THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

34 _ AWL litay_4, 1919

Molly Picon's Autobiography
A Signal of Decline of Yiddish

the only two professionals
still using the Yiddish lan-
guage.
The Yiddish theater
meant a great.. deal to the
Jew. I think the theater in
general means just a wee bit
more to us. Every minority
is necessarily more of an ac-
tor. It knows that the major-
ity, the audience, is watch-
ing.
Sorrie 600,000 Jews left
Egypt in the days of Moses,
but there were several mil-
lion that made their exodus
from Russia and Eastern
Europe in the closing days
of the 19th and beginning of
the 20th Centuries.
The Yiddish theater in
America began with this
latter exodus. It was not
easy for those uprooted
millions. Persecution,
pogroms, had hounded
them in Russia, and
America, the new land of
promise, was an un-
known land to them.
They could not speak its
language. There was no
welfare or Social Secu-
rity system to ease their
economic pains. The
Yiddish theater was a
great boon to them. It of-
fered them nothing phys-
ical, but eased their emo-
tional pains.
It made them laugh and
yes, it made them cry also. A
good cry can also help. Re-
member the Yiddish mother

By DAVID SCHWARTZ

(Copyright 1979, JTA, Inc.)

NEW YORK — Molly Pi-
con's autobiography is soon
to come out. The title will be
"Sounds of Laughter." ,
Molly is the last of the
Mohicans of the Jewish
stage. Thinking of her re-
minds us of the story of a
diminutive Southern Con-
federate general, Joe
Wheeler. It was said that no
Yankee would ever capture
him. He was so small you
could never locate him.
Molly has a bit of this ad-
vantage. She is leSs than
five feet tall, but her talent
is big. Maybe being small
has many advantages. You
feel you have never grown
up, so you never get old.
Anyway, Miss Picon, who is
81, says age has never been
a problem to her.
That, we think, is the
right attitude to take.
Molly Picon is as good an
actress-today as she ever
was. There is entirely too
much made of age. If one
wishes to grow old, of
course, there is no reason
why they shouldn't. But
one also should have the
right of growing younger
or not growing at all.
After all, this is a free
country.
Anyway, the smallest has
lasted the longest. Today, as
Miss Picon says, she and
Isaac Bashevis Singer are

We Are Accepting Reservations
For

MOTHER'S DAY

- SUNDAY, MAY 13

(The Best of Everything)

who was crying. Her hus-
band asked her why she was
crying. "My dear husband,"
she said, "if I want to have a
little pleasure and cry why
should you try to stop me?"
So Second Avenue shone
with a brightness not much
less than Broadway. There,
one saw Jacob Adler,
Maurice Schwartz,
Menashe Skolnik. One
heard the songs of Goldfa-
den, saw Molly Picon play
Yonkele, written by her
husband. It must have been
good. She played it 3,000
-times.
I think much was left,
but it is not easily recog-
nizable. I think the histo-
rian of the American the-
ater of the future will
have to recognize a con-
siderable Yiddish influ-
ence. Such names as
Eddie Cantor, Al Jolson,
Jack Benny — so many of
the American comedians
— come from the same
Yiddish background that
found its expression also
in the Yiddish theater.
The moving picture in-
dustry in its beginning
days was also heavily
Jewish. Remember the
Yiddish stories told
about Sam Goldwyn? His
English was a kind of
Yiddish.
After the war, Molly
Picon was sent to perform in
one of the Displaced Persons
camps. One woman came up
to her with her small child
saying how much she ap-
preciated her performance.
Her child, she said, had
never heard the sound of
laughter before. So Molly is
calling her autobiography
"Sounds of Laughter."
The Jewish performers, I
believe, have done a good
deal to bring the sounds of
laughter to an often very
troubled world.

