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EDDIE FISHER
(1928 - 2010)
Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe
Syosset, New York
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When I was growing up in Rockaway Beach,
New York, Eddie Fisher was THE musicstar
and household name to every "tsenerlingn"
(teenager). We adored his crooning love
songs. We knew that he was married to
Debbie Reynolds, who became known
as "America's favorite couple."
Shown below is a Yiddish Guide to the late Eddie Fisher, who passed away on Sept. 22, 2010. He was 82.
"ahf tsores" (in trouble)
"I'd been one of the most popular singers
in America and had given up my career for
love. I fathered two children and adopted
two children and rarely saw any of them. I
was addicted to methamphetamine and I
couldn't sleep at night without a huge dose
of librum.
Quote by Eddie Fisher
"armey" (army)
Eddie Fisher's career was interrupted by
Army service from 1951 - 53. He was assigned to the Army Band entertaining
troops in Asia and Europe.
Mr. Fisher said, "The Army gave me a lot more than I gave it. Why, I did shows I never would have done. In the rain, the mud, off the back of trucks, without a mike and sometimes without even music."
"bankrot" (bankruptcy) Eddie Fisher filed for bankruptcy in 1970.
Betty Ford Clinic Eddie Fisher credits his future wife, Lin, with persuading him to seek help, which he received at the Betty Ford Clinic.
"bukh" (book)
In 1981, Fisher wrote the book titled,"Eddie:
My Life, My Loves," in which he claimed to
have stopped abusing drugs. (He later
recanted.) He told the Chicago Tribune in
1991, "I wrote the book under the influence.
Cocaine. That's what happens with drugs.
You lie. You lie a lot."
"diment" (diamond)
When Elizabeth and Richard Burton were
having an affair, Eddie refused to take it
seriously ("oyf an emes"). Joe Mankiewicz
said, "Elizabeth and Richard are two potential world-class
destroyers and poor
Eddie is a singing waiter from Grossinger's."
Dick Hanley advised Fisher to distract
Elizabeth from the affair. "Take her
shopping," Dick suggested. Eddie said, "To
keep Elizabeth happy, you have to give her
a diamond before breakfast every morning." (BTW, Dick Hanley,
was more
than Elizabeth's secretary. He was the
gatekeeper, facilitator, ringmaster, and therapist.)
Discovered
Fisher was discovered by Eddie Cantor while he was performing at
Grossinger's in
the Catskills. Cantor hired him to sing on
his "radyo" (radio) show.
"ershter" (first)
Fisher's first hit song was "Thinking of You."
"eyniklekh" (grandchildren)
Eddie Fisher had 6 grandchildren.
"geboryn-tog" (birthday)
Eddie Fisher was born on Aug. 10, 1928, in
Philadelphia. He was the "zun" (son) of
Russian-born Jewish immigrants and one of
seven children. His father, Joe, was a "grins"
(vegetable) and "frukht" (fruit) vendor.
"gedenken" (to remember) Eddie Fisher told the Miami Herald in 1999, "It isn't the music that people remember most about me. It's the women."
Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger ("Furious Love - Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the marriage of the century") wrote, "The former singing sensation would be remembered by the public as Elizabeth Taylor's fourth husband, the one between Todd and Burton."
"gelibter" (sweetheart)
Fisher's 1955 marriage to Debbie Reynolds,
Hollywood's girl next door, was greeted with headlines such as
"AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS TIE KNOT."
"gelt" (money)
Fisher said that he had made and spent
$20 "milyon" (million) during his heyday,
and much of it went to gambling and drugs.
"get" (divorce)
Fisher had a messy "get." Carrie Fisher
has compared her parents' messy divorce
and father's re-marriage to Liz Taylor to
the modern-day Jennifer Aniston/Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie saga.
Grossinger's
In 1955, Eddie Fisher married Debbie Reynolds at Grossinger's Resort
in the Borscht Belt.
"harts" (heart)
Fisher's rendition of "Heart" from "Damn
Yankees," reached Number Six on the Hit
Parade in 1955.
