62 Friday, February 12, 1982 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Husband-Wife Team Backbone of 'Butterfly' By HERBERT LUFT (Copyright 1982, JTA, Inc.) HOLLYWOOD — The career of Meshulam Riklis, head of the Rapid-American Corporation and the pro- ducer of "Butterfly," a mo- tion picture starring his young wife, actress-singer Pia Zadora, reads like a Horatio Alger story. Born 57 years ago, on a train from Russia to Istan- bul, Turkey, he was two months old when he arrived in Israel. His father had been in Palestine before WWI, served in the Turkish army, studied in Liverpool and went back to Russia where he married his mother. Both parents, Pin- kus and Betty Riklis, are still alive and reside in Tel Aviv. Meshulam Riklis completed his high school years in Heitliya and joined the British Army in Pales- tine in 1942. He was 18 years old when he partici- pated in the North African campaign, in the Allied in- vasion of Italy up to Rome and the bloody Anzio beac- hhead. In 1947, the young man came to the U.S. to study at Ohio State University to re- ceive his BA in math- ematics in 1950 (and to re- turn in 1966 to earn his Masters). In 1952, Riklis began his financial career as a broker with an invest- ment banking house, and formed a company with three investors to take _ MDA Training Exercise over "Gruen Watches." He split with his partners who went broke after six months. In 1955, he became the chief executive officer of Rapid-American and has remained at the helm of the privately owned company for 26 years. In that time, the annual business of the conglomerate has risen from $2 million to a record of $3 billion. Included in his vast enterprises are also tire and supply stores; toy and bicy- cle factories, • real estate, shopping centers and a leathergoods manufactur- ing plant in Israel. Person- ally, he owns 51 percent interest in the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas. Riklis also organized the "Celebration 33" drive to raise funds for cultural in- stitutions in Israel and is a leading figure in the United Jewish Appeal, an organization which honored him as Merchant of the Year in 1970. Pia Zadora, his wife of four and a half years, in real life is the epitome of effervescent friendliness — a far cry from the self- ish, calculating heroine in the filmization of James Cain's novel, "Butterfly." She had started as a child actress on Broadway with Tallulah Bankhead, then did a play with the late Katina Paxino-ii, and "The Gift of Time" with Henry Fonda. From Broadway shows, she started to go into musi- cals, among others portray- ing the youngest daughter of Tevya in "Fiddler on the Roof." Night club and cabaret appearances fol- lowed. After completing "Butterfly" Mrs. Zadora starred in another film, also produced by Riklis and his Par-Par Productions, "Fake Out," which is currently in the editing stage. Riklis terms it a kind of "cops and robbers" love story, very contemporary, embellished with a great deal of auto- mobile stunts. Ex-Envoy Gazit Criticizes Current M.E. Negotiations Israeli firemen and Magen David Adom medics are shown rescuing an "accident victim" during a joint exercise at the Bnei Brak firestation. r To: The Jewish News 1 75 1 5 W.9 Mile Rd. Suite 865 Southfield, Mich. 48075 wEuE JUST An interesting discovery RAMAT-GAN — The dis- covery of Glucose 1,6 is that hunger and an insuf- Diphosphate in muscles as a ficient oxygen supply re- regulator of sugar duces the level of the reg- metabolism to provide ulator. However, after fast- energy has given added im- ing the level rises sharply petus to research into Mus- when food is again con- cular Dystrophy. The dis- sumed, even in muscles af- covery, made at Bar-Man fected by dystrophy. Ad- University by a team led by renaline also raises the Prof. Rivka Beitner, follows level of the regulator and seven years of research. the resultant sugar utiliza- This "regulator" appears tion. in reduced quantity in mus- Prof. Beitner- and her cles affected by dystrophy or team are concentrating on chemical substances, such ways to increase the as snake and bee poisons, amount of the regulator in and because of lower sugar affected muscles. utilization there is weak- ness of the muscle. It has also been found that pro- longed use of certain local JERUSALEM (ZINS) — anaesthetics can adversely Former Israeli Premier Yit- affect metabolism of mus- zhak Rabin participated on cles. a radio program with the Prof. Beitner has found Saudi ambassador during that the hitherto un- Rabin's fall visit to the U.S. Paste in old label To A Saudi View NAME Effective Date general of the Israeli Minis- try for Foreign Affairs, goes on to say, "As a result, many mediators repeated past mistakes and their per- formance can best be de- scribed as mediocre." In his article entitled "Mediation and Mediators," he says, "The Arab-Israel conflict has been subjected to mediation efforts more than any other dispute. Thus, scrutiny of the differ- ent methods employed by over a dozen inter- mediaries, each with his own personality and tech- nique, should help future envoys- to avoid their pre- decessors' mistakes." Bar-Ilan U. Studies MD Tie From L JERUSALEM — "It is a sad reflection