Jimmy Breslin's Irish wake, without the body!

500 friends fete the famous journalist at NYU's Kimmel Center

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Jimmy Breslin is alive and kicking!

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Barry stated he almost had to move over on the gurney bringing him to the operating room to make room for Breslin.

It was a rare insight into the goodness of Breslin behind the gruffness and hard exterior. Another Times columnist Jim Dwyer brought home another aspect of Breslin, the sheer poetry and intensity of his writing.

He read from Breslin's description of a black grade school in rural Alabama in 1962. You could see the hollowed-out wooden shack, feel the crumbling steps on the entrance to the school whose weight could "not support an adult."

Above all, you could imagine the bleak future in the cotton fields the kids faced once they were old enough. Conditions were essentially unchanged from the time of the Confederacy.

Mike Lupica, sports writer supreme, took us in a different direction, describing his 40th birthday party where Breslin was guest of honor.

Breslin gave a marvelously entertaining speech for the occasion, which lacked just one thing — any mention of Lupica.

Bill Gallo officially inducted Breslin into the "Old Geyers Club" with a wonderful portrait of the writer, mouthing his favorite word "beautiful."

He noted one great trick he learned from Breslin — always go the loser's dressing room after a boxing match — that was where the story was.

And so it went for over two hours that seemed like five minutes. Old copyboys, secretaries, deliverymen, editors — they were all there.

For Breslin, it was a night to remember. For all others, a night never to forget.

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