Living at different times on Argyle Road and Newkirk Avenue in Flatbush, [Joseph Barbera] attended Holy Innocents Catholic School and PS 139. He remembered going to the Parade Grounds and watching ballgames at Ebbets Field. But his most cherished memories are of his days at Erasmus Hall High School, from which he was graduated in 1928.

Their paths might not have crossed, however, had Walt Disney, at the time a fledgling animator, kept a promise to call Barbera after the Brooklynite sent him a fan letter. Barbera considered Disney's failure to contact him another lucky break on his path to success. "I would have disappeared," he said. " {INCHES}I would be working there, and there would have been no Tom and Jerry and no Fred Flintstone."

Besides his memories, Barbera has no other ties to Brooklyn. His mother lived at 262 E. 26th St. up to 10 years ago, and he's looking for a half-sister he lost track of. But he will be close by on Tuesday when he visits Circle Gallery of Cartoon and Animation Art, 780 Seventh Ave., from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Circle Gallery, at 205 Front St. in the South Street Seaport, during the same hours on Thursday.