Love Birds Get a Very Marty Valentine's Day

Al and Fran Hirschberg faced each other, the fingers of his right hand and her left intertwined, as they glided across the glossy dance floor in a casual makeshift waltz. They gracefully weaved through the crowd, dodging the score of couples peppering the ballroom, every so often lifting his arm to twirl his wife, deviating from the steadiness of their perfected box step. “Look at this, this was taken over fifty years ago on our wedding day,” Hirschberg said, proudly holding up a worn and curling wallet-sized black-and-white photograph of the couple in their youth. “Doesn’t she look just the same?” “Aw, no don’t listen to him,” his wife replied, blushing. “I’m sure I’ve got a few more wrinkles now.”

Though many years have passed—and certainly some wrinkles acquired in the half-century they have been married—the Hirschberg’s love has remained as in-tact as it was on their wedding day. And, on Friday afternoon, the Hirschbergs joined Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, his wife Jaime Snow-Markowitz and more than 300 other couples married 50 years or more to dance, eat cake, renew their vows and tell their own real-life love stories at the sixth annual Valentine’s Day Sweethearts Ball at the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott.

Markowitz took the opportunity to toast Brooklyn’s most senior couples, celebrating their lives and loves with champagne, wedding cake and platters of cookies. At the end of the affair the couples were asked to stand up and renew their vows as a group, after which the bandleader Barry Bloom, who had provided the musical entertainment, proposed to his overjoyed (and overwhelmed) girlfriend, who excitedly accepted.

Among the hundreds of couples present were Holocaust survivors Samuel and Pola Schanzer, who met in a displaced person’s camp during World War II and discovered they grew up in the same small town outside Krakow, Poland. The couple has been together for 61, and left their table in the back of the room only to take the dance floor by storm. She is 88 years old and he 101, though they certainly don’t look—or act—their age.

“Do you know how old I am?” Schanzer said insistently. “Touch my face. My skin is so soft! Can you believe it?” “Just like a babies behind,” Pola replied, with a nod and a smile.”

Also in attendance were Sam and Hilda Weinberg, who took top honors as the longest married couple in attendance—an incredible 70 years, undoubtedly deserving of the red velvet cake Markowitz presented to them as a Valentine’s gift. The couple grew up in the same neighborhood, and has known each other since childhood. While the Weinbergs’ marriage is now as happy as ever, Hilda made sure to mention that maintaining such a long and enduring union takes work and dedication. But, in the end, she said, she wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

“You know we still have fights sometimes. We even had a fight yesterday!” she said, letting her arms casually drop to her sides. “But I’ll tell you something. I’m happy, and the grass is definitely NOT greener on the other side.”