JOSEPH JACOBY, Director-Screenwriter-Producer-Novelist, and NYU Film School classmate of Martin Scorsese, began his career as a writer-creator of game shows and as a professional puppeteer. Jacoby, who went on to become a pioneering filmmaker, has until now never revealed that most of his early years were spent as a ward of the state. He survived a childhood shadowed by his mother's unpredictable and dangerous behavior, which forced friends to commit her. Jacoby then grew up in seven foster homes in Brooklyn, and two institutions.Yet, propelled by the power of his dreams, Jacoby went on to realize his passion for the moving image and made his first theatrcial motion picture at the age of twenty-seven. This is the moving story of what a person can achieve, without regard to so-called reason, facts, or the odds. It will be cherished by everyone concerned about neglected children, and by readers searching for an inspirational true story.