34
Friday, November 15, 1985 .THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
The Labor Zionist Alliance
BOOKS
salutes
EMMA LAZAROFF-SCHAVER
on the occasion of
her 80th birthday
recognizing
her lifelong support of,
dedication to, and devotion towards
Labor Zionism
Dr. Ezra 5picehandler
National President
Isadore Shrodeck
Metropolitan Council President
At Coats Unlimited...
`Dear George': Burns
Turns Advice Columnist
On Jan. 20, George Burns is
certain to be that day's Ameri-
can image maker. On the day
when he becomes a nonagena-
rian, Burns will be wearing
many mantles.. The stage fame
has been acknowledged for per-
haps seven decades. That's a
long-lasting career. Now he has
additional roles, and in his
latest, that of author, he rules
the period once again, with a
new generation of admirers.
He is the healing physician in
Dr. Burns' Prescription for Hap-
piness (Putnam's), just repub-
lished as a paperback. He has
also just produced his fifth book,
Dear George: Advice and An-
swers From America's Leading
Expert on Everything From A to
B
The emerging stage humorist
immediately appears on the
scene in the very title he has
chosen for this new book. He
played God in the movies, was
the doctor prescribing humor as
a cure for illnesses in the pre-
ceding book, and now is the so-
cial adviser, the solver of prob-
lems for the inquiring.
How does he do it? Here are a
couple of samples:
"Dear George:
"Who are you to be giving
"advice and answers?" What
exactly are your qualifications?
Picky, Picky, Picky
"Dear Picky III,
"I have no qualifications—
except that I was telling people
what to do when Dear Abby was
still in Mary Janes. But look at
it this way, for my last book I
became a doctor and I had no
qualificaions for that either.
That book was on the New York
Times bestseller list for 18
weeks, so why break a suc-
cessful tradition?"
"Dear George:
"Do you answer dirty letters,
or can I read your book aloud to
my children?
Concerned Mom
"Dear Mom:
"I don't answer dirty letters. I
read them. I enjoy the, but I
don't answer them. If you put
dirty things on paper you can
get sued—unless you're a ca-
nary. So you can read my book
to your kids but they might not
understand some of it because of
the generation gap between me
and them (of course there's a
tremendous generation gap be-
tween me and anyone who's still
living)."
If there is hesitation in recog-
nizing Dear George, let the
reader turn to the concluding
chapter in the new book,
entitled "Character Witness Let-
ters." They were written by,
among others, Milton Berle,
Steve Allen, Danny Thomas,
Cary Grant and Red Buttons.
That's proof of widest recogni-
tion by contempoaries, by ad-
mirers in three generations.
That's why the approaching Jan.
20 will be celebrated by so
many, including the medical
and publishing chiefs.
No Limits For Buchwald
COATS UNLIMITED
Troy, Troy Commons,
Oak Park
West Bloomfield
16 Mile (Big Beaver)
Lincoln Center,
Orchard Mall,
at Rochester, 2 miles
Greenfield
Orchard Lake
east of Somerset
at 10 1/2 Mile
at Maple (15 Mile)
off 1-75 • 689 4860
968-2060
855 9955
Hours: Mon.-Sat. 10-8; Sun. 12-5
Visa & MasterCard Welcome • Liberal Return Policy
-
-
Art Buchwald has an estab-
lished reputation. He puns,
criticizes, lampoons — and he
does not restrict the field.
His newest- assembly of syndi-
cated essays, You Can Fool All
the People All the Time (Put-
nam), has all the juice his
readers are accustomed to.
Buchwald's targets are un-
limited. They are in all fields of
endeavor, perhaps primarily in
government, in diplomacy, and
also in the schools, in the indus-
tries, in foreign affairs.
No one is exempt: Ronald and
Nancy Reagan share the
limelight with others.
Similarly, the topics are mul-
titudimous. He treats prayers in
the schools in his typical fash-
ion, "God and School Prayers" is
among his approaches to a prob-
lem that has inveigled Nation
and White House.
Buchwald's "God and School
Prayers" column commenced:
"I don' talk to God as often as
I should because I know how
busy He is these days. But every
four years, during the president-
ial campaign, I do check in to
make sure what the candidates
are saying about Him is true.
"After hearing President Re-
agan say for the umpteenth
time that God has been expelled
from America's classrooms, I
asked Him, 'Are You banned
from America's schools?'
`Not that I know of,' God re-
plied.
`President Reagan said that
kids can't pray in school.'
`I don't know about that, but I
hear schoolchildren's prayers all
day along. Of course I hear more
from those who haven't done
their homework, or have been
caught committing some infrac-
tion that will send them to the
principal's office. And there is a
lot of praying when report cards
are sent home, and when college
test scores come in. I can't
understand why President Re-
agan said I've been banned from
the classroom.'
`I think he was referring to
the Supreme Court decision
which forbade organized prayer
in public schools at the begin-
ning of the day. Did that deci-
sion bother You?'
`On the contrary. I don't be-
lieve in people praying if they
don't mean it. Fortunately in
America people can pray any
time and anywhere they want
to.'
`Well, why would. President
Reagan say that You were
banned from public schools if
You weren't?'
`I have no idea,' God said.
`People are always dropping My
name in order to get votes dur-
ing an election year. Frankly, I
wish the President would have
checked with Me first, before he
misspoke.' "
—P.S.