(This story was originally written and recorded for Retrocast 44, released on September 1, 2026.)
One of the advantages of being retired is that I get to go food shopping while everyone else is at work. Not only do I find the stores far less crowded, but the shelves are freshly stocked. I like to joke that there are more workers going up and down the aisles filling the orders placed online than there are customers in the store.
Of course, ordering one’s groceries using an app wasn’t an option back in the 1950s. In nearly all cases, one needed to physically do the shopping themselves.
Take, for example, Mrs. Marion Meyer, who lived with her husband William and their four children in a fifth-floor apartment at 427 W. 26th St. in Manhattan. Their building is part of what is known today as the Elliott-Chelsea House public housing project, whose most famous former resident is entertainer Whoopi Goldberg.
During the afternoon of April 22, 1950, Marion needed to go food shopping while her husband William was at work at Wanamaker’s department store. Childcare wasn’t a problem, since Marion’s father, Fred Ehrenfels, had agreed to watch the couple’s two youngest children, 11-month-old John and 2-year-old Judith.
The two children were asleep in a bedroom as Grandpa Fred watched a baseball game on television in another room. Marion closed the bedroom door so that the noise of the broadcast wouldn’t awaken the children.
Unbeknownst to the grandfather, at some point little Judith woke up, climbed out of her crib, made her way to an open window, and perched herself on the sill with her legs dangling over the edge.
Walking by the building at that very moment was Alfred Foschino, a twenty-seven-year-old wounded ex-GI who lived in another building in the complex. Moments after he spotted Judith dangling from that window ledge, she lost her footing and began falling the 75 feet (nearly 23 m) toward the courtyard below. Instinctively, Foschino sprinted forward, jumped over a 2-foot (~60 cm) high hedge, and positioned himself under Judith’s plummeting body.
The impact of her 26 lb. (11.8 kg) body brought the slightly built Foschino to his knees, and while he couldn’t catch Judith, he successfully broke her fall, and she tumbled onto the soft grass surrounding the building.
Foschino then scooped Judith up and ran to the curb, where 30-year-old Morris Diamond, a resident of a third building in the complex, was sitting in his parked car. Foschino instructed Diamond to “Take her to the hospital.”
While she was being transported to nearby French Hospital, which closed in 1977, a crowd gathered at the scene. Through it all, Grandpa Fred remained glued to his TV, completely unaware of the dramatic life-or-death rescue until police knocked at his door.
The good news was that Judith seemed to be in very good shape. After being treated, she was released two hours later.
Alfred Foschino was hailed as a hero, but was he really?
After his story and photograph appeared in the newspaper the next day, neighbors told Judith’s parents that the real hero was Morris Diamond, the man who drove the baby to the hospital. Several witnesses claimed that he was the one who caught the baby.
When questioned by reporters, Diamond said that he had been sitting with his wife Ethel in front of their apartment building when they spotted the baby. His wife then pushed him through the hedge to attempt a rescue.
“The baby looked down at me – and let go. She came down feet first. I stretched out my arms. My fingers were touching the building wall. Honestly, I don’t know how I caught her.”
Ethel added, “I remember seeing Foschino standing outside the hedge, yelling to the baby, ‘Hold on – crawl back.’”
So, who was the real hero? In general, the witnesses were largely split based on which building they lived in. Those that resided in Foschino’s building sided with him; those in Diamond’s building were certain that he caught the baby.
In the Foschino camp, we have Mrs. Connie Geschwenger, who said, “Of course I saw Mr. Foschino catch the baby – and he was the only one there under the window.” Two other women, Mrs. Jeanette Cornell and Mrs. Annette Rayburn, also confirmed that Foschino had caught the baby.
But Morris Diamond insisted that he had saved her life. “I can’t understand why this other fellow is trying to get credit for it.”
Mrs. Sylvia Guterwill was with the Diamonds when Mrs. Diamond pushed her husband through the hedge to catch Judith. 16-year-old Anna Costello had been watching through her bedroom window and backed up Diamond’s claim.
Lastly, Mars, Marie Caferio said that Diamond made the rescue while Foschino just stood around and yelled instructions to the baby. When she asked Foschino afterward if he had caught the baby, he replied, “No, I don’t think anybody did.” Mrs. Constance Gurry confirmed that he said that.
It was never determined who caught the baby, but as Morris Diamond said, “What difference does it make? The baby’s all right, and that’s all that matters.”
