THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

62 Friday, April 16, 1982

Mazursky's Career as Director-Actor
Completes Full Circle With Tempest'

By HERBERT LUFT

(Copyright 1982, JTA, Inc.)

"Tempest," a contemporary
comedy with dramatic un-
dertones, freely adapted in
spirit from the play by
Shakespeare.
"Tempest" stars Cassa-
vetes as an architect who is
fed up with his mundane
existence; Gena Rowland
portrays what she is in life,
his actress-wife; there are
Vittorio Gassman, Susan
Sarandon, Raul Julia —
with multi-talented Molly
Ringwald making her debut
on the theatrical screen
after having starred in
NBC's "The Facts of Life."
On stage, Ringwald origi-
nated the role of Kate in the
West Coast production of
"Annie" and later went on
to play the part of Pepper.
She is now 13 years old.

HOLLYWOOD — Paul
Mazursky has been explor-
ing on the screen the adven-
ture of human relationship
for more than 12 years. He
has written, produced, di-
rected and frequently acted
in eight intensely personal
motion pictures which have
earned him recognition.
His face became known to
millions of movie goers from
his poignant portrayal of a
ruthless agent in Barbra
Streisand's "A Star is
Born." Much earlier in his
career, in 1954, he made his
movie debut by chance
when John Cassavetes
came into the restaurant
where he was working in
New York looking for a
juvenile delinquent type for
Mazursky also started
"Blackboard Jungle."
Mazursky landed the role quite young in the thea-
and now, after almost 28 ter. Born in Brooklyn in
years, he has directed Cas- 1930, he was raised dur-
savetes in Columbia's ing the Depression in the

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section
Brownsville
where his father was a
laborer with the W.P.A.
while his grandfather ran
a modest candy store. He
grew up wanting to be an
actor. In his senior year
at Brooklyn College, he
appeared in the leading
role in an off-Broadway
production of "He Who
Gets Slapped." This led to
his first film role as a
soldier in Stanley Kub-
rick's "Fear and Desire."
He studied with Lee
Strasberg and Paul
Mann and off-Broadway
acted in Saroyan's "Hello
Out There"; starred in
summer stock in Arthur
Miller's "Death of a
Salesman"; played Un-
dershaft in Shaw's
"Major - Barbara"; and di-
rected a revue, "Kaleido-
scope," at the Prov-
incetown Playhouse.
In 1959, Mazursky moved
to Hollywood where he
made a low-budgeted film,
"Last Year at Malibu," a
parody of the "New Wave."
At the same time,
Mazursky co-produced and
co-starred in a production of
Genet's "Deathwatch," di-
rected by Vic Morrow, a
stage play which was also
filmed. His burgeoning film
career was interrupted by a
four-year stint as a writer
for the Danny Kaye televi-
sion show.
Mazursky next teamed up
with Larry Tucker to write
and produce the screenplay
for the Peter Sellers' movie,
"I Love You, Alice B. Tok-
las." Next, the successful
writing partners completed
in record time the script for
the comedy, "Bob- & Carol &
Ted & Alice."

Again in association
with Tucker, Mazursky
wrote "Alex in Wonder-
land" and "Blume in
Love," with George
Segal, Susan Anspach
and Kris Kristofferson. It
was Mazursky's first solo
screenplay. He also di-
rected.
His next two films were
equally popular hits.
"Harry and Tonto," written
by Mazursky in collabora-
tion with Josh Greenfeld,.
won Art Carney the
Academy Award for best
actor as a 72-year-old school
teacher who travels west
with his cat, experiencing
life along the highways be-
tween New York's Upper
West Side and the southern
California beaches.
Mazursky and Greenfeld
received Oscar nominations
for best screenplay.
Two years later, Mazur-
sky presented "Next Stop,
Greenwich Village," an
autobiographical revelation
portraying "the director as a
young man," thereby draw-

ing on his youthful days as a
struggling thespian in New
York. Mazursky's sophisti-
cated comedy, "An Unmar-
ried Woman," had a touch of
Lubitsch. Starring Jill
Clayburgh, Alan Bates and
Michael Murphy, the film
was nominated for an
Academy Award as best pic-
ture of the year and netted
Ms. Clayburgh an "Oscar"
nomination for best actress.
Most recently, Mazursky
directed "Willie & Phil"
starring Michael Ontkean,
Margot Kidder and Ray
Sharkey.
Mazursky's way with ac-
tors springs from his own
love for performing. "I'm a
director," he says, "but I'm
also an actor." He has made
cameo appearances in his
own films. In addition to the
Streisand picture, he also
accepted assignments from
other directors, was seen as
a computer genius turned
bank robber in "A Man, A
Woman and A Bank." He
was seen in Mel Brooks'
madcap, "History of the
World, Part I" and will ap-
pear in a cameo in "Tern-
pest," which concluded
production in Greece and
New York.

Harriet Waits

Harriet M. Waits, former
administrative assistant to
the Northwest Council of
the Union of American He-
brew Congregations in St.
Louis, Mo., died April 13 at
age 50.
The retired office man-
ager for the National Coun-
cil of Jewish Women in
Southfield, Mrs. Walts also
was a member of Temple
Beth El.
She leaves her husband,
Marvin; two sons, Arthur of
Shawnee Mission, Kan.,
and Dr. Michael of Phoenix,
Ariz.; a daughter, Mrs.
Barry (Barbara) Kling; a
brother, Alan Rose of La
Jolla, Calif.; and four
grandchildren.

