Peter was a very shy and troubled boy, and a violent adolescent. He was exposed to the ugliness of the human situation at a very young age. His father, Herman Rotstein (the “i” was removed upon his entrance into the theater), a well-educated man of science, opted for show biz to pursue Peter’s mother Alma Charmatz. Herman showed young Peter photographs of the Holocaust and the cold-blooded genocide of millions of innocent people, something that would always stay with Peter; especially in his later years as an activist. Peter’s father directed the original Broadway play “Pins and Needles”, a controversial play that looked at current events from a pro-union standpoint. It was a "lighthearted look at young workers in a changing society in the middle of America's most politically engaged city." Skits spoofed everything from Fascist European dictators to bigots in the DAR. Word-of-mouth was so enthusiastically positive that the cast abandoned their day jobs and the production expanded to a full performance schedule of eight shows per week. New songs and skits were introduced every few months to keep the show topical. "Pins and Needles" was the only hit ever produced by a labor union, and the only time when a group of unknown non-professionals brought a successful musical to Broadway. Because Peter’s father Herman was associated with left-wing causes, it is supposed that he was asked by ILGWU president David Dubinsky to withdraw. His name has been almost entirely removed, erased from the whole production due to the black-listing of the time.

Between the ages of 15 to 19 Peter’s life took a most influential turn when cousin Bobby Notkoff came to move in with the Rotsten’s. After living in Greenwich village, Bobby had been a student of Jascha Heifetz, a violin virtuoso born 1901 in Vilnius, then in the Russian Empire, now Lithuania. Heifetz is widely regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time. Bobby instead chose to go electric playing with The Rockets, a psychedelic folk hybrid comprised of the main members of Crazy Horse!

Bobby played on:
1967 The Trip [Original Soundtrack] - Electric Flag
1968 Long Time Comin' - Electric Flag
1968 The Rockets (album) - The Rockets
1969 Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere - Neil Young & Crazy Horse
1971 In My Own Time album - Karen Dalton
1972 At Crooked Lake - Crazy Horse
1972 For the Roses - Joni Mitchell
1978 Crazy Moon - Crazy Horse

Peter learned all that was cool from Bobby, including at the time drugs! All of this soon caused Peter three nervous breakdowns between the ages of 18 to 21. This was the time of the Watt’s riots and the violence of the outside world soon took it’s toll on Peter. Like the transformation of Peter O’Toole's in “The Ruling Class”, Peter suffered delusions of being God Almighty, creating universal principals and bringing his wrath down on corporate buildings, often demolishing them with a single thought. But unlike O’Toole in the film, he never bought the system!

At 21 his parents stepped in and placed him in the experimental L.A Day Treatment center under the care of James Ferguson. At this revolutionary new treatment center, Peter was taught and encouraged by the likes of Laura Huxley, a musician, author, psychological counselor and lecturer, and the wife of Aldous Huxley. She championed the "human potential" movement through books including the awesome “You Are Not the Target: A Practical Manual of How to Cope with a World of Bewildering Change.” She was an advocate of the “human potential” movement well before self-improvement sections in bookshops, now swollen, even existed! In charitable work she strove to enrich the emotional lives of the young and old by uniting elderly people with the young.

While in treatment, Peter’s first request was for some clay. He then began to recreate his own head. This was a time of deep internal work. There is not a single continent or primal culture that doesn’t have a pattern of male grief work, of uniformity. Some unseen choreographer has sent out the instructions to the various cultures. In every culture I’ve studied, whether it was African, old Celtic, Native American, or Aboriginal, there was one universal element in historic initiation: grief work. The young male had to be taught somehow the way of tears. He had to be taught how to cry. In fact, if I were to sum up the whole spirituality of men in a one liner, it would be this; the young man who cannot cry is a savage, the old man who cannot laugh is a fool.

After Peter had refashioned his head, he asked for some paints. (God, I love that sentence. I will say it again. After Peter had refashioned his head, he asked for some paints).

Peter had good examples of interesting people who did not buy into the system. There was John Forsyth from Hollywood’s halcyon days; Marlon Brando, Cary Grant, Alfred Hitchcock, Audrey Hepburn and Dean Martin. Along the way, John Forsyth came to know writer Truman Capote while starring in the 1967 film version of “In Cold Blood”, the renowned author’s magnum opus. What’s more, he took time during World War II to serve in the Air Force as a speech-rehabilitation counselor. He also took the time to enter Peter in a Pomona Art show where his painting won first prize.

Peter’s influences are Max Ernst, Picasso, Francis Bacon, and Horst Bosch.

Peter has studied with Charles Wilbert White (1918 - 1979) one of America's most renowned and recognized African-American and Social Realist artists. White studied under Joseph Anthony Mugnaini (July 12, 1912, Viareggio, Province of Lucca – January 23, 1992). He is best known for his collaborations with writer Ray Bradbury, beginning in 1952.

Peter also understudied with Ernest Freed, who said of Peter, “You are bound for greatness!” Ernest Freed who studied printmaking with Mauricio Lasansky was a painter, printmaker, administrator, and teacher. He won a Tiffany Fellowship and while at Bradley as Head of the School of Art, he revamped the curriculum to include printmaking and established a National Print Exhibition. In 1954, he began a twenty-year career as Professor of Art at Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles where he established another legacy, The National Print Invitational.

Peter also studied under Boris Gorelik, a professor of art theory and history whose paintings, drawings, and jewelry designs have been exhibited in numerous museums in Russia, Belarus, Poland, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic as well as being on display at the Architectural Societies of Minsk, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and other cities of the former Soviet Union. The art of Boris Gorelik can be divided into two streams: philosophical expressive compositions and decorative paintings. The first is rooted in his explorations of music and literature.

Peter was also both an understudy and a participant in Dr. Carl Menninger “Poetry Therapy”, at The Griffen Institute of Calabasas around 1968.

~Michael Murphy