When Sandy Met Sally: My Home Through a 50-Year Prism

Sandy Driesen’s Story

It is one of those New York stories that happen all the time. Back in 2011 my husband Joe and I were visiting a friend and while there, we met a lovely woman named Sally Kemp. As we chatted and asked the inevitable question, “Where do you live?” I told Sally that we live in Murray Hill. She said, “Oh, I used to live there.” I naturally asked, “Where?”  She replied, “107 East 36th Street.” “Holy-moly that’s where we live!” It turns out that Sally lived there as a young girl, when it was a single-family brownstone Her family name was Throckmorton, and we had heard about that family. We hugged each other as if we were long-lost kin in which, in a very Manhattan kind of way, we were.

I learned that Sally (Throckmorton then) lived in our brownstone from 1938 to 1959 with her family. Her mother married John Wickcliff Throckmorton, whom Sally calls “my remarkable step-father.” Her father was Hal Kemp, a famous orchestra leader, composer, and arranger in the 1920s. He unfortunately died in a car accident in 1940. Sally herself was an actress of stage and screen. She appeared in “Days of Our Lives”, and “Dynasty” as well as Broadway and Off Broadway.  

We invited Sally to visit us and to see her old home.  We even had Sami Steigmann join us to take pictures of this event. Sally was totally confused when she tried to remember the house as it was. First of all, when the building became a co-op in 1960, the staircase to the parlor floor (2nd floor) was removed. She recalled wonderful parties in the grand parlor with the 14 ft. ceilings; the 3rd floor was her parent’s suite, and the front half of the 4th floor was her brother, Hal Jr.’s bedroom, and her bedroom was the back half of the 4th floor. I guess the maids were on the 5th floor. And, the garden was where the family dog did his business.

Sally was so happy to see her former home, and as she said, “there was a lot to process.” Also, that she was so glad we are living there and giving care and affection to such a beautiful old home. After our visit, we all went out for a lovely lunch to celebrate these wonderful, serendipitous New York moments.