I ENTERTAINMENT
-
I GOING PLACES
WEEK OF
JULY 29-AUG. 4
SPECIAL EVENTS
0
TOLEDO ZOO
2700 Broadway, Toledo, pandas
Le Le and Nan Nan, through
August, admission. 419-726-3272.
COMEDY
BERKLEY COMEDY CASTLE
2593 Woodward, Berkley,
Amazing Jonathan, today and
Saturday; Tom Parks, Tuesday
through Aug. 6, admission.
542-9900.
HOLLY HOTEL
110 Battle Alley, Holly, Keith
Ruff, Tim Butterfield, Al April,
today and Saturday, admission.
634-1891.
THEATER
SHAW FESTIVAL
■
Adam Arkin, holding Melissa Kay, and Jayne Atkinson, appear as a Jewish family in NBC-TVs
"A Year in the Life."
Portrayals of Jewish men have
changed from wimpy to real
.
long-held stereotypes of Jewish men
as wimps and weaklings, images the
networks perpetuated over the years
n the feast or famine world of through broadly, sometimes crudely
network television series, Jewish written parts.
men — real Jewish men — don't
These parts — usually guest-
eat quiche: They eat bagels and starring roles — more often than not
lox.
depicted Jewish dads, uncles, zaydas
They also plan family seders, talk and sons as simpering spineless fools,
about their bar mitzvahs, celebrate more a role model for jellyfish than
Chanukah, occasionally attend ser- young Jewish men.
vices, talk about circumcisions, have
But as the networks' new crop of
the rabbi over to dinner, suffer from shows indicates, Jewish men need not
guilt and, invariably, intermarry.
be nerds anymore, nor must they be
In a medium once better known the shlubby best buddy of the guy
for its antipathy toward ethnicity, who wins the girl. Prime time has
Jewish male characters are now flex- proven an ideal time and testing
ing their muscles on such network ground for these characters to show
shows as "thirtysomething," "Frank's once and for all that Jewish male
Place," "A Year in the Life," "Cagney characters are their own men.
and Lacey," "St. Elsewhere" and
One who is leading television in
"L.A. Law."
this new direction is Joshua Brand,
And in showing their strength, co-creator and executive producer of
these characters are punching out NBC-TV's "A Year in the Life." This
MICHAEL ELKIN
Special to The Jewish News
I
weekly drama's ensemble cast fea-
tures Adam Arkin as the Jewish Jim
Eisenberg, whose wife (Jayne Atkin-
son as Lindley Gardner Eisenberg) is
a convert to Judaism.
"One of the obvious reasons you're
finding more Jewish men on series
such as 'A Year in the Life' is that
there are a lot of Jewish writers and
producers in the business," says
Brand, who is Jewish.
"There are a lot of people like
myself who are doing shows that are
not fantasy-oriented, which allow for
people to draw from their own per-
sonal experiences."
True, says television writer Dick
Goldberg ("Kate and Allie"). "It is
easier for program creators to start
with themselves," he says. "Look, you
write from your own backyard, and
the preponderance of creators in
Hollywood are Jewish."
Theodore Bikel, longtime Jewish
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario,
"You Never Can Tell," and
"Dangerous Corner," now
through Oct. 15, "Hit the Deck,"
now through Oct. 16; "War and
Peace," now through Sunday;
"Peter Pan," now through Oct.
16; "Geneva," now through Sept.
24; "The Voysey Inheritance,"
now through Sept. 25; "The
Dark Lady of the Sonnets,"
Wednesday through Aug. 28;
admission. 416-468-2172.
ATTIC THEATER
7339 Third Ave., Detroit, "Lady
Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill,"
now through Aug. 11, admission.
875-8284.
FISHER THEATER
Fisher Bldg., Detroit, "Cats,"
now through Saturday,
admission. 872-1000.
AVON PLAYHOUSE
Washington Rd., Rochester,
"Ghosts," now through Sunday,
admission. 375-9432.
THEATER SHOWCASE
Henry Ford Community College,
Pagoda Room, "The Drunkard,"
now through Sunday, admission.
845-9634.
OAKLAND COMMUNITY
COLLEGE
Smith Theater, 27055 Orchard
Lake Rd., Farmington Hills,
"Midwestern Memories," today,
Aug. 5 and Aug. 13; "Alice and
Wonderland," Thursday, Aug. 6,
Aug. 13 and Aug. 19, admission.
471-7700.
MUSIC
BIRMINGHAM SUMMER
CONCERT SERIES
Continued on Page 68
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
59