ENTERTAINMENT
I GOING PLACES
WEEK OF DEC. 25 - 31
THEATER
BIRMINGHAM THEATRE
211 S. Woodward, Promises,
Promises, Wednesday through
Jan. 31, admission. 644-3533.
MEADOW BROOK THEATRE
Oakland University Rochester,
Educating Rita, 8 p.m. Thursday,
through Jan. 24, admission.
377-3300. "
DETROIT REPERTORY
THEATRE
13103 Woodrow Wilson, Detroit,
Glengarry Glen Ross, now
through Sunday, admission,
868-1347.
ATTIC THEATRE
7339 Third Ave., Detroit, Holiday
Cabaret, now through Thursday,
admission, 875-8284.
GREAT LAKES DINNER
PLAYHOUSE
31 N. Walnut, Mt. Clemens,
Showboat, now through Jan. 30,
admission, 463-0340.
FISHER THEATRE
Fisher Building, Detroit, Tango
Argentino, Saturday through
Jan. 10, admission, 423-6666.
Sonny Eliot takes time out from compiling his weather reports.
Mostly Sonny
ART SHOWS
Longtime Detroit weatherman
Sonny Eliot can bring out a smile
even on a cloudy day
LILA ORBACH
Special to The Jewish News
S onny Eliot won't reveal
his age.
"I'm slightly younger
than my tongue and older
than my teeth," quips one
of Detroit's longest working weather-
man. "Pm somewhere between puber-
ty and paralysis!'
Well, for Sonny Eliot, that must
mean pubalysis.
Famous for turning the highs and
lows of a weather forecast into a
stand-up comedy routine, Sonny is
best known for his weather word com-
binations. Chalk in hand, he is like-
ly to describe a hot, hazy and humid
day as "ho ha hum" kind of weather.
A day of snow and rain brings "snain"
and when it's showers and gritty .. .
The art of Sonny Eliot is his abili
ty to give even the most dismal of
weather a Sonny forecast.
After 30-plus years in the weather
business, Sonny is still showering his
audience with useless trivia, touching
anecdotes and one liners.
"Why is age so important,
anyhow?" questions Sonny, after the
reporter asks about his age for the
sixth time.
Well, if Sonny won't divulge his
age, perhaps a glimpse into his
history will put us in proximity. He's
weathered quite a bit in his life —
from his 15 months as a prisoner of
war in Germany to more than three
decades on the air at WWJ-TV (now
WDIV).
The youngest of six children, Son-
ny was born in Detroit under the
name Marvin Eliot Schlossberg. His
parents, Jennie and Jacob, were Lat-
vian immigrants. They owned a hard-
ware store on Detroit's lower east side.
Sonny speaks fondly of his
parents. His father, a master of Rus-
sian and German, taughfyoung Mar-
vin how to speak Yiddish, a language
in which he'll often kibbitz. But it was
his mother who showed.Marvin how
to make people laugh. "She had a
great sense of humor," reflects Sonny.
Though far from religious, the
Schlossbergs had a culturally Jewish
home. When Marvin turned 13, his
father wanted him to have a bar mitz-
vah. But Marvin had never gone to
Hebrew school. So a local rabbi of-
fered to make housecalls, preparing
Marvin for a bar mitzvah in three
months. "I read it flawlessly," recalls
Sonny. "When I sang, it sounded like
a grackle or a bluebird. It pleased my
folks, and, on reflection, it pleases
me!'
In his youth, Sonny dreamed of
being an actor. He often sneaked
backstage at the old Cass Theatre to
get a glimpse of the stars like Al
Jolson. Katherine Cornell and Sophie
Tucker and perhaps even park up
some conversation.
In 1933, Marvin E. Schlossberg
graduated from Central High School
and went on to Wayne State Univer-
sity, where he started his career as an
actor and began working on local
radio shows like The Lone Ranger and
The Green Hornet.
Radio was much more com-
plicated then," says Sonny, who, 50
years later, still works in radio, doing
five minutes of weather just after 5
RUBINER GALLERY
7001 Orchard Lake Rd. West
Bloomfield, exhibit of New York
and Santa Fe artists, including
Fredrick Prescott, Richard
Hogan, Rob Russell, Susan
Tunick, James Wolfe, now
through Jan. 30, free. 626-3111.
PARK WEST GALLERY
29469 Northwestern Hwy.,
Southfield, Erte exhibit, now
through Jan. 21, free. 354-2443.
CADE GALLERY
214 W. Sixth St., Royal Oak,
Karen Sepanski, glass, now
through Jan. 6, 546-3365.
PIERCE STREET GALLERY
217 Pierce, Birmingham, 0.
Winston Link, railroad
photographs of the 1950's, now
through Thursday, 646-6950.
CANTOR/LEMBERG
GALLERY
538 N. Woodward, Birmingham,
exhibit, now through Thursday,
642-6623.
DETROIT HISTORICAL
MUSEUM
5401 Woodward, Detroit, "Artists
from Michigan of the
19thCentury," now through
March 6, 833-1805.
NAWARA GALLERY
1160 Welch, Walled Lake,
Continued on Page 55
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS . 51