When she was eleven, Margaret Bilotti, stage-struck elder daughter of a Manhattan construction worker, collaborated with another East Side youngster in writing a play, the proceeds to buy Christmas toys for underprivileged children (gross take from ticket sale: "over $2"). Soon afterward an uncle noticed that as Margie sat on a hassock she looked crooked, and her right shoulder blade protruded. The family doctor prescribed a corset, which soon broke and was discarded. Eventually a neighborhood hospital referred the Bilottis to one of the few places in Manhattan that specialize in treating conditions like Margie's, the Hospital for Special Surgery.
The trouble...
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