Love is Here to Stay
The radio and the telephone and the movies that we know
May just be passing fancies, and in time may go
But, oh my dear, love is here to stay.
Together we're goin' a long, long way.
In time the Rockies may crumble and Gibraltar it may tumble.
They're only made of clay.
But, our love, our love is here to stay.
-Ira Gershwin
From Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong to Rod Stewart, the oh so romantic Gershwin tune, “Love is Here to Stay” has been performed for decades. The song celebrates a couple’s undying devotion to each other - forever love. In the early 1960s, despite being mere teenagers, Hazel Washington and Bob Levy took on the world. As an interracial couple, they quickly learned how to navigate the uncharted waters of the day - societal taboos, family interference, and unchecked racism. However, nothing and nobody were going to stop this couple’s love. As they approach their 60th wedding anniversary (that’s Golden Anniversary plus another 10 years), “…it's very clear, [their] love is here to stay…ever and a day.”
Wendi Levy Kaaya, Hazel and Bob’s daughter, commissioned director, Lara Firestone, to create a video documentary about her parents as an anniversary gift. Along with help from her brother, Bob Levy, Jr. and a host of other family members and longtime Levy friends, the project took several months to complete. Firestone filmed in the Levy home interviewing people who know and love Hazel and Bob. The final product, “Celebrating 60 Years of Love,” beautifully captures the ups and downs that the Levys experienced. Through heartwarming and from-the-heart stories about their love, the Levy’s saga brings smiles and tears to anyone who sees it (mostly smiles).
The tribute was not a secret since the couple is interviewed along with family and friends. Hazel and Bob, both dapperly dressed in white, provide some lovely and sweet exchanges as they talk about their 60+ year love story. From first meeting in the halls of Atlantic City High School to secretly marrying in 1964 to raising a family (the Levys were the first multi-racial family to live in Brigantine, New Jersey), the stories in the tribute are touching. The couple, still as beautiful and handsome as they were as teenagers, share what it was like to be poor, abandoned, and shunned. However, throughout the story, their love for each other and determination shine through.
In addition to Hazel’s and Bob’s words, comments from the people interviewed help to tell the full picture describing the “head over heels in love” couple – some who knew them in high school when the forbidden courtship began. Response after response included words like “meant to be together,” “committed,” “determined,” and “a beautiful couple.” When asked what is the staying power that kept her parents together for so many years, Kaaya replied, “It must be LOVE - says it all.”
In addition to being a personal tribute to the Levy Family, the video gives the viewer a glimpse of life in Atlantic City in the mid-60s – from racial tensions in high school and the AC Beach Patrol to the Vietnam War, a piece of history is captured. Kaaya agrees that the tribute is more than just a family video, “I set out to make a family story, but director Lara Firestone created something much bigger and deeper, which I believe should be a teaching tool.”
Kaaya shared the debut the video on the actual day of her parents’ anniversary, July 16th via a Zoom party. What does Kaaya wish for her parents as they watch the story? “I hope they laugh, cry, and fall deeper in love.”
