36—Friday, August 17, 1973 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
How Henny Youngman; Would-Be
Fiddler, Turned Comedian Is Related
Please!'
in Book 'Take My Wife . •
RodinsonAgain
Disparages the
Israel Position
.
Henny Youngman has
drawn many laughs, in this
community, throughout the
country and when he had a
chance to appear in other
lands.
How did he become a
comedian? What were his
motivations and his skills?
He tells an interesting and
hilarious story in his new
book, "Take My Wife . . .
Please!", published by G. P.
Putnam's Sons. It's a volume
so filled with entertainment
that the humorist becomes
an attraction in print as
much as he is on stage.
It's a story "as confessed
to Carroll Carroll," and the
subtitle "My Life and
Laughs" summarizes the
HENNY YOUNGMAN
narratives.
Youngman rates among the
best on the platform, and he
makes a point of his con-
fessional in relating how he
had started as a musician,
like Jack Benny failed as a
Michael Deakin heard about
fiddler and like him succeed-
a remarkable 9-year-old
in his art: storytelling.
piano prodigy in Wales. He
"Take My Wife ... Please!" went to meet the family,
is a Borscht Belt in print. It's found his 11-year-old brother
the story of a Jewish family to be a mathematical genius
—the parental backgrounds and unusual interest in the
are noted — and of the lad other two children and their
who keeps telling about his parents.
fiddle because he still loves
He \Prole about them, and
it. But he likes it better when
the
resultant book, "The
an audience laughs with him.
Children on the Hill," pub-
That's where the narrator
lished by Bobbs-Merrill, tells
steps in, and his many ad-
how the project of child
mirers will get as much thrill
from his confessions to Car- training developed.
The parents, Maria the
roll as they still do whether
he appears for Israel Bonds Italian Catholic and Martin
or in night clubs or the va- the product of Polish-Jewish
riety of functions on which ancestry who lived in Eng-
land and met his wife in
he remains an attraction.
Italy, decided on a "Process"
Not only his audiences, but of child rearing. Maria de-
the many notables with whom voted herself completely to
he has shared glory on radio, the children.
TV shows, on stage, will
The Catholic and Jewish
learn about him and about aspects are reported briefly.
themselves anew in this long While Maria's grandparents
series of episodes so well re- objected strenuously to the
lated with the aid of an able marriage, there is little else
writer.
to be learned from the book
Born in London, raised in regarding the mixed mar-
Brooklyn, at a tender age riage aspect. There is refer-
Henny had already been ini- ence to the Holocaust and to
tiated into the rites of one- anti-Semitism, and that is
night stands, vaudeville va- all.
rieties and the Borscht Belt.
The book itself is a splen-
When he was not performing, did account of an experience
he was printing and peddling with an interesting family
joke cards for dimes and that is developing prodigies.
nickles. A long stint on the The true names have been
Kate Smith Show was the changed for the author's
turning point and he soon purposes of assuring this
became known as the master family's privacy.
of the one-line joke. A comic
Thus, this family's identity
pro who played every route is kept hidden in the splendid
from the London Palladium Deakin account of a remark-
to the Las Vegas Club cir- able family "Process" in
cuits and more Bar Mitzvas "The Children on the Hill."
than he cares to recall,
Henny was father, husband Israel TV Director
and a man who discovered
Yeshayahu Tadmor, who
that by not turning down any recently
his one-
offers, he could work 300 year trial completed
period as director
days a year and get rich.
of Israel Television—on loan
Here's an interesting quote from the army — has been
from this story: "Frank Sina- reappointed to the post for
tra once told me that money another three-year p e r i o d .
isn't everything, and I said, Tadmor, who is ITV's fourth
`Quite right, but you can't be director in four years, pre-
rich without it.' "
viously served as deputy to
"Take My Wife ... Please!" the chief education office for
is a - non-stop barrage of his the Israel defense f or c es ,
famous one-liners, sprinkled with the rank of lieutenant-
with mercilessly candid anec- colonel.
dotes (and photos) of some
Chief Rabbi S H L 0 M 0
of the greatest personalities
in show biz. It is a rare and GOREN left Israel for a two-
nostalgic glimpse of crooners week visit to South Africa as
and cronies and the bygone a guest of the synagogue or-
days of the big time bands. ganization and the local
And the illustrated portions Zionist Federation. He is to
of this book add interestingly meet also with South Africa's
to a gloriouS story about and President and several South
African government officials.
by a great entertainer.
Deakin Relates
Family Process
for Geniuses
'Royal Cities of the Old Testament'
Notable Record in Impressive Volume
With a growing interest in
the history of the Holy City
of Jerusalem, the Schocken-
published "Royal Cities of
the Old Testament" by Kath-
leen Kenyon assumes special
significance.
Notably illustrated with 103
plates, listing, additionally,
28 city plans and diagrams,
with a chronology dating
from 1900 BCE to 587 BCE,
the historical data incor-
porated in the author's re-
searched material is of equal
value to the historian as well
as to lay readers.
Three of the royal cities of
Jerusalem, Megiddo and
Samaria are recorded, and
the excavations under the
direction of Prof. Yigael
Yadin in the 1950s are taken
into account.
The Bible references, to
the three cities, to Hazor and
Gezer, are incorporated in
the studies.
range, in places only 100 m.
in width, and only a mutil-
ated fragment of ancient
Jerusalem remained to form
the basis of the post-Exilic
city."
