But millions of American shoppers might have known about him from the stunning Merry-Go-Round clothing chain Leonard “Boogie” Weinglass created and then extended across most of the U.S.A. Now, in Boogie: Life on A Merry-Go-Round, veteran journalist Michael Olesker tells the life story of the rise from youthful poverty and street fighting, from the pool halls and the late-night Hilltop Diner of Baltimore, to multi-millionare businessman and philanthropist.Or, as Fortune Magazine once said, “Human history has produced exactly one Johann Sebastian Bach, one Sir Isaac Newton, and—for better or worse—one Leonard “Boogie” Weinglass…a true original, a streetwise Baltimore bad boy who grew up to be, by turns, hippie, founder of a successful retail chain, multi-millionaire, jet-setting Florida playboy…“What a ride…a $1 billion nationwide chain with nearly 1,500 stores and 15,000 employees, Merry-Go-Round became a Wall Street darling, and big-time players like Fidelity Investments, Bear Stearns, and Donald Trump tried to horn in on the action.” It’s an only-in-America tale about a once-in-a-lifetime character.
