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Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe
Syosset, New York
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*The Yiddish word meaning "to entertain" is "farvayln."
So much is happening in the world of entertainment ("farvaylung") and humor.
Charlie Sheen, who was dumped from the sitcom, "Two and a Half Men," is suing Warner Bros. and Chuck Lorre for $100 million dollars.
Bel Kaufman, 99, granddaughter of the late Sholom Aleichem, will teach a course starting in April on Jewish humor. The course is being offered at Hunter College in New York and costs $180--ten times "chai."
And, The National Yiddish Book Center has invited me to see the documentary, "Making Trouble." It tells the story of six of the greatest female comic performers of the last century: Molly Picon, Fanny Brice, Sophie Tucker, Joan Rivers, Gilda Radner, and Wendy Wasserstein.
Hosted by four of today's funniest women-- Judy Gold, Jackie Hoffman, Cory Kahaney, and Jessica Kirson--it's the true saga of what it means to be Jewish, female and "komish" (funny).
When I think about Molly Picon, who starred in the Jerry Herman musical, "Milk and Honey" ("Milkh un Honik"), I recall these lyrics:
Shalom, Shalom,
I find Shalom
The nicest greeting you know;
It means bonjour, salud, and skoal
And twice as much as hello.
It means a million lovely things,
Like peace be yours,
Welcome home.
And even when you say goodbye...
If your voice has
"I don't want to go" in it,
Say goodbye with a little "hello" in it,
And say goodbye with Shalom.
Who can forget Sophie Tucker (1884-1966), the Russian born American singer and actor who became a huge success in Las Vegas ("zind" city) and in nightclubs. Tucker prided herself with the tag, "The Last of the Red Hot Mamas." Tucker returned to her hometown and was greeted enthusiastically. Even the gossipy women ("yentas") who had once criticiized her, quickly changed their tune about her. After one of the petty ("nishtik") women snidely questioned how much Tucker was actually being paid for her appearance at the local theater, Tucker escorted her to the manager's office to show her "der kontrakt" (the contract) and the stipulation that she be paid only in "mezumen" (cash).
Oh, the late Wendy Wasserstein, the award-winning America playwright. What a woman! She said, "Being a grownup means assuming responsibility for yourself, for your children--here's the big curve--for your parents."
How well I recall the story about Wendy Wasserstein's mom, Lola. Lola gave a memorable performance annually in Florida. In the 1950s, Arthur Godfrey owned what was rumored to be an anti- Semitic hotel in Miami Beach. The Kenilworth was billed as a retreat for those who preferred to be with people from "your own background and taste." To get even, every year, Wendy Wasserstein's mom would take Wendy and her brother to the front desk at the Kenilworth and ask for directions to "the Cohen Bar Mitzvah." And every year she would be admonished, "Madame, there is no Cohen Bar Mitzvah here." When on the day Godfrey passed away, an ambulance pulled away from the curb in front of her building. She couldn't help thinking, "He's off to the Cohen Bar Mitzvah in the sky."
Joan Rivers ("Can We Talk?") is another "komiker"/jester. Joan is known for her brash manner, her loud raspy voice, and her numerous cosmetic ("kosmetik")surgeries.
Who else could say, "I hate housework! You make the beds, you do the dishes, and six months later you have to start all over again"? Rivers has also said, "I don't exercise - If God had wanted me to bend over, he would have put diamonds on the floor."
Rivers causes us to "lakhn" (laugh) when she says, "I hate Billings, Montana. They have a fashion show at Sears Roebuck - no models. You open a catalog and point." And then Rivers (born Joan Alexandra Molinsky) says, "Thank God ('danken Got"), we're living in a country where the sky's the limit, the stores are open late, and thanks to television, you can shop in bed."
Fanny Brice said, "I'm a bad woman, but I'm darn good company." She's also credited with saying, "Wrong is for other people."
Gilda Radner (1946-1989) was best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show, Saturday Night Live. She was married to Gene Wilder. She created such characters as Roseanne Roseannadanna, an obnoxious woman with wild black hair whose trademark complaint, "It's always something--if it ain't one thing, it's another." Her other SNL characters included "Baba Wawa," a spoof of Barbara Walters. Radner parodied such celebrities as Lucille Ball, Patti Smith and Olga Korbut.
Gilda Radner died much too young. Her quotes incude these two gems:
"I base my fashion taste on what doesn't itch" and "I always wanted a happy ending...Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity."
________________________
"Making Trouble" is now available for purchase for
$29.95 at makingtrouble.com.
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