"Hebreish" (Hebrew)
Encouraged by his "bobe" (grandmother) to
sing Jewish folk songs when he was 2 or 3,
Fisher was singing duets in Hebrew with the "khazn" (Jewish
cantor) at their
synagogue by the time he was 7 or 8.
"khasene" (marriage)
Eddie Fisher was married "finf" (5) times.
He had two children, Carrie and Todd with
his first wife, "aktrise"/"zinger" (actress/singer),
Debbie Reynolds. He
famously left her for his second wife, Elizabeth Taylor.
What a "skandal." He said, "I had been married to America's sweetheart and America's femme fatale, and both marriages had ended in scandal."
Fisher was also married to "aktrise" Connie Stevens, with whom he had 2 children, Joely and Tricia Leigh Fisher. His 4th marriage, at 47, was to the 21-year-old beauty "malke" (queen), Terry Richard. It ended after 10 months. His fifth (and longest) marriage was to Betty Lin, a Chinese-born businesswoman. She died in 2001.
"lektsye" (lesson)
Fisher wrote in his 1999 memoir, "Been
There, Done That" that he had learned one
"vikhtik" (important) lesson: "There were no rules
for me. I could get away with
anything so long as that sound came out
of my throat ("gorgl"/"haldz")."
"lipnshtift" (lipstick)
When Fisher was 15, his picture appeared on the frontsof trolley
cars. He wrote, "The
newspapers reported that by the time the
trolley reached the end of the line, my picture was covered with
lipstick."
"mensch" (upright/honorable/decent person)
When the Fisher family announced his death they said, in part, "He
was an
extraordinary talent and a true mensch."
"nervez" (nervous) breakdown Elizabeth Taylor fell in love with Richard Burton during the filming of "Cleopatra." The publicity caused Fisher to check into a NYC "shpitol" (hospital) with a reported nervous breakdown.
"nomen" (name) calling In Fisher's autobiography, he called Debbie Reynolds "self-centered, totally driven, insecure, untruthful, and phony."
"perfekt" (perfect) couple
To the public, Debbie and Eddie seemed
like a real-life version of Betty White and
Del Moore of "Life with Elizabeth," or Joan
Caulfield and Barry Nelson of "My Favorite
Husband," or any other perfect young
couples who then dominated television...
Their domestic bliss was a well-orchestrated fiction.
(Source: "How to Be A Movie Star -
Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood"
by William J. Mann.)
"pirsum" (publicity)
Publicist-manager, Milton Blackstone,
helped Eddie Fisher's publicity by hiring
girls to "shrayem" (scream) and swoon at
Fisher's appearances.
Quote
Andy Willams told the Times: "I used to do
numbers with him [Eddie Fisher] and Bobby
Darin on my show. He used to blast the hell
out of us. His voice was so big, round and
full."
rock 'n' roll
With the impact of rock 'n' roll, Fisher's
record ("plate"/"disk") sales began to decline
in the late '50s.
In a 1991 interview with the Chicago Tribune, Fisher said of rock 'n' roll: "I did not think that would have any effectg on me. I thought I was above and beyond all that. I thought I had created this niche and nothing could take it away."
"televisye" (TV) music show
"The Eddie Fisher Show" was an hour-long
music variety program that aired from
1957 - '59.
TOP "TSEN" (10)
During the '50s, Fisher had a long string of
Top 10--and No. 1--hits, including "Any Time," "Tell
Me Why," "I'm Walking Behind
You," "I Need You Now," and "Oh! My Pa-Pa."
"tsutsien" (to attract)
Elizabeth Taylor was attracted to Jewish men, like Mike Todd, Eddie
Fisher, Max
Lerner, Wolf Mankowitz, and Joe Mankiewicz.
"vitslen zikh" (to joke)
After being discarded by Liz Taylor, Fisher
became the butt of comedians' jokes. He
began relying on drugs to get through
performances, and his bookings declined.
"zingen" (to sing)
At 13, Eddie Fisher won a singing contest
sponsored by Horn and Hardart Children's
Hour.
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