If anyone was preordained to be a rabbi, it was Jackie Mason. Born in Sheboygan, Wis., in 1937, the Yiddish-accented comedian comes from four generations of rabbis. All three of his brothers are rabbis. And, once upon a time, Mason himself was a rabbi, teaching Talmud in far-out places like Lathrop, Pa., and Walden, N.C.
I must admit, I have a soft spot for the man I\’ll call \”Pizza Guy.\”\n\nHe writes me almost weekly to report his trials and tribulations in the helter-skelter world of food distribution and to comment on my columns. Sure, his first letter was a little frightening, what with psychotic penmanship and \”screen play ideas\” doodled in the margins. Still, he takes the time to write, and I can\’t help but be flattered by his missives.
I never heard the N-word, growing up, because we were Jewish. For my parents, the S-word sufficed. Although they never would have denied someone an opportunity based on skin color, it was \”schvartzes\” who tried to rob my Uncle Max and Auntie Jean at their grocery store. When \”schvartzes\” moved into the neighborhood, it was time to sell the house. My dad had \”a big schvartze\” who worked in his scrap yard.
Between about 1910 and 1939, no one in the theater made a move without consulting George Jean Nathan. In the midst of scriveners, hacks and stringers, Nathan was the real thing: an erudite theater critic with more than 20 books to his credit, a fabled association with H.L. Mencken behind him (they co-edited \”the Smart Set\”) and a range of European-bred tastes that gave him a sophistication that few of his colleagues could rival. He not only promoted the early Eugene O\’Neill, but was a close friend of the playwright\’s and his staunchest champion. He elucidated G.B. Shaw for the masses and created the appetite that eventually established Sean O\’Casey.
The big political story that\’s emerged from last week\’s California primary is not the Davis-Lungren gubernatorial race nor the high-profile propositions. The big story is yet unfolding and takes us to a small corner of our town, in the east end of the San Fernando Valley. At this writing, former Assemblyman Richard Katz is only 33 votes behind City Councilman Richard Alarcon in a race to replace veteran state Sen. Herschel Rosenthal. While awaiting the inevitable recount, observers of the new American ethnic politics are peering over the map of Senate District 20 block by block for what is being done right — and wrong.
Avi Kostner, the New Jersey man who said he killed his two children because he couldn\’t bear to let his ex-wife raise them as Christians, is himself dead.
The government is now trying to pass an updated version of the conversion law, which, it claims, gives consideration to Conservative and Reform Jewry
\”This is a story about my brother, Moriel. Moriel has autism.
Lisa Cholodenko\’s edgy debut film, \”High Art,\” won a screenwriting award at Sundance and made the Directors Fortnight at Cannes.
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