Miss Kenyon's authorita-
tive work has the added sig-
nificance of describing the
explorations between the two
world wars. Related are the
efforts of the Palestine Ex-
ploration Fund, the collabor-
ation in archeological ef-
forts of Harvard University,
the British School of Arche-
ology and the Hebrew Uni-
versity.
F o r archeologists a n d
those interested in explora-
tions, "Royal Cities of the
Old Testament" has special
merit. Historians and all
If it had come out of Cairo
or Beirut or Damacus, "Is-
rael, A Colonial -S e t t l e r
State?" by Maxime Rodinson
could not be more shocking
and more misrepresentative
of human needs.
Rodinson is already known
for an earlier book that was
among the most disruptive of
p e a c e between Jews and
Arabs. The author's m a i,n
claim to impartiality is that
he is a Jew. But his New
Le f t a n d pro-Communist
stand, his condemnations of
Israel because Jews settled
in Palestine, his c h a r g e s
which border on libels when
he claims that Jews mistreat
Arabs — these brand him as
a destructive factor in human
* * * * .* * * * * * *_*
relations in the Middle East.
INVITATIONS • ENTERTAINMENT
Of course, Jews were set-
Now Availably
tlers in the ancient homeland,
OOPSY
and their acquisition of land
THE CLOWN
in Palestine was at the ex-
• ASTROLOGER
orbitant prices of the effendis
Jerusalem's background,
• CARICATURES'.
who didn't care a hoot for
• MUSIC
the fellahin, the Arab op- the city's sites, the mon-
BY HATIE
sr/moult
pressed farmers, whose sta- archies of Judah and Israel,
SCHWARTZ
SCHWARTZ
tus was elevated only by the which formed the ancient
AGENCY
356-8563
kingdoms, are thoroughly re-
Jewish settlements.
,candy Centerpieces 356 8525_
Why should Rodinson take
into account the Jewish heri-
tage, the right of Jews to
find a home in their ancient
homeland, when the basic ap-
proach to his theme is to
condemn the inherited rights?
The damage continues to
be done in works like Rodin-
son's and the New Leftists
remain among the chief an-
tagonists of the J e w i s h
builders of a modern state
for all the citizens — and the
Arabs are not denying the
benefits they have gained.
Realists now concede that
the battle is between two na-
tions, and that it will be nec-
essary to attain peace by
means of some sort of Pal-
estinian state. That would
involve lost-stretched nego-
tiations in which Jordan and
the other states will no doubt
be involved, together with
the Palestinians themselves.
But a Rodinson does not help
matters: he destroys and is
an obstacle to peace.
Fore for a Finn
BY ROBERT SLATER
(Copyright 1973, JTA, Inc.)
viewed.
Delving into . historical
backgrounds, the author de-
scribes not only Solomon's
Jerusalem but also "Jeru-
salem of the Jebusites and
of David."
Due consideration is given
to the royal cities in Sam-
aria, those of the divided
monarchies.
Historical data is provided
on the history of the royal
cities in Israel, the Northern
Kingdom. Excavations by the
Palestine Exploration Fund
during the century preceding
Israel's rebirth, the more re-
cent discoveries, are utilized
in describing the historicity
of Hazor, Megiddo and other
important places.
An interesting chapter is
devoted to the last years of
the monarchies of Judah and
I s r a e 1. The constructive
labors under King Hezekiah
and other rulers supplement
the Solomonic record.
Herod's role is taken into
account and the Temple's
destruction is described to
indicate the collapse of the
ancient walls. There is this
interesting note in relation
to Temple rebuilding:
"When Cyrus the Great,
master of Babylon, allowed
some of the exiles to return
to Jerusalem, in 530 BCE,
they must have patched up
the better preserved houses
on the summit of the ridge,
and by 516 BCE the Temple
had been rebuilt. But there
was no rebuilding of the
king's palace, and Jerusalem
was no longer a Royal City.
It was many years before it
was even a walled city again.
When at last, probably c. 440
BCE. Nehemiah was allowed
to rebuild the walls, he found
the eastern side still aban-
doned and in such a chaos
of tumbled stones that the
Kedron valley was virtually
impassable. His rebuilding
was confined to the summit
JERUSALEM — The new
dean of the diplomatic corps,
Finland's ambassador, Algar
von Hieroth, appeared at
Abba Eban's Independence
Day banquet wearing a big
plaster on his forehead. No,
he explained, when proposing
the toast to Israel's second
quarter-century of statehood,
he had not worn it specially
for the occasion. It was the
the result of a mishap at the
Caesarea golf course. "A 15-
year-old s a bra underesti-
mated his strength and over-
estimated his aim," the am-
bassador explained.
* * *
Finland made a warm ges-
ture for Israel's 25th anniver-
sary which left officials here
pleasantly surprised'.
President Urho Kekkonen
sent one of Finland's elder
statesmen, former Premier
Karl August Fagerhoim, to
ut your
Israel with a special congrat-
money
where
'.*.
kg."
P
ulatory message from the
your heart is
-'
*----
people of Finland. Scores of
—
...,
-...... -.? in America
messages from foreign gov-
ernments were received at
President Zalman Shazar's
Sign up for
residence during the celebra-
tions — but this was the only
m e ss a ge delivered by so
august 'an envoy.
Nift
U.S. SAYINGS BONDS,
FREEDOM SHARES
concerned in the diggings
that have become so im-
portant in Israel's methods
of unearthing ancient sites,
will be fascinated by the
older record so well provided
in this book.
ERIC ROSENOW1
and hisContinentals,
39 8-
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