H. Schechter

Hyman Schechter, a
kosher butcher, died April 9
at age 79.
Born in Russia, Mr.
Schechter lived 65 years in
Detroit. He was a member of
Cong. Shaarey Zedek, Re-
tired Businessmen's Club of
the Jewish Community
Center and the Kosher
Butchers Association.
He leaves four sons, Neil,
Ronald, Robert and Howard
of Stinson Beach, Calif.; a
sister, Mrs. Joseph (Bessie)
Katz; and nine
grandchildren.

Former Rep.
Dies in NY

NEW YORK — Sidney A.
Fine, a former U.S. Con-
gressman and a retired jus-
tice of the New York Sup-
reme Court, died Tuesday in
The humblest citizen of New York. He was 78.
all the land, when clad in
Mr. Fine served as a
the armor of a righteous Democratic member of the
cause, is stronger than all House of Representatives
the hosts of error.
for two terms, from 1951 to
— William Jennings Bryan 1955.

Yeshiva University Educator
Rabbi Morris Besdin Dies

NEW YORK (JTA). —
Rabbi Morris Besdin, direc-
tor of the James Striar
School of General Jewish
Studies at Yeshiva Univer-
sity for 25 years and pioneer
in the educational direction
of the Baal Teshuvah
(Jewish returnee) move-
ment, died April 10 at age
69.
Born in Poland in 1913,
Rabbi Besdin came to this
country in 1921. He was an
alumnus of Yeshiva Col-
lege, where he received a
Bachelor of Arts degree in
1936, and of the university's
afiliated Rabbi Isaac El-
chanan Theological Semi-
nary, where he received
semikha (ordination) in
1936.
Rabbi Besdin joined
Yeshiva University as a lec-
turer in Talmud in 1946 and
later was an instructor in
Bible. He was named direc-
tor of the School of General
Jewish Studies in 1948, a
school founded in 1956 in
memory of industrialist
James Striar of Bangor,
Maine.
Rabbi Besdin re-
vitalized the school,
which is now celebrating
the 25th anniversary of
its founding and, at the

same time, pioneered in
the educational direction
of the Baal Teshuvah
movement.
In the 1960s and 1970s
this movement generated a
widespread revival of inter-
est among Jewish youth in
the sources, traditions, and
practices of Judaism, and
sought to counteract the on-
going process of assimila-
tion threatening the survi-
val of Judaism.
Prior to his Yeshiva Uni-
versity directorship, Rabbi
Besdin served for 22 yeP ---
as a pulpit rabbi,
spiritual leader of Cong.
Michzikai Hadas in Scran-
ton, Pa., of Beth Hamidrash
Hagodol in Washington
Heights, N.Y., and of Y'hal
Adas Yeshurun in Kew
Gardens, Queens, N.Y., as
well as for three years as a
U.S. Army chaplain.
Rabbi Besdin was one of
the founders and also served
as chairman of the boards of
education of Yeshiva Rabbi
Moses Soloveichik, New
York, and Yeshiva Dov Re-
vel, Queens, N.Y. He wrote
articles that were published
in a wide range of scholarly
journals and was a member
of the Rabbinical Council of
America.

Brandeis Fine Arts School
Founder Jack Poses Dies

WALTHAM, Mass. —
Philanthropist and patron
of the arts Jack I. Poses who,
along with his wife Lillian,
founded the Poses School of
Fine Arts at Brandeis Uni-
versity, died April 1. He was
82.
A Brandeis trustee since
1958, Mr. Poses and his
wife, a noted New York City
attorney, also underwrote
the Brandeis Creative Arts
Awards. An award honor-
ing a lifetime of notable
achievement in the creative
arts is also given each year
at ceremonies at the
Guggenheim Museum.
In recognition of his
longtime support of Bran-
deis and higher education in
general, the university
awarded him an Honorary
Doctor of Laws degree in
1968.
Mr. Poses also received
an Honorary Doctor of
Humane Letters degree
from the graduate school
of the City College of New
York in 1976.

During his years as a
trustee at Brandeis, Mr.
Poses served as chairman of
the board's investment
committee and was a
member of its education and
budget committees. He also
was chairman of the univer-
sity's council of fine arts.

Mr. Poses was a former
vice chairman of the New
York City Board of Educa-
tion, as well as a founder of
the Albert Einstein Medical
School there. He also pro-
vided support to the
Museum of Modern Art, the
Guggenheim Museum, the
Whitney Museum and the
Metropolitan Museum of
Art, where he had been a
life fellow.
For many years, Mr.
Poses was chairman of
the perfume industry's
United Jewish Appeal
campaigns.
He held the Decorated
Chevalier de la Legion
D'Honneur, awarded by the
French government.

Oscar Bakalar Dies at 77

Oscar Bakalar, owner of
Oscar's Drapery Co., died
April 9 at age 77.
Born in Russia, Mr. Baka-
lar lived 34 years in Detroit.
He was a member of Cong.
Bnai David and was past
president of Einstein Lodge
of Bnai Brith. He served as
the treasurer of Einstein
Lodge for the past 13 years.
Mr. Bakalar was active in
causes in behalf of Israel
and he and his wife dedi-
cated a dorm in Afula.
Mr. Bakalar is survived
by his wife, Rona; a son,
Mel; and a daughter, Har-
riet.

OSCAR BAKALAR