68 Friday, January 21, 1983

40—BUSINESS CARDS

ANDY'S PAINTING & DECORATING

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1-411.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Caesar's 'Where Have I Been?' Aptly Titled

By HEIDI PRESS

For nearly 20 years,
Emmy award-winning
Over 20 yrs. experience.
comedian Sid Caesar was
References. Free Estimates.
in, what he terms at one
779-4627
point in his autobiography,
a black hole, a fog — obliv-
"EXCITING LIGHTING"
ion. His autobiography,
Specializing in recessed, "Where Have I Been? is
track and security lighting. aptly titled.
Published by Crown, the
Licensed Electrician
Caesar recollections, writ-
ten with author-journalist
Call Wally at 569-3572
Bill Davidson appear as an
apologia, as the famed com-
ALTERATIONS
The Fastest Stitch in the edian reveals all his
Midwest. Small charge for triumphs and tragedies.
Far from being a literary
pick-up and delivery.
gem, the book holds fascina-
Call after 5 p.m.
tion in its chronicling of the
559-9714
period of early television
and for the courage it must
DON'T WAIT FOR A DISASTER have taken for its author to
expose the devastating ef-
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Call anytime
Caesar prefaces his

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tale thusly: "I am an
entertainer; so in much of
this book, I entertain. My
main purpose in telling
my story, however, is to
give hope to all those
people with such vast
persorial problems that
living has become suffer-
ing — as it did for me.
"I want them to knoik
they are not alone. God
knows, if I could learn to
conquer my overwhelming
fears, addictions, and self-
doubts, certainly others can
learn to banish their own
deinons. And re-establish
belief in themselves."
One wonders what kind of
problems a nationally-
recognized million-dollar-
baby of the entertainment
world can have. He alludes
frequently to insecurity,
which he attributes to an
incident from infancy.
Caesar relates that his
brother Dave was enlisted
to- babysit -for him.
Becoming bored with
the task, Dave made a game
of it, tying a rope to the
carriage handle, and letting
the carriage roll until the
rope reached the end, then
pulling it back. Caesar re-
calls that although his
brother may have been
amused, he was terrified,
leaving an emotional scar
that was to be with him the
rest of his life, and he re-
calls:
"The scene comes back
to me to this very day —

SID CAESAR

especially at times when
other loving, protective
hands are suddenly re-
moved without explana-
tion." To counteract his
insecurity, he resorted to
booze and pills.
Caesar begins his recol-
lections of "show business"
at childhood, when in his
father's luncheonette, he
mimicked the foreign ac-
cents of the customers by
speaking a gobbledegook of
his own invention. He calls
the experience "the begin-
ning of a comic device that
helped me earn millions
later on."
He describes his days as a
successful saxophonist, a
Borscht Belt entertainer, a
Coast Guard serviceman,
when he appeared in revues
and ultimately in the one
production that paved the

Britain Names Sephardic
Jew to Its House of Lords

LONDON (JTA) — Sir
Derek Ezra, former chair-
man of the British National
Coal Board, has been given
a life peerage in the New
Year honors list. He will
support the Liberal Party in
the House of Lords.
The son of a Sephardic
Jew from Bombay, Ezra was
born in Tasmania 61 years
ago. Brought to Britain as a
boy, he was educated at
Cambridge University
where he was a friend and
contemporary of Abba
Eban, the former Israeli
Foreign Minister.
During World War II he
served in the Intelligence
Corps, reaching the rank
of Lieutenant Colonel. On
demobilization, he joined

HIAS to Honor
Three Refugees

NEW YORK — HIAS, the
worldwide Jewish migra-
tion agency, is now accept-
ing applications for the Ann
S. Petluck Memorial
Awards, which will be pre-
sented at the agency's an-
nual meeting in New York,
Feb. 28.
Awards of $300 each will
be given to three refugees
"who have made excep-
tional progress or shown
outstanding promise in re-
settling in the United
States."
Applications are avail-
able from HIAS, 200 Park
Ave. South, New York, N.Y.
10003. The filing deadline is
Feb. 17.

