He Wanted to Be John Travolta. Instead, He Became ‘Kaves.’

New York|He Wanted to Be John Travolta. Instead, He Became ‘Kaves.’

The event that would be the seed for a Brooklyn kid’s lifelong drive to become famous enough to make it out of Brooklyn is almost comically on the nose.

One day during the spring of 1977, 8-year-old Michael McLeer came upon an almost impossible sight. A film crew had descended on his Bay Ridge neighborhood, and they were shooting a movie. It was about a guy from Bay Ridge named Tony Manero who liked to disco, particularly on Saturday nights, but he would learn these details later.

What captivated Michael in that moment was seeing his idol, John Travolta — Vinnie Barbarino from “Welcome Back, Kotter” (Tuesday nights on ABC at 8:30) — strutting down the Brooklyn sidewalk in white polyester, trailing hubris and Brut by Fabergé.

Michael would have to wait till his mother took him to the PG-rated version of “Saturday Night Fever” to see it for himself, but it was the first time he could remember watching somebody from his neighborhood become something, which is exactly what he planned to do.

“If Tony Manero could get out using his talent,” he thought, “maybe I can, too.”

His mother, Donna Blanchard, had spent much of her life trying to do the same thing. She grew up in Brooklyn, the daughter of Italian immigrants from Naples. Her drive for fame was passed to her by her mother, who was one of the Quattrone Sisters, a musical group of six siblings who sang standards in Brooklyn hot spots of the late 1940s.

Everyone said Donna resembled a young Sophia Loren, and they expected her to go to Hollywood. But then she got pregnant with Michael at 18, and soon after split with his father. She took waitressing jobs to keep the family going and, realizing that she was stuck in Brooklyn, transferred her dreams of fame to her son.