From

IrApA
INN
THER'S DAY

Of
Southfield

28225 Telegraph,

Just South of 12 Mile

SUNDAY, MAY 13
11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

• Roast Baron of Beef • Seafood Newburg
• Baked Ham with cherry sauce
• Rice Pilaf • Green Beans • Baby Carrots
• . Assorted Salads, Including Seafood Salad
• Sweet Table. • Assorted Beverages

Scrambled Eggs, Blintzes,
etc. served from 11 to 2

25 incl tax

ner

Children
Under 10

c'2911

(Continued from Page 33)
planned there by Morrie's
wife Jeanette, Frieda's sis-
ter, had Pearl and Jack Eps-
tein, Joyce and Abe Epstein,
Lenore "Babe" and Sam
Pickman and ourselves.
Very secondary was the
disappointing food . . . Of
prime importance was that
Morrie Epstein's birthday
was being celebrated . . .
and he was surrounded by
his family for well wishes of
many more birthdays in
good health and happiness.
LOOKING BACK ON
Columns of Yesteryears:
JULY 8, 1960 . . .
"Many people in show busi-
ness shorten their names
even more than they do
their noses because it's
easier to get on a marquee
. . . Red Buttons was Aaron
Chwatt, Vic Damone was
Vito Farinola, Milton Berle
was Milton Berlinger,
Robert Aida was Al D'Ab-
ruzzio, and Irving Gray, the
producer, was Irving
Ginsberg . . .
When a nephew who
hadn't seen him in years
wanted to communicate
with him, he sent a letter
addressed to Irving Grey,
c/o NBC . . . Irving finally
received the letter after it
had been shunted around a
bit, and sent him an answer
by return mail . . . It said,
`Dear Nephew. I received
your letter. I would have
gotten it sooner except for
the way you addressed it.
Ginsberg is spelled
G-R-A-Y, not G-R-E-Y.' "
JAPANESE BOY'S
essay on a banana . . .
"Bananas are remarkable
fruit. Him constructed same
style as Melican sausage
but skin of sausage con-
sumed while it not advisa-
ble to eat ripping-off part of
banana." (Ripping — eh
what? Ah so!)

SPECIAL OLYMPICS
for retarded people will
benefit from premiere of the
movie, "Dreamer" 8 p.m.
May 7 at Maple Theater, 15
Mile and Telegraph, Bloom-
field Hills, and Gateway
Theater, 14 Mile and Van
Dyke, Sterling Heights .. .
Tickets are available at par-
ticipating Bowling Prop-
rietors' Association Centers
. . . Karen Robinson of Ark
Lanes on Northwestern, is
coordinator.

WASHINGTON — The
U.S. Supreme Court this
week upheld two Illinois
courts that had thrown out a
suit brought by survivors of
the 1976 Entebbe hijacking
The Illinois Supreme
Court had upheld a lower
court ruling that the state
courts were "an inappropri-
ate forum" for the case.

The Jewish National
Fund will plant 2.5 million
trees in Israel in 1979.

THE

PERFECT
BLEND

COR. LINCOLN
968-4060

NORTHWESTERN AT EVERGREEN

25920, GREENFIELD

In The Heritage Bldg.

NOW AVAILABLE FOR

PRIVATE PARTIES
SATURDAYS TIL 6 p.m.
SUNDAYS TIL 2 a.m.

7 DAYS

6-9 Daily

8-4 Sun.

(BREAKFAST SERVED
ANY TIME

UP TO 150

Featuring

• Home-Made Soups • • Chili
• Greek Salad
• Our Famous Hamburgers
• Baklava • Conev Islands
•Excellent Tuna Sandwiches• Etc.

•Bar Mitzvas • Showers
•Sweet Sixteens
•Disco Parties
• All Occasions

ASK FOR TED I „
353-4010

Everything Also Available
Everything
For Carry-Out

CELEBRATE

( <

--\ MOTHER'S
DAY

—

SUN., MAY 13

AT

IRO'S

Children's Portions Available

1/ 4

1535 CASS LAKE RD.

MILE NORTH OF ORCHARD LAKE RD.

681-3441

Follow A Tradition .. .

Treat Her To A
Wonderful

MOTHER'S
DAY SUN., MAY 13 at

liinctEittp

WOODWARD S. OF LONG LAKE RD.

For Reservations:

Bloomfield Hills

644-1400

OUR DINING ROOMS WILL
BE OPEN 12 noon to 10 p.m.
WITH A SPECIAL DINNER MENU

9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

plus tax

IN OUR BALLROOMS

I

4.4\

SPIRO'S
NOW OPEN

OUR FAMOUS BRUNCH WILL BE FROM

$Q50

1j

Entebbe Case
Must Start Again

Featuring One Of Michigan's Most
Elegant Arrays of All-You-Can-Eat Delights

Reservations Accepted

$ 595

per person