He knows the size of the legs of the stars of the first echelon: how a Ukrainian in the USA makes shoes for world celebrities

For nearly a century now, the main New Year's performance, the Rockettes Show, has been synonymous with festive New York, and if we're talking about the show - a corps de ballet of synchronized racket swimmers - then it's also about shoes. This is discussed in the video "Voices of America".

And if we're talking about shoes, then it's about Sam. In the heart of Manhattan's theater district stands Uncle Sam's inconspicuous, tiny shack. But all theater roads lead exactly to it, this hut is a shoe workshop, and Sam is its 72-year-old owner.

At the age of 7, as a little boy living in Odessa, Sema Smolyar was looking for something he would like - he danced and, like the grandson of a shoemaker, glued his first pair of shoes.

“I made them from paper and cardboard. Back then they still used flour glue. They looked so good. When I put them on and took 5 steps, they scattered,” recalls Sam.

At the shoe factory, Sam learned the craft, which in 1975 and takes with him to New York. There he joined his two passions and opened a workshop of special shoes. First, one theater handed over his shoes for repair, then another, and later everyone found out about the incredible craftsman. And now, when everywhere the shoe business is moving into the category of endangered, Sam has no end to customers. At the same time 16 Broadway theaters work with him.

“I sense what people need and I’m rarely wrong,” says Sam.

The Rockettes Show has remained unchanged and the main client for 30 years. From November to January, during the New Year's performances, Sam happily switches to an almost round-the-clock mode of operation.

“It’s a pride for me because it’s the pride of New York and the pride of the United States. Today it’s almost impossible to find such a team, even Mulan Rouge is not quite the same,” says Sam.

In this one show there are more than a thousand pairs of shoes, 40 dancers in two casts and seven changes of pairs of shoes per performance, which is also performed 4 times a day. Replacement of the sole so that it does not slip, and also heels, straps, fasteners... No one has ever seen Sam here, but everyone knows his name. Because Sam is the ambulance here.

On the subject: DNA Zoo: US-based Ukrainian researcher recognized as one of the best innovators in the world

“If we run off stage and something is wrong with our shoes, then we immediately inform the costume designer about it, he immediately sends our shoes to Sam, because there is literally an hour until the next show so that we can go on stage and dance again for audiences from all over the world,” says dancer Lauren Renck.

But Sam can not only repair shoes at cosmic speeds; few rackets know that it is thanks to him that their tap dance sounds so loud. Sam attaches a transmitter to the sole of each shoe - a microphone that transmits sound and makes it louder.

But the director and chief choreographer of the Rockettes Show, Julie Brenon, who once started a racket herself, remembers everything. As they first suffered, trying to amplify the sound, and pulled the wires from the shoes along the leg and back, until Sam decided to hide a wireless microphone in his heel.

“We didn’t have live microphones, we just had tap shoes and we stomped on them loudly,” recalls Julie.

On the subject: Achieving the Ukrainian immigrant has become the theme of the official White House Christmas decoration

Sam stores information about all his clients, and this is not only rackets, he has wooden blocks created on the foot of Cher, Harrison Ford, Barbara Streisand, Dustin Hoffman, Britney Spears, Madonna, Baryshnikov and many others.

“When Baryshnikov came to the fitting, he was not entirely friendly, after all, he was a world star, he was afraid to speak Russian to me, but when I made him shoes and he tried them on, his attitude changed radically. I asked him for a photo for my hall, but they told me that he doesn’t give anyone an autograph, or a photo, or anything. But when he tried on those shoes, everything changed, and he ended up sending me a photo,” Sam recalls.

Sam and Sarah Jessica Parker sent her photograph with a warm autograph, because he also had his hand in ensuring that shoes after the famous series turned into a religion for many women.

“It was simple, their shoes in Sex and the City just needed to be made so they wouldn't fall or trip,” says Sam.

Usually one glance at the shoes is enough for him to determine where it’s too big and where he presses. But he looks at heaven no less than at shoes.

“I always look at the sky as soon as I wake up, I try to look. I don’t ask God for anything, I just thank him for everything I have,” says Sam.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Personal experience of a Russian-speaking immigrant: how we set a new Guinness record in New York

DNA Zoo: US-based Ukrainian researcher recognized as one of the best innovators in the world

Achieving the Ukrainian immigrant has become the theme of the official White House Christmas decoration

From rock musician to life coach: how Belarus achieved heights in the USA and why he returned to his homeland

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.