It is a portrayal of fathers and sons, surprise phone calls, a youth with his fingertips on history, and a hero who took time to reach him figuratively and literally where he lived. Always Jackie is where innocence meets harsh realities, and reminds us how humans often connected before our digital world existed.

SYNOPSIS:

One was an adult- the other a young boyOne was a Christian- the other JewishOne was Midwestern- the other a Californian living in New York

For two decades Jackie Robinson and Sheboygan, Wisconsin fan Ronnie Rabinovitz forged a special bond, symbolized by poignant, serious letters between them which began when Rabinovitz was seven. Robinson signed with Brooklyn, breaking the big league color barrier when he was 27- the two remained friends until Robinson died in 1972- when Rabinovitz was 27. The original impetus came from Ron’s dad David Rabinovitz, an admirer who wrote Robinson when Ron was only seven, unbeknownst to him. Robinson not only wrote back- he expressed an interest in meeting the little boy. When the Dodgers visited Milwaukee to play the Braves, they met for the first time of many. David Rabinovitz was Democratic National Committeeman for Wisconsin, and encouraged Senator John Kennedy to run in the Wisconsin Democratic presidential primary against the U.S senator from the neighboring state- Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota. When Ronnie was 15, he traveled six weeks with Jack and Bobby Kennedy (his brother’s campaign manager) on the exciting campaign trail. The brothers even slept in his home, and Ronnie often fetched the Catholic candidate’s dinner from hotel kitchens and restaurants on the road. During the campaign, Ron’s father introduced Jack Kennedy to Jackie Robinson, in hopes the generally GOP ballplayer would support the young hopeful. In

Always Jackie, viewers relive these events. Via the intimate letters, audiences meet a trailblazer away from the diamond, through the lens of this friendship.

Through his relationship with the star, Ron Rabinovitz was exposed to some ugly incidents of bigotry aimed at Robinson. Being a Jewish child growing up in the 1950’s and 1960’s, he experienced some himself- including at the hands of children his age. Only a little older than Robinson’s boy Jackie, Jr., Ronnie shared accounts of his Little League play and his summer camp attendance with the father, who told him his son was experiencing the same things. The friendship endured into Rabinovitz’s adulthood- after Robinson had long since retired from playing, but was very active for social justice. This is a story about life lessons, traversing cultural bridges, the private side of a public figure, and the U.S. in the evolving 1950’s and 1960’s. It is a portrayal of fathers and sons, surprise phone calls, a youth with his fingertips on history, and a hero who took time to reach him figuratively and literally where he lived. Always Jackie is where innocence meets harsh realities, and reminds us how humans often connected before our digital world existed.