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NEXT DOOR TO OUR FULL•SERVICE RESTAURANT Featuring • Pizza • Ribs • Greek Salads • Lasagna • Chicken • Sandwiches • Etc. OUTSIDE CATERING FOR ALL OCCASIONS T C O U P ONT $2 OFF DINNER FOR 2 SLAB OF RIBS • GREEK SALAD • BAG OF BREAD STICKS Expires Oct. 23, 1987 CARRY-OUT LOCATION ONLY JN coupoNi BUY ONE PIZZA GET 2ND SAME PIZZA CARRY-OUT LOCATION ONLY 72 FREE FRIDAY, OCT. 9, 1987 Expires Oct. 23, 1987 JN Continued from preceding page — a gesture Mason denies making — the comedian has soared from cult figure to na- tional sensation. Success hasn't sapped any of Mason's considerable energy. He prances around the stage, his hands chopping at the air like a 55-year-old Karate Kid punctuating his points with punch lines. That singsong delivery is a music of mischief, a sweet sar- casm that takes the measure of human folly and with a fillip of flipancy, flips it upside down. But life was not always a running gag for Mason, who left the rabbinate to pursue his muse. It was a decision that meant breaking a long line of Orthodox rabbis — one of his ancestors had been chief rabbi of Minsk. "When I rebelled, it was as if I had decided to become a Nazi," Mason recalls. Mason was ordained 30 years ago. He quips that he decided to leave the shul because "someone in the family had to make a living." But beneath Mason's kib- bitzing is a compassionate man. When he rebelled agairist tradition, it was a quiet revolution. Mason's father never knew his son had decided to change career and lifestyle. "It meant lying to my father," says Mason. "He was concerned that I still be religious, and I would tell him I was. I felt — and feel — corn- passion is sometimes more important than the truth. I feel sometimes lying is the more decent thing to do!' Mason's brothers and three rebbitzen sisters were "able to face up to the truth right away. They accepted and were able to understand. But my father — he was very severe in his Orthodoxy. What I was doing was like a criminal act." Mason's sentence was a life of laughter and applause — but only after his father died. "I'm sure that if my father were alive today, I wouldn't be a comedian. Why? Out of con- sideration and respect for him. "He was right in his beliefs. What I wanted to do violated his principles; I didn't want to do that to him. In this world, you're as good as your word!' The word on Broadway is that Mason can write his own ticket now; audiences sometimes wish they could do the same. For those who have trouble getting into the theater — there have been weeks when World has played to more than 100 percent capacity — there is a Warner Brothers album of the show, In his career comeback, Jackie Mason has earned a Tony Award. some 90 minutes of madcap Mason. The album, like the hot hip show, is selling out. Ironically, "selling out" are words that remain anathema to Mason. "I've always made a good living," Mason says, "without changing what I do!" But the Ed Sullivan inci- dent seemed to take the steam out of a rising career. (The two reconciled later, with Mason appearing again on Sullivan's show.) There followed resort appearances and films (The Jerk, History of the World, Part I) but never attention like Mason is get- ting now Jackie Mason has toughed it out. In fact, he'll tell you, he may be the only tough Jew he knows. "Jews were never fighters," he says. "Ever see four black people walk on the street and say, 'Watch out! There's a Jew over there'? Sure, they don't want to walk into a Jewish neighborhood because they're afraid of be- ing killed by an accountant!' Certainly there are some tough Jews — all in Israel. "And they look like Puerto Ricans," Mason jokes. "People are changing their concept of Jackie Mason because I'm hot on Broad- way," he says. "If I had thought of this concept of a one-man show 20 years ago, I'm sure I would have been some hit!' Broadway, after all, is a stunning showcase for a com- edian who has earned a Borsht Belt in belly laughs. From the clubs to the Great White Way, "It's like taking a picture in the kitchen and putting it in a museum!' But Mason is no museum piece — the laughter would shatter the art work. "I hate Chinese," exclaims Mason. "They never eat in a Jewish restaurant. I never saw one Chinaman who says to me, `I'm looking for a nice piece of gefilte fish! " Mason will be shooting two movies: The Detective, with Mason as an inspector, and Love for Sale, starring Mason as an accountant who serves as a pimp for five Queens housewives turned hookers. "A true story," he swears. Mason the movie star? Just don't talk to the comedian about his going Hollywood. Beverly Hills? Feh, he says. "In Beverly Hills, they're always talking millions, billions. Then the check comes for a dollar and a quarter, and everybody runs. "Everyone says they live in Beverly Hills — 'Beverly Hills, sure I live right there, well, maybe just outside it, a little to the right, a few seconds away.' Then you ask how far away they live? `Maybe 90 miles! " The lunacy of L.A. is miles away now — Mason's show tried out there before coming to Broadway. He doesn't miss the mishugas; New York of- fers its own brand of zaniness, he says. In the 1960s, Mason, con- cerned that the city would trash itself and float away on the Hudson on its own gar- bage barge of immorality, con- sidered running for mayor. His plans were scuttled by the calendar — Mason realiz- ed he would have to campaign during July and August. "Who stays in New York in the summer?" he complains. "It's too hot." Of course he is in New York now — his success fanned by the fans who greet him on the street, wait at the stage door and yell out "We love you!" from the rafters.