semiconductor manufacturer. David is a member of his town's Historic District Commission, a coach for his daughter's FIRST Lego League team, and the contest manager and webmaster for the Feld Hell Club, a ham radio group.
David become interested in the Square in 1981 after hearing a story from his uncle, a former sailor and doctor who served during World War II, and who had found himself with "liberty time" in Boston and subsequently sampled the wares in the Square. Research and writing on the book began in the 1980s (while completing his Masters degree in Computer Engineering from Boston University) and then took off after his graduation in 1987.
Always Something Doing was published by Faber and Faber in 1990 and within a month sold out its first printing. A second printing quickly sold out, as well. In 1999, with stock on the third and final printing running out, Northeastern University Press picked up the book and reprinted a second edition, which featured a new chapter on the efforts to redevelop City Hall Plaza. In 2004 Arcadia Publishing released Scollay Square, a book filled with 180 images - many never before published views in the Old Howard, Casino, and other places in the Square. Both can be purchased here. As the resident expert on Scollay Square, David has been called on by many media outlets (Matt Lauer on Channel 7 and Chronicle on Channel 5 are just two examples) to provide commentary on the Square and its personalities. His radio appearances include WRKO, WBZ, and WBUR. See pictures of the 1990 radio tour here, and then listen to the complete 1999 "Here and Now" interview HERE. David can even be heard on a cell phone tour of Boston (stop #8: Government center, of course.)
David being interviewed on the site of the stage of the Old Howard by filmmaker
Katherine Fries for her documentary on performer Lilly Ann RoseHaving fallen in love with Boston, it was inevitable that David fall in love with a Bostonian. His wife Mauzy grew up in Dorchester, and her father and mother come from Charlestown and the West End, respectively. David and Mauzy have a daughter named Jennifer.
Other books
New from
Rounder Books
Also from
Rounder BooksReleased in the summer of 2007 was FURTHER FENWAY FICTION, the second Red Sox-inspired anthology assembled by witer and editor Adam Patcher. This new collection of 18 works of fiction devoted the Boston Red Sox contains the new ending to David and Steve Bergman's musical THE CURSE IS REVERSED, one in which the lead character watched his beloved Red Sox win the World Series in 2004. FFF is a follow-up to FENWAY FICTION, published in 2005, that contains two works by David, one a ten-minute play titled ICE AGE, which is about the collective fate of Ted William's frozen body and head, and an excerpt from David and Steve's musical THE CURSE OF THE BAMBINO
In 2003 Arcadia Press published Building Route 128 (co-written with Yanni Tsipis) as part of their Images of America Series. The book chronicles the road’s planning and construction, from the early days of main streets and back roads in towns such as Dedham, Waltham, Lynnfield, and Beverly, through the construction and reconstruction of the modern expressway. A click on the cover on the left will take you to the book's website.
David is also the co-author, with his father Louis, of Presidential Landmarks (Hippocrene Press, 1992), which contains a brief personal and political history of all the Presidents, plus a comprehensive description of their birthplaces, homes, libraries, museums. Presidential Landmarks also contains contains the largest collection of photographs of presidential sites ever published. The book was sold out, but copies can be ordered through Amazon.com. David's columns have appeared in a number of publications including the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston Magazine, and Yankee Magazine, and he is a frequent speaker on a variety of subjects, including the Big Dig, Scollay Square, and the presidents. (Regarding his Scollay Square presentation, the Boston Globe wrote that "Kruh is full of splendid anecdotes..." and that his is "...a fascinating slide show... ...a trip to the past...") A complete list of speeches, a schedule of upcoming appearances, and contact information can be found here.
Playwright
The Curse of the Bambino is a musical that David co-wrote with composer and lyricist Steven Bergman about the sale of Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees by Red Sox owner Harry Frazee. The show's World Premiere run (in 2001) was the biggest hit in the history of the Lyric Stage. For more information on the show, to buy a copy of the original cast CD, or to read a new version of the script (in which the Red Sox win,) click here or on the CD cover. Other plays David has written have been produced at a number of festivals around the country, and many have been published, as well, including:
Colene Byrd and Ray Baker in the brown couch
production of Resurrection, directed by Allison QuetelArnold Nawrocki is Dead, a short piece in which two men ruminate over the obituary of the man who perfected the process of individually wrapping cheese slices, premiered at the 2004 Boston Theater Marathon. Resurrection (2005) Eugene O'Neill once suggested that man should experience a resurrection a week. How do you suppose mankind would react? Resurrection is a short play that presents one possibility. The piece premiered simultaneously in 2005 at both the brown couch theatre in Chicago and Studio Rep of Rhode Island, was presented as part of the 2006 Boston Theater Marathon, and the Curan Theater of New York City's Notes from the Underground one-act festival. The Riverbank Code, a drama for the stage which is based on the true story of the people who in 1916 proved in court that Francis Bacon wrote Shakespeare. Published by the Eldridge Publishing Company in 2003.
- GUILTY! (best described as a warped love story), Arnold Nawrocki is Dead, and The End (about how a father's impending death affects differently his three sons.) have all been published by JAC Publishing & Promotions in 2005.
- Top of the World, Ma! A spoof of "Outward-Bound" type of programs for executives, Top of the World, MA! is a comedy (black, no sugar) about two office workers who find they are the only ones to have survived the day's challenge. This piece was presented July 2001 as part of Waltham's Hovey Players Summer Shorts Festival and was published in 2003 by Brooklyn Publishing.
- Good for Nothing (a wild take on the current crop of reality-based TV shows) was produced by several companies before being published by Brooklyn Publishing in 2004.
David, director Carmel O'Reilly,
and the cast of Sugan Theater's
production of "Arnold Nawrocki
is dead, performed at the 2004
Boston Theater Marathon.David's most recently completed work for the stage is a full-length comedy titled I.P.O. I.P.O. takes place on the last full day of the 1990s, as we follow Gil Bates, who has quit his Harvard scholarship to grab his share of the Internet boom and start a new company. Over the course of this one day, Gil battles with his investor-father, his competitors, his girlfriend, and a myriad of temptations of the 1990s, while his company rises from nothing (we start with an empty stage in the morning) to the height of a media-driven frenzy (mid-day the office is crowded with furniture, reporters, and lawyers) to the inevitable collapse of the company (as the last lines of the play are spoken, a worker is removing the desks and chairs.) A staged reading is currently planned for October 2008 at the Quannapowitt Playhouse. Click HERE to view the PDF of the script.
A complete list of David's work for the stage - some with links to PDFs - can be found here. David has also written two screen plays and a novel. They all await discovery....
David packing them in during a standup gig...
- PONZI! A collaboration with Arnie Reisman, this script is about the infamous Boston swindler who, coincidentally, operated at the exact same time that Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees.
- Placed in the quarter finals of the 2001 Scriptapalooza Screen Writers competition
- Honorable mention in the Writer's Network FADE IN contest in 2003.
- PONZI is being shopped by Two Rams Entertainment.
- Be Careful What You Wish For..., both a novel* and screenplay*, which tell the story about how the Red Sox finally winning the World Series affects the lives of several Bostonians.
- Screenplay was a finalist in Screenplay Festival's 2003 competition
- Placed in the quarter finals of Fade-In Magazine's annual screenwriting competition in 2004
Finally, David takes strange pride in noting that thanks to his 7.4 seconds on the HBO special "The Curse of the Bambino" (yes, he timed it) he has his very own page on the Internet Movie Database website. (Click on the IMBD logo above to see it)