Britain's
newly
nationalized coal indus-
try and headed the coal
board's marketing de-
partment before becom-
ing its chairman 11 years
ago.
Though not an observant
Jew, Ezra is a warm friend
of Israel, frequently attend-
ing Jewish fundraising
functions. In the last two
years of his chairmanship,.
the board became a major
supplier of coal to the Israeli
electricity industry.

way for fame, "Tars and
Spars." From that point on
he could only go up, couldn't
he?
For a while, Caesar
was the darling of late night
television. In the
1950s, his "Your Show of
Shows," co-starring Im-
ogene Coca, was a national
institution. Theater mana-
gers lobbied to have the
show changed to midweek,
because they were losing
their audiences to the live
TV extravaganza. "Caesar's
Hour" also received much
acclaim.
But whether from his
insecurity or on-the-job
pressures, Caesar turned
to alcohol and drugs,
dragging - his talents to
the depths of depression,
becoming a raging ani-
mal. He suffered the
addiction for 20 years,
nearly destroying him-
self, his family and a
career that many aspire
to, but few ever achieve.
In the stupor created by
his drug and alcohol abuse,
Caesar nearly killed him-
self, and anyone else nearby
who had the guts to disagree
with him. He remembers an
incident when he dangled a
then little-known writer,
Mel Brooks, from a window
18 stories above ground be-
cause while Caesar wanted
to sit around nursing a
bruised ego, Brooks had
suggested going out for the
evening.
The fits of temper were
devastating to his family,
and even Caesar wonders
why his wife, Florence, re-
mained with him. He finally
"bottomed out" as he calls it
and the detoxification be-

r

To: The Jewish News

1 75 1 5 W. 9 Mile Rd.

Suite 865

Southfield, Mich. 48075

WEI JUST

9Y

HU Honors
British Scientist

JERUSALEM — Prof.
Cesar Milstein, of the medi-
cal Research Council Lab-
oratory of Molecular Bi-
ology in Cambridge,
England, has been awarded
the Hebrew University's
annual Rabbi Shai
Shacknai Memorial Prize in
Immunology and Cancer
Research.
Prof. Milstein was cited
for his "pioneering contri-
butions to the advancement
of immunological science"
at a recent ceremony on the
university's Givat Ram sci-
ence campus .\

Our strength often in-
creases in proportion to the
obstacles imposed upon it. It
is thus we enter upon the
most perilous plans after
having had the shame of
failing in more simple ones.
—Rapin

gan. Since 1978, he's only
had one relapse, he asserts.
After unsuccessful attempts
in the psychiatrists' offices,
he devised a therapy for
himself. When his wife tells
him he's been off the sub-
stances he'd abused for 20
years since 1978, he re-
marks "Who's counting?"
Caesar's "Where Have I
Been?" is peppered with
personal reminiscences
from his family, especially
at points in the story where
Caesar has no recollection
of a particular period of his
life, owing to the drug and
alcohol abuse. It also con-
tains reminiscences from
friends and co-workers, who
in the 1950s were little
known writers, and today
are famous for their roles in
television series and
movies.
Among those who were
the creative minds with
Caesar in the early days
were: playwright Neil
Simon; comedian-movie
producer Mel Brooks;
comedian-movie pro-
ducer Woody Allen;
M*A*S*H television
genius Larry Gelbart;
and writer-comedian
Carl Reiner.
Caesar is remorseful; he
takes the blame for all that
has happened. Sympathy
will go to his ,wife and chil-
dren, rather than to him.
But give the man a break,
he's paid his dues.
Sid Caesar's "Where
Have I Been?" provides
entertainment in its
chronicles of TV's early
days and perhaps will be an
inspiration to those who
wish to defeat their trou-
bles.

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