on diplomacy as a profession that all too often mediators have acted with supreme indifference towards the experiences and conclusions gained from earlier efforts," Mor- dechai Gazit writes in the latest issue of the Jerusalem Journal of Inter- national Relations, pub- lished by the Hebrew Uni- versity's Leonard Davis In- stitute for International Re- lations. Gazit, who himself was involved in Arab-Israel peace negotiations and is a former Israeli ambassador to France and director- J known regulator is pre- sent in small quantities in the undeveloped muscles of children, increases with the growth of the child and so raises the rate of sugar utilization and energy in adult mus- cles,"dropping again in old age. The ambassador, Feisal el-Iglin, was asked if his country was ready to make peace with Israel. He said, "We have no problems with Israel; you must solve your problems with the PLO and then peace will reign in the Middle East." OBITUARIES MAURICE BALBES, 95, former Detroiter of Los Angeles, Calif., died Feb. 6. Survived by his wife, Fan- nie; four sons, Henry and Montague of Southfield, Edward Davis of Chicago and Sidney Davis of Los Angeles; two daughters, Mrs. Joseph (Selma) Rosen- feld and Mrs. Bernie (Lil- lian) Schneirow, both of California; 21 grandchil- dren and 15 great-grand- children. Interment California. ** * LEWIS BERNSTEIN, 80, of Detroit, died Feb. 5. Survived by his wife, Ann; two sons, Herbert and Irv- ing; two brothers, Sidney of Mountain View, Calif., and Charles of Palm Springs, Fla.; two sisters, Mrs. Charles (Gertrude) Bayles of North Miami, Fla., and. Mrs. David (Hannah) Levitt; five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. * * * SYLVIA • BLOOM- FIELD, 67, former De- troiter of Sarasota, Fla., died Feb. 8. She leaves her husband, Victor; two daughters, Mrs._ Robert (Judy) Marans of Ann Arbor and Mrs. David (Carole) Caplan of Birmingham; three sisters, Mrs. Bertha Rosenthal, Mrs. Anne Grossman and Mrs. Raymond (Pearl) Jacobs- tein; and four grand- children. * * * LOUIS JULIUS BLUME, 77, of Southfield, died Feb. 5 in Tucson, Ariz. Survived by a son, Dr. Michael J.; a sister, Mrs. Sophie Madoff of Daytona Beach, Fla.; and three grandchildren. * * * BECKY BRAUN, 88, of Southfield, died Feb. 8. Survived by a son, Oscar; a daughter, Mrs. Sidney (Celia) Cohn; seven grand- children and four great- grandchildren. * * * JOSEPH CLINTON, - former Detroiter of Delray Beach, Fla., died Feb. 6. Survived by his wife, Mary; three daughters, Mrs. Les- lie (Barbara) Frank of Or- mond Beach, Fla. Denice of Oak Park and Mrs. Laur- ence (Linda) Folkoff of Southfield; hig father, Charles S. Climstain of Oak Park; and four grand- children. * * * LOUIS COHEN, 96, died Feb. 9. He leaves a daugh- ter, Mrs. Samuel (Florence) Klegon; a sister, Dorothy Levy; two grandchildren and one great-grand- daughter. * * * BENJAMIN DANE- MAN, 88, died Feb. 8. He leaves .a son, Raymond; a daughter, Mrs. Alex (Ella) Kraft; three brothers, Harry, Isadore and Max, all of Tennessee; a sister, Mrs. Annie Shorr of New York; five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. ** * DAVID DWORMAN, 88, and SYLVIA DWOR- MAN, 81, died Feb. 5 and Feb. 9, respectively. They leave a son, Dr. Sheldon of Chicago, Ill,; a daughter, Mrs. Al (Carol) Lerer of Fremont, Calif.; and three grandchildren. Mr. Dwor- man also leaves two sisters, Mrs. Meyer (Hannah) Zacks and Sarah. Mrs. Dworman also leaves a sister, Ida Phil- lips of Chicago. * * * ESTHER GASTMAN, 70, of Oak Park and North Miami Beach, Fla., died Feb. 5 in Miami, Fla. Sur- vived by her husband, Hy- man; and a sister, Mrs. Sam (Pauline) Lefton of Oak Park. - * * * PHILIP E. GOODMAN, 89, died Feb. 7. He leaves a son, Philip E., Jr.; a daugh- ter, Mrs. George (Rene) Vernick of Lansing; two brothers, Harold and Dr. Max; five grandchildren and one great-grandson. * * * JACOB GRODMAN, 90, of West Bloomfield, died Feb. 5. Survived by two sons, Irving and Harold; two daughters, Mrs. Jack (Mary) Tanzman of Evanston, Ill., and Mrs. Irv- ing (Hilda) Appelblatt; a brother, Abe of Los Angeles, Calif.; 10 grandchildren and - four great-grandchildren. * * * SAM HIGER, former Detroiter of Phoenix, Ariz., died Jan. 29. Survived by his wife, Ruth; and nieces and nephews. Interment Phoenix. * * * SARAH H. KAR- MAN,73, died 'Feb. 9. She leaves her husband, Peter P.; a brother, Harry Loomis; and a sister, Barbara Winokur. ** * ROSE KLEIN, 84, died Feb. 7. She leaves a son, Stanley; a daughter, Mari- lyn; a brother, Arthur Sher- rin of Petrolia, Canada; two sisters, Rae Sherrin and Mrs. Jean- Clark, both of Petrolia; and two grerid- children. * * * ANNETTA FELD LIP- TON, 58, former Detroiter of Chicago, Ill., died Feb. 5. Survived by her husband, Dr. Samuel D.; a son, Mark D. of Champaign, Ill.; two brothers, Dr. Dravid Feld of Detroit and Dr. Julius Feld of Farmington Hills; a sis- ter, Mrs. Marvin (Beatrice) Howard of Birmingham; and one grandson. Inter- ment Chicago. * * * IDA MILLMAN, 86, of Detroit, died Feb. 3. Sur- vived by two sons, Leo and Willard of Plano, Tex.; a sis- ter, Mrs. Mollie Diamond of North Miami Beach, Fla.; five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. (Continued on